Akihiro Sugino London School of Economics
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Ph.D. Thesis Name of candidate: Akihiro Sugino London School of Economics and Political Science Title of thesis: Work and the blind identity in Japan with reference to the British experience 1997 1 UMI Number: U109757 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U109757 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 7/ ^ 4- Abstract This thesis explores Japanese employment policy for blind people in the context of the current decline of their traditionally reserved occupations. The thesis presents an historical analysis of the rise and fall of the occupational guild of the blind since the thirteenth century. The study focuses on blind people's attempts to reinforce their traditionally reserved occupations in the context of the emergence of Japanese social policy in the early twentieth century. Archival research suggests that the government refused to restore blind people's monopoly of massage under the influence of Western medicine and fashionable British integrationist ideas, the latter of which increasingly influenced the postwar policy despite the absence of any significant success in employment of the blind in ordinary industries. In order to assess the credibility of the government's belief in open employment, the development of British employment policy for the blind is explored. The analysis focuses on blind people's commitment to sheltered workshops, and suggests that the shift to open employment was largely caused by the government's concerns over the financial cost of providing sheltered workshops. The historical analysis in Japan and Britain demonstrates that protected employment was gradually eroded despite blind people's demand for preferential treatment. It was in this context that some blind people began to seek employment within the sighted world, but, in both countries, the blind identity was maintained in separation from the sighted. Based on in-depth interviews with 38 blind people and two postal surveys involving 323 blind people in Japan, the second part of the thesis explores why and how the blind identity is generated in the employment field, and how blind people themselves perceive work and equality. The thesis concludes that whereas the blind identity is generated by separation at work, that separation is not only due to social oppression but also to voluntary disengagement from sighted society and engagement in the blind community. 2 Table of Contents List of Tables P4 Acknowledgements P6 Introduction P7 Chapter 1 The Context of the Research: Disability, Work and Disability Identity P25 Chapter 2 The Tradition of Reserved Occupations for the Blind and the Blind Identity in Japan P45 Chapter 3 The Development of Employment of the Blind and their Collective Identity in Britain P114 Chapter 4 Aspects of Experience Common to Blind People in Japan and Britain P160 Chapter 5 The Traditional World of Work: Blind Masseurs and Acupuncturists at Work pl73 Chapter 6 The New World of Work: Blind People in Integrated Employment P213 Chater 7 Conclusion and Policy Implications P279 Appendix Questionnaire for the Postal Survey of Blind School Leavers P295 Bibliography P299 3 List of Tables Table 0. L Number of licensed masseurs and acupuncturists between 1960 and 1990 in Japan plO Table 0. I Characteristics of blind people involved in the main interviews P22 Table 3. L Comparison of Blind Persons Act and the Tillet Bill in Britain P138 Table 5. L Weekly earnings of blind practitioners of massage and acupuncture in 1993 P183 Table 5. I Weekly earnings of blind practitioners of massage and acupuncture by sex P195 Table 5. \ Weekly earnings of blind practitioners of massage and acupuncture by four age groups P196 Table 5. L Degree of dependence on disability pensions among blind practitioners of massage and acupuncture in 1993 P196 Table 5. 5 Degree of dependence on disability pensions among blind practitioners of massage and acupuncture by sex P197 4 Table 5. 6 Degree of dependence on disability pensions among blind practitioners of massage and acupuncture by four age groups P197 Table 5. 7 Preference of employment status among blind practitioners of massage and acupuncture by current employment status P200 Table 5. 8 Opinions of blind masseurs about the way to protect their employment P205 Table 6. 1 Job satisfaction of blind workers at private firms P251 Table 6. 2 Job satisfaction of blind workers at private firms by the type of work P252 Table 6. 3 Difference between the blind and the sighted recognised by blind workers at private firms P253 Table 6. 4 Aspects of difference between the blind and the sighted recognised by blind workers at private firms by the type of work P255 Table 7. 1 Number of disabled persons in quota employment at private firms between 1961 and 1994 in Japan P289 5 Acknowledgements My thanks are due to the Osaka Prefectural School for the Blind, the Osaka Municipal School for the Blind, and the Japan Light House for making the research possible. I am indebted to a number of people for help with this study. In particular, I would like to thank my supervisor, Miss Sally Sainsbury, for her consistent support and encouragement. I should also like to thank Professor Jane Lewis, Professor Martin Bulmer and Professor Aubrey McKennell for their advice in the early stages. However, my warmest thanks must be reserved for blind people who gave so much of their time to tell me about their lives. 6 Introduction The present research project was originally conceived during my five-years experience as one of the teaching staff at a special school for the blind in Japan. The Japanese system of special education of the blind is unique not only in comparison with the British counterpart but also with the special education of other categories of disabled people in Japan. Firstly, unlike other special schools, such as those for deaf, physically disabled and mentally handicapped children, the special schools for the blind give admission not only to visually impaired children but also to adults who are visually impaired in later of life. In that sense, Japanese special schools for the blind play both the role of special schools for visually impaired children and that of rehabilitation institutions for adventitiously visually impaired adults as well. Secondly, compared with other special schools, greater emphasis is placed on vocational education in the case of the blind. About a half of the students and a third of the teaching staff of the special schools for the blind are engaged in the vocational training courses at the schools. Thirdly, the vocational education is predominantly geared to the occupations of "anma", or traditional Japanese massage, and acupuncture. Among seventy special schools for the blind in Japan, there are only seven schools which provide training in occupations other than anma massage and acupuncture, such as those of physiotherapists, piano-tuners and music teachers. Finally, all teachers of anma massage and acupuncture have themselves graduated from one of these schools for the blind, and therefore, are themselves visually impaired. In 1994, the visually impaired teachers of anma and acupuncture formed nearly twenty percent of all teaching staff at the 7 special schools for the blind.1 These unique characteristics of Japanese special schools for the blind have historical origins. During the medieval period, 1192 to 1600, the blind formed their own occupational guild, 'the blind guild', and monopolised particular occupations such as chanting and music entertainment. In the seventeenth century, the Tokugawa military monarch extended the reserved occupations to include "anma" and, to a lesser extent, acupuncture. Since that time the correlation between 'the blind' and 'anma massage' had been so prevalent in Japanese culture that the term "anma" often meant "the blind". However, in 1871, the Meiji government, Japan's first modern State government, introduced free trade to Japan. As a result, the "blind guild" was dissolved, and sighted people were allowed to engage in the occupations of anma massage and acupuncture. Moreover, in accordance with the 'Westernisation-and- modernisation' policy in general, the Meiji government established a health policy based on Western medical science. This endangered the professional status of traditional medical practitioners, including anma masseurs and acupuncturists. Fearful of both the dissolution of the blind guild and the official recognition of the superiority of Western medicine over traditional Japanese medicine, blind master acupuncturists tried to maintain their prerogatives as much as possible. It was in this context that the schools of anma and acupuncture for the blind were gradually established in the late 19th century by blind master 1 The Ministry of Education currently provides only the total number of teaching staff at the blind schools, and does not provide any data about visually impaired teachers. However, the number of visually impaired teachers can be roughly estimated from the membership of the Association of Teachers of Anma Massage and Acupuncture (Rikyoren) . In 1994, the number of teachers at the blind schools were 3,517, and the membership of Rikyoren were about 644. 8 acupuncturists. These were small private schools where the traditional master-apprentice relationship of the blind guild could be maintained under the guise of modern educational institutions. According to the works of Kato [1972, 1991], who studied the development of special education of the blind in Japan, the Japanese special schools for the blind had two different historical origins: charitable schools for blind children and the schools of anma and acupuncture for blind young adults.