After the snowfall and minus two degree C temperatures of Hokkaido, I spent a few days in less cold but more bustling Tokyo meeting some old and new friends. Tokyo is a large, monstrous conglomeration of four towns with a large monstrous underground subway network that runs with clockwork precision where most people have timed their working lives around the train schedules. Mobile phones are not allowed inside the subway trains - they really respect this rule, I did not notice a single person talking on their phone - and this absence of incessant chattering means you can almost sit and meditate in the beautifully clean and quiet (although often crowded) trains. The train also glides rather than shuffles so it’s possible to sit with a newspaper and even do a crossword or as I noticed many times, women with mirrors calmly doing their make-up.A long-time dear friend Sayoko, an activist who used to work in Chiang Mai on Mekong region issues, (and who was heavily pregnant in her 10th month), spent time and energy to show me around the city for two days. It was great to go places with her - a constant stream of chatting (in mixed Thai and English) catching up on news as we hadn't met in almost two years since she left Thailand.
For the last day, her friend Cathy took over the hospitality task and in the east palace gardens I saw my first cherry blossom (fortunately one tree that had blossomed early, usually the very-popular cherry blossoms begin in late March).
Another meeting was with Ms Inoue Reiko, director of the Pacific Asia Resource Centre (PARC), an NGO working on social rights issues in Japan. We had met once many years ago in Thailand and had occasionally kept in touch. She took Sayoko and me to a lovely noodles ("sobu" - buckwheat) restaurant followed by delicious dessert at a wooden-interiored little shop.
Also met with people from the IMADR – The International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, which is a people's movement that works (above ground, unlike the Tokyo Underground) to “eliminating discrimination and racism, forging international solidarity among discriminated minorities …”
The visit was due to my interest in knowing more about the situation of Buraku people in Japan. Burakumin (部落民: buraku, community or hamlet + min, people), are a Japanese social minority group. The burakumin are one of the main minority groups in Japan, along with the Ainu of Hokkaidō and residents of Korean and Chinese descent. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buraku). They are communities of descendants of outcast communities of the feudal era, which mainly comprised those with occupations considered "tainted" with death or ritual impurity (such as executioners, undertakers or leather workers) and traditionally lived in their own secluded hamlets and ghettos. They were legally liberated in 1871 with the abolition of the feudal caste system; however, this did not put a stop to social discrimination and their lower living standards. In certain areas of Japan, there is still a stigma attached to being a resident of such areas, who sometimes face lingering discrimination in matters such as marriage.
The long history of taboos and myths of the buraku left a continuous legacy of social desolation. Since the 1980's, more and more young buraku started to organize and protest against social misfortunes of the buraku. Movements with objectives ranging from "liberation" to encouraging integration have tried over the years to put a stop to this problem. The IMADR visit was useful for my work on discrimination issues in Thailand, a comparative study focusing on Muslims in the south and ethnic communities in northern Thailand.
