Kamagasaki

In Japan’s second city in the world second largest economy lies a piece of Osaka which is far from the conventional image of Japan. Away from the glitzy stores, high tech, glossy arcades, lay the underbelly of Japan.

Kamagasaki is not the Japan we know. It is a city within the city. The Japanese economy is very labour intensive and Kamagasaki is home to some 30,000 manual day labourers. Much of its population grew up in poverty, but recently some of the population has found poverty. It is a town where people go to earn money and escape the shame of unemployment. It is a town that is increasing being populated by redundant shop owners and ‘salary men.’

It is also a town run by the Yakuza, profiteering from the labour gangs, drugs, gambling and alcohol. Kamagsaki was once the place to start a new life; it now seems more like the place where life slowly, but surely fades away.