One of the methods used to counter prejudice is “thorough denunciation”, “…which entails forceful extraction of an apology from those who have been seen as guilty of discrimination. The method has been widely criticized in recent times for its excesses, which sometimes tray into physical or other forms of intimidation of key figures such as politicians, writers, and publishers.” Dimensions of Japanese Society: Gender, Margins and Mainstream, 1999" The process is also sometimes referred to as “denunciation struggle.”
The Special Measures Law for Assimilation Projects was passed in 1969, supposedly to help with the burakumin, but as with many Japanese laws it was really just words on paper and with no actual mandates behind it.
Some Improvement
Still, there has been some improvement. According to the book Japan in the 21st Century: Environment, Economy, and Society (2005):
"Yet Japan is also remarkable for the progress it has made. Today almost two-thirds of the burakumin say in opinion polls that they have never encountered discrimination. About 75 percent of them now marry nonburakumin. The E-word - eta, or much filth’, the traditional word for burakumin-has been banished from discourse, so that virtually no Japanese ever use it.
Still, discrimination does continue to exist with the burakumin being used as symbolic scapegoats in Japanese society.
March 5, 2007; ‘Buraku’ vow to end misconduct
The Buraku Liberation League agreed at a two-day national assembly in Tokyo ending Sunday that the group, which tackles discrimination against descendants of the feudal outcast class, should promote organizational reforms following a series of scandals.The organization will establish an advisory committee Monday bringing in outside academics to debate how the group should be run after former senior members in Osaka and Nara were accused of misconduct, including embezzlement.
Modified from Japan Times Online.
Other information on burakumin
The Comparative Method in Sociology Journal article by Stephen Thomas; Sociology, Vol. 36, 2002
Japan Moves Slowly to Combat Discrimination: Ethnic Koreans Face Routine Bias Newspaper article by Takehiko Nomura; The Washington Times, October 25, 1996
The ‘Problem’ of Foreign Workers in Contemporary Japan Journal article by John Lie; Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 26, 1994
The Creation of “Strangers” and Punishment in Japan Journal article by Lill Scherdin; Social Justice, Vol. 21, 1994
Multiethnic Japan and the Monoethnic Myth Journal article by Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu; MELUS, Vol. 18, 1993
Teaching and Learning in Japanese Elementary Schools: a Context for Understanding Journal article by Nancy Sato; PJE. Peabody Journal of Education, Vol. 68, 1993
The burakumin: Japan’s underclass Contemporary Review, Sept, 1993
http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/burak.html
