My project explores how people in London and Tokyo react or do not react consciously when encountering homeless people asking for money.
Whilst commuting by the London Overground, I encountered homeless people begging quite often. I grew up in Tokyo but had never been asked for change on the train or the street face-to-face. Every time I met a person asking for money, I found myself in an uncomfortable dilemma and, afraid of making a mistake, did nothing. I presume many of the other quiet passengers on the Overground experienced anxiety as well.
The discomfort from 'not knowing' motivated this project.
I have attempted to create a moment that disrupts routinized behaviour patterns and opens up the possibility of fully human communication. I also set up a blog to record the stories I experienced on the streets: these stories represent a chain of ongoing events in the project.
Discomfort on the London Overground
In September 2019, I moved to London to study. One day I was on a London Overground train on my way home from Goldsmiths, University of London, located near New Cross Gate station. A man stood up and asked for change. While I could not hear his exact words, it was apparent that he was asking for money. I wanted to react but did not know what to do. I glanced at the other passengers. There was no reaction. I kept my head down and followed the other passengers. I found it shocking that people, including me, ignored someone like this and wondered how he felt in his situation and how the other passengers felt.
I was surprised at what had happened because, although I knew many homeless people beg on the street, I did not know that some homeless people ask for money on the trains. Moreover, I had never been addressed by a homeless person before. It was the first time I had lived abroad and I had not yet settled down to commuting. When I noticed the homeless man, I had no idea what to do, so I looked at the ground and glanced surreptitiously at how the other passengers were reacting to him. Nobody did anything. I followed their example. The homeless man started asking each passenger one by one. However, the passengers remained silent. I felt nervous and afraid and I wanted this awkward situation to pass quickly. However, he passed me without asking. I was relieved not to have to react to him face-to-face but also embarrassed because I felt that he had not treated me as an adult; it was as if I did not belong here in the UK. He moved to the next carriage and started begging again. This was my first encounter with homeless people on the Overground.