Far from Osaka's bright lights

A homeless man makes camp outside the Nishinari labour welfare centre in Kamagasaki Photograph: Robert Gilhooly/freelance

Kamagasaki is home to about 25,000 mainly elderly day labourers of whom an estimated 1,300 are homeless Photograph: Robert Gilhooly/freelance

A homeless man shows a ticket indicating his bed and shelter number Photograph: Robert Gilhooly/freelance

Sen Arimura, an official working with day labourers at the Nishinari labour welfare centre Photograph: Robert Gilhooly/freelance

A notice by the door advertises free nightly accommodation for the homeless, as around 30 men queue for information on possible day labouring jobs Photograph: Robert Gilhooly/freelance

A homeless man makes camp under a flyover. Kamagasaki symbolises growing social inequality in the world's second-biggest economy Photograph: Robert Gilhooly/freelance

Homeless men line up outside the Nishinari labour welfare centre Photograph: Robert Gilhooly/freelance

A man lies in a bunk bed at a homeless shelter in Kamagasaki Photograph: Robert Gilhooly/freelance

A homeless man lies outside a street corner booth. Last month, the plight of Kamagasaki's workers came under scrutiny when the neighbourhood erupted into violence amid accusations of police brutality against a local resident Photograph: Robert Gilhooly/freelance

A homeless man wanders through the streets of Kamagasaki. Welfare officers say the recent violence was an aberration: the real danger for residents comes from Japan's latest brush with economic crisis Photograph: Robert Gilhooly/freelance

A homeless man sleeps on the side of the road outside the Nishinari labour welfare centre Photograph: Robert Gilhooly/freelance

Isoji Inoue (r), 69, sits with two other homeless women in a communal room of Hotel Cosmos, a former hotel specially adapted for the homeless community Photograph: Robert Gilhooly/freelance