Don't forget to check out the revamped and renewed Kowabana merchandise store! kowabana.store/ Which was your favourite story from this week's episode?
Ms. Devlin what was your story about a sick child who gets pushed into a well by another child? I've been searching for it forever. Any help would mean the world. Ty and great job.
For the uninitiated, Burakumin were historically Japan's 'untouchables.' Usually people who's profession involves death such as executioners, undertakers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, tanners etc. Though this is up for debate, other 'untouchables' who fell under differing levels of discrimination are the survivors of the atomic bombings, ethnic Koreans, Ainus, and Okinawans. Recently survivors of the Fukushima nuclear accident have been discriminated upon as well.
That is so sad. Why the Ainu? Aren't they like... the traditional Japanese, or rather the ones with less cultural/language influences from other countries? (I'm talking specifically the things most of Japan shared with China)
@@pikaboubou this is a very complicated question to answer. As a disclaimer, my knowledge on the subject is VERY surface level so please feel free to fact check me. The short and dirty answer is that although the Ainu people are not technically Burakumin per the dictionary definition, they're discriminated upon in the same fashion as any indigenous population in the modern world. For example, the Native populations in Canada and the United States; or the aboriginal people of Australia. Without getting into too many details, Hokkaido wasn't technically a part of Japan until 1896. The Ainu population experience what pretty much would be called cultural extinction through integration. Regulations were written that stifled their language for example, that had them adopting a Japanese name, or forbade them from fishing or hunting traditional game fish and animals, etc. From my understanding, modern Ainu people don't necessarily face the same kind of discrimination as they did in the early years of Japanese settlement, but it is a dying culture. It's rare for younger generations to continue Ainu traditions and rarely speak the Ainu language.
I've been listening to your stories for a while now and they're my absolute favourite. No other story telling channel on UA-cam compares to yours! Thank you for taking the time to translate and record these for us, your voice is so soothing and just perfect for story telling. Never stop making these!!!!
I could imagine a very similar story happening in certain parts of the USA only with devils instead of evil spirits and a tiny Christian cult instead of a cultural minority. Every so often the news reports stories of children beaten to death by their parents or close relatives who were trying to drive out demons, it makes a lot of sense for a child to try to "help" his friend in the same way.
The story with the burakumin village left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. It felt like the moral was discrimination is ok, there’s good reason why it’s exists. The very existence of the story in its current form is in itself dangerous in a way - even if the narrator had said he doesn’t want to discriminate against the people, he’s telling a story that dehumanizes and spreads fear of the burakumin population. This is similar to how Japanese people were compared with animals back in WWII or even how Japanese people would spread false stories of Koreans poisoning wells during major earthquakes. Its purpose was to spread fear of a certain population and then build a system that treats they poorly because they are seen as non-human or the enemy. I feel like there should have been more context given in the podcast, especially given how the non Japanese audience probably isn’t super familiar with the history or the term. I don’t think you intended to incite discrimination but it’s disheartening to see that there are comments that the story is a warning against political correctness on a topic they probably don’t know much about. (The discourse around political correctness is exhausting as a POC but I think even that commenter would agree that he probably doesn’t have any beef with butchers, tanners, etc.) I still love your podcast but I just wanted to point this out.
Don't forget to check out the revamped and renewed Kowabana merchandise store! kowabana.store/ Which was your favourite story from this week's episode?
Ms. Devlin what was your story about a sick child who gets pushed into a well by another child? I've been searching for it forever. Any help would mean the world. Ty and great job.
For the uninitiated, Burakumin were historically Japan's 'untouchables.' Usually people who's profession involves death such as executioners, undertakers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, tanners etc. Though this is up for debate, other 'untouchables' who fell under differing levels of discrimination are the survivors of the atomic bombings, ethnic Koreans, Ainus, and Okinawans. Recently survivors of the Fukushima nuclear accident have been discriminated upon as well.
Thank you very much.
That is so sad. Why the Ainu? Aren't they like... the traditional Japanese, or rather the ones with less cultural/language influences from other countries? (I'm talking specifically the things most of Japan shared with China)
@@pikaboubou this is a very complicated question to answer. As a disclaimer, my knowledge on the subject is VERY surface level so please feel free to fact check me. The short and dirty answer is that although the Ainu people are not technically Burakumin per the dictionary definition, they're discriminated upon in the same fashion as any indigenous population in the modern world. For example, the Native populations in Canada and the United States; or the aboriginal people of Australia. Without getting into too many details, Hokkaido wasn't technically a part of Japan until 1896. The Ainu population experience what pretty much would be called cultural extinction through integration. Regulations were written that stifled their language for example, that had them adopting a Japanese name, or forbade them from fishing or hunting traditional game fish and animals, etc. From my understanding, modern Ainu people don't necessarily face the same kind of discrimination as they did in the early years of Japanese settlement, but it is a dying culture. It's rare for younger generations to continue Ainu traditions and rarely speak the Ainu language.
I've been listening to your stories for a while now and they're my absolute favourite. No other story telling channel on UA-cam compares to yours! Thank you for taking the time to translate and record these for us, your voice is so soothing and just perfect for story telling. Never stop making these!!!!
Thank you! I appreciate that a lot, and I'm glad to hear it :)
I swear you never fail to drop content
A long episode! Love it! Thank you!
4:00 =Wow... So much for protecting the innocent...
WOOOOT new episode. today is a good day.
13:38 =So much for protecting the innocent.... In the end, the bullied is framed as the villain just because the true villain chickened out...
Ooooh i miss these longer stories. Thank you!!💙💙
Friday just became more awesome
yaaaay! new episode.
I love your sound effects!
Great episode Tara! Where is this Rear S ward?
Not gonna lie, the "dong" part made me laugh. Hahaha
3:21 =Welcome to the club bud...
What was kowabana story of a child who pushes another child down a well? The child's mother knows her son did it.
I could imagine a very similar story happening in certain parts of the USA only with devils instead of evil spirits and a tiny Christian cult instead of a cultural minority. Every so often the news reports stories of children beaten to death by their parents or close relatives who were trying to drive out demons, it makes a lot of sense for a child to try to "help" his friend in the same way.
The story with the burakumin village left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. It felt like the moral was discrimination is ok, there’s good reason why it’s exists. The very existence of the story in its current form is in itself dangerous in a way - even if the narrator had said he doesn’t want to discriminate against the people, he’s telling a story that dehumanizes and spreads fear of the burakumin population. This is similar to how Japanese people were compared with animals back in WWII or even how Japanese people would spread false stories of Koreans poisoning wells during major earthquakes. Its purpose was to spread fear of a certain population and then build a system that treats they poorly because they are seen as non-human or the enemy.
I feel like there should have been more context given in the podcast, especially given how the non Japanese audience probably isn’t super familiar with the history or the term. I don’t think you intended to incite discrimination but it’s disheartening to see that there are comments that the story is a warning against political correctness on a topic they probably don’t know much about. (The discourse around political correctness is exhausting as a POC but I think even that commenter would agree that he probably doesn’t have any beef with butchers, tanners, etc.) I still love your podcast but I just wanted to point this out.
Never bow to a bully.
Never fear a bully.
'Neutralise' bullies.
Bullies NEVER ever deserve sympathy, empathy, compassion nor forgiveness. Only death.
Tara please may I have a coffee mug and how much
That first story really is "political correctness is putting our children in danger of being possessed by ghosts."
It a sense they have a point but not exactly in spirit possession
こわばな
Cringy..