[TapWaterBandit]

The full quote is:

> Last Friday, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare released the results of an annual study of the number of homeless people *in the country’s parks and riverside areas.*

So this isn't the full count of homeless, just the ones living in specific park areas.

[shiroiuma]

Where else are they going to live? Unlike America, Japan doesn't have massive homeless encampments full of tents in random places all around the city, so they generally all congregate in certain parks where their presence is tolerated. From my experience living in Tokyo, I'd say that looking at those parks and riverside areas is a very accurate way of counting the number of homeless.