Kairo – Visual Ethnography of Homelessness in Tokyo
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2022
Urban Studies, Social Issues
Kairo – A Visual Ethnographic Film
UTokyo Course work: Visual Ethnography Project - Collaborative work with Moe Kinoshita
Description
Kairo (“pocket warmer”) is a visual ethnography film documenting the activities of NPO TENOHASI, an organization supporting Tokyo’s homeless since 2003. Based in Ikebukuro, the group runs weekly night patrols providing food, warmth, and information, as well as bi-monthly medical and lifestyle consultations and large-scale distributions of clothing, shoes, and daily necessities.
The film follows these activities to highlight both the structural exclusion faced by the homeless and the community of care built by volunteers and allies. In addition to documenting distribution and consultation practices, the project captured moments of stigma and violence directed at homeless individuals, as well as testimonies from volunteers. Together, these fragments reveal how homelessness intersects with broader issues of precarity, family breakdown, and social isolation in post-bubble Japan.
The project also reflected on the practice of visual ethnography itself: working with limited time, technical constraints, and ethical challenges of filming vulnerable populations. We adopted both etic (observer) and partial emic (volunteer-participant) perspectives to capture the community’s activities and relationships.
The film’s title, Kairo, refers both to the pocket warmers handed out during winter patrols and to the warmth shared between volunteers and the homeless, embodying the spirit of solidarity.
Note
The full film is available on request, given the sensitivity of the subject matter.
Tags
Visual Ethnography · Homelessness in Japan · Community Care
