RECENT OPINION POLL DATA

THE RESULTS OF a survey of public opinion carried out in 2013 by Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) included the following among its set of questions:

Those who responded definitively:

On the other hand, in response to the question:

Moreover, we should not ignore the fact that in both cases the number of people who replied that they would not stick with their intentions has gone down compared to the survey results of 1999. In answer to the question about their child's marriage the number of people for whom ‘Dōwa community origin’ is no problem has gone down 7.4% and those who would not go through with their own marriage is down 11.7%. We cannot view these figures with optimism. As explained in the previous chapter it is likely that the transition ‘from Dōwa to Human Rights’ and the reduction in the number of opportunities to discuss the Buraku issue either within the school classroom or in social education are probably the main reasons for these results.

RETROGRADE STEP OR NEGATION?

At the moment the amount of discriminatory ‘graffiti’ on the internet continues undiminished. Meanwhile a large majority of students that I come across in classes etc. will say that ‘We are not concerned at all about Buraku issues’ or that ‘We find it incomprehensible that this kind of discrimination continues to exist.’ However, these same young people who ‘know nothing’ about the issue, when they ask their parents or grandparents about it do not listen critically to what they are told but rather take on the stereotypical images of Buraku people which are common in discriminatory public discourses.