KNOCKING ON HEAVEN'S DOOR

Day-labour in Japan. Traditionally, the unemployed and homeless are cared for by their families or former employer. With the recession and the changes of living conditions this has changed. Kamagasaki is a part of Osaka, where mainly single men live. Every morning they make their way to the job centre in hope of finding work.

Their situation is looking dreary though. Many of these day-labourers came to Osaka in the seventies, and can hardly keep up with their countries technological development, where people looking for jobs are given their assignments by cell phone. Kamagasaki has become a dead end for most.

Using images that create a vivid impression of this part of the Osaka, the movie tells of the daily life of these men: the threat of fistfights between the Go-Players, the union activists, the soup kitchen.