Eta

A pejorative term, from Japan’s feudal era, used to refer toburakumin – the country’s “untouchable” class.

Google inadvertently inflamed a centuries-old Japanese class war by integrating into Google Earth antique maps that identified areas inhabited by Japan’s “untouchables,” Jay Alabaster reported for The Associated Press:

The maps date back to the country’s feudal era, when shoguns ruled and a strict caste system was in place. At the bottom of the hierarchy were a class called the “burakumin,” ethnically identical to other Japanese but forced to live in isolation because they did jobs associated with death, such as working with leather, butchering animals and digging graves.

Japan’s caste system was abolished almost 150 years ago but, Alabaster reported, human rights advocates claim that descendants of Japan’sburakumin – some 3 million people – still suffer prejudice. It is not uncommon for potential employers, or parents-in-law, to hire agencies to check for buraku ancestry.

Lists of “dirty” addresses circulate on Internet bulletin boards. Some surveys have shown that such neighborhoods have lower property values than surrounding areas, and residents have been the target of racial taunts and graffiti. But the modern locations of the old villages are largely unknown to the general public, and many burakumin prefer it that way.

Google Earth’s maps pinpointed several such areas. One village in Tokyo was clearly labeled “eta,” a now strongly derogatory word forburakumin that literally means “filthy mass.” A single click showed the streets and buildings that are currently in the same area.

According to Alabaster, Google is being investigated by Japan’s Justice Ministry. Critics objected to the company’s failure to provide a historical explanation of the term “eta,” and suggested that the maps could be used as a tool to identify and discriminate against burakumin descendants. But, Alabaster reported, when the term was removed from the maps, it was “seen by some as an attempt to quietly dodge the issue.”

A more recent report from the Times of London quoted a Google spokesperson, who conceded: “We had not acknowledged the seriousness of the map, but we do take this matter seriously.”