Precision
I criticise a registry system and the firms that bought lists. Not Japan, and not Japanese people.
My position: Burakumin are descendants of Japan's feudal outcast castes, formally emancipated in 1871, and still discriminated against in employment and marriage more than 150 years later. The discrimination runs entirely on inherited status recorded in documents, and it is racial discrimination as international law defines it.
I keep this case close to the centre of the site because it removes every variable. There is no skin colour here, no language difference, no religion, no foreign origin, no phenotype at all. Take those away and something still remains that behaves exactly like racism. What remains is the register.
Dignity
Buraku communities are not a curiosity or a thought experiment. I use this case because it is clear, not because it is convenient.
Consistency
Japan says descent puts Burakumin outside the racism convention. India says the same about caste. I reject both for the same reason.