Matsubara Hideaki (Kamagasaki Patrol)
1. Modern Period (Edo-Meiji-to WWII)
To understand the conditions of Japanese Homeless, especially its government policies, we have to look back to the yoseba. The framework of homeless issue was created during Edo period. It was at the end of 18th century when it started around 1782 a big famine resulted in the sudden rise of the price of rice across Japan. This lead to the peasants revolt, hitting the life of lower class the hardest. The situation created many homeless living in Osaka and Tokyo.
Yoseba was built as a forced labor station, hunting homeless and giving works and rehabilitate them as the government put it. But in fact, it was for the public security purpose to rule over them. Flight from the station was sentenced to death, violation of orders or neglected ones were exiled. Later they were slaved off for national projects such as gold mining and colonization of minor islands off of Izu peninsula, there were many deaths from starvation and sickness and its policy lasted until the end of Edo period. After the establishment of Meiji government by the bourgeois revolution of 1869, the Nojyukusha Banishment Law and the Nojyukusya Concentration Camp Order in the following year were issued. Under these two new laws, many were randomly captured and taken in, slaved off and killed under harsh circumstances at land reclamation of northern regions and colonization of Ainu territories. The stories of Nojyukusha are shared with the millions of Korean, Chinese, and many Asians who suffered from being taken away and put into a forced laboror exercised by Imperial Japan as well as the case of Asahi Construction Company who had slaughtered day laborers under their control by violence.
We must not be ignorant of these existed laws as the old government policies when we look at the existing laws under present government. Those who had managed to escape from the camps and slavery had settled in and around untouchable's villages, they had formed slum communities living off of being day labors or doing dirty jobs in the city. Kamagasaki of Osaka, of its roots from flophouses since Edo period, had developed as a yoseba with the economy of the construction works of Meiji Expos and Emperor's official visit. While Kamagasaki had taken many more men from local villages and the city's unemployed and worked as a big pool of cheap and disposable labors force. This was kept as an extraterritorial town exposed to naked violence to supply labors in the market.
2. After WWII
The defeat of Imperial Japan (1945) forced many unemployed to become Nojyukusha, and created new poor communities, occuping housings such as shacks along riverside, by the roads, under bridges, or in any vacant spaces. Osaka city built Umeda Rehabilitation Center as a way to deal with vagabonds and street children by putting them into the detention center and, at the same time, clearing out the slum towns. This was done by the team-works of police and railroad workers and the Osaka administion. The 50's economic boom helped by Korean War and continuing Japanese capital growth and industrial reformation, created many job opportunities for capitalists who saw the Yoseba day laborers as valuable resources to build city infrastructures. They were hired one day and laid off at the end of the day, and hired again the next day, taking advantage of Yoseba as the bottom of multiple subcontracts channeling into labor market for
construction industry.
In addition, Pentad-council (Osaka pref., Osaka city, Osaka pref. police, retained academics from Osaka City University and from the General Council of Trade Unions of Japan) was formed among administrative, law enforcement, and capitalists to discuss the issued of public security to prevent riots by day laborers. Osaka Pref. took control of labors (Nishinari Labor welfare Center), while Osaka City dealt with public welfare (guidance clinic-Jikyoukan), Public safety by Osaka Pref. police (the size as big as regional prefecture police office in Nishinari town), and the retained academics control and regulate how the day laborers were supposed to live. To secure the system, Kenrouhou (construction works law) was passed in 1976.
Due to unstable working conditions affected by unexpected weather and seasonality, it further locked in the structure of unemployment and living outdoor. They had to live under tremendous difficulties with a physically demanding job, with compensation for accidents being cheated and underpaid, or with being unpaid. They were even expelled from applying for the basic social security system, which is everybody's right. In the 80's, followed after Britain and the U.S. neo-liberalism, giant corporations aligned and formed a merger themselves, we have seen privatization of the national railways and the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation, along with the crushing of labor union movements and the reforming labor movement as a right-wing section (the birth of Rengo- government affiliated labor union under the capital-labor cooperation policy), and Industry of labor dispatch Law, legally allowing workers to be sold freely as a business commodity. This law had successfully made it easy for the Yoseba by reducing itself to a mere form and triggered its reformation resulting in the registered employers of the Nishinari Labor Welfare Center for their ease of business, not the people's.
