Sanya is a district in Tokyo that had a day laborer market which peaked in the 1980s. Today there is a gap in the literature about the decline of the region since. Rio Smith ’26 spent his summer studying the evolution of Sanya since the eighties and what the district is like today using a Tanaka Fund for International Research summer grant through CUGS. Smith is an urban studies major with a minor in philosophy who grew up between Los Angeles and Tokyo.
Smith’s inspiration for the project came from a class with Professor Jeffrey Bayliss called Tokyo Story: Fishing to Cosmo. Smith says that “as part of that class . . . we read an excerpt from this book called Sanya Blues, about an American researcher who went to Sanya” at the peak of the day laborer market. The book interested Smith because despite living in Tokyo he was unfamiliar with Sanya and wanted to know what the district was like today. He wanted to research what the literature did not cover. Smith used the gap in the research about Sanya’s decline as a starting point for his project this past summer.
Once arriving in Tokyo, Smith spent the first half of the research project working in the library looking for sources detailing Sanya’s changes since the 1980s. He researched to see what organizations still operated within the district and how the stakeholders have shifted. During the second half of the research process, Smith engaged in the community by reaching out to community organizations, volunteering, and attending events in Sanya. He was able to talk to different organizations from nonprofits to private welfare groups. Smith said that talking “to not just one organization, but a few to put into perspective” helped him clarify his understanding of his observations in Sanya.
Smith discovered that a diverse array of stakeholders operated in the district. During the experiential portion of his research, Smith volunteered at organizations that supported the homeless. At these shelters, Smith observed that there were a variety of people volunteering including, the formerly homeless, owners of welfare buildings, and foreigners. Another observation Smith had while conducting his research is the difference between what academia says about a place and what is occurring. Smith explains this by saying, “Urban studies scholars go to the district and write about it and then you go back later, and you see the district, and see the gap between the paper and the real.” The changes between literature and the current interactions between the homeless, homeowners, and welfare facilities have shifted since the 1980s.
Smith faced some challenges when conducting his research including finding organizations to reach out to in Sanya. There is not much written about the district post-2000, which presented difficulties when producing a list of organizations to contact. The articles mention the demise of these welfare and day laborer organizations, but not what is happening in the neighborhood today, challenging Smith to find new groups that work in Sanya. However, Smith was able to make meaningful connections with the organizations he visited and is grateful for his experience. Through conducting his literature review and reaching out to different organizations, his research opened other avenues of inquiry. Smith said “I did all of this just to reach a starting point” – a starting point where he could further and more deeply focus on one specific aspect of the Sanya district whether private welfare or migration in and out of the district.
Smith’s summer research helped hone the skills that he is now applying to the classroom. The experience of delving into a subject and peeling back the layers to better understand what is happening is like writing an essay for class, says Smith. The experience helped him turn his curiosity and interest into a well-organized and thoughtful research project.
Smith hopes to use his experience over the summer to guide further projects in the Sanya district diving into more specific areas of focus. Not only has the process over the summer taught him a lot about Tokyo and the Sanya district, but Smith also felt that he was able to sharpen his research and analytical skills, serving him well as he begins his sophomore year.
All photos by YUI Associates
