Anthropology 254 | Viewing Notes

Viewing Notes for "Knocking on Heaven's Door"

A film by Brice Pedroletti. Photography by Toshi Ota. Editing by Catherine Minier. 2003. 62 minutes. Japanese with French or English subtitles.

Kamagasaki in Osaka is the largest day laborers’ district in Japan, and this documentary was done by a young French journalist who has lived and worked in Tokyo for a number of years. The central figure in his portrait of this underclass is Shintarō, a university graduate and former salaryman, who is a day laborer and amateur musician.

The following is an update from Brice Pedroletti sent via email in August, 2004.

"I was back in Japan for 3 weeks until July 25. When I arrived, I learned by chance that Shintarō, the bluesman in my films, had died, probably on July 7th. The cause was a blood hemorrhage, probably due to heat and alcohol. It was rather sad, and I went to the funeral in Osaka. It was held in a small place, not too far from Kamagasaki. His 80-year-old mother, his sister, and his elder brother attended. Shintaro was the youngest of six siblings. He had not been home in the last 10 years because when he did visit once, someone came around to demand that the family to repay his debts. He has a wife who lives in the US with their daughter of 12. The funeral service was very moving; people displayed pictures of his concerts and posters and postcards from my documentary. His songs were playing in the background. There was the jacket he wore for his performances, along with his guitar, packs of beer, sake, and cigarettes. Quite many people attended: friends , musicians, young people, and a few from Kamagasaki. One fellow in a weelchair brought cigarettes; another fellow, somewhat drunk, poured sake into Shintarō's mouth! A Buddhist priest recited mantras. At the end, we put everything in the coffin with him: the cards, CDs, flowers, letters, etc..The coffin was carried to a car, which took it to the city crematorium. Shintarō's elder brother made a speech in the street before the car departed. He said also he didn't intend to repay any debts because Shintaro had not lived in the family house anymore for a long time."

The sociologist Anne Imamura recently posed a set of questions Mr. Pedroletti about the documentary, which I quote below:

Q: What was the funding for the group events such as the concert where food was served?

A: The concerts are held at different times of the year, by unions and NGO. The trend being that former far left-daily labor unions are becoming more like NGO as there is fewer people working. This one was held at Shogatsu, during New year. I think they have very little funding. I don't know actually where it comes from, but they serve food they gather from people, and cook it. All organizers are volonteer. It's a tiny tiny budget I think. Maybe some money comes from member fees. I don 't know if there is anything from the ward or the city. I doubt it.

Q: Was the female enka singer at the beginning one of the homeless persons?

A: No, the female singer is a local performer. She probably performs free, out of charity.

Q: The homeless man who once had regular employment and now seems to spend a great deal of time composing and playing music (and who served as our "guide" through many segments of the video)--did he go to Doshisha? Does he make a living from his music?

A: Yes, that's Shintaro. He was borderline, had been homeless, but when we were filming he had a small room very close to Kamagasaki. And yes, he had been to Doshisha. I guess he was the kind of guy living around like a hippie, but it got harder with age and alcohol. He made a living by doing odd jobs, and by getting the unemployment allowance for dayworkers. Shintaro used to buy from the yakuza the missing stamps he needed for the payment of the allowance. He could not make a living with music : he was giving concernts with friends, but it didn't pay at all or not much.

Q: What welfare benefits do the homeless have in addition to the unemployment compensation depicted in your video?

A: The unemployment allowance is for workers or for those who are able to show they have worked even though it might be fake stamps like explained in the movie. In addition to that, there is the "seikatsu hodo" law, that gives a minimum allowance to over 65 years' old people, when it's proven that they have no means to live on and nobody to be supported by. One of the NGO, called IRYOREN (the one that holds an outside consulting booth in my movie, with the SDF guy consulting about his health) is helping people in Kamagasaki get that allowance. They help the people deal with the red tape and with the abuses of the bureaucrats. There are many hurdles, so that many homeless, or destitute people of 65+ cannot receive it. For example, it needs to be proved that these people don't have anybody to rely on. In theory, the administration needs to check with living relatives if they really can't support the person. Obviously, it's very embarrassing for people who have cut bridges with their family or are ashamed to be seen as destitute to have the administration call them and ask whether they support or not the person. I think the NGO is helping to deal with this issue as well by finding arrangements and standing by homeless people.

More recently, I heard there have been initiatives to use this law in order to turn some of Kamagasaki hotels into "elderly houses", where the rents are paid thanks to the allowance received through this law. There have apparently been successes, but abuses as well (houses which overcharge the elderly and take advantage of them). There have been cases like that in other parts of Japan as well, like Tokyo. I saw articles in the press so I'm sure you can make a research on that.

A lot of homeless, as you see in the film, are taken in by hospitals when they are sick. They are picked up by ambulances. I know IRYOREN is also fighting the abuses from the hospitals as these have sometimes been known to take advantage of homeless to make money with the insurance. It's been reported that at some point, many homeless people were implanted with pace makers, because the hopistals were making a lot of money out of thge operation. People from IRYOREN have been documenting that.