Morals and Market: Changing Attitudes Toward Minorities
Mariko AkuzawaIn support of the United Nations (un) Decade for Human Rights
Education (1995-2004), Japan adopted a national plan of action for human rights education in 1997 that triggered the adoption of local actionplans in more than five hundred prefectures and municipalities in the country.1 However, this enthusiasm gradually subsided at the start of the 2000s.
Japan enacted the Law on the Promotion of Human Rights Educationand Human Rights Awareness-Raising (lphrea) in 2000. But this law failed
to stop both national and local Governments from giving less attention to
the international framework on human rights education and specifically theUnited Nations (un) initiatives.
Japan’s inward-looking political environment was reinforced with thechange of the ruling party (Liberal Democratic Party) in 2012. In 2014,
when the United Nations Human Rights Committee recommended that theJapanese Government should ban all racially discriminatory propaganda,
the Cabinet immediately commented that this UN recommendation had nolegal binding force.
Treating international human rights standards lightly, the ldp
Government ignored human rights education and started to emphasize
moral education. The Government is now bringing moral education back as
an official subject at primary and secondary schools in 2018 and 2019 school
years respectively.
Upgrading moral education to an official school subject negatively impacts on human rights education in two ways. Moral education in Japan was
only taught as an informal subject in the post-war period due to the criticism that it instilled patriotism and militarism that led the nation to war.
Consequently, moral education, with high flexibility as an informal subject,became a good vehicle to integrate anti-discrimination (dowa) and humanrights education. However, once upgraded as a formal subject, moral education has to follow the national school curriculum and provides little roomfor dowa and human rights education.

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Secondly, teaching abstract moral values as defined by the state will
destroy the tradition of dowa and human rights education, which has always focused on real issues, and problem-solving through empowermentof people. For example, the revised course of study of moral education for
1st and 2nd year primary students lists 19 items, such as honesty, sincerity,
hope, courage, kindness, gratitude, politeness, friendship, trust, and so on.
Stronger emphasis is given on values rather than rights, and on personal attitude formation rather than democratic participation.
Changes in political and educational environments are gradually influencing citizens’ attitudes. In Japan, many local governments regularly conduct attitude surveys to evaluate the impacts of their human rights education programs. In their recent surveys unexpected changes in attitudes
have been observed. The majority of respondents expressed their belief thatprivate solutions are more important than institutional measures in dealing with social problems, prioritizing “moral actions” and“individual capacity and responsibility” over laws and administrative systems. “Morals” and“individual capacity and responsibility” mean minimized government intervention and more private initiatives in resolving problems.
On the other hand, preference for private initiatives should also be understood in the context of growing neo-liberal market economy. When theold model of welfare state is no longer providing protection to citizens’ lives,
citizens seriously react to it as a way to survive under the changed situation by supporting neoliberalism which translates to giving higher priority
to private initiatives than to institutional measures.
Morals and market, although seemingly very different, have commonality at one point - they both promote private initiatives. In this paper I discuss how morals and market have influenced recent citizen’s attitudes inJapan, using three separate local government surveys of this kind, conducted in three cities, two in Hyogo, and one in Osaka, which provide the examples that confirmed the changes. To supplement the findings of three attitude surveys, I present another survey conducted by Kyoto Human Rights
Research Institute in 2014 in order to explain particular influence of changes
in political and educational policies on the younger generation.
History of Attitude Surveys
The history of attitude surveys to measure citizen’s human rights awarenessdates back to the period of the special Dowa measures (1969-2002). Under

