The Melting World

anonymous artist – Outsider art exhibit at local library

I haven’t had the chance to get to this place lately. Been traveling about and reading books on the treatment of the peasant class during the pre-modern and modern era of Japan. Once again, I am opening my eyes wider to what is in the hidden history of Japan and starting to recognize important interconnections with the history of the Ainu here in Hokkaido and to the poor all over Japan and, ultimately, the world.

It seems to me quite obvious that the controlling power base tries to define as many differentiating (and often arbitrary) characteristics of others to weigh in as losers against their own perceived supremacy of group characteristics in order to justify the continued unequal and inhumane treatment of those ‘undesirables.’

The undesirables are meant to stay undesirable, in other words. Thus, the under-class has a role, it seems in part, to keep the elites feeling superior and justifiably self-righteous.

I have always found social history much more fascinating than the standard fare drilled in young minds. The book I mentioned I am in the process of reading above is Peasants, Rebels, Women, and Outcastes by Mikiso Hane. He argues that the road to modernization for the majority of Japanese was slow, and wretched, filled with disease, starvation and discrimination. I recommend it, but of course it won’t be a cheerful read! More like a bucket of ice water thrown on a sleeping bear.

I also met a woman scholar yesterday who trained at SIT in Brattleboro, VT, and is now an intercultural trainer. She built a website recently to open the dialogue up within Japan on multicultural issues. It’s entirely in Japanese but here it is! I was thrilled to see this sort of positive action being taken within Japan.