Category Archives: Economy

For Some in Japan, Home Is a Tiny Plastic Bunk

When [Capsule Hotel Shinjuku 510](http://www.yesicanusechopsticks.com/capsule/) opened nearly two decades ago, Japan was just beginning to pull back from its bubble economy, and the hotel’s tiny plastic cubicles offered a night’s refuge to salarymen who had missed the last train home.

Now, Hotel Shinjuku 510’s capsules, no larger than 6 1/2 feet long by 5 feet wide, and not tall enough to stand up in, have become an affordable option for some people with nowhere else to go as Japan endures its worst recession since World War II.

Once-booming exporters laid off workers en masse in 2009 as the global economic crisis pushed down demand. Many of the newly unemployed, forced from their company-sponsored housing or unable to make rent, have become homeless.

[Read](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/business/global/02capsule.html “Read the Article”) (New York Times)

The Safety Net – Living on Nothing but Food Stamps

About six million Americans receiving food stamps report they have no other income, according to an analysis of state data collected by The New York Times. In declarations that states verify and the federal government audits, they described themselves as unemployed and receiving no cash aid — no welfare, no unemployment insurance, and no pensions, child support or disability pay.

Their numbers were rising before the recession as tougher welfare laws made it harder for poor people to get cash aid, but they have soared by about 50 percent over the past two years. About one in 50 Americans now lives in a household with a reported income that consists of nothing but a food-stamp card.

[Read](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/us/03foodstamps.html?src=sch&pagewanted=all “Read the Article”) (New York Times)