TOKYO — Kudo lost both his job and his home on the same cursed day. His construction boss told him to pack his things and clear out of the company dorm that very afternoon.
Just like that, the single 30-year-old from the northern island of Hokkaido joined the ranks of Japan's burgeoning economic underclass. He slept on the subway and camped out at a Denny's, pretending to read a book while sneaking catnaps. He spent his days at a pay phone, dialing for work.
He eventually pitched a tent in a Tokyo park, where he made his toughest call of all: to his parents, to let them know he was living on the street.
"They were worried," said Kudo, a serious, rail-thin man who asked to be identified by a nickname because he was ashamed of his plight. "It was the last thing I wanted to do."
In the world's second-largest economy, the global financial crisis has forced part-time workers such as Kudo to face a harsh new reality.
Over the last few years, temporary employees have gone from being a rarity in Japan to accounting for one-third of the workforce of 67 million. They enjoy far fewer protections than full-time workers -- placing their necks squarely on the layoff chopping block.
By March, the government predicts, 85,000 part-timers will fall prey to haken-giri, or temporary-worker cutbacks -- a relatively small number compared with U.S. layoffs but high for a nation where job security has long been a staple.
On Wednesday, embattled Prime Minister Taro Aso made the plight of part-timers a major piece of a proposed stimulus package. Aso pledged to create 1.6 million jobs, partly by turning part-time jobs into full-time ones.
Economists warn that Japan's current hard times could prove even worse than those of the 1990s -- the nation's so-called lost decade of economic stagnation -- and become the most severe economic setback here since World War II.
Every week, it seems, the news gets worse. Exports have fallen at a record pace as the global slowdown has stunted demand for the nation's signature products: cars and electronics.
As a result, industrial production recently plunged more than at any time in half a century. Corporate giant Toyota announced its first operating loss in 70 years, and Sony reported its biggest-ever annual loss, nearly $3 billion. This morning, Sony announced that its profit in the three months ending Dec. 31 plunged 95%, from 200.2 billion yen ($2.2 billion) a year earlier to 10.4 billion yen ($115 million). The figures were in line with preliminary results.
