TOKYO, JAPAN, May 2, 2009: Google never expected repercussions from adding historical maps of Japan to the online Google Earth collection last year–but because the maps show the locations of former low-caste communities, Google is now facing inquiries from the Justice Ministry and angry accusations of prejudice.
During Japan’s feudal era, a strict caste system was in place. The lowest class, called the “burakumin,” were ethnically identical to other Japanese but were forced to live in isolation because they did jobs associated with death, such as working with leather, butchering animals and digging graves.
Officially, castes have long been abolished. But the burakumins’ descendants– approximately 3 million, according to rights groups–still face prejudice, based almost entirely on where they live or their ancestors lived. Moving is little help, because employers or parents of potential spouses can hire agencies to check for buraku ancestry through Japan’s elaborate family records.
An employee at a large, well-known Japanese company, who works in personnel and has direct knowledge of its hiring practices, said the company actively screens out burakumin job seekers. “If we suspect that an applicant is a burakumin, we always do a background check to find out,” she said. She agreed to discuss the practice only on condition that neither she nor her company be identified.
Lists of “dirty” addresses circulate on Internet bulletin boards. Some surveys have shown that such neighborhoods have lower property values than surrounding areas, and residents have been the target of racial taunts and graffiti. But the modern locations of the old villages are largely unknown to the general public, and many burakumin prefer it that way.