Feb 17 (Japan Times) - When Chie Takaiwa struck up the courage to reveal a family secret to her colleague some years ago, she was met by an unexpected response.
The 37-year-old coffee stall worker's father hails from a riverbank community in Fukuoka Prefecture that is known as a buraku, a term meaning "hamlet" used to describe areas inhabited by descendants of outcasts from the feudal era.
The sensitive nature of the issue requires Takaiwa to be cautious when discussing her background with others and she generally avoids people who have parochial views.
"I asked whether she was aware of the buraku issue and she said, 'Yes,'" Takaiwa, who was born and raised in Tokyo, recalls. "She then said something that caught me off guard. She said that I didn't look mixed race."
It turned out Takaiwa's co-worker was confusing buraku with a similar sounding English word - "burakku" (black) - and was under the impression that her father was not Japanese. Such misconceptions are increasingly common, Takaiwa and others with buraku ancestry say, especially among younger generations unfamiliar with the term or the complex history surrounding burakumin, or the buraku people, who are ethnically indistinguishable from other Japanese.
The episode may reflect the changing attitudes toward a social minority that has been ostracized over centuries for its historical association with what was once considered "unclean" occupations stigmatized by death and blood: butchers, leatherworkers, executioners and undertakers, to name a few.
However, that's not to say buraku discrimination is a thing of the past. It continues to manifest itself in various forms, including in marriage and employment prospects, and has evolved with technology, finding a platform online where personal information is often disseminated with little regulation or oversight.