3. After the fall of bubble economy
The main reason of the sudden rise of Nojyukusha population is from the recent unemployment condition caused by structural depression of globalization economy. The present Nojyukusha are mainly of two types. One is the elderly of day laborers from Yoseba. The other is the poor people who lost jobs and houses after the collapse of bubble economy. The latter does not go through Yoseba, and consist of over half of the homeless population (30,000), and it is even predicted to grow. The government of Japan has lead structural reform as a primordial necessity, protecting the industrial higher order of scrap-and-built structure. Without a sucking agent such as Yoseba, discharged workers from the rapid cycle of scrap-and build economical policy, are put under permanent unemployment, kept as unstable and low paid labors and in the end, kicked out on the streets. In the early 90's, Nojyukusha were sporadically spread to parks and riverside building shacks and tents, protecting themselves against governments clean-ups by resisting and forming communities. The socially contradicted condition of homeless issue becomes evident as a structural unemployment problem.
Responding to the given condition, the government has found a liaison commission of homeless issues in 6 major cities, and made a public announcement of urgent steps to be taken administratively. Nagai Park in Osaka was the first for their trial steps, a pilot plan- eliminating of Nojyukusha for the purpose of making Osaka an Internationally sound city, attempted to lure the Olympic game and other city planning events. They created Nagai shelter, setting examples of appropriate park uses. Public assistance was given only to the sheltered ones, forcing to choose between entering the shelter or leaving the park Guards were stationed so that no new camps were possibly set. Jobs were offered only to those who were sheltered. The assistance and providing of man-power from supporting groups for the management of the shelter and guards were given as guidance in the contexts of Nagai Park Special Measures. This has proven to be so during Nagai Struggle of 2000-2001, and the Nagai measure became a blueprint of nasty Homeless Special Measures Law- supporting homeless self-reliance. We can see that this Homeless Special Measure Law are meant to hide the core of the unemployment problem, which was systematically and structurally made, away from appealing publicly, re-identifying Nojyukusha as the people who use public spaces unwillingly.
As a new class, they are to take individual efforts, meaning individual responsibilities. The core problem, the economic structure and policies, was concealed, and the law ensures that they are divided into individuals and being disposed properly. Connotation of the government affiliated homeless movement which supports the government's new policies (the movement that abandoned the people's struggle including riots, and putting under administrative subcontract and project), at the same time, dismantling homeless community camps, the fundamental condition for resistance was the targeted goals to take care of the homeless problems.
The recent condition of Homeless Movement and its immediate objectives:
A) Homeless condition
Homeless Movement in Japan is based on its over-wintering struggle, being the most critical aspect of its advancement. We are to set four objectives for 2003-4.
1) Down the violent employment station (Hanba)
2) Not shelters but jobs
3) Resist elimination and forcing into shelters
4) Activists solidarity in the Osaka over-wintering struggle
1) With the pursuit of Asahi Construction Company-the lowest subcontractor, that had brutally murdered three day laborers, we raise an issue of monopolization of construction industry by a few base contractors.
We also criticize the administration's neglect on labor issues, malfunctioning of employment stations, swindling of workers public assistance by the bogus bunkhouses, looming of illegal bunkhouses, all left alone.
2) We criticize of using and promoting of concentration camp-like shelters as a new administrative employment agent. We do not let them lead the special labor program, achieved by the workers struggle. Stop their intention of both handing its management over to an affiliated group and diminishing the program. And we are determined to live by creating jobs, looking for jobs, and holding onto what is right for us.
3) We look for a solidarity with the people of Umeda area, Osaka whose lives are currently under pressures and dependency due to a sudden retreat of an NGO run homeless service station which had lasted 12 months. The NGO had recruited the homeless to go into their shelters encouraging to abandon their tent living. We are to resist all forms of oppressions and establish economical independence with solidarity.
4) Sharing of our past struggles and opposing the Homeless Special Law. We are to create a stronger relationship among three different regional areas and like minded groups.
Currently the Osaka movement has jointly worked with other homeless movements in Tokyo and Nagoya for the Asahi Construction Company case, distributing and seeking info., bringing labor disputes, which had temporarily won over some of the workers unpaid wages.
Future objectives:
1) how we are cooperatively and economically going to continue our struggle against further eradication of tents pushed by the Homeless Special Law
2) networking of anti-eradication by protecting and enhancing the existing base camps looking in and beyond Osaka
3) struggling against bogus bunkhouses which swindle workers public assistance (they approach elderly workers to help them apply for the public assistance (80 to 90% of the provided \130,000-140,000 were swindled; estimated victims are around 5,000-10,000 in Osaka alone)
4) creating the movement with labor dispute and anti-unemployment struggle from base camps and special labor program
5) International solidarity with other homeless fronts to resist neo-liberal globalization
