List of areas where discrimination exists posted online

The locations of communities where people face discrimination in Japan has been uploaded on a popular Internet chat site, it has been learned.
Officials at the Justice Ministry's Human Rights Bureau said that it was regrettable for the list to be carried online because they believe it will only encourage more discrimination.
"As far as we know, this is the first time that the list has been posted online," one ministry official said. "We don't know if the list is correct or not. We regret it because such an act can incite discrimination."
A local government official in Mie Prefecture noticed the list on the "2-Channel" chat site on Oct. 21, according to officials of the ministry and the Osaka Municipal Government. The list is called "Buraku Chimei Sokan" in Japanese.
The official reported the discovery to a national organization formed by 35 local governments to tackle discrimination. Officials at the ministry noticed on Oct. 25 that the list had already been deleted from the site. They had intended to ask 2-Channel to remove it.
Previously, some 10 lists of communities where residents face discrimination had been found nationwide.
The Osaka prefecture chapter of the Buraku Liberation League, an organization that pledges to fight discrimination against minorities, announced on Sept. 30 that it has collected 36 floppy discs containing lists of areas where people face discrimination.
"The lists also (mistakenly) contain new locations of areas where discrimination doesn't exit. I don't know whether these two lists are the same as those formerly found," an official of the league said. "I am afraid a new type of human rights discrimination will emerge as anyone can now read such lists (on the Internet)." (Mainichi)