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a series of national affirmative action laws that provided special financial assistance to improve the conditions of Buraku communities and to promote
education to eliminate Buraku discrimination, both national and local governments regularly conducted attitude surveys to benchmark citizen’s levelof understanding of the issue and their attitude towards Buraku (both communities and persons with Buraku origin), in order to plan and implement
effective anti-discrimination education programs.
After special Dowa projects ended, attitude surveys are still being continued, but currently under a different law, the lphrea. Now the focus of attitude surveys is no longer limited to Buraku discrimination but they coverdifferent human rights issues. According to Uchida (2016), more than 35
prefectures, out of a total of 47 prefectures, have conducted attitude surveysof this kind between 2000 and 2015, not to mention many more surveys bygovernments at the municipal level.
Surveys in Himeji and Tamba Cities
Himeji and Tamba are cities in the Hyogo prefecture in western Japan, butthey differ in character and population size. Himeji is an urban city with apopulation of approximately 0.54 million (as of 2011). It has a long history
and is now wellknown as a castle town due to the World Cultural Heritage
status of Himeji Castle. It is also wellknown for its traditional leather production, which has historically been an occupation for the local Buraku communities. Tamba city is in a rural district with a population of sixty-thousand (as of 2012), and was created in 2004 after the merger of six townships.
Tamba, a rural city surrounded by mountains, is famous for its agricultural
products. Both cities have made significant commitment in adopting basic
policies and local plans of actions for human rights education.
The attitude survey in Himeji was conducted in 2011 and in Tamba in
2012. In both surveys, respondents were asked to express their level of agreement or disagreement to ten statements that represent different views related to human rights, using a four-point ordinal scales: strongly agree, agree,
disagree, and strongly disagree. The ten statements were the following:
1. People increasingly insist on their rights, while they lose patience;
2. Human rights have nothing to do with me. They are meant for
those who are discriminated against;

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3.

If everyone is kind and considerate to others, there will not be any
human rights infringements;
4. Schools should teach students to perform their duties rather thanrights;5. Inequality is unavoidable in a competitive society as individual
abilities are different;
6. Benefits of the community should be given priority over individual
rights;7. Not only the person who discriminates, but also the person discriminated against has a problem;
8. Government holds primary duty to fulfill the human rights of thecitizens;
9. In order to eliminate discrimination, anti-discrimination law needs
to be legislated;
10. Persons under nursing care (i.e., the elderly and the persons withdisabilities) should not insist too much.
The responses revealed two distinctive tendencies. First, the majority of respondents prioritized morals over rights. Table 1 lists the statements which have more “agree” responses than “disagree” responses. As
seen in this table, more than 80 percent either strongly agree or agree tothe statement that “people increasingly insist on their rights, while they losepatience,” expressing their negative views against human rights activism.
More than 60 percent believed that teaching children to “perform duties” ismore important than the teaching of rights, and that human rights infringement can be avoided if everyone is “kind and considerate to others.”
Interestingly, more than 60 percent also agreed with the statement“Inequality is unavoidable in a competitive society as individual abilities aredifferent.” Inequality is certainly morally unjust, but it was justified as a result of differences in individual abilities. Inequality is recognized as a matterof personal ability and responsibility, not as a failure in social institutional
systems.

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Morals and Market: Changing Attitudes Towards Minorities
Table 1
Strongly Agree + Agree
Himeji (N=1450)

Tamba (N=1131)

People increasingly insist on their rights, while they losepatience.

83.0 %

81.6 %

If everyone is kind and considerate to others, there will not
be any human rights infringements.

67.4 %

67.6 %

Schools should teach students to perform their duties rather
than rights.

66.0 %

61.3 %

Inequality is unavoidable in a competitive society as individual
abilities are different.

64.5 %

54.0 %

Second, contrary to their strong support to private solutions, the majority of respondents disagreed with institutional solutions. As seen in Table 2,
over half of the respondents in Himeji and Tamba neither acknowledged theGovernment as “primary duty-bearer to fulfill the human rights of citizens,”
nor agreed with the need for “anti-discrimination law” in order to eliminate
discrimination. The majority of respondents distrust government intervention and democratic mechanisms of society.
Table 2Strongly disagree + Disagree
Himeji (N=1450)

Tamba (N=1131)

Government holds primary duty to fulfill the human rights ofthe citizens.

54.3 %

59.3 %In order to eliminate discrimination, anti-discrimination law
needs to be legislated.

