Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil 'burakumin' secrets

Wednesday 06th May, 06:36 AM JST

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nandakandamanda at 08:38 PM JST - 6th May

About 15 years ago a good friend of mine decided to translate "Village Japan" by Malcolm Ritchie into Japanese. Some of you may have heard of this book, one of the most famous studies in Sociology in the 20th C, based on a village just down the road from here. To cut a long story short, he received death threats. The descendants of the Burakumin said that they could tell from the context even if the names were changed, exactly which family and which house is which today. As far as I know, it still hasn't been translated...
nandakandamanda at 08:52 PM JST - 6th May

Sorry, adjust the above to Anthropology, and Richard King Beardsley's "Village Japan".

I didn't realize there was another one by the same title published in 1999 by M Ritchie, which is probably something quite different...
MeanRingo at 08:52 PM JST - 6th May

Hells if there is cheaper rent to be had, show me the way Google Earth.

As for the story itself, it is just ridiculous on so many levels.
sf2k at 11:19 PM JST - 6th May

maybe next up is a map of all the restaurants and hot springs that ban foreigners? They can then have a whole discrimination nexus of data for the country to then wish away publically, but adore privately.

The heart of the matter is that Japanese see the job as the person, where anti-discriminatory countries have learned that that is irrelevant.

This issue of taint is why there is such panic over the flu because it crosses caste lines that no longer fits into a Japanese concept. Proof again that Japan socially is barely above 15th century thinking, with modern knowledge of science having STILL not yet changed laws or perceptions.

If your great-great-grandfather or anyone since had a job you didn't like, it would be laughable to discriminate you now because of that, yet this is what's happening.

The practice of screening based on geography/occupation needs to be banned. Please tell me how Japan is a part of the OECD or UN again??
sf2k at 11:24 PM JST - 6th May

I feel sorry for Japanese who feel the need to discriminate against other Japanese
jonnyboy at 11:32 PM JST - 6th May

this calls to mind a debito article from the japan times about all those rural communities which are dying out and in desperate need of a injection of youngsters, but it will never happen because no-one wants to move there and then have their family discriminated against for the next 10 generations

so at least when it comes to discrimination japan is an equal-opportunities employer
Taka313 at 12:55 AM JST - 7th May

I guess not all Nihon-jin are "ware ware Nihon-jin."

I really doubt anyone with Ainu heritage who may have read this story felt any sense of shock or surprise.

Taka
DXXJP at 01:17 AM JST - 7th May

WOW and I only thought all japanese were prejudice towards gaigin, hell they are even prejudice towards there own.

I think they can piss off, if they didnt like google loading it then they shouldnt have made the damn maps in the first place. Funny how karma bites you in the ass japan.
ca1ic0cat at 03:11 AM JST - 7th May

I think the Ainu are a step above the burakumin in the pecking order but you've got a point. Sort of like the Japanese of Korean ancestry having an uphill battle. The pecking order in Japan is pretty amazing and easy to offend. I like blocking the aisle on the company bus so the OLs can get off before the salarymen in the back. It took me two years in Japan before I found anybody who would talk about burakumin. It's like Japan's dark secret. Amazing that it still hangs on. But then there are other examples of a group shilling an old wrong for modern preferences. Anybody care to start a list? Which it is with the burakumin I can't be sure.
Goals0 at 07:36 AM JST - 7th May

“eta,” a now strongly derogatory word for burakumin that literally >means “filthy mass.” The translation is poor and inflammatory to say the least. "Much defilement" would be better. The derivation of the word isn't quite clear but Japanese wiki says "people whose work involved dealing with a lot of impure things" is a likely one.
Taka313 at 09:46 AM JST - 7th May

ca1ic0cat,

I like blocking the aisle on the company bus so the OLs can get off before the salarymen in the back.

We may not always agree, but I take my hat off to you for that.

Taka
ANOTSUSAGAMI at 09:50 PM JST - 7th May

Burakumin discrimination is a testament to human nature. Humans will find ANY excuse to malign each other. In the absence of people who are different, they will create those differences amongst themselves. Those with power will be exalted, those without will be cast aside. One wonders though a few things: Were cooks considered burakumin too, because they handled the butcher's meat too or were they somehow exempt? Second, undertakers were Burakumin, right? I wonder how the Burakumin haters feel about Okuribito's success? Anyway not Google's fault that Japanese people decided to make these maps in the first place. Certainly not thier fault that people use it to deny others thier humanity.
Taka313 at 12:28 AM JST - 8th May

ANOTSUSAGAMI,

In the absence of people who are different, they will create those differences amongst themselves.

I can't argue with that.

Taka
nandakandamanda at 10:07 AM JST - 9th May

Anotsusagami, to answer your question above about cooks and meat, without going off topic, most Japanese didn't eat what we now think of as 'meat' in Edo times.
aedfed at 10:58 AM JST - 12th May

Well, the Burakumin Liberation League can't be too upset with Google. They still use them to provide the site search on their home page.