We are pleased to present Japan’s Disposable Workers, a film series produced in collaboration the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Based on Shiho Fukada’s portrait series, the film explores the labor issues affecting Japan in three sections, to illustrate the larger global labor crisis at work. 

Overworked to Suicide

After the recession of the 1990s, Japan’s white collar salarymen increasingly must work arduous hours for fear of losing their jobs. Working essentially two shifts a day for weeks at a time leads frequently to feelings of depression, something that is still stigmatized in Japan.

Net Cafe Refugees

Internet cafes have existed in Japan for over a decade, but in the mid 2000s, customers began using these spaces as living quarters. Internet cafe refugees are mostly temporary employees, their salary too low to rent their own apartments.

Dumping Ground

Kamagasaki, Osaka, Japan used to be a thriving day laborer’s town. Today, it is home to approximately 25,000 unemployed and elderly men, many of whom are also homeless.