The Health and Welfare Ministry plans to set up next year two centers to accommodate around 1,000 homeless people each, according to ministry sources.
The shelters -- unprecedented in scale in Japan -- are likely to be located in Tokyo and Osaka, where the homeless populations are concentrated, the sources said.
The homeless will be able to stay for up to six months in the centers, which will not offer meals but will be equipped with showers, the sources said.
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