Sae Tamagawa

There was an interesting article on New York Times in 2009. The headline was “Japan’s Outcasts Still Wait for Acceptance”. This article was about a deep-rooted problem: Burakumin in Japan. It was written after Mr. Obama became the first African-American president in the U.S., and the article argued if it is possible for burakumin to be a leader of Japan like in the U.S. accepts the African-American. In Japan, the issue of burakumin is regarded as taboo to talk about, so it is rarely reported on the public news or newspaper. Thus I think what New York Times reported was so significant.

There is another surprising fact. Hiromu Nonaka, who was one of the politicians who never hid his buraku roots, tells his discriminatory experience in his book called “Sabetsu to Kenryoku”. After Mori cabinet collapsed, he came to be a surface to be a next new prime minister. However, Taro Aso said “How can those people be a prime minister?” in the meeting. Almost all the people who attended in the meeting denied the fact what Aso said to Mr. Nonaka, and tried to pretend as if it was not happened. However, Mr. Kamei, who is a politician in the Liberal Democratic Party, proved that Mr. Aso definitely said discriminatory comment. Although what Mr. Kamei did was tremendously brave, Japanese media tried to hide it, so it did not come to light.

Due to lack of education about burakumin, there are a lot of rumors about them, and most of them are based on bias or discrimination against them; for example, burakumin has strong blood relations. Because of discrimination, people who are not burakumin tend not to get married with burakumin from long time ago. Thus, some people believe they get married within very close burakumin community, so they think burakumin’s blood relation is so strong, despite this idea is completely totally wrong. Some scholars prove it that this idea is wrong, and also there are some evidences. According to Ishimoto(2006), burakumin get married not only with neighbors, but also with burakumin who live distant place; for example, burakumin in Osaka get married with one in Tottori.

I noticed through my experience that some people really believe such kind of rumor. The other day, I talked about Burakumin with my friends after I learned about it in the class. To my surprise, my friend believed what I said before. What is worse, she said “that is why, statistically, there are more disabled people in the burakumin community than the others in Japan”. I was shocked into silence. I assume such kind of discrimination or misunderstanding comes from lack of education. Government tries to hide the fact that there is discrimination against burakumin, and behave as if they do not exist. I think right education and accurate knowledge will help to reduce such kind of discrimination.

Reference

・Kawamoto,S. (2009,Jan,15). Ningen publication. Burakusabetsu no nazo wo toku.

・Inoue,K. (2009)”Japan’s Outcasts Still Wait for Acceptance” .New York Times retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/world/asia/16outcasts.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2. Last access date:2011/11/15

・Ehimeken Jinkenkeihatsu Center. (2006). Atarashii shiten kara Dowa mondai wo kangaeru, 13-15. Retrieved from http://www.pref.ehime.jp/h15900/jinkennituite/htm/keihatsu_center/siryohaihu/17iko.pdf last access date: 2011/11/15

Shiomi Maeda

Okinawa – Southern island of Japan – has a quite unique culture. As we covered in the class, Okinawa once was an independent country itself; once belonged to a different country; and today is a part of Japan. We non-Okinawan would say “Okinawa is of course a part of Japan, but it’s different from the rest of Japan.” Is this the case with what Okinawans see themselves? Since I fortunately have a friend (Kenshiro Oshiro) from Nago, Okinawa, I decided to interview him.

The identity he would prefer is – Okinawan identity

…So his prior identity is that as Okinawan. But, according to him, this is not because he is from a special island with unique historical backgrounds, but is more like affection/sincerity that everyone would hold toward his/her hometown.

Just because he prefers regional identity over the national one does not mean he does not have a national identity – because he DOES see himself as a member of Japanese society, just like us.

“I’m both Okinawan and Japanese. It’s just I have a stronger sense of belonging to my home, than to my country.”

However, as he continued, he came to realize the existence of special pride as Uchinanchu (Okinawan) – being different from Yamatonchu (non-Okinawan).

“We Okinawans have…a pride. We are proud of being the way we are, distinct from the rest of Japan.”

He claims this “pride” came into existence due to the history of discrimination against Okinawa.

H: We chose to belong back to Japan. But I am not sure whether it was right to have done so.

Ever since the year of 1972 when Okinawa was returned from the States, Japanese government has laid such a huge burden to the prefecture of Okinawa, such as existence of the U.S. Army bases.

On the one hand, they are forced to be Japanized. On the other hand, they have been treated different from the rest, and been facing social discrimination. They have always been left in-between. This discrimination brought up their pride – being different from the rest.

“We have been considered different, treated differently. They always saw us behind in lower status. This long-time inferiority complex has strengthened our pride as Uchinanchu.”

But at the same time, he says Okinawans thank the nation for their economical development.

“If we had made a different choice, I don’t think Okinawa could survive in today’s globalized economy. In this sense, that choice was a right one.”

