Much of Tokyo was left in ruins after World War II. The city’s poor lived from hand to mouth as scavengers and ragpickers called bataya, who in 1950 established their own neighborhood nicknamed the “Ant Village” around Kototoi Bridge. As the government worked to rebuild and redevelop the city, the bataya community of the Ant Village faced the constant threat of eviction. To buy some time, its central figure, essayist Touru Matsui made up a plan to found a church for the community with the help of Franciscan missionary Zeno Żebrowski and…
