Okay, I’m going to try and get this over with without skimping on important details, so please bear with me.  The first thing you need to know is about the Buraku class.  The buraku are descendents of butchers and people of other meat-selling professions.  Because of the stigma against the killing and eating of animals, the buraku were ostrasized and discriminated against in a big way.  They began living in Buraku communities, and were (and still are), on the whole, members of the lower class.  Until the late 1800’s, the buraku were forced to include the fact that they were buraku when they were entered into the government registry.  This means that employers and schools who had access to this registry were free to discriminate against them.  Even though the registry no longer exists, it’s not difficult to find out whether someone is buraku, based on their profession and birthplace.  Before marriage, a lot of families still hire detectives to find out whether the person their son or daughter is marrying is buraku.  It’s pretty bizarre.  But the most bizarre thing of all is that the buraku and Japanese non-buraku look EXACTLY THE SAME.  Crazy.  One of the books I read for the program talked about how even the upper tiers of the Indian caste system doesn’t treat the lower tiers, even the untouchables, half as badly as the Japanese government treat the buraku.  But anyway.  The Onsen Incident.

Thursday night, we went to an ofura, or public bathhouse.  It was about a fifteen minute brisk walk, and by the time we got there, we were all really hot and tired from a combination of jet lag, orientaion exhaustion and fast walking.  I’mna shorten this part: we made it inside, and started the baths.  It was as similar set-up to the ofura in Koshoji, but bigger, with lots of older Japanese women.  There were also about six different tubs.  Pretty cool.  Susannah and I sat on two of the stools and started washing our hair, when an older woman came out of the sauna and started talking quickly to us in Japanese.  I heard the word ‘hayaku’ which means ‘hurry up’, a few times, so I told Susannah we should probably move.  We went to a different set of stools, hoping to avoid further conflict.  What happened next was a part that we didn’t see:

After we had moved to a different area, Aimee-sensei began berating the woman for the way she had treated us, saying that she had brought us to the ofura in a n attempt to show us a different side of Japanese society, and that we were here to learn so that we could go back to the states with a good impression.  We had paid the same amount of money that she had, and deserved to be treated with respect.  Aimee told us afterwards that when she had finished, the woman stalked away, but not before delivering a harsh kick at another woman.  Upon seeing this, Aimee went straight to the manager of the ofura and got her to call the police.  Because not only was the woman bitter and rich, but the woman she had kicked was buraku, and because of this, had not retailiated.  She didn’t even react at all.

So, the police came, and spoke with the woman, forching her to offer a formal apology to Aimee and the buraku woman she had kicked.  Meanwhile, in another part of the bath, we were finding out that one of the hot tubs turned our silver jewelry a pretty gold color, and that the green tub electrocuted you a little bit.  It didn’t feel bad, just kinda weird.

After our bath, Aimee drew the seven of us aside and explained to us what had happened.  Needless to say, we were all pretty shocked, not only because of what happened, but at Aimee-sensei’s reaction.  We never would have expected a mild-mannered woman like Aimee-sensei to be so…what, passionate? Strong willed?  We were all really impressed.  Susannah and I felt partly responsible for the incident, but Aimee assured us that were weren’t, and that what we had seen that night was a side of Japanese society that didn’t often show on the surface.  Like all societies, Japanese society has many faces, she said, and in a way, were were lucky to have seen what we did.  The wonderful thing about that particular ofura, she explained, was that not only was it built over a natural hotsprings, but it was a place that attracted people from all different classes.  It was cheap enough for the lower class to afford, and nice enough to interest the upper class.  It was also located very close to a Buraku district, which is how Aimee-sensei and the rich woman had recognized the other woman as Buraku – they had seen her riding her bike from that area, and Aimee-sensei recognized her.  All societies have many faces, some of them darker than others, and we got to see one of those dark faces in a big way.

I’mna go study kanji, I’ll write more later.