With 92,000 yen in her pocket, the 52-year-old woman left her native city in northern Kanto for Tokyo on March 15, seeking a new job in the nation's capital after she was fired from a hotel where she had worked for 10 years.
In sharp contrast to her initial dreams of landing a hotel job here, the woman found herself homeless, living in a park in Kita Ward and relying on doughnuts dumped by a nearby fast food shop for her daily meals.
"I could not believe how easy it was for a person to fall into homelessness in this wealthy country," said the unmarried woman, who refused to give her name or background.