Koseki at root of problem
I wish to thank you for the excellent article "Breaking the silence on burakumin" on Jan. 20. I work for the Buraku Liberation Center in Osaka and was featured in the Aug. 2, 2008, issue (search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20080802a1.html). One point I would add is that it is the koseki (family registry) system itself that is the main practical reason buraku discrimination has hung on so long. In our latest newsletter, I wrote a short article about that.
"The two main ways that buraku discrimination occurs in today's Japan is through marriage and employment discrimination. If someone of buraku descent intends to marry someone of nonburaku descent, the nonburaku person's parents often utilize a 'background check' to determine ancestry, and if buraku roots are detected, they then put great pressure on the couple to break the relationship off.
"Companies also use such 'background checks' to weed out 'undesirables,' of which buraku descent is high on the list, irrespective of that person's abilities.