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San'Ya Blues: Laboring Life in Contemporary Tokyo
San'Ya Blues Laboring Life in Contemporary Tokyo Author:Edward Fowler "Anyone who believes that Japanese society is a homogeneous, well-oiled machine--a stereotype often sounded in American media--would do well to read this gritty, firsthand account of life for day-laborers in Tokyo's shunned ghetto district, San'ya. . . . [Fowler's] descriptive powers and cultural understanding offer a vivid context for the oral ... more »accounts of San'ya inhabitants describing their personal histories and daily lives. . . . A vivid, if depressing, account of an urban Japanese underclass that bears a surprising resemblance to America's own inner-city population."--Publishers Weekly "Accepted [by the day-laborers], Fowler was able to gain a confidence that . . . allows him to present life-stories in ways both informative and surprising. . . . Fowler's unabashedly personal approach guarantees not only that the book's subject come refreshingly alive, but that its author does as well."--Times Literary Supplement "This book offers a vivid personal tour of the [San'ya] district and its denizens, culled from many repeated visits by Fowler which culminated in a six-week stint as a day laborer. . . . [He] came to realize that . . . '[San'ya's] inhabitants collectively give the lie to so much of what is being said and written about Japan.'"--Japan Quarterly« less