63.5 %

65.3 %

In fact, the responses to the two statements in Table 2 are significantly
co-related, and intriguingly, those who agree more strongly with the twostatements manifest stronger discriminatory attitudes toward the Buraku.
Thus the questions: why do those who support laws and government initiatives hold more discriminatory attitudes? Why not the other way round?
This result is unexpected because those who support institutional measures(laws and government initiatives) should be pro-democracy and pro-humanrights, and therefore, would not hold discriminatory attitudes.

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In the case of Himeji, another interesting observation is that the respondents with the least willingness to commit themselves in alleviating Buraku
discrimination manifested highest support to institutional measures. It canbe interpreted that people are unwilling to make their own personal commitment and expect the government to do something for the minority. The
attitude of supporting institutional measures may simply be a manifestationof indifference to the minority, and their habitual dependence on the government. In this sense, support for institutional measures does not mean
support for democracy and human rights.
Taking those results into account, there is an indication that Japanesecitizens seem to strongly support private solutions through morals and personal responsibility, while holding negative view towards institutional measures. Institutional measures are not properly understood as democratic
mechanisms and processes, but misunderstood as abandoning one’s personal effort and throwing the responsibility to the government. Therefore,
those who support institutional measures manifested negative attitudes towards the minority.
Sakai City Survey: Market Reinforces Discrimination
Sakai city in Osaka prefecture is located alongside Osaka Bay, and has historically been a major port town in the region. It is a satellite city of Osaka,with the population of 0.85 million (as of 2015). Sakai city is also quite
known internationally in relation to human rights. In one report, the city
has been described as follows:1
59.
In 1980 Sakai City Government recognised the sanctity of human rights, affirmed that it would enlist the efforts towards the realization of a “Human Rights Protection City.” Sakai
City subsequently advanced policy based on the human rights
principles and later joined other local governments in formulating its own education and enlightenment plan called the “Sakai
City Action Plan for the United Nations Decade for Human
Rights Education.” Following on from previous efforts, in 2007
Sakai enacted the “City Ordinance for Community Development
Respecting Peace and Human Rights” and the Sakai City Human
Rights Policy Promotion Plan”, and has since comprehensively
and systematically advanced human rights policy.

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Sakai city has been undertaking surveys on the attitude of its residents
on human rights every five years since 1985. The latest survey in 2015 provides
some explanation on the influence of market economy on discrimination.
There were two different types of questions in the survey in Sakai city:
one that asked respondents’ recognition of existing discrimination against
the Buraku (whether they think discrimination still exists or not), and onethat measured the level of discriminatory attitudes of respondents against
Buraku (whether they do discriminate or not) in two situations; 1) at timeof marriage with person with Buraku origin, and, 2) at time of renting orpurchasing property within a Buraku community or within the same school
district.
Figure 1 shows respondents’ recognition of the existence of discrimination. More respondents thought that “discrimination exists” at the time of
marriage (45.4%), than at the time of renting/purchasing a home (28.1%).
Noting that Buraku discrimination derives from feudal class divisions, andthat people during the feudal period were deprived of their freedom to marry, to abode and to choose one’s occupation, Buraku discrimination is not
only manifested in treatment of people with Buraku origin, but also towards
occupations and the lands where Buraku communities have historically
been assigned to be located.
Figure 1. “Do you think discrimination against Buraku still exists?” (N = 1293)

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Fig. 2. “Do you agree with marriage of your child with a partner from Buraku community?” (N =1293)

Fig. 3 “Do you mind renting/purchasing a house within Buraku communities and their school
districts?” (N=1293)

