Kamagasaki
Old name for part of Nishinari-ku, Japan
Kamagasaki (釜ヶ崎) is an old place name for a part of Nishinari-ku in Osaka, Japan, which has the largest day laborer concentration in Japan: 30,000 people are estimated to live in every 2,000 meter radius in this area, part of which has been in slum-like conditions.
The area surrounding Kamagasaki is upscale, clean and attracts tourists with popular sightseeing spots including the Tsutenkaku, Shinsekai, and Nipponbashi. However, in Kamagasaki, homeless people can often be seen sleeping in the streets throughout the day, and doya (ドヤ) hotels (cheap temporary rooms intended for day laborers) abound in the area. These hotels have recently become popular amongst backpackers from outside Japan due to their cheap price and proximity to rail transportation. The city government of Osaka does not allow the name "Kamagasaki" to appear on official maps and discourages the use of the name in the media. Sections of four different towns — Nishinari-ku Taishi (西成区太子), Haginochaya (萩之茶屋), Sannō (山王), North Hanazono (花園北) and Tengachaya (天下茶屋) — are collectively known as Kamagasaki.
As part of slum clearance in preparation for World Expo 2025, the government ordered the closure of the Airin Labor and Welfare Center, a symbol of Kamagasaki since its opening in 1970.
History
Kamagasaki has been a place name since 1922. An accurate count of occupants has never been produced, even in the national census, due to the large population of day laborers who lack permanent addresses. Daily life in Kamagasaki in the 1950s was photographed by Seiryū Inoue, who won the 1961 Newcomer's Prize awarded by the Japan Photography Critics' Society for "One Hundred Faces of Kamagasaki".
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Kamagasaki” as old name for part of Nishinari-ku, Japan. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as old name for part of Nishinari-ku, Japan. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1722811. Authority coordinates are 34.648, 135.502. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2025, 1970, 1922 and 1961.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Kamagasaki”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Kamagasaki primary sources, Kamagasaki archive and Kamagasaki research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kamagasaki”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Kamagasaki” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.