OSAKA (Kyodo) The Airin district in Nishinari Ward, Osaka, known as a hangout for day laborers, has a new, glass-enclosed information hub.
The Kaman! (Come on!) Media Center was set up in a shopping arcade in June by poet Kanayo Ueda, 39, who hails from Nara Prefecture.
The Airin district, formerly known as Kamagasaki, is considered the largest community of day laborers in the country.
"I wanted to establish a contact point between the day laborers and the community," said Ueda, who leads the nonprofit organization Koko Room, which works on artistic activities and runs the center. She believes "art has a role to play in society."
The center boasts a large screen with pictures of the area between the 1960s and 1990s, and of local workers hanging out together.
The media center plans to gather more information on the district and create an archive, and offer information on local events. Poems and sketches by day laborers will be posted on its Web sites and art workshops are planned. Ueda said she is considering recruiting volunteers to help with these projects.
Ueda came up with the idea for the center at the end of last year after she saw young people hanging out in Airin Park, where hot bowls of rice and soup were being handed out to the homeless.
Having moved the NPO office to Airin from the Shinsekai district in January, Ueda has arranged piano recitals and poetry readings by homeless people. She also has kept in close touch with people who have turned their lives around through such activities.