Note: NA – No Answer; DK – Don’t Know

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Figures 2 and 3 show the respondents’ attitudes towards Buraku in two
situations: marriage of their child with a partner of Buraku origin (Figure2), and renting/purchasing a house in a Buraku community or in its school
district (Figure 3).
On marriage, 39.4 percent replied that they would “agree” to have theirchild marry a partner with a Buraku origin which is twice those who “disagree” (20.4 percent). On the contrary, in renting/purchasing a house, thepercentage of those who would “avoid Buraku and its school district” (43.3
percent) is nearly twice as high as those who “don’t care” (22.0 percent). The
respondents tend to be more discriminatory regarding property located in
Buraku community than persons from the Buraku community.
Interestingly, by comparing Figure 1 and Figure 2 data we can see thatthose who think discrimination exists at the time of marriage was 45.4 percent (Figure 1), but those who actually discriminate went down to 20.4 percent (Figure 2). In contrast, when comparing Figure 1 and Figure 3, those
who think discrimination exists at the time of renting/purchasing a housewas 28.1 percent (Figure 1), but those who actually avoid Buraku and its
school district went up to 42.3 percent (Figure 3). Respondents’ attitudes
were clearly different in these two occasions.
More interestingly, exposure to dowa and human rights education at
school made a difference in attitude towards marriage, but not in attitude
towards property. Table 3 makes a comparison of learning experience between the two groups; those who think discrimination exists but agree withmarriage, and those who think discrimination exists and disagree with marriage. The former had more exposure to dowa and human rights education
in lower and upper secondary schools and in various trainings. Continuousand cumulative learning experience from school age to adulthood may havecontributed in the formation of anti-discriminatory attitudes.

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17.2

7.7

1.8

22.9

11.2

2.2

NA

3.2
2.8

No exposure

7.2
5.0

Don’t remember

9.0
3.9

Others

25.8
15.1

Training organized by CSO

10.0
6.1

Trainings organized by local govt.

25.3
20.1

Training at workplace

41.2
31.8

Tertiary

45.2

Discrimination
exists >disagree withmarriage

43.0

Upper secondary

n=221

Lower secondary

Discrimination
exists >agree withmarriage

n=179

Primary school

Table 3. Exposure to DOWA and human rights education (multiple responses, N=1293)

On the other hand, at time of renting/purchasing a house within a
Buraku community and its school district, little difference was observed between the two groups, those who recognize discrimination still exist andthose who do not. Regardless of their recognition of existing discrimination, around 50 percent of both groups replied that they would avoid Buraku
communities similarly (Table 4). A question arises why do they, those who
think discrimination do not exist, still avoid Buraku communities ?
Table 4. Avoidance of Buraku communities
Avoid Buraku or its school district

Do not care

Discrimination exist

n=363

53.2%

18.2%

Discrimination does not exist

n=315

47.3%

25.7%

Figure 5 shows the reasons selected by those who avoid Buraku communities and their school districts. The upper bar shows the responses of
those who thought discrimination exists (n=193), and the lower bar shows
responses of those who did not think discrimination exists (n=149). Little
difference is found between the two responses.

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Morals and Market: Changing Attitudes Towards Minorities

Figure 5. Reasons for avoiding Buraku community and its school district (multiple responses)
0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

-%

Because I have anegative image
towards the community.
I am afraid otherpeople would consider
me a Buraku person
My neighbors suggestthat I avoid the place

OthersNA

Regardless of their recognition of whether discrimination exists or not,the responses of the two groups showed similar trends. Respondents’ negative image towards the Buraku (their own prejudice), their neighbors’ suggestion to avoid the Buraku (prejudice in neighborhood), and their fear of
being mistaken as Burakumin were almost equally selected by one-third ofeach group.
For those who selected “others,” a space was provided for stating theirown reasons. Eighty-eight of these respondents filled the space, and eleven among them referred to the lower asset value and low marketability ofproperties in Buraku communities. In the case of renting/purchasing property, the true motives of avoiding Buraku, whether they are discriminating
Buraku or simply avoiding disadvantages in the market, is difficult to discern. At least, the impact of marketing on citizen’s attitudes should not be
overlooked. In the era of neoliberalism, discrimination against minorities
may be reinforced by market economy, if people consider association withthe minority might cause economic disadvantage.

