Many people use the corridor connecting Scramble Square and Hikarie, which is bridged over Meiji Dori

People walking along the corridor connecting Scramble Square and Hikarie

Most people frown when I tell them that I like to visit places like slums when I travel. Some people frown because they think it is in poor taste to travel all the way to a risky area like a slum. However, others frown because they think I must be making up a story to travel to such a dangerous place. While the reasons for frowning may differ, they all share the same belief that slums are dangerous places.

There may be some slums where you risk your life just by setting foot in, but in most cases, if you go at the right time, you will be fine. Even if it is not a slum, there are probably many dangerous places to go out after dark. Compared to such cities, most slums are safe, and in my opinion, they are only areas inhabited by the poor. It is hard to find people who understand this feeling. I found a similar description in a book by Maruyama Gonzalez, who is famous for his coverage of overseas danger zones, so perhaps it is hard to understand just by taking a normal trip to tourist spots.

The trouble with deciding to go to a slum is that you don't know where it is. The famous Mumbai slum Dharavi, which was the setting of Slumdog Millionaire, is one thing, but ordinary slums are not mentioned in guidebooks. Even if a place is mentioned in a book or article, I often don't know where it is when I look it up on a map. Since I am not going there for the purpose of doing a proper report, I usually have to ask local people to tell me where they are or look for them by myself, which is very difficult. So for several years now, I have been trying to find slums that I would like to visit by looking at Google Maps in advance, but this is also quite difficult. Even after staring at aerial photos, I have never been able to pinpoint this place.

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