This book offers a full history of a homeless movement in Tokyo that lasted nearly a decade. It shows how homeless people and their external supporters in the city combined their scarce resources to generate and sustain the movement, and addresses the origins of increased homelessness in the country

This book offers a full history of a homeless movement in Tokyo that lasted nearly a decade. It shows how homeless people and their external supporters in the city combined their scarce resources to generate and sustain the movement. The study advocates a more nuanced analysis of movement gains to appreciate how poor people can benefit by acting collectively. It also draws attention to potential difficulties faced by lower-stratum movements aided by external allies. In particular, the study highlights how actions of the state can undermine the relations between aggrieved allies in such a way as to limit gains. The book is the first in English to detail homeless mobilization in Japan. It also addresses the origins of increased homelessness and development of homelessness policy in the country. Besides homelessness, it covers a number of current social issues, including economic globalization, social exclusion, and politics over space.

"Hasegawa's analysis of the movement challenges much of static resource mobilization and political process theory and contributes to a more dynamic relational perspective....We Are Not Garbage! is important reading for scholars in the fields of social movements and urban inequality, where knowledgeof class conflict in the diverse contexts of a globalizing world is crucial for theoretical and practical purposes."-Matthew Marr, Florida International University, volume 116, number 6 (1 May 2011) of the American Journal of Sociology