ABSTRACT
The return to Osaka in 2004 combined a powerful mix of interviews, reunions, and meetings that led to further exploration of areas that until that time had not demanded as high a priority in terms of the overall research on the education of Burakumin. But times were changing and I could hear it in the conversations with colleagues and activists who now included Koreans in their discussions on human rights far more than in the past. The discourse had altered from one of residential proximity and limited social intercourse between Burakumin and Zainichi, to the importance of understanding the historical challenges that Koreans have faced in Japan. 1 Was this just a nod to the governmental policies that had shut down the Dowa projects that focused solely on Burakumin? Was this a form of overcompensating for the excessive attention paid to Burakumin? Was it an issue of following the resources and money? Was it a safe haven from the embittered political battles that have torn the BLL and their allies into various ideological camps? Was it job security for those who have spent their entire lives dedicated to social justice issues? This is the next group, this is where the funding is going, so off we go. Or had Zainichi demands finally attracted the attention of the powerful and bent the ears of those who could realign the priorities of the human rights movement? And how much was this dependent on the ascendancy of South Korea, the threat of North Korea, and the need for Japan to begin to assume a more mature and honest role in relationship to its non-Japanese residents? 2 Whatever the reason, my visit this time was different with meetings and discussions, as well as two Kenkyukai (research study group meeting), focused largely on Koreans in Japan. As intimated in prior interviews in the previous years, the dominant discourse had clearly shifted away from the Burakumin.
