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TOKYO, Japan / The Japan Times / Life in Japan / Features / March 28, 2009
Gates from hell: Hidemori Gen stands in front of
the entrace of Kabukicho in Shinjuku. Gen's
"Japan Social Minority Center" an NPO rescue center,
is located within. WILL ROBB PHOTO
Ex-bad guy runs rescue center for those on the run
By Manami-OkasakiContributing Writer
Kabukicho is Tokyo's infamous entertainment district and suburb of sleaze. A heavily populated square of sleepless activity northeast of Shinjuku Station, it is home to a haphazard mix of movie theaters, hostess bars, strip clubs, and seedy nightclubs. An illicit atmosphere permeates the air.
Safe haven: At his office Gen gives advice and help to many people on the run and those in trouble who don't know where to go or whom to turn to. Will Robb Photo
Toward the back entrance of the garishly neon-lit Kabukicho area, nestled between love hotels, host bars, and the predominantly Korean district of Shin Okubo, sits the Japan Social Minority Center, an NPO rescue center run by philanthropist, author, and public speaker Hidemori Gen. Age: 52.
The center caters to those on the run and those in trouble who don't know where to go, whom to turn to. The Japan Social Minority Center, staffed by three, is also dubbed a kakekomidera after the temples that used to shelter runaway women in the Edo Period. The center also provides advice for people in seemingly desperate situations.
A counseling service of sorts, its proprietor Gen also has a wide network of lawyers and safe-houses he avails himself of in order to help people. Through the center's glass doors come people who are in trouble with loan sharks, stalkers, yakuza, and pimps. Women also come to escape abusive relationships and domestic violence.
Gen has run this center for seven years and is well-known in many sectors in Japan largely because of his books — nine of which are non-fiction anecdotes and memoirs, or motivational manuals, three of which are manga comics. The profits from book sales, along with donations from the general public, enable him to run the center.
Many of the people who come to the center are, he says, "often unable to go to the police, because their cases will be ignored, or are youngsters who can't approach their parents."
Gen has also appeared on television numerous times and gives regular talks.
Meeting Gen at the center, a simple, cafe-like office, the atmosphere is incongruously domestic. The fresh-faced, upbeat 52-year-old Osakan speaks with a thick Kansai dialect and exudes a larger-than-life demeanor that causes one to instantly warm to him.
"This year there are a lot of suicide-related inquiries," he says of people coming to the center for advice, "and of course domestic violence victims, but when I say violence in the home it is often from the children to the parents. Then there are hikikomori," he says of a growing number of people who hole up in their rooms, sometimes for years, "and kids running away, people getting chased by loan sharks and those with other money problems."
His personal motto is to "never reject anything that comes my way, and to not chase those who leave."
"My job is to fix people's wings so they can fly away. I want them to forget me as soon as possible. The reason being, when they meet me it is when things are at their worst. When they get better I want them to move on.
"Sometime they might mail me to let me know they have a kid, or give me a donation, but I never reply. I don't want to remind them that I helped them"
Naturally, not everyone is happy with what Gen is doing. Over the years, he has had "over 100 assailants" come in and threaten him with weapons. He has come close to being stabbed.
The location, he admits, inevitably leads to problems. "Kabukicho has a lot of people, and with this many people, many are bound to be solitary and lonely."
There more.
Click to continue
"Helping people is my goal. Even helping one person is meaningful.
"Even if things are difficult, I really understand when people feel like the underdog and I understand people's weaknesses."
With a chuckle, Gen adds, "I am like a baku," referring to the Japanese mythological tapir-like creature that devours nightmares. "But, instead of consuming nightmares, I eat violence, and it makes me powerful!"
(C) The Japan Times
Gates from hell: Hidemori Gen stands in front of
the entrace of Kabukicho in Shinjuku. Gen's
"Japan Social Minority Center" an NPO rescue center,
is located within. WILL ROBB PHOTO
Ex-bad guy runs rescue center for those on the run
By Manami-OkasakiContributing Writer
Kabukicho is Tokyo's infamous entertainment district and suburb of sleaze. A heavily populated square of sleepless activity northeast of Shinjuku Station, it is home to a haphazard mix of movie theaters, hostess bars, strip clubs, and seedy nightclubs. An illicit atmosphere permeates the air.
Safe haven: At his office Gen gives advice and help to many people on the run and those in trouble who don't know where to go or whom to turn to. Will Robb Photo
Toward the back entrance of the garishly neon-lit Kabukicho area, nestled between love hotels, host bars, and the predominantly Korean district of Shin Okubo, sits the Japan Social Minority Center, an NPO rescue center run by philanthropist, author, and public speaker Hidemori Gen. Age: 52.
The center caters to those on the run and those in trouble who don't know where to go, whom to turn to. The Japan Social Minority Center, staffed by three, is also dubbed a kakekomidera after the temples that used to shelter runaway women in the Edo Period. The center also provides advice for people in seemingly desperate situations.
A counseling service of sorts, its proprietor Gen also has a wide network of lawyers and safe-houses he avails himself of in order to help people. Through the center's glass doors come people who are in trouble with loan sharks, stalkers, yakuza, and pimps. Women also come to escape abusive relationships and domestic violence.
Gen has run this center for seven years and is well-known in many sectors in Japan largely because of his books — nine of which are non-fiction anecdotes and memoirs, or motivational manuals, three of which are manga comics. The profits from book sales, along with donations from the general public, enable him to run the center.
Many of the people who come to the center are, he says, "often unable to go to the police, because their cases will be ignored, or are youngsters who can't approach their parents."
Gen has also appeared on television numerous times and gives regular talks.
Meeting Gen at the center, a simple, cafe-like office, the atmosphere is incongruously domestic. The fresh-faced, upbeat 52-year-old Osakan speaks with a thick Kansai dialect and exudes a larger-than-life demeanor that causes one to instantly warm to him.
"This year there are a lot of suicide-related inquiries," he says of people coming to the center for advice, "and of course domestic violence victims, but when I say violence in the home it is often from the children to the parents. Then there are hikikomori," he says of a growing number of people who hole up in their rooms, sometimes for years, "and kids running away, people getting chased by loan sharks and those with other money problems."
His personal motto is to "never reject anything that comes my way, and to not chase those who leave."
"My job is to fix people's wings so they can fly away. I want them to forget me as soon as possible. The reason being, when they meet me it is when things are at their worst. When they get better I want them to move on.
"Sometime they might mail me to let me know they have a kid, or give me a donation, but I never reply. I don't want to remind them that I helped them"
Naturally, not everyone is happy with what Gen is doing. Over the years, he has had "over 100 assailants" come in and threaten him with weapons. He has come close to being stabbed.
The location, he admits, inevitably leads to problems. "Kabukicho has a lot of people, and with this many people, many are bound to be solitary and lonely."
There more. Click to continue
"Helping people is my goal. Even helping one person is meaningful.
"Even if things are difficult, I really understand when people feel like the underdog and I understand people's weaknesses."
With a chuckle, Gen adds, "I am like a baku," referring to the Japanese mythological tapir-like creature that devours nightmares. "But, instead of consuming nightmares, I eat violence, and it makes me powerful!"
(C) The Japan Times
