A FOLLOW UP

The buraku/dowa.  From kotaku.com.au

Each week I cast about for a topic of discussion for my adult English conversation group (the grannies).  When I've scraped the bottom of the idea barrel, I try to think of some holiday we haven't covered yet.  The obvious holiday contender for February is Valentine's Day, of course, but they know all about that.  And anyway, what is there to say about Valentine's Day except that it's designed to put pressure on people in relationships to be particularly romantic and thoughtful, and to make people who aren't in relationships feel bad about the fact that there is no one to do anything romantic and thoughtful for them.  However, last month I had a major brainwave: Black History Month.  

For anyone who did not grow up in the American public school system, Black History Month was a concept created after the civil rights movement* to honor the contributions of black Americans to American history, and their accomplishments.  It was my favorite month of school growing up, and every year I'd get excited as the posters of Dr. King and Harriet Tubman would be unfurled, and the librarian would set up a special section of books for students to peruse.  One time in high school, a classmate of mine unthinkingly asked aloud, "Why don't we have White History Month?"  To which my friend Lauryn immediately shot back, "Every day is White History Month!"  After a moment she added: "And even then, they gave us the shortest month of the year!"

After three weeks of discussing the history of slavery, emancipation, the Jim Crow laws, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, I turned the tables on the grannies last Thursday and asked about racism in Japan.  Typically I avoid controversial subjects with them, but this coincided nicely with our theme for the month, and I wanted to know their opinions after recently learning about some of Japan's darker historical moments. What they said floored me.

"Do you think there is racism in Japan?" I asked.  First there was a prolonged period of staring at notebooks, a sure sign of discomfort in class.  Luckily we have Beatles Granny, who is no more shy about sharing her opinion than Judge Judy. "Oh no!" she said, shaking her head.  "Maybe in the past, but not now."  This was a complete 180 from the week before when she had said, "Well, you know, there's racism in Japan, too."  So I started asking questions about specific groups that I knew had been discriminated against throughout Japanese history, and every time, Beatles Granny would say, "Well, maybe in the past. But not now."  I was about to give up when Lone Grandpa asked, "Eri-sensei? What is racism? Is it...skin color?"

Aha.  A fundamental error in debate: first, define your terms.  I explained that no, racism was not just based on skin color.  My skin and that of a Japanese person could both be called white, but we have different heritages, so racism had more to do with ethnicity and ancestry than skin color.  A collective "Ooooh!" went around the table.  "Ah, yes," said Lone Grandpa, "There is definitely ethnic discrimination today in Japan."  Facepalm.  

The talk that ensued is too long and tortuous to relate, but here were some points that they highlighted that were new to me:

• The uyoku (extreme right wing) believe there is only one race in Japan, the Emperor's children.  This excludes Okinawans and the Ainu.  Most Japanese people don't agree with this nationalistic interpretation.  The group couldn't believe that modern Japanese would have any problems with mainland Japanese marrying Okinawans, or leasing apartments to them.  
• They did acknowledge, however, that prejudice against foreigners was frequent, and that a lot of Japanese landlords won't rent to foreigners, particularly westerners.  
• They were shocked to learn that in Germany it is illegal to deny that the Holocaust occurred.  When I asked why the topic of racism was not taught in schools in Japan, I was told that it was "too confusing."  Lone Grandpa told me that the avoidance of this topic is what makes celebrations like Black History Month in America so remarkable.
• Beatles Granny argued that we shouldn't talk about the Japanese military in school, or what it did during past wars.  Her view was that "we have to separate regular people from the government."  She said that "regular people became victims of the war," not only because they died, but also because they were ordered to do things they didn't want to do by the government, and couldn't refuse for fear of retribution.
• Beatles Granny also assert that discrimination can be a good thing.  Her argument was that without competition, society would collapse.  We have to compete to better ourselves and to evolve, and social castes and hierarchies are part of that.  

Towards the end, the conversation took an unexpected turn.  Granny M suddenly piped up with a factoid she thought qualified as a kind of discrimination.  We live in Nara prefecture; to the west of us is another prefecture called Wakayama.  Back in the Edo period, during the days of the shogunate, Japan was ruled by various families.  Wakayama was "owned" by the Tokugawa clan, the most powerful family in Japan at the time.  Nara was controlled by a separate, less powerful group.  Thus, Wakayama was considered more powerful than Nara based on its patronage.  However, Granny M claims that the prefectural rankings from the Edo period still exist today, and that the national government endows money to different prefectures based on their place within the national hierarchy.

The rest of the group was shocked by this, and claimed that it could not be true.  Lone Grandpa verified the story, though, and went on to give another example.  One of the largest rivers in Nara is the Yoshino River, which originates in this prefecture and flows into Wakayama.  However, Wakayama controls the rights to the water.  So even though the source of the river is in Nara, it must petition Wakayama in order to build a dam or use the water for some purpose.  All because of laws made some 200-400 years ago.  

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After class, a couple of the grannies approached me individually to talk about their experiences growing up.  Granny Le Chef said, "When my family moved to Nara from Gifu, my parents told me, 'Never ask someone where they are from.' Some people, if you ask this question, they are very offended.  But this is so different than Gifu; I thought it was very strange."  Granny M told me that her parents warned her and her sister against talking about race outside of the family.  They were afraid that if anyone heard them talking about the buraku,** the buraku might unite and attack the family.  

Granny M seemed to view the dowa as a rather rough lot.  She said that today, the dowa still live in communities where they have been living for generations. Traditionally, they were forced to settle in these areas, segregating them from the rest of Japanese society.  Now they refuse to move, creating problems for developers.  They also claim that because of past discrimination, they shouldn't have to pay the same taxes as "normal Japanese people" [Granny M's words]. So "normal Japanese people" are discriminated against in terms of the taxes they have to pay, which are higher than those of the dowa.  The dowa get other privileges as well, like free school supplies for their children, etc.

Granny M was quick to acknowledge that this was mostly a generational issue.  "This is just my opinion," she said.  "Other people in the group may have other opinions.  I think it depends on your parents, but I don't think my daughters care about this."  It's hard to get a sense of whether  other Japanese people feel the same way; the topic is taboo to a point where any allusion can make for tense conversation or a change of topic.  Indeed, the last thing Granny M said to me on Thursday (and she repeated it about three times) was: "But Eri-san, please don't talk about this at school or with other people.  Maybe this isn't a good topic to talk about."  By Japanese standards, she might as well have put duct tape over my mouth.  Her advice was well received; I'd never dream of asking anyone at school about this.  Thankfully the grannies are up for anything, and are not easily offended. 

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*Actually, the concept originated in the early 20th century thanks to historian Carter G. Woodson; however, it wasn't until the late 1960s that it was nationally recognized and observed. 

**Last week on the blog I referred to this socioeconomic group as the burakumin.  After doing some more reading, I learned that the terms burakmin or buraku are highly offensive in Japanese culture, and the politically correct term is "dowa."  Sorry about that.  However, I'm referring to the dowa here as buraku, because that's the term Granny M used when telling me her story.  But she may have referred to them this way because that's the term I introduced.  No one in the group said anything to me about it being offensive, though I wish they had.