Book Cover; Title; Contents; Series editor's preface; List of figures; Acknowledgments; A purehabu with a view: anthropological methods and approaches; Kotobuki, the ̃land of longevitỹ: ethnographic and historical discussions; The economy of welfare: public and private solutions to social problems in the yoseba; Taking action: profiles of Kotobuki volunteer groups; The human side: resident and volunteer profiles; Rituals ̃organized̃ and ̃disorganized̃: examples of solidarity and conflict in the volunteer community; Helping out and holding back: power and decision-making in volunteer groups
Summary
An innovative study, based on several years of living in inner city Yokohama. Stevens looks beyond stereotypes of conformity and homogeneity at what life is really like for the Japanese urban underclass, and for those who work with them
