[rtpg]

Nice linguistic trick of trying to just mix "homogenous populations" and "good areas/bad areas" as if they're interchangeable /s

There's definitely huge variation in quality of areas in Tokyo (more or less parks, more or less access to services etc). Less so now, but many areas had a good amount of crime too! Loads of people don't want to live in areas cuz of the "bad vibes". People get stuff stolen here too! And there's a "good school"/"bad school" thing for certain areas.

But there's a baseline that is still something you can survive with. So yeah maybe you have a shitty environment but it's not "the entire bottom has fallen out" like chunks of the US. The schools have (some) money, and (relatively) clean water comes out of the pipes. And if you make very little money there is some semi-public housing that can fit a family of four.

And poorer families are given cash, not food stamps with 1000 exceptions to them.

All this sociological exoticism (mainly from Americans) is really missing the forest for the trees. A lot of it is the result of giving people some means to survive, even in difficult times. The US would change a lot if it could adopt that attitude.