Is Japan heading into a battle with Google once again? Google's attempts to make headway in Japan seems to be a "one step forward, two steps back" kind of process. Street view was welcomed initially, but then it came under huge scrutiny due to Japan's hugely strict privacy rights (a right which seems only to be slackened when an alleged offender of a crime is in the US armed forces, and then it's fair game). But this time it's Google Earth's custom maps that have come under attack.
For those of you living under a rock, Google Earth shows mapping of the world in huge detail (scary detail in some parts), and while it was popular when it first came out, it has lost a lot of its appeal. For those of you with Google Earth installed, when did you last use it? So, Google Street view was introduced which brought users back somewhat, and now they are looking at historical maps of places around the world, so you can see how countries used to be. Towards the end of last year, Google decided to put up historical maps made from detailed woodblock prints of various areas around Japan. The maps were already available in another form online and a similar project had gone well when mapping Tokyo, so what could possibly go wrong?
The answer is "quite a lot". Apparently these maps are showing a side of Japan that is not often seen, and that Japan doesn't want a lot of its own people and the outside world at large seeing. You see, these maps show villages and areas where members of the burakumin lived. In Japan's old social hierarchy, the burakumin were the lowest of the low, as they dealt with death (leather work, digging graves etc). They were Japanese, but were isolated from the rest of society due to the nature of their employment. Japan's feudal, caste-based system is long-gone, but I was surprised to read that the discrimination against people who lived in these areas or whose families originally come from these areas remain. Currently descendants of the burakumin make up around 3 million people, or 2.4% of Japan's population, but still they are seen as being less than other Japanese folk.
Employers have been known to hire people to check potential employees' family history to look for any sign of them being burakumin. Families have also done the same when determining the suitability of a spouse for their child. Indeed, there are even reports of people who live in these neighborhoods to be the victims of graffiti and racism. Now you may not think that a bit of graffiti sounds like much, but in Japan graffiti is relatively unheard of and especially racial-based graffiti (outside "No base. Go home!").
Japan trying to keep these things out of the public eye as much as possible is probably not surprising to those of you that follow Japan closely, but Japanese politicians are even going on the attack and putting Google at blame.
"If there is an incident because of these maps, and Google is just going to say 'it's not our fault' or 'it's down to the user,' then we have no choice but to conclude that Google's system itself is a form of prejudice," said Toru Matsuoka, a member of Japan's upper house of parliament.
This is yet another case of Japan trying to keep its own dirty laundry kept well out of the public eye, and criticizing anyone who goes looking for the truth, while at the same time condemning other countries for their past actions and acting like no country is purer than Japan. What would be interesting would be to see where Okinawans sit in relation to the burakumin; Okinawans are very low on the pecking order of people in Japan, but are they higher than the burakumin?
Read more at Big in Japan: http://soldave.ismysite.co.uk/biginjapan
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