Overcoming hidden discrimination in Japan, a surprising photo gallery
Andy says:
GlobalCompassion.com is featuring a gallery of photographs by award winning photographer Masaru Goto. The photos are portraits of Japanese people with a surprising twist. The subjects are Burakumin, a nearly invisible (yet identifiable) group of Japanese people. They are the remnant of a caste system that passed away long ago but remains in the cultural memory. Their ancestors were the untouchables -- people who worked with dead animals (tanners and butchers). Despite being racially and ethnically Japanese through and through, the "people of the buraku" still face discrimination today.Link
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"buraku" is a direct translation of "black" in English, right?
Burakumin (部è½æ°‘: buraku, tribe + min, people), is a term often used in English to describe a Japanese social minority group. The term is not currently used by Japanese themselves. The burakumin are one of the main minority groups in Japan, along with the Ainu of HokkaidÅ, the Ryukyuans of Okinawa and the residents of Korean and Chinese descent. wikipedia
Apparently not, but that is a weird coincidence.
and how are they identified? the main link won't resolve.
According to Wikipedia, no, it means "rural commune" or "hamlet", and its use by English-speakers is an abbreviation of the Japanese term hisabetsu-burakumin, or "discriminated community (hamlet) people".
so these are Japanese hicks?
Actually, it's not that weird. The Japanese language has relatively only few sounds in its repertoire, and so has many homophones. Another silly example is the verb 'karameru'('to arrest', among other meanings), which is exactly the same as the word for Caramel. Also, 'Black' would be Japanized as 'burakku', not 'buraku'. :)
Not really that surprising. I think much of what we perceive as "racism" is really "culturalism" and "classism" - which tend to align along racial lines. When a group of people vary from some other group (in education, culture, affluence, etc), then there are bound to be heuristics (read: discrimination) that affect people's interactions.
Who says "karameru?" Serious question. I always hear/say "taihou suru," or, more colloquially, "tsukamareru" (i.e. "to be caught," in the adversarial passive).
After living here for years and speaking Japanese for years, I'm only finally starting to notice the intonation differences in the homophones. The difference between "kaki" as in "oyster" and "kaki" as in "persimmon," for example. But even then they are regional. Even if you screw them up, you're right somewhere. But it's better to pick a region and stick with it so people at least know which to expect.
Anyway, there is a pretty large overlap between the burakumin and the homeless in Japan. Blame the Family Register.
Sounded to me mainly like they are descended from dirt poor people. Like hicks. Is there actually a way for people to tell by, say looking at a picture? I know there are ways to differentiate the Ainu, as they are, essentially the natives of japan.
Wikipedia is half correct on this topic. People in Japan don't use this word publicly because they pretend it doesn't exist. Like many things in Japan the prejudice against the Burakumin in Japan is an "open secret," publicly denied, yet very real. And it is part of Japan's elaborate and stratified social system.
Every social encounter in Japanese society is heirarchical, and Japanese always know whether they are speaking "up" or "down" or one another and this is reflected in the language forms they use. The Emperor is at the top and the Burakumin are at the bottom. Actually foreigners are probably further down, but they are kind of exempt from the rules.
There is an entire industry of private detective/genological services that parents of prospective engaged couples employ to research the history of the potential in-laws. This is one of the largest sections in the yellow pages of most cities. Employers and corporations use these services as well. Similarly there is an entire industry of identity-recreation (for lack of a better word) for people of Buraku ancestry to disguise their past. A lot of this centers around having ancertors from specific small towns, usually on the outskirts of larger cities, where the butchers and rending works were located.
This is serious business in society, politics, and the business world.
Buraku people currently organize and work for their rights under Japan's constitution. They maintain a web site in English that provides their perspective.
When dealing with practitioners of a caste system, an American should assume the status of the highest caste, and consider the others as members of the lowest caste. We should encode that into our laws, kind of like how the US flag can't be flown below any other.
@Kyle:
"Karameru": I've never heard it being used either actually, but it was in a piece of text used in a class I take. I'll take your word for it, since I haven't studied or been in Japan as long as you.
@11
if you are unaware of the extant American caste system, it is because you were not born with money.
The Village People have had their compensations over the years. Beef imports under quota, other minor, apologetic pork barrels. Perhaps a western analogue might be how some Aboriginal peoples were granted special licenses and dispensations - many of which have become band/tribal bones of contention over accusations (real and imagined)of nepotism and corruption.
I have lost touch with the mentality of the coming Japanese generation. The impression they give of relinquishing most of their heritage bodes eclipse for this old discrimination.
Is there not one BB Reader with English enough to personally comment from the side of the Burakumin?
Please, I beg you, we may be crude and unlettered but no one here will dare say "etamono" or anything else hurtful without sanction. Or I'll kick their ass.
too many double posts lately, I shall have to investigate. Sorry all.
