Urban lower-class society in modern Osaka

This article examines the historical development of urban lower class society in modern Osaka. Taking into account developments from the early modern period, it analyzes the transformation, expansion, and structure of modern Osaka's urban lower class. Early modern Osaka's largest slum district, Nagamachi, was dismantled in the late-nineteenth century. However, as industrialization and urbanization advanced, new slum districts appeared in southern Osaka's Nipponbashi neighborhood and just south of the city in an area known as Kamagasaki. Notably, the slums that developed in Nipponbashi were very different from those that formed in Kamagasaki. Osaka's slums became even more diverse in the early-twentieth century. Not only did Nishihama, Osaka's longstanding “outcast community” (hisabetsu buraku), continue to expand, but also new slum districts populated by Korean immigrants and Okinawan migrants emerged. Accordingly, urban lower class society in modern Japan was comprised of a diverse range of groups. The residents of Osaka's slums were neither the “negative image” of the modern citizen, nor passive actors. As industrialization transformed urban society, impoverished migrants traveled to Osaka, married, and gathered together in back-alley tenements, over time building communities of their own. Influenced by new urban policies introduced in the early twentieth century, lower-class city residents began to join together and participate in collective efforts to obtain improved living conditions. Over time, many grew increasingly aware of their rights as citizens. The disputes that occurred in the Nipponbashi neighborhood surrounding the Substandard Housing District Reform Project are a manifestation of that enhanced awareness.

► Examines the development of urban lower class society in modern Osaka. ► Discusses lower-class city residents' increasing awareness of their rights. ► Considers the place of the lower classes within the development of urban society.