Sanya - Tokyo’s Slum of Anonymity
If you were asked to say some things that came to mind when you thought of Tokyo’s wondrous metropolis, it’s unlikely you would think of Sanya.
A small area that straddles Taito-Ku and Arakawa-Ku area situated south around Yoshino-Dori. Japan has tried very hard over the decades to hide the slums of Tokyo. While they are not exactly like slums you would see in other countries or cities, it’s an area filled with a somber sense of despair washed over by its anonymity and invisible nature. Today, Japan doesn’t officially call it Sanya [山谷] as it was renamed in the mid-’60s and changed to neighbourhood cities that exist today, however, the stigma that was once there still prevails.
For the last 23 years, @tokyotimes_lee has been living in Japan, we look through his lens uncovering a history of Sanya’s. Chapman has embarked on many journeys in Japan’s greatest capital city, to unveil the truth about the places that lie within the underbody of Tokyo’s daily life.
Today the area of Sanya is rapidly changing due to Tokyo’s social disruption, progress. Something that can’t be stopped.
Sanya is a place that is commonly lived in by very low-income workers, people in construction trades, many of which are now part of the ageing population in Japan. As well as nondescript love hotels, squatter areas and the odd undistinguishable entertainment district.
Nowadays, Japan being less of a mysterious place than it once was, has been changing with more foreign tourism moving into the area because of its affordability. However, Sanya’s history over the years will forever be marked by in part Sato Mitsuo and Yamaoka Kyoichi’s film Yama-Attack to Attack [山谷─やられたらやりかえせ] that was filmed as a documentary about the dark stained razor-like underbelly of Sanya’s post-war past. The two filmmakers were both murdered by yakuza members. Sato in December 1985, and Yamaoka in January 1986.
