My home doctor retired. I had to visit a new doctor’s office. Having completed my medical examination, he looked at my brand-new medical record and said, “Akira Kobayakawa-san ....... Your EKG is fine. Your blood pressure is also fine, and I will tell you the results of your blood test.......” I said, “Oh, I see. That’s a relief. I’ll be relying on you from now on, but thank you in advance.” Up to this point, it was a standard conversation. Then, without a pause he said, “By the way, your relative, Eiko Honjo-san, comes to clinic. She just left a few minutes ago. “What?　Eiko Honjo? Is she my relative?” “Yes, she is from E-machi. Well, that’s okay, I’ll give you a prescription for 28 days.......”

I live in town D, and the clinic is in neighboring town K. Town E is further down the road from town K. When I returned home, and I asked my wife if she knew Eiko Honjo-san from town E. It turned out that she was indeed a relative. So Eiko-san, certainly, is a Burakumin. To elaborate on the relationship, Eiko-san was the wife of the brother of the husband of the aunt of my wife. It is not surprising that I did not know her. But it is not natural that the doctor could determine that we were relatives based solely on the information in the medical record. I do not know whether the doctor sees me or Eiko-san as being from Buraku. However, it was much easier for the doctor to link us by lineage or affinity than it was for us ourselves to do so. