JAPAN: New Law May Make Minorities More Equal — At Least Legally

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Nov 29 1995 (IPS) - Japanese lawmakers are set to ratify a 30- year-old U.N. law on discrimination and while minority groups are hopeful it will bring an end to ethnic segregation, they are sceptical that society will suddenly welcome them with open arms.

“It has taken the Japanese government thirty years to make this decision. Nevertheless we are very happy,” said Yoshinobu Sakamoto, of the Burakumin League, an organisation that represents the official outcasts of Japan.

The Japanese Diet (two-chambered parliament) is expected to pass the 1965 United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination during its current session which ends Dec. 15.

Japan is the lone member of the Group of Seven (G-7) countries that has not ratified the treaty which was only last year adopted by U.S. lawmakers.

“The government is following the United States. Japan does not want to be internationally isolated,” said Sakamoto.

Officially, ethnic minorities number about 2.7 million out of a population of 24.5 million, although minority groups say the figure is closer to four million.

At the bottom are the Burakumin, descendants of tanners and butchers, who continue to be stigmatised because of the “dirty” trade of their foreparents although they have the same racial and cultural origins of fellow Japanese.

The live in special ghettos, called dowa, mainly in southern Japan. The government counts 1.8 million Burakumins, but activists say the number is closer to three million, making them Japan’s largest minority.

The next largest minority group are the 620,000 Koreans who were born in Japan — many to parents brought to Korea as slave labour during the war years — yet even third-generation Koreans have to carry identity cards with them at all times.

The other main ethnic minority are concentrated in Japan’s northernmost main island, Hokkaido, which was once the exclusive domain of the Ainu people, who language is unrelated to any other.

Regarded as the aboriginal people of Japan, the Ainu are a dying race. Treated as aliens by the Japanese government, they number around 30,000 — disease and low birth rates the main reasons for their demise.

An estimated 16,000 live in the rugged terrain of Hokkaido, having been driven north by ancestors of modern Japanese; other groups live on the Kurile islands.

Japan is also home to tens of thousands “illegals” from Asia.

Illegal workers now number around 300,000. They comprise of mainly Chinese, Iranians, Bangladesh, Sri Lankans and Filipinos and while their illegal status means that they face their own peculiar difficulties, the cheap labour they provide actually exacerbates the problems faced by out of work ethnic minorities.

Japanese laws offer little protection against discrimination by the private sector where employers are able to gain quick access to the ethnic and educational backgrounds of potential employees.

Minority rights activists say this immediately puts them at a disadvantage as far as employment opportunities are concerned. Fifty per cent of Burakumins of working age, remain unemployed.

There is similar discrimination when it comes to buying property with real estate agents often making the same checks, activists say.

Added to this is the verbal abuse minorities face on Japanese streets.

“While the U.N. law represents a milestone in our fight for equality, I remain sceptical when it comes the law actually bringing major changes for us,” said a spokesman for the Ainu community.

The Japanese Constitution, written by the Americans when they occupied Japan after the end of World War ll, guarantees equality to all Japanese citizens, but according to Robert Stieber, a missionary fighting for Burakumin rights, Japanese continue to regard “foreigners” as innately inferior.

“It is difficult for the Japanese to feel comfortable with someone who is different,” he said.

Sakamato hopes that with the new legislation, even if the Japanese thinking does not change, at least in the eyes of the law, they will be on equal footing.

“We want the U.N. treaty to lead to better education and to raise the consciousness of the average Japanese people. The only way this can be done is for the Japanese government to admit national prejudice and apologise and then work towards eliminating discrimination,” said Sakamoto.

Yukio Murakami, a missionary, explains that the U.N. treaty on discrimination will also be welcomed by Japan’s handicapped who like ethnic minorities are overlooked when it comes to equal education and employment opportunities.

Law suits have been fought against public schools that deny entrance to the handicapped on the grounds that staff cannot meet their special needs.

The most recent case has been a suit filed by a blind student who was rejected by a university when he asked for entrance examination papers to be in braille.

“Japan’s handicapped are kept tucked away from the public glare because of prejudice as well as public works that are not geared for them. The awareness in the West is much higher,” said Murakami.