MAKING CITIZENS

AS SOON AS the post-war constitution was promulgated the concept of equality began to permeate through Japanese society. As it did so, the existence of Burakumin was regarded as a deviation from the norm of modern citizenship and it began to stand out in various ways. In 1956 a white paper on the economy announced that ‘the post-war is already over’ and this became a topic widely discussed. It was announced that the wartime damage had been dealt with and that the way was now open for a period of economic growth. Japan entered a period of prosperity from the later 1950s and early 1960s. Under the leadership of PM Ikeda the ‘income doubling’ policies and policies promoting a high economic growth rate were successfully implemented. Most people saw huge changes in their living conditions but most Burakumin were increasingly left behind by these improvements in living standards, education and employment patterns. A gap opened up between the discriminated Buraku and the non-discriminated mainstream.

In January 1961 the BLL central committee in its ‘Campaign Demanding a National Policy for Buraku Liberation’ expressed its view that, ‘The Buraku problem has not been solved. On the contrary, discrimination is getting worse.’ It expressed its view that there was an increase in the number of suicides connected to problems involving marriage, moreover that Buraku farmers who had not benefitted from the land reform were being separated from their land by the Basic Law on Agriculture and had no alternative but to join the lumpen proletariat.

The government was under increasing pressure to establish a national policy and so in August 1960 it passed a law that set up the Dōwa Policy Advisory Council (Dōwa Taisaku Shingikai) as an adjunct to the Prime Minister's Office. Just at that time a ‘Japanese style welfare’ system was being devised and introduced comprising of a national pension scheme and health care reimbursement system. The government was gradually embracing its existing citizens and, against the background of a greater economic margin that was being provided by the rapid economic growth, it began to address the task of creating a policy to deal with the Buraku issue.