Homeless World Cup gives Japanese Ishikawa man a new start
Enjoy the inspiring story of Yoshihiro Matsuda, who captained Japan at the Paris 2011 Homeless World Cup.
Yoshihiro Matsuda sells The Big Issue at Shibuya Station, Tokyo.
Photo by The Asahi ShimbunYoshihiro Matsuda, 49, remembers the night he first slept outdoors in Tokyo.
“Hey, mister. Mind if I lie down near you?” Matsuda asked a man wrapped in an old blanket in front of a bus stop at Shinjuku Station around New Year's Day, two years ago. He remembers shivering with cold and uncertainty.
Matsuda was born in Ishikawa Prefecture and had been working in sales in Nagoya when his father died of cancer in 1998. His mother was stricken by cancer two years later. He quit his job to take care of her, but she died six months later.
He felt he had no one relying on him anymore and left home with just one bag. He didn’t tell anyone where he was going.