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Comment by cobbzilla | Hacker News Reader

Options or not, salarymen sleeping on the street does seem to be a thing in Tokyo. This is far from the first article I’ve seen about it.

As for an explanation of the behavior, I don’t think that was the point. This photographer is less interested in “the answer”, but is presenting “the question” in a new way. If you found it provocative then it worked.

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> street does seem to be a thing in Tokyo

it is not specific to Tokyo at all. Go to the center of Osaka, you will find drunk salarymen every day of the week.

You seem to be very passionate that the article is somehow misguided. However I, and a lot of others on this site have lived and visited large metropolitan cities all over the world. I can clearly remember seeing passed out men in suits in Tokyo and no where else in the world (anecdote). There are passed out people in other cities, but not businessmen in suits. The article clearly states that the photographers criteria was that the person was sleeping in a suit in a odd configuration. The article is interesting and accurate.

I don't quite understand your comment, Osaka is in Japan so ekianjo wasn't really dismissing the claim of the parent. Furthermore they provide interesting context as to why this might be more prevalent in Japan in other comments in this submission. I don't really see them being "very passionate that the article is somehow misguided", just adding some much needed context for people like me who have never set foot in the land of the rising sun.

You will find drunk salarymen in the evenings yes but seeing them passed out alone outside is very rare in Osaka. Not uncommon on trains however.

Sorry I typed hastily, I’d only had first hand experience of it in Tokyo; my mistake; agree this is an more generic urban phenomenon.

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