In the summer of 1992, Tomoko Yatsukura, then a sophomore at Tokyo Woman's Christian University, visited the Kotobuki-cho area in Yokohama's Naka Ward and was so shocked she asked herself, "Is this really Japan?"
For the 36-year-old Yatsukura, who was born and raised in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward, the area — a flophouse neighborhood for day-laborers — was an alien environment. Garbage was strewn about the streets, where drunken day-laborers were stretched out on the ground.
After finishing graduate school, she first got a job at a law firm and then at a university as a clerk, but she could never forget Kotobuki-cho. She often visited the area to check up on how the local residents were doing and prepare hot meals for them.