Discrimination in Japan

By Sae

What do you imagine about discrimination? There are much discrimination because of religion, sex and race. It is hard to lose all discrimination from the world because prejudices are in people’s mind deeply. Prejudice came from painful experiences or elder people. I learned about discriminations and prejudice in America, so started to think about Japan. There seems to be no discriminations in Japan, but I found different kind of discrimination. This is occupation and academic background discrimination.

Occupation and academic background discrimination is big concern in Japan. Japanese tend to classify into winnfers and losers by property because media imprinted in people’s mind. From the media airs that topic up, people started to believe that winners are happy because they are wealthy, for becoming rich person, good occupation or academic background are needed to get high salary. Therefore, Japanese focus on occupation and academic background. For example, many students ask their name and university which they go to when they meet for the first time, and people think it is good to enter a good university. On the other hand, many parents only care about their children’s grades and score in education instead of thinking about their children’s hopes or dreams. In addition, children are victims of this discrimination. Recently, many children go to cram school after school and learn many things such as English conversation, playing an instrument and doing sports; on the other hand, they have no time to play with their friends. In fact, I think children become adults who are like their parents if they continue to do that. They will stop thinking about their dream, and they will just study for future career. In other case, university students want to work at major companies, so they try to take an interview with those companies. Actually, there are only a few places for new employees. That is one reason that many university students can’t get jobs.

Because of occupation and academic background discrimination, people try not to think about dreams. Is money really important for us? People feel happy with different ways such as having family, doing what you really want to do, and having dreams. First, focusing on your wish in your mind and then respecting individuals are the keys of losing this discrimination.

Discrimination in Japan

Yuiko

Although all people should be treated equally, regrettably, there is discrimination even a small island country like Japan. There is a word “buraku”, which describes an area or people who have low social status. Once in the past, they were treated in terrible way by people who were higher status than them, but the discrimination began to be focused on people as a serious social problem. Then, a law for “buraku” people was found in 1871 and they were emancipated institutionally, but there is discrimination against them even now. Discrimination has existed over periods in Japan. Now, Japanese should think more deeply about this problem.

When Japanese use the word “buraku”, it never has a positive meaning. The people who said the word wanted to tell something negative. For example, a person who came from an area which was “buraku” in Edo Era was often remembered with a bad image. The bad image meant they were not well educated. People may call the person “buraku”, and it will take more time for the person to be believed by other people. It is a common case of discrimination against “buraku” people.

There is discrimination not only for the people, but also against the area. As I wrote, “buraku” also had a meaning of an area in which low social status people lived in Edo era. Now, the areas have no particular differences from other areas. However, some adults don’t want their children to go to “buraku” areas, because they believe that the areas don’t have good security as much as other areas. It is wrong. There are many places which is more dangerous than the “buraku” areas.

Thus, discrimination doesn’t disappear quickly. Nowadays, Japan is getting globalization and we can accept many new ideas from all over the world. The new ideas will lead Japan to a better way. However, Japanese should face domestic problems such as discrimination. This is only the way to make a better future for everyone.

The Term Discrimination in Japan

Reika Horio

I just had a discussion whether Japanese have prejudices and discrimination in Japan, and I recalled my old memory when I was small. In my opinion, there is much discrimination in Japan against foreigners, disabled people, homeless people and so much more. Those ideas mainly came from the media such as news, cartoons and movies.

In American studies class, many students have said they have prejudices and discrimination against Chinese and North Korea, because some Chinese people copy Japanese products a lot and they actually sell them like their products. Moreover, people who live in North Korea take Japanese away: abduction. Those bad and negative images have come from the news, and it remains people’s brains for a long time.
When I think about whether I’m a prejudiced person, I recalled I used to be against Chinese, homeless and disabled people. For example, I was against Chinese when I was in high school. I just had a negative image of them because they sold food with ingredients that we shouldn’t take into our body. However, those negative images have gone away when I had friends who were from China. I realized not every Chinese is bad like what I had heard from the media.

There was another discrimination that I felt against homeless people. I used to have prejudices because I wanted to believe I am different from them because of their dirty appearance. I didn’t even think why they were living in that environment. However, one book named “A Homeless Student Who Is in Junior High School” changed my image of homeless people. Since I’ve read the book, my image of homeless has changed in positive way. The book was written by the famous comedian, Krin. I was so surprised when I found he used to be homeless. My negative homeless image has gone because the comedian didn’t look dirty. I realized I had prejudices against them, and then I simply accepted them and respected their way of living.

Through my experiences, prejudices and discrimination always happens mainly because of appearance. I have my father who is disabled. He can’t see when it’s dark outside. He has eyes like birds. I clearly remember the night when my father came home with no hair, eyebrows and eyelashes because of his illness. I couldn’t believe what to say to him. I just felt I was so sorry for him. That happened when I was in a kindergarten, and since then I got bullied from my friends because of prejudge and discrimination against my father. Because he had no hair, everyone said to me, “Oh, your father has no hair, that’s funny!” I couldn’t bear it, but I knew my father had have a wounded heart more than anyone else. Because whenever he goes out, people look at him and say something about him in a small voice. I’ve heard one moving story from my mother. When I was small, I had a sports festival in the kindergarten, and my father had no idea whether he should go or not because he knew if he went, I would receive bulling from my friends. However my mother said, “You are the only father to Reika, so you should go and join it with her!” I was so impressed by her words and at the same time, I understood what a hard time my father had.

There is lots of discrimination in Japan not only to foreigners but also against people who have different appearances. I have lived with my dad since I was born, and I have had cruel experiences physically from my friends. I won’t forget those experiences forever. I think prejudices and discrimination are normal for people because we all have feelings and those can’t be the same to everyone, although I hope there will be a comfortable environment for people who have disabled like my father.