Abstract
This paper explains social changes and restructuring of the urban underclass area by examining the case of Kotobuki in Yokohama, Japan. Kotobuki has been known as a day laborers' town built in the 1950s; however, more than 80％ of its current residents live on social welfare. As Yokohama City has implemented welfare services for people since the 1970s, many in Kotobuki have sought assistance. During the current decade in particular, the number of welfare recipients in the area has risen to the point where the area has become the center of socially vulnerable population. In response, the local government, social welfare council, and nursing care business offices have formed the community welfare system.
Within the governmental welfare system, Yokohama created the “Community Welfare Health Plan” for the area in 2011, as in other areas. This plan provides for residents who are officially recognized as welfare recipients. However, those residents who earn little money and received special, temporary welfare support had their coverage reduced in 2006 and lost it entirely in 2012, causing greater difficulty for the homeless. With an increasing number of welfare recipients, Kotobuki has become known as “the town of welfare,” making it more difficult for its residents to achieve upward social mobility. Even though the populace's high social mobility had been the area's norm, Kotobuki is now largely a welfare district.
