Paper short abstract:

This paper uses document collection, interviews, and participatory observation to capture Tokyo's (former) day laborer quarter San'ya as a spatially confined enclave within the Japanese welfare state, and analyzes its ongoing transformation.

Paper long abstract:

While the fragmentation of Japan's postwar welfare state and the ongoing turn towards more general social security provision have often been acknowledged, the spatial dimension of welfare state fragmentation in Japan has received less attention. Based on document collection, interviews, and participatory observation, this paper captures Tokyo's (former) day laborer quarter San'ya as a spatially confined enclave within the Japanese welfare state, and analyzes its ongoing transformation. San'ya is a small area on both sides of the border between Arakawa Ward and Taitō Ward in Tokyo. In the postwar era, it became home to thousands of men who sought short-term work in Sanya's day labor market (yoseba) and lived in simple hostels (doya). Due to shrinking labor opportunities after the burst of the economic bubble and the aging of the workers, San'ya has gradually turned from a day laborer into a "welfare quarter" (fukushi-gai), accompanied by social problems such as alcoholism, mental illness, and homelessness. In 2019, about 3,800 (former) day laborers still lived in the 145 doya remaining in the area. More than 90% were social welfare recipients.

Until today, San'ya displays forms of public social security provision that are specific to the area. Moreover, it has long served as a sanctuary for people with nowhere else to go, offering a distinct local social infrastructure, a sense of belonging, and the freedom to meet, drink, or live in the streets. While most of the remaining (former) day laborers intend to stay in San'ya for the rest of their lives, various interrelated processes are challenging the heterotopic character of the area. Since the early 2000s, several (former) doya have opened up to international tourists, and housing development brought new residents to the area. State policies have supported both processes. The metropolitan government also tries to move doya residents into extra-local public housing facilities. Other private and public actors have (diverging) interests in retaining the welfare quarter. Yet, with the advent of new interest groups, middle-class values gain prominence, and deviant use of public space has come under scrutiny, thus undermining the area's sanctuary functions.