Thoughts and questions on Japanese treatment of Koreans and burakumin

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

I came across this quote in EWP, and thought it was very interesting.

"Although the government made Koreans citizens of Japan and promoted an ideology of racial brotherhood under the emperor, Koreans in Japan were deemed inherently stupid, lazy, bellicose, and vicious...Koreans who showed intellectual promise earned the mistrust of Japanese officials, who fears, with reason, that they harbored anti-Japanese sentiment" (EWP 478).

It just strikes me as funny that the Japanese knew that the way they treated Koreans would obviously create anti-Japanese feelings. Why didn't they just treat them better? I just read that and thought that racism is just so silly and illogical.

I've heard in a lecture from another program that compares the treatments of Koreans in Japan to the way African-Americans were treated in post-Civil War South. Clay, I know that comparisons can be problematic, but are the situations somewhat comparable?

I also have a question about the burakumin, the outcasts of Japan. Are they still discriminated against today? Can you hide the fact that you are one? Can Koreans also pass as ethnic Japanese?

[Anonymous]

Hi Judi,

Your thought about how the Japanese treated Koreans being similar to how blacks were treated in the post-Civil War South is interesting. I think there are some similarities. Certainly blacks were denied most civil rights and were not treated in any way as full citizens. But it seems to me we could really say the same about nearly any (or every) strongly discriminated against group. For example look at how the Irish were treated for most of American history. Its no accident that the Transcontinental Railroad was build by Chinese from west-to-east and Irish from east-to-west. Overall I am not sure that the Japanese treated the Koreans much differently from how most imperial powers treated their subject people.

On the issue of racism in Asia I think its often hard for white Americans to understand complicated race relations in Asia. This is probably in part because to most white American all Asians are pretty much the same. I remember raising the issue of why Asian Americans don't have the same political clout as Jewish American, despite having about the same percentage of the population (2.5%) and income levels. When I asked about this many Asian American students quickly replied by making it clear that they were "Korean-American," "Chinese-American," "Japanese-American," etc. I fully expected and wanted this response to help the white students understand that thinking about Asians or Asian-Americans as a single group is highly problamatic to say the least.

[Anonymous]

I completely understand where your students are coming from. I think many Asian Americans have been so lumped as one homogeneous group that we are eager to distinguish ourselves. I think this is also true for Southeast Asians. People always talk about the model minority stereotype and assume that Asian American students will always excel and we don't have to worry about them. In reality, there is an achievement gap between Korean/Chinese/Japanese American students and Southeast Asian students, Filipino in particular.

I don't necessarily think that the misconceptions of "Asian-Americans" is limited to white Americans. I definitely see it in my students and colleagues. They see my yellow face and expect me to be an expert on all things Asian. When I talk about this to my students, that you can't lump all people into a broad category, I think they start to get it. My non-Mexican Latino students especially empathize. They get extremely defensive and offended when others assume they are Mexican.

[Anonymous]

Even in modern Japan, there are lingering prejudices toward anyone "foreign". Even Japanese-Americans are not "Japanese" to many people living in Japan. To this day, it is impossible for a Japan-born Korean to attain citizenship in Japan. Many Japan born Koreans have tried to fight the government but to their detriment. I used to teach at a Japanese high school and one of the students there was rumored to be "really a Korean." That particular student was eccentric--he was a fourth generation Japanese and yet due to his heritage, he was not recognized by his classmates as a "true Japanese." Even some of the teachers at the school told me that he was "different", "anti-social", "not bright" -- I was not sure what they were insinuating but I found their labeling quite disturbing.

The Burakumin Community still face many prejudices from mainstream Japanese. They are not recognized by society as part of their culture. I think of it kind of like the way the untouchables are treated within the Indian Caste community. For example, the Burakumin are not encouraged to marry into the mainstream Japanese. With the exception of those who marry by choice, the marriage arranged by both sides of the parents go through a severe analysis--each side of the family traces the family line of the respective family. There is a book that many matchmakers have with lists of last names that are Burakumin in origin. If a trace of it were to be found in either member of the party, the marriage will not happen. Even the mention of Burakumin is done in a sort-of-hushed way. My hope is that awareness into this community and their contribution to Japan's society be brought into light so that the myth of who they are is overrode by reality--that they are human beings who want opportunities to live life to the fullest.

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