Google Earth Raises Discrimination Issue In Japan

Hugh Pickens writes "The Times (UK) reports that by allowing old maps to be overlaid on satellite images of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, Google has unwittingly created a visual tool that has prolonged an ancient discrimination, says a lobbying group established to protect the human rights of three million burakumin, members of the sub-class condemned by the old feudal system in Japan to unclean jobs associated with death and dirt. 'We tend to think of maps as factual, like a satellite picture, but maps are never neutral, they always have a certain point of view,' says David Rumsey, a US map collector. Some Japanese companies actively screen out burakumin-linked job seekers, and some families hire private investigators to dig into the ancestry of fiances to make sure there is no burakumin taint. Because there is nothing physical to differentiate burakumin from other Japanese and because there are no clues in their names or accent, the only way of establishing whether or not they are burakumin is by tracing their family. By publishing the locations of burakumin ghettos with the modern street maps, the quest to trace ancestry is made easier, says Toru Matsuoka, an opposition MP and member of the Buraku Liberation League. Under pressure to diffuse criticism, Google has asked the owners of the woodblock print maps to remove the legend that identifies the ghetto with an old term, extremely offensive in modern usage, that translates loosely as 'scum town.' 'We had not acknowledged the seriousness of the map, but we do take this matter seriously,' says Yoshito Funabashi, a Google spokesman." The ancient Japanese caste system was made illegal 150 years ago, but silent discrimination remains. The issue is complicated by allegations of mob connections in the burakumin anti-discrimination organizations.

Comments

Re:What the fuck?

[gavron]

This doesn't have ANYTHING TO DO WITH GOOGLE. It's a slow day and the /. editors let this piece of crap through. This is a Japanese cultural issue. This would be like blaming PACER (http://pacer.gov) for saying bad things about criminals. E

Knowledge=Discrimination

[srussia]

discrimination: secernment (the cognitive process whereby two or more stimuli are distinguished)

Point of view

[esme]

We tend to think of maps as factual, like a satellite picture, but maps are never neutral, they always have a certain point of view.

Sorry, but no. The map can be neutral. It's the people with a point of view.

Re:Numbers

[colinrichardday]

* Secondly, the rest of the English language speakers that Wikipedia lists, total over 321 million, and that of course doesn't include those people who have it as a second language outside of those countries that are listed, although it is including those who have English as a Second and Third language.

The 321 million is the total of native speakers,of which 215 million are in the US. Counting second and third language speakers =, the US has 251 million out of 1.186 billion.

I consider the British spellings and the Oxford English Dictionary to be the final arbiters of all issues concerning spelling for me personally.

I consider Yorktown to be the final arbiter of spelling. Perhaps the OED should have given Cornwallis more support.

Re:Kinda like TRAILER PARKs today

[Nefarious Wheel]

Actually, I think the misspelled word "intergration" is rather funny. There's a small office building on a corner near where I live with an upstairs office window offering "systems intergration services". I've had much fun wondering about the cross-section of their clientele. Would they be people who didn't notice the misspelling, didn't care, or perhaps thought "They must be technical, because it's clear they can't spell" -- or, even worse, think it's a good variation on a word based on "integral". Philosophically, "integral" relates more about mathematics than systems interfaces. Then I think -- perhaps "intergrate" is a more correct usage than "integrate", as it often deals with the inter- -- Internet, internal, etc.

But the more rational part of me just thinks "lol they cant spellX0r" and gives it a rest.