Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 1
·
May 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
54
workshops, festivals (
matsuri)
and concerts (Asaji 1997, Cangià 2009, Amos 2011).
Liberty Osaka
(formerly the Osaka Human Rights History Museum) was built in 1985
and was renovated in 1995. Divided into four main units (‘Human Rights Today’, ‘Our
Values and Discrimination’, ‘The Activism of People who are Discriminated Against’,
‘Human Rights and You’), its main objective is to introduce the history and conditions of
minorities, indigenous and other vulnerable groups in Japan (i.e. the burakumin, the Ainu of
Hokkaid
ō
, the Ryukyuans of Okinawa, Korean and Chinese communities, women,
homosexuals and the survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). The
corner on the ‘buraku issue’ is divided into two parts. The first space, called ‘the
leatherwork’, is composed of pictures and testimonies of leather-workers, leather-working
tools and uniforms, as well as artefacts such as taiko drums and leather sheets. The second
space, ‘Community Reform and the Buraku Liberation Movement’, describes the struggle
against discrimination undertaken during social movements through the display of pictures,
flags, former posters and other historical materials.
As a result of visits to the museum and conversations with the personnel, I identified
common aspects that are employed to represent Naniwa leather town: these include economic
standards (national production of leather), history (Naniwa industry in the context of national
history) and cultural principles (cultural property, Japanese culture). At the same time, the
museum looks for representative aspects that help develop pride in the locality and buraku
culture such as the importance of the taiko drums in the national culture. It also exhibits
instruments and uniforms of leather tanning, taiko drums, techniques of leather-tanning, and
the life stories of tanners. A special emphasis of the exhibition is put on the historical
transformation of the area into the ‘biggest leather centre in Japan’ and the consequent trade
developed with the rest of the country. Watanabe village is described as ‘the heart of leather
production and distribution’.
The history of Naniwa is framed under the rubric of Japan’s minority and human
rights issues. Thus, the interpretation of the buraku issue crosses the borders of locality and
uses the local context of Naniwa as one of the geographical starting points for a broader focus
on human rights issues in Japan (Amos 2011, Hankins 2012). Interestingly, the components
that are part of the town-making programme are not merely contained in the museum and
exhibition itself, but ideas over human rights and history are supported by the surrounding
environment (Amos 2011).
In this regard, the ‘Road of Human Rights and Taiko’ is an important project initiated
