Kayoung Lee
Researcher

"Until now, I have thought that no
one else shared the kind of burden
I suffered. I thought I would overcome this suffering by my own efforts.

In my case, I can keep living with the help of my friends and supporters. That’s what I think. Of course,
I should not depend on them too much. But, I guess anyone could encounter discrimination and prejudice anywhere, and there must be people suffering in any society, not just the Buraku.

Now, I give lectures about Buraku and human rights issues once a week,
mixing in stories about how I reached this point. After I do that, students who live with a similar sense of stagnation write to me about how they feel.
It is nice when I can tell them “You can overcome this.”