I personally think having different culture and values is interesting and fun, unless each culture and its people are properly respected. But in reality, Okinawans have been suffering from segregation because of its unique history. And this is now the way we can be proud of ourselves.

“It is very important to learn the historical background when it comes to discuss the issues surrounding Okinawa. Things are so complicated that not all of them can be seen on the surface.”

That is true. We non-Okinawans are too unconscious or ignorant about this issue. This is the biggest problem. The first step to resolve the issue is for us to get to know the history and current situation.

It is on us whether to leave the issue as it is now, or to try to make it better.

Special thanks to Kenshiro Oshiro (11/14/2011)

Shinya Shimatani

As the Japanese Society Class explains, the Hafu and foreign people in Japan make efforts to understand the Japanese Society to adjust themselves to it. The film “トイレット” can be shown this in the different point of view. I want to introduce you this film and encourage you to learn more about the Japanese Society Class.

The theme of this movie is ups and down of a family in Canada connected with cross-cultural interaction. The place is Canada and characters are an elder brother, a younger brother, a sister, a cat, and their Japanese grandmother who will not speak English. They all live in a house together and sushi is prepared on the table. Sometimes the grandmother cooks gyoza. It means that the grandmother takes “Japanese Society” to this family. One of the most interesting and important scenes is the incident in bathroom. Every time grandmother goes out of the bathroom, she breathes a huge sigh. As you guess, this scene is related with the culture of bathroom, or toilet. For instance, in India, people don’t use paper when they use toilet. In Europe, papers and a toilet seat is sometimes nothing. The culture of the toilet differs from country to country. About Japan, we have the great technology we are proud of. It is washlet that give us the warm seat and the system of automatic washing, and it is too original or innovative for non-Japanese. In this film, at first, brothers and sister cannot notice this point and make clear the reason why their grandmother sighs. Although, thanks to this event, they and grandmother gradually understand each other beyond the language barrier after all, this incident is difficult for them to deal with.

As the case of toilet shows, although, of course, there is blind connection between grandchildren and grandmother, they cannot communicate with her and grasp what grandmother is. In fact, elderly brother have tried DNA test in order to make sure if she is their real grandmother. In this way, various Japanese cultures she have makes them confused, and this shows the cross-cultural interaction. I’m sorry for revealing some important scenes, but I recommend you to this film to promote understanding of Japanese Society through the toilet.

Ayako Kofuji

Economic crisis in 2008 hurt many Nikkei Brazilians and Peruvian, who works in Japan. Due to the recession, many of Nikkei workers return to their home country. Some people may come up with these kinds of questions. “Why are they here in Japan?” “Isn’t it just they go back to their homeland because they wanted to?” To think about this problem, it is important to know the historical background and Japanese government’s policy.

First of all, the number of registered foreigners to the total Japanese population has increased every year. In 1955, the total population of foreigners was 641,182 (0.7 percent of the total population), but by the 2007 population has grown to about 2.1 million (1.7 percent of the total). The main reason the foreigner population grew during this period is the law amendment. Due to the amendment of Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, it made easier for Nikkeijin, foreigners of Japanese descent, to immigrate to Japan. In other words, Japanese government established formal channels to allow Nikkeijin, to immigrate to Japan. This effectively enabled Japan to solve the long-held policy of prohibiting the immigration of unskilled foreign workers to Japan. Another reason that can think of is the bubble economy. Because of the bubble economy, business community wanted　the work force, a foreign workers. The 1990 law contributed to the gradual settlement of low-skilled workers, mainly Nikkeijin from Brazil and Peru and their families in Japan.

However, the situation has changed from the recession in 2008. Economic crisis prompted huge unemployment among 350,000 Nikkeijin living in Japan. Between November 2008 and January 2009, 9,296 foreigners registered as employment seekers. The Japanese government started the program to pay $3,000 to each jobless for Nikkeijin and $2,000 to each family member to return to their country of origin. The money isn’t a big problem, the problem is that they will not be allowed to return until economic and employment conditions improve.

When I heard this situation at the first time, I hardly believe my ears. The program that Japanese government have done to unemployed Nikkeijin is  cruel and harsh. Whenever they wanted labor, they sticks out their finger and say “come here, you can get a job in Japan”. However their situation changes and they don’t need any more labor, they wave their hands and say “good-bye, you may go back now”. No matter the reason, the Japanese government has done to unemployed Nikkeijin is selfish and irresponsible. Nikkeijin is not a tools or machine which supplies labor to Japan. Japanese government should consider their situations and dealing with a sense of responsibility.

(Sources)

*Coco Masters. TIME magazine. Japan to immigrants: Thanks, But You Can Go Home Now. 2009/4/20

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1892469,00.html

*Migration Information Source

http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=749