I have no idea what you're on about.
You're not refreshing on your Comment Posted page are you? I did that. Shamefully.
Perhaps a switch to decafe?
yes, yes..I think you correct. Far, far too much caffeine,cocaine,methedrine and certainly the DMT was a poor choice. Are those your dinner antlers?
Dinner antlers? I not getting the reference. Though caffeine is my drug of choice. It's 1am here, I should retire soon..ish.
It's one here as well, Noen. Do not cower from the breaking of the dawn!
Wow, Tommer. Well written and informative.
To prevent duplicate posts, Boing Boing's comment posting should use some unique post ID and reject reposts with the same post ID.
There is a unique post ID. And when you accidentally refresh the 'submitted' page, that one also gets a unique ID. If you go to your own profile page and click one of your comments, you'll see a numeric ID at the end of the URL. When it takes you to the thread, you land in the thread wherever that particular comment is located.
This topic reminds me of a conversation that I had several years ago. The Japanese had managed to anger the American Black people by prominently displaying a 'Little Black Sambo' doll in one of the major Tokyo department stores. A number of African-American leaders, including Jesse Jackson, were demonstrating in front of the Japanese embassy and demanding an apology. The Japanese were stunned; they couldn't believe that a simple children's doll could cause such an imflamed response.
I told my black friends that this is a secret game among the Japanese. They tried to see what was the most 'innocent' thing that they could do that would drive the Americans crazy. Then they could just say among themselves that a defect in western especially American culture caused them to overreact to trivial and symbolic things.
I told them that the Japanese were themselves very sensitive to people who worked with dead bodies and they discriminated against people who tanned animals for leather. I said that if Jesse Jackson wanted to get the message across that this 'little game' was unappreciated then he should call a press conference to announce that the American Black people were upset by the Sambo dolls. Then at the end of the conference, he should hold up a leather handbag and say that the Japanese should stick to what they do best, which was making leather goods. And he should mention that it was probably some inherent genetic characteristic of the Japanese people that made them the best natural leather workers in the world.
The message would be understood. I haven't seen any play this 'little game' for a while for we're possibly due for another round in the not too distant future
Dear Simonetta
The Japanese do not think about Americans
Simonetta,
The leather thing speach... interesting idea, that might actually work! Those sambo dolls are around, usually on old nostalgic signs and whatnot.
I can't say for sure though, that the Japanese do such things ON PURPOSE. Most of it is... really close. Sometimes I wonder- ala the classic Tokyo Breakfast sketch "Good morning, my n*gga!". Surely, using the black delivery man at the end meant SOMEONE understood exactly what they were doing, but I often wonder if the people who watch the show or acted in it got what was going on.
Peterson would be the man to listen to on this. The Burakumin have been around nearly as long as Buddhism has been in Japan (a long time), and it was really Buddhist views on the value of life, combined with strong Shinto views on the impurity factor of death/working with dead items, spreading death, as it were, a "pollutant", through such trades that really created the Burakumin, unfortunately. It's quite like the "Pariah" caste of India in that same regard, dealing with corpse removal.
You will NOT EVER hear this word spoken by ANYONE in public in Japan, not even cultural historians- and if you chance to utter it, it can be like a terrible swear word depending on the company- you are likely to alienate others from you, or kill any good atmosphere by mentioning the word "Burakumin". I know there are some people that want to do just that, but I've posted the warning for a damn good reason- don't ask people casually about this. It's still much more taboo than even irezumi (hand tattooing), unfortunately.
It is sad that this discrimation still exists, but it has its roots in an old caste system, and religion in Japan really created it. I have friends that are gravediggers here, which must mean that they're in that class, but I don't dare ask. There's really no western equivalent for such an insult, even being "black" in the US to some people doesn't quite come close.
Racism is wrong in all forms. I think this will die though with the new generations of Japanese.
I am an American who has spent 2 years in a small Japanese town. I witnessed racism first hand. Although there were many Burakumin in the town, it was not directed towards them. Rather, it was directed towards ethnic Koreans.
This family owned a popular local restaurant/pub frequented by the fishermen and factory workers in the town. Despite the service that they provide the town, during the towns yearly festival, they are not allowed to participate. They close their doors and leave for the weekend, while all other restaurants open up and contribute to the festival. This is just one specific example of many of how this family is not treated respectfully.
Both parents were born in Korea around WWII and somehow made their way to Japan before or after the war (I'm unclear about the details here). They have 2 daughters in their mid-30s. Although they were born in Japan, they are not Japanese citizens (neither are they Korean). They need to head down to Himeji (the capital of their province) to renew their residency card every year.
I feel very sorry for them and for all ethnic Koreans who are stuck in a similar situation in Japan.