For 70-year-old Mikami, winter life on the streets of Tokyo has become so unbearable that flirting with a suicide fantasy has become his favorite pastime.
"I want a job, I love working," he said feebly, adding that the last time he landed a job was five years ago when he spent one night cleaning an office building, and only because another person could not work that night.
His plea is readily echoed by hundreds of clench-fisted "comrades" in the Sanya district of northeastern Tokyo.