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Casting new light on majority-minority relations and the struggle for Buraku liberation, this book focuses on Matsumoto Jiichiro, arguably the most important Buraku leader of the twentieth century, locating his experience within the broader developments in Japan's social, political and economic history.
First published in New Delhi by Navayana Publishing.
People labelled as 'Buraku-min' in Japan are usually described as the descendants of pre-modern occupational groups who were engaged in socially polluting tasks like leather work, meat-packing, street entertainment, and drum-making. 'Performing the Buraku' explores representations of the 'buraku' issue by community and local activism in contemporary Japan, with a special focus on performances and museum exhibitions.
Translated with an Intoduction by Alastair McLaughlin. The extent of discrimination against the Buraku communities is one of the most sensitive issues facing the Japanese government and the social coherence of contemporary Japan.
This book locates the development of Dōwa policy projects within their historical and political context, offering examples of human rights protection in a non-Western society. Charting Dōwa policy from its origins in the pre-war period to its revival after 1945 up to the turn of the 21st century, chapters in this study provide a social and historical review supplemented by detailed analyses of policy process and implementation at both national and local levels. No previous publication on the ‘Buraku Problem’ has focused on the direct impact of Dōwa policy in overcoming prejudice and economic inequalities. Topics covered range from left-wing Buraku Liberation League demands in the late 1950s, the Special Measures Law for Dōwa Policy Projects (SML) in the 1960s, and the evolution of a human rights based Dōwa policy into the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Through its evaluation of the relative successes and failures to improve local infrastructure and opportunities for marginal communities, this book invites comparative analysis with policies in other Asian and Western polities which seek to mitigate descent-based and racial discrimination. Dōwa Policy and Japanese Politics will prove a valuable resource for students and scholars of international relations, human rights, politics, and Japanese studies.
This Companion provides a comprehensive overview of the influences that have shaped modern-day Japan. Spanning one and a half centuries from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the beginning of the twenty-first century, this volume covers topics such as technology, food, nationalism and rise of anime and manga in the visual arts. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Japanese Culture traces the cultural transformation that took place over the course of the twentieth century, and paints a picture of a nation rich in cultural diversity. With contributions from some of the most prominent scholars in the field, The Cambridge Companion to Modern Japanese Culture is an authoritative introduction to this subject.
The Buraku people have been segregated, oppressed, and discriminated against throughout Japanese history. The Japanese can dismiss the Buraku issue because of assimilation theories, the belief in homogeneity, and passive attitudes by the Buraku people. The Buraku Liberation League (BLL), which has fought for equal rights on behalf of the Buraku people since 1955, has the potential to effect changes that will improve minority issues in Japan. This thesis examines the historical formation of the Buraku people and the ideological aspects that reinforce discrimination against them. The historical observation of the Buraku, conducted by reviewing the existing literature, focuses on how the Buraku people and the discrimination against them originated. To understand the ideological aspects of the Buraku issue, focus groups as well as individual interviews were conducted in Osaka from June to September 1993 to gain a general overview of the problem. There was a total of four focus groups: three Buraku focus groups (young adults, parents, elderly) and one non-Buraku focus group (young adults). In addition to the focus groups, five BLL officers were individually interviewed. Subsequently, questionnaires were distributed in 1997 in various geographical areas to verify the findings of the first research. Non-Buraku subjects came from Hokkaido, Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Osaka, while all the Buraku subjects were from Osaka. Each of the Buraku and the non-Buraku were categorized into two age groups: parents and young adults. The results of the historical observation demonstrated that the Buraku people were derived from people with various backgrounds and occupations. Also, they have contributed to traditional Japanese art forms (such as dance and arts and crafts) as well as human rights advancement. The results of the ideological observation revealed that many non-Buraku subjects had the misconception that Buraku discrimination has disappeared. Most of them were indifferent toward the Buraku issue and had little knowledge about Buraku history and the current Buraku issues. Because the present school curriculum seldom provides information, especially positive information, about the Buraku, the non- Buraku tend to focus only on the negative aspects of being Buraku. The ideological study also discovered that non-Buraku subjects tended to avoid involvement with the Buraku, whereas Buraku subjects hesitated to reveal their identity and often tried to pass as the non-Buraku. The negative image of the Buraku, the image of isolation and exclusion induced by discrimination, appears to instill a fear of exclusion from the majority among both the non-Buraku and Buraku when they become involved in the Buraku issue. The research suggests that it is essential for the BLL to confront indifference, lack of knowledge, and the fear of discrimination. In order to accomplish these goals, it is essential to raise awareness of the Buraku issue and to communicate the positive aspects of the Buraku. Accordingly, the BLL needs to request that the government, especially the Ministry of Education, restructure the history and moral education curricula, and provide nationwide mandatory human rights education to include the Buraku issue. In addition, in order to confront anti-Buraku liberation theories and for the future success of the Buraku liberation movement, the BLL needs to focus and define the future direction of the Buraku liberation movement.
"The Burakumin. Stigmatized throughout Japanese history as an outcaste group, their identity is still “risky,” their social presence mostly silent, and their experience marginalized in public discourse. They are contemporary Japan’s largest minority group—between 1.5 and 3 million people. How do young people today learn about being burakumin? How do they struggle with silence and search for an authentic voice for their complex experience?Voice, Silence, and Self examines how the mechanisms of silence surrounding burakumin issues are reproduced and challenged in Japanese society. It explores the ways in which schools and social relationships shape people’s identity as burakumin within a “protective cocoon” where risk is minimized. Based on extensive ethnographic research and interviews, this longitudinal work explores the experience of burakumin youth from two different communities and with different social movement organizations.Christopher Bondy explores how individuals navigate their social world, demonstrating the ways in which people make conscious decisions about the disclosure of a stigmatized identity. This compelling study is relevant to scholars and students of Japan studies and beyond. It provides crucial examples for all those interested in issues of identity, social movements, stigma, and education in a comparative setting."
"Caste", a word normally used in relation to the Indian subcontinent, is rarely associated with Japan in contemporary scholarship. This has not always been the case, and the term was often used among earlier generations of scholars, who introduced the Buraku problem to Western audiences. Amos argues that time for reappraisal is well overdue and that a combination of ideas, beliefs, and practices rooted in Confucian, Buddhist, Shinto, and military traditions were brought together from the late 16th century in ways that influenced the development of institutions and social structures on the Japanese archipelago. These influences brought the social structures closer in form and substance to certain caste formations found in the Indian subcontinent during the same period. Specifically, Amos analyses the evolution of the so-called Danzaemon outcaste order. This order was a 17th century caste configuration produced as a consequence of early modern Tokugawa rulers’ decisions to engage in a state-building project rooted in military logic and built on the back of existing manorial and tribal-class arrangements. He further examines the history behind the primary duties expected of outcastes within the Danzaemon order: notably execution and policing, as well as leather procurement. Reinterpreting Japan as a caste society, this book propels us to engage in fuller comparisons of how outcaste communities’ histories and challenges have diverged and converged over time and space, and to consider how better to eradicate discrimination based on caste logic. This book will appeal to anyone interested in Japanese History, Culture and Society.
How Japan’s most canonical postwar writer brought that country’s largest social minority into the mainstream.