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Last Modified 10/05/01

 
A run-down area glossary about labourers' lives

ao-kan
Sleeping in the open. There are two opinions about the origin of this word. As for the first, "ao" means "aozora" (blue sky), "kan" means "cold", therefore the word expresses that the homeless have to sleep under the cold sky. Another opinion is that "ao" also means "blue sky" and "kan" means "kani-shukuhaku-jo" (a doss house), so it is an irony that one can see the blue sky inside your "room".
"Ao-kan" sometimes means "a rape in the open" in Kansai area, so some people hate to use this word.
 
doya
Doss house. "Yado" means "hotel" or "inn". It is said that doss houses were so horrible to stay that labourers thought they could not call doss houses "yado". They started to say the word "ya do" backward as if in self mockery, so "ya do" became "do ya".
Kotobuki area was constructed for a decade from 1955 to 1965. It seems the new doya town compared to other towns. Doya in Kotobuki have characteristic rules, for instance, there is no closing time and guests do not have to put off their shoes at the entrance (They can take their shoes to their rooms). In a sense, they are not "guests" but "residents", and the doya are not like "inns" but like "flats". It can be thought that the working condition of dockers in Yokohama port influenced rules of the doya.
 
doya-ken
A doya voucher that Yokohama Naka Welfare Office issues. The voucher covers doss houses whose lodging charges are 1,400 yen or less. Even if one get this voucher, one have to stroll around and search for a vacant room by oneself. There is a case that a window of the doya does not accept the voucher. Sometimes a doya-ken doesn't work.
 
maguro
Robbery. "Shinogi" is the same meaning at San-ya in Tokyo. Robbers aim at labourers who have a good round sum after a tour of duty. They also aim at old or sick persons intentionally and commit robbery. It is never forgivable for all, so once the robber is found, he will understand how all burn with anger through his own body.
Incidentally, the original meaning of "maguro" is "a tuna fish".
 
pan-ken
A coupon ticket that Yokohama Naka Welfare Office issues. One can buy foods with this ticket. It is not allowed to buy a cigarette and alcohol. But a labourer may get one ticket in a day and the value is only 660 yen (tax excluded).
 
seikatsu-hogo
"Seikatsu" is "livelihood", "hogo" is "protection". Japanese livelihood protection is stipulated in the Constitution Art. 25. that the nation is responsible for the standard of living. The protection concretely consists of 7 kinds of support; livelihood assistance, housing assistance, educational expense assistance, medical benefit, maternity benefit, job assistance, funeral and wedding expense assistance.
When one applies for the support, one's condition has to be examined persistently over the counter, for instance "Why don't you get any job?" Sometimes the process is embarrassing, so quite a few people say "I feel awkward in applying for the support," or "I don't want to ask for the support." In addition, "unemployment" is not acceptable as the reason of getting the support. The reason has to be "an illness". Above all, the most unreasonable fault of this system is one having no fixed address may not apply for it. When a volunteer group went on patrol in Kawasaki city, they met the homeless who recall that their application for the support had been refused by a welfare office. They were told "Fix your room in a doya and come again. And then I'll accept your application," or "You should go back to your hometown."