Overcoming hidden discrimination in Japan
Andrew Gray (May 19th, 2008)
This exhibition is entitled “NIHONJIN, BURAKUMIN: Portraits of Japan’s outcast people.”
The Burakumin are a nearly invisible (yet identifiable) group of Japanese people. They are the remnant of a caste system that formally passed away long ago. Their ancestors were the untouchables. Despite being racially and ethnically Japanese through and through, the Burakumin still face discrimination and struggle together under the weight of their shared history.
Discrimination is an act of depriving individuals of their fundamental human rights and treating them unjustly in any aspect of their lives, be it political, economic or cultural. In Japan, Buraku discrimination happens against people who were born or live in the Hisabetsu Buraku (discriminated districts).
The roots of Buraku discrimination come from feudal Japan, when the Buraku were areas separated from the other social classes. The people there lived under tight restrictions in every part of their lives, such as clothing, jobs, and home, due to the feudal class system formed by a variety of political and social factors. These historical areas are the origins of today’s Buraku, people who are still the target of discrimination due to the influence of subsequent social systems. This discrimination is what Japanese call, “Buraku issues.”
After World War II, the Buraku liberation movement made a fresh start, following in the footsteps of the National Levelers’ Association (Zenkoku Suiheisha). As a result of a strong demand for the government to abolish Buraku discrimination, the “Report by the Council for Anti – Discrimination Measures” was issued in 1965, and in that report the forms of Buraku discrimination were classified into “substantive discrimination” and “psychological discrimination.” And, most importantly, settlement of the Buraku issue was recognized as “the government’s responsibility and a national task.”
In 1969, the “Special Measures Law for Anti – Discrimination Project” was enacted, and by this law, “Dowa districts” were defined as “areas where improvement and stabilization of the living arrangements etc. are prevented based on historical and social reasons”, and projects were undertaken to improve those Dowa districts designated by the government.
Residential conditions improved greatly through the special measures law until 2002, but the sense of discrimination against Buraku still exists even after so many years. Negative images, such as “grim,” “poor,” and “obsolete” are still strong, and there are many issues of substantive discrimination to this day.
In such a situation, there are people not only stand up against this discrimination, but who also live, shine and tread this earth. There are communities where strong senses of unity and mutual help still exist. The Buraku way of life and their warm lands; are they still completely alien to you? (Reference)
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Photography by Masaru Goto