Google Earth Digs Up Discrimination in Japan

Google, in their ever persistent push to be purveyors of the unique, have added a feature to Google Earth that allows users to superimpose ancient street maps over the current topography. Seemed innocuous enough until they found some maps of 17th century Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto that had clear delineations of "dirty ghettos"- or areas where the "undesirables" in society were forced to live. Descendants of the burkakumin caste, or the historic underclass of Japan (people who were forced to do the dirty work in society- undertaking, butchering, garbage collecting etc) have spent centuries trying to shed the stigma associated with their ancestors. They have been successful at blending into society thanks in large part to the fact that they look like any other Japanese, and they have common last names. But in a country where discrimination is widely accepted and openly practiced, burakumin still have to go to great lengths to keep their ancestry secret. Unfortunately, property in Japan is often held for generations, and Google has made it easy to see where the "ghettos" of the Edo period were located and where many of the "filthy mob" still dwell.