ABSTRACT
While it is true that a discussion of the Burakumin is stigmatized throughout Japan, for those Burakumin who live in eastern Japan (the Kanto area), their existence is almost completely denied. Having conducted research in Osaka (Kansai) for three years prior to expanding my work on marginalized youth to the Tokyo area, I was clearly aware of the existence of Burakumin in Kanto but I was also alerted to the fact that finding people who would talk openly about their existence would be difficult. Part of the reason for this silence is due to the destruction of many intact Buraku communities during the war, causing dislocation and mass migration from the countryside. Alongside this geographic rupture came the political decision on the part of the JCP (Japanese Communist Party), who held power in the Kanto area after the war, to refuse to allow certain areas with high concentration of Burakumin to be designated as official Buraku or “Dowa.” The JCP believed that absence of community demarcations would allow for greater fluidity and ease of assimilation into the larger society. While in theory this appears valid, numerous are the stories of Kanto Burakumin who live in fear of their identity being disclosed.
