‘Net café refugee’ is discriminatory, café association protests

After the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare presented statistics suggesting that there are now some 5,400 people who get by as day laborers and spend their nights in internet café booths, dubbed “net café refugees” by Japanese media, the Japan Complex Café Association (JCCA) issued a statement on Wednesday protesting on the usage of the word, saying it is a discriminatory.

The JCCA, , representing some 1,300 cafes, pointed out in their statement that “there are certainly some (among our customers) who have a hard time getting regular employment, but for the JCCA, these people are very important customers.“

The statement also went on to criticize the news reports of painting an exaggeratedly grim picture of the situation. “Some reports make it seem as if groups of vagrants and homeless people gather at the internet cafés every night. We would like media to consider how such reports can scare away customers.“

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2 responses to “‘Net café refugee’ is discriminatory, café association protests”

Global Voices Online » Japan: Life out of a Manga Kissa, Aug 30 at 4:36 pm :

[…] and Welfare has found that the much talked about phenomenon of “net cafe refugees“, a controversial term used to refer to people without homes who sleep in Internet cafes or “manga […]

Top 60 Japanese buzzwords of 2007 ::: Pink Tentacle, Aug 19 at 2:04 pm :

[…] 41. Net cafe refugees [net cafe nanmin - ネットカフェ難民]: “Net cafe refugees” is an expression used by the Japanese media to refer to the growing number of day laborers who spend their nights in 24-hour internet cafe booths. The Japan Cafe Complex Association (JCCA) opposes the media’s use of the word “refugee” to describe these important customers. A government survey this year estimates there are about 5,400 net cafe refugees in Japan. [More] […]