RAGPICKERS AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: "ANTS' VILLA" IN TOKYO.

The article examines the sub-minimum characteristics of ragpickers in Ants' Villa in the waterfront of Tokyo Bay, Japan. A ragpicker is a person who picks up garbage for a living. The Villa was a former antiaircraft artillery base during World War II. The area was covered by tall grasses after the war which provided hiding places for ragpickers. A lumber mill was erected in the area but was destroyed by a typhoon. The wrecked building then became a shelter for the ragpickers. The article then examines the implications of the plight of the ragpickers to the antipoverty measures being implemented in developed countries.