Photo/Illutration The man chats and provides onigiri rice balls, hand warmers, masks and other supplies to homeless people in Osaka’s Nishinari Ward in January. (Satoru Ogawa)

OSAKA—The Airin district of Osaka has a reputation as a dirty, dangerous place filled with flophouses, day laborers and undesirables.

But for a 35-year-old man, the area provided a sense of compassion when he needed it most, a purpose in life, and a new look at discrimination.

His visits there also enabled him to shed a belief taught to him by his rags-to-riches grandmother.

“The Japanese make a fool of you if you don’t have money,” his grandmother used to tell him.

She was a second-generation ethnic Korean born in a “buraku” community in Osaka’s Nishinari Ward where descendants of feudal-era outcasts lived.

She was bullied by Japanese children who told her to go back to Korea.

Her family was so poor that her parents could only afford to send her to school until she was in the third grade or so. She later worked as a peddler selling vegetables from a bicycle-drawn cart.

But after she set up a company that manufactured leather goods, she made a fortune.

Possibly because she was so proud of achieving success the hard way, the grandmother looked down on homeless people and called them lazy.

The man adopted the same attitude.

However, that changed when he became a college student and started frequenting Kamagasaki, another name for the Airin district, in Nishinari Ward.

JOINED SUPPORT GROUP IN SECRET

One summer day when he was 19 years old, his doctor told him that he couldn’t have children because of the after-effects of treatment for pediatric cancer he received when he was 3 years old.

He didn’t share the news with anyone. But his emptiness was eased by children he met through volunteer activities in Kamagasaki.

Invited by an older student in college, he frequented a center that took care of children after school and during evening hours. These visits led to his support activities to open soup kitchens for homeless people and distribute snacks, blankets and other supplies at night.

After graduating from college, he landed a job at a major advertising company.

A turning point came when he was 28 years old. A support group for needy people asked him to work together.

He found it quite difficult to tell his family members that he would quit his advertising job and join the support group.

And he especially couldn’t open up to his grandmother, who cupped his face with her hands every time they met. He was worried that he would hurt her pride.

She committed suicide the following year at age 81.

She did not leave any note behind, but her grandson speculated that she had become despondent after losing control of her body and being unable to work.

“At that time, I got confused about what happiness meant,” he said. “I thought my grandmother could never really feel prosperous no matter how hard she worked or how rich she became.”

BE SELF-AWARE OF DISCRIMINATION

The man has seen needy people, foreigners, refugees, people with no family registration and former convicts helping each other on the streets of Nishinari Ward.

Many students participating in an internship program offered by his support group initially had negative images about Kamagasaki, such as “scary” and “dirty.”

But every one of them said they felt human warmth when they visited the area.

“For those who discriminate and those who are discriminated against, I think it is possible for us to be on both sides,” he said.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Suiheisha Declaration, the starting point of the buraku liberation movement.

Although some improvements in halting discrimination have been made, the man feels that prejudice remains deeply rooted in society, changing forms and hidden in everyday interactions.

He said he has seen an increase in “microaggressions,” subtle acts of prejudice experienced in daily life, in recent years.

“Because of social media, people increasingly look down on others, envy them and show disdain. And this leads to discrimination,” he said.

He said his mission is to tell student interns: “It is important to be aware that you have prejudices.”

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