OSAKA -- As the Osaka Municipal Government's deadline looms for thousands of the city's homeless to change their residence registrations or be struck from the books, the two sides are still far apart about establishing bona-fide addresses for them to be able to vote in next month's local polls.
The Osaka High Court on March 1 stunned city officials when it overturned a lower court ruling and ordered Osaka to suspend removal of a 34-year-old construction worker's city registration.
The man was one of nearly 3,300 homeless people who had registered their places of residence as one of three private welfare facilities in the Kamagasaki day-laborer district. Currently, there are just over 2,200 homeless who are calling those facilities their addresses.