Japan

DIVERSITY SOCCER ASSOCIATION

Originating as the street soccer programme by The Big Issue Japan Foundation, the Diversity Soccer Association was founded in 2017, and became a registered charity in 2020.

With a vision to realise a truly socially inclusive society where nobody is ever left out, Diversity Soccer Association tackles a range of issues concerning social exclusion in Japan through football.

A number of activities are included in their programming, including conducting surveys and research on social inclusion through sport, networking with overseas organisations, supporting regular practices of Nobushi Japan (their flagship ‘homeless’ soccer program) and other partners, and organising the Diversity Cup Tournament.

Tomoyuki Hoshino has come on as Diversity Soccer Association’s first ambassador. A renowned novelist, Tomoyuki Hoshino has been a supporter for many years, and his recent work features an inclusive football community, modelled after Nobushi Japan and other programmes of Diversity Soccer Association.

ORGANISATION DETAILS

PARTICIPANTS

Any vulnerable and socially excluded person of any age, who is experiencing difficulties concerning homelessness, social withdrawal, psychiatric disorder, disabilities, addiction.

LOCATIONS

Nobushi Japan's practices are held in Tokyo and Osaka, and there are partner organisations in Miyagi, Fukushima, Chiba, Kanagawa, and Okinawa.

Country statistics

19 out of 189 in Human Development Index rating
(UNDP, 2019)

$40,540 Average annual salary per person (World Bank, 2021)

Poverty was only formally recognised in japan in 2009.

Located in Eastern Asia, Japan has a population of 124.6 million with one third of the population residing in and around Tokyo.

It wasn’t until 2009 that poverty was recognised in Japan. Before this it was impossible to receive support, so organisations were created to support these individuals. Now, “social lodgings” are provided by social regional services at reasonable rates (Habitat World Map).

While homelessness is reported to be going down in Japan, the Advocacy and Research Centre for Homelessness in Tokyo has discovered that there are approximately 2.5 times more people sleeping rough in central Tokyo at night than the official figure from the daytime counts (ARCH, 2018).

Japan annually records the most earthquakes in the world. In 2020 there were 186,000 new displacements due to disasters. In the future there is an expected average of 147,894 displacements per year from disasters, including earthquakes, flood, storm surge, tsunami and cyclonic winds (Internal Displacement, 2021).