Draft:2016 “Buraku List” Publisher Incident

In 2016, publishing company Jigensha (示現舎) announced the reprint of the National Buraku Survey, a 1935 government document containing sensitive information relevant to the Japanese Burakumin minority. The Buraku Liberation League and other civil rights groups responded by filing a series of civil suits aiming to ban the publishing of the National Buraku Survey, and seek damages for leaking private information about Buraku people. As of 2023, after a decision to prohibit publication of the document by the Tokyo High Court, Jigensha has not made further legal action.

History

Posted in early 2016, a section of the National Buraku Survey, known as the Buraku List, was published online to the blog “Tottori-Loop.” The blogger responsible for posting the Buraku List, according to IMADR, obtained the document via mistake: “It was kept in a college library, and the librarians mistakenly released the document to him.”

On April 1st 2016, publishing company Jigensha announced a reprint of the National Buraku Survey on their website. . Meanwhile, the blogger and co-owner of Jigensha, “together with his business partner, announced the publication and sales of the List on Amazon website, excusing that the government report was no longer protected under the copyright,” according to civil rights group IMADR. Due to the sensitive content of the list, civil rights groups would respond.

District Court Rulings

March 22nd of the same year, The Buraku Liberation League and others filed a provisional disposition with Yokohama District Court to ban the republishment of the National Buraku Survey containing the Buraku List:

According to the attorney of the Liberation League, the [National Buraku Survey] posted the location as well as the occupation of the residents, and it was scheduled to be published on April 1st. An official of the Liberation League found a publication notice on the website of Jigensha and filed a provisional disposition on the 22nd, claiming it would ‘promote discrimination.’” — Sankei Shimbun

On March 28th, 2016, Judge Naoki Aruga, representing the Yokohama District Court, ordered a ban of the reprint and sale of the National Buraku Survey. In a Sankei News interview, a representative of Jigensha reacted to the decision, saying “the publication on April 1st was originally impossible.” Jigensha would later attempt to appeal the decision to a higher court, but was rejected November 2017. On April 18th, 2016, the Sagamihara Branch of Yokohama District Court ordered the Buraku List deleted from the Tottori-loop blog site.

On May 21st, 2016, the Buraku Liberation League and 212 other plaintiffs submitted a complaint to Tokyo District Court in an attempt to cancel the National Buraku Survey republishment, and pay ¥233.2M in damages.

On June 10, 2016, the Buraku Liberation League submitted a letter denouncing Jigensha’s continued actions to appeal every legal case.

According to a Yomiuri Shimbun report, on September 27th, 2021, that Presiding Judge Shinji Narita of the Tokyo District Court ordered the deletion of all information pertaining to the National Buraku Survey off Jigensha’s website. Additionally, Jigensha was ordered to compensate 219 plaintiffs for 4.88 million in damages. The publication of the list across multiple websites according to the judge constituted “an illegal invasion of privacy.” Jigensha made a statement the same day intending to appeal the Tokyo District Court’s decision. In a Nikkei Shimbun article, a Jigensha representative stated: “The purpose of completely lifting the ban has not been fulfilled. I think I will appeal after looking at the judgement.” In a press conference after this decision, The Buraku Liberation League made a statement: “It is a judgement that the list should not be published in any way in the future. The number of people doing the same thing is increasing, and it is not allowed.”

High Court Ruling

After appeals, on June 28th, 2023, Tokyo High Court reaffirmed the order for a ban on publication. “‘All people have a personal interest in living a peaceful life while maintaining their human dignity without facing unfair discrimination,’ the ruling said, asserting that the publication of buraku places names violates this interest.”The Tokyo High Court also increased the scope of compensation for individuals. Compared to the district court ruling, which only covered current addressees, the Tokyo High Court now included past residents of those addresses or relatives of those addressees. This change expanded coverage of associated rulings from 6 prefectures to 31.

Online Discrimination and Harassment

After the publishing of private information contained in the List, plaintiffs complained of their addresses being used to discriminate and evoke disgust. In an article about witness testimonies, the Buraku Liberation League mentioned that an elementary school student learning about human rights, came across a National Buraku Survey reprint, and wanted to “study in such a scary place,” referring to an address listed as Buraku. A relative of the student asked for the found address and commented: “I live in such a scary place.”

Since the online publication of the National Buraku Survey, websites have appeared containing sensitive Buraku information. Despite court-ordered takedowns of Jigensha’s pages, websites containing new and old addresses appear in their place. YouTube posters have been known to visit these Buraku addresses. The accessibility of discovering these webpages presents a problem according to Tami Kamikawa, founder of Buraku Heritage:

”My daughter, who is 10 years old right now, once told me she came across my name on the internet. I became curious and conducted a search myself, and found my name, as well as those of y, parents, on the site,” she says. “It made me realize how easy it is for kids of this generation to access these sites, which makes it even more important for the, to be exposed to positive information online.” — The Japan Times