Men of Uncertainty

Tom Gill is Associate Professor at the Institute of Social Sciences, Tokyo University.

"The topic is important because it illustrates one of the little-known underlying bases of Japan's huge economy, as well as internal contradictions in Japan's supposedly smooth-running society, and Japan's poor record at handling specific social problems. The writing is elegant and crisp. The topic is fascinating. The author knows the subject extraordinarily well, and has organized his material into a truly fine book." — Roman Cybriwsky, author of Tokyo: The Shogun's City at the Twenty-first Century"This is an important book, comprehensively treating a stratum of Japanese workers who have not yet been thoroughly described in an English-language monograph. It will make a major impact." — Gary P. Leupp, author of Servants, Shophands, and Laborers in the Cities of Tokugawa Japan

• List of IllustrationsList of TablesAcknowedgmentsNote on the Text1. Introduction First EncounterDay Laborers in the Political Economy of JapanFieldworkOutline of the Present StudySakae2. General Historical BackgroundOverviewMushuku and HininHiyatoi : Burakumin :: Hinin : Eta?The Preindustrial ProletariatLicense, Welfare, ControlThe Ninsoku Yoseba of 1790The Industrial RevolutionThe Interwar YearsThe Postwar YosebaThe Modern Construction IndustryTadao3. Ethnography of KotobukiLocationLandscape/AtmospherePopulationHistoryEmploymentResidencePlay and Other Network ActivitiesBureaucratic SystemsHealthThe UnionKohei4. Ethnography of Other Doya-Gai and YosebaSan'ya (Tokyo)Kamagasaki (Osaka)Sasashima (Nagoya)Day Laboring in Fukuoka PrefectureOther YosebaNoriyuki5. Who Are These Men?Geographical BackgroundOccupational BackgroundAgeMarital StatusSibling Group Size and Sibling Birth OrderThe War and the Big MoveRon-chan6. The Meaning of HomeWhy Mr. Shinohara Sleeps in the StreetHomelessness: Narrow and Broad DefinitionsSymbolic Representations of HomeKuriyama7. Marginal Identity in the YosebaMarginalityFreedomFateKimitsu8. The Role of the Yoseba in Contemporary Japanese SocietyZoned ToleranceMarginal GeographyThe View from the MainstreamThe View from InsideYoseba versus Skid RowContainment versus DispersalShigehiro9. Epilgue: The Rise of Uncertainty, the Fall of SolidarityAppendix: Statistical TablesNotesGlossary of Yoseba TermsBibliographyIndex