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Kyoto Human Rights Research Institute Survey
Moral education promotes private measures in resolving social problems,by emphasizing good personal relationships through teaching of values.
The teaching of morals is based on presentation of abstract ideas, and keeps
the students distant from engagement in real issues in society.
In fact, the understanding of Buraku issues has recently been getting
more and more abstract especially among the young generation. This ispartly because of the current form of moral education, and partly because of
the end of special measures on the Buraku issue.
The Kyoto Human Rights Research Institute conducted a survey in 2014
in 12 colleges and universities in the Kinki region.2 2,867 undergraduate
students (mostly junior and sophomore) were asked whether they had any
contact with minority groups, including “persons with Buraku origin”, “residential Koreans”, “persons with disabilities”, and “sexual minorities (lgbt).”
They were asked to choose their response from the following: “I have a closefriend,” “I have a casual acquaintance,” “I have my family and relatives,” and“I do not know anyone personally.”
Figure 6 compares the percentages of respondents who selected “I donot know anyone personally” to four different groups. Those who do nothave any personal contact with “persons with Buraku origin” was the highest(87.4%) among four groups, while the lowest was “persons with disabilities”(44.8%). Contact experience may be higher with more “invisible” minorities,
and with the groups that schools do not, or hesitate, to teach about them.
Figure 6 Respondents who selected “I do not know anyone personally” (N = 2867)

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The lowest contact experience with “persons from Buraku” is also explained as the outcome of the ending of special measures legislation. Whenthe special measures legislation was still effective, Buraku communities
were designated under the law as recipients of dowa projects. Therefore,
empowerment and coming-out of the communities and individuals with
Buraku origin were preconditions for designation. However, since the termination of the law, many schools stopped teaching anything that mightlead to identifying Buraku communities or persons with Buraku origin,since there were no longer designated communities under the law, believingthat it was wrong to identify them without legal foundation. Many schools
no longer have programs such as fieldwork, or programs inviting speakers from local Buraku communities for students to encounter the realities,
which were popular among schools in the Kinki region2 while the law wasstill in existence.
As a result of changes in schools and the learning experience of theyoung generation, feedback from students after discussing Buraku discrimination in my lectures at the university has also been changing. The typicalcomment goes: “without knowing any Buraku community or person with
Buraku origin, I do not feel any serious discrimination still exists. I don’t
think you need to teach about Buraku issues, as you may perpetuate discrimination by informing us.”Conclusion
Changes in political and educational policies, and growing impacts of themarket economy in accordance with neo-liberalization of society graduallychanged the attitudes of citizens. Both morals and market promoted private
initiatives, while weakening citizen’s trust in institutional solutions throughthe democratic mechanisms of society. Considering that human rights education facilitates participation in democratic decision-making processes,
the results manifested in the recent attitude surveys in three cities were discouraging, and even alarming for human rights educators. The relationshipamong morals, market, and human rights education needs to be seriously
discussed, and human rights educators must face these changes and provide
continuous learning opportunities on rights and democracy.
At the same time, abstract teaching of morals raises risks that the understanding of human rights issues among younger generations will remain

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i cabstract too, without having opportunities to encounter real issues and real
people. As stated in the un Declaration on Human Rights Education andTraining (2011), “Human rights education … should take into account theparticular challenges and barriers faced by, and the needs and expectationof, persons in vulnerable and disadvantaged situations and groups.” (Article
5.2) Human rights educators should create space for both members of the
majority and the minority sections of society to encounter each other andexchange views and experiences in order to foster a community that works
for the realization of human rights.
Reference
Uchida, Ryushi. 2016. “Direction of Human Rights Education and Awareness-raising
Viewed from Awareness Survey of Buraku Issues in Recent Years” (in Japanese).
In The Journal of Human Rights Education and Research, Vol. 16. Hyogo: The
Japan Association of Human Rights Education and Research.

Endnotes
1 See the final report of the United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory
Committee (un hrcac) on the role of local governments in the promotion and protection of human rights (a/hrc/30/49) which was adopted at the 30th session of theun Human Rights Council in September 2015.
2 Kinki region refers to an area in western Japan that covers the prefectures ofOsaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, Shiga, Nara, Wakayama, Mie, and Tokushima, and the major
cities of Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Ohtsu, Nara, Wakayama, Tsu, and Tokushima.