race: burakumin and african americans
Japan is a place where racism still exists just as the United States. In the fourth edition of On Being Different: Diversity & Multiculturalism in the North American Mainstream, Conrad Kottak and Kathryn Kozaitis state, “the (majority) Japanese define themselves by opposition to others, whether minority groups in their own nation or outsiders—anyone who is ‘not us.’ The ‘not us’ should stay that way; assimilation is generally discouraged” (137). The best example of Japan’s racial issues is through the treatment of burakumin. According to Wikipedia, “burakumin is an outcast group at the bottom of the Japanese social order that has historically been the victim of severe discrimination and ostracism.” Because of this discrimination, “burakumin and other Japanese minorities are also more likely to have careers in crime, prostitution, entertainment, and sports” (Kottak and Kozaitis 137).
What the burakumin have gone through and are still going through is very similar, almost identical to the struggle of African Americans in the United States. African Americans have endured slavery, discrimination and hostile segregation to name a few.
With the influence of media, Japan has adopted the Western’s view of African Americans. “Japanese contacts with Africans and later African Americans were limited compared to their encounters with whites, their exposure to Western discourse about them was less limited, and shaped how Japanese would perceive blacks when they actually encountered them” (qtd. in Fellezs 341).
The video below gives additional information about the racism and discrimination in Japan.
The video below gives additional information about the racism and discrimination in Japan.