Word: burakumin
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...village people are untouchable, and not just as outmoded icons of American popular culture. The Japanese word burakumin literally translates as “village people”—and the burakumin are outcasts in Japanese society. Discriminated against since the 15th century, the burakumin were undertakers and public executioners, and some still work in trades considered impure in Buddhism and Shinto. Though some measures have tried to recompense for past isolation, a rift between burakumin and the rest of society exists even today...
...best, Morin captures the atmosphere of contemporary Tokyo and enlightens with the plight of the burakumin. She thoroughly intertwines the tales of three dynamic characters—Lois, a Harvard-educated painter, Shintaro, the buraku, and a stockbroker usually known as Max or Jack. She deftly uncovers the seediness of the cosmopolitan gaijin (foreigner) world of nightclubs and gin-and-tonics, blackmail and insider trading. Her most delightful descriptions are of these underworld dealings and of the intrigues in the personal lives of the protagonists, each of whom loves the one member of the trio who doesn?...
...stigma attached to the burakumin in Japanese society is inexcusable. It is easier to understand why self-published authors often don’t get the respect they desire. Although Sazzae doesn’t quite attain its literary aspirations, it does show that not all writers with potential reach their audience through the mainstream process. If Sazzae had been squeezed by the pressure of that process, the writing would likely be much tighter and more consistent. Morin surely has talent, but there is something to be said for jumping through all the normal hoops...
...doesn't bother other burakumin that Nonaka doesn't want to be a poster-boy for their cause. After all, they haven't been his staunchest supporters, either. Burakumin have traditionally backed socialist and communist parties, while the conservative Nonaka staked his early career on chipping away at the communists' grip on power in Kyoto. "If he becomes Prime Minister," says Kanto, "it won't really change much for us. It would be more difficult for him to do things for us, because at the top, he would have to deal with too many other issues...
...whatever their political leanings, many burakumin would be delighted to see one of their own rise to the top job in the land: it would certainly do more to blunt discrimination than any legislation. And that worker who insulted Nonaka all those years ago may now want to reverse his assessment of the former supervisor. In Sonobe he may be a burakumin; in Tokyo, Hiromu Nonaka is flying high...