Seikatsu Hogo Tokku wo Deyo.
A story of healing and revolution around poverty, discrimination, and inequality.
In 1945, after a major war left the country in ruins and filled with homeless people, Japan implemented two policies to promote welfare and maintain public order. One was to rebuild Tokyo and create a new city called "New Capital Tokyo" [Shinto Tokyo].
The other was establishing "Special Zones for Public Assistance" (commonly known as Mantra Arya) where the government would guarantee food, clothing, shelter, and a livelihood to those who have difficulty living independently due to incapacity, illness, or disability.
In 2018, Fuka, a high school student who grew up in an ordinary middle-class family in the new capital of Tokyo. After she was deemed "of poor capabilities" by a national test, she received a "Special Zone Notice". This special zone only has a squat toilet and when using it, water must be filled into the tank with a bucket. No shower either. Water needs to be fetched outside the house and boiled in a boiler which occasionally runs out of kerosene. No tea either, the only drink available are beer and highballs. For her, who had somehow assumed that she would somehow be able to live and be somehow happy in this country, it was a bolt from the blue...
Notes:
- Rannked 11th in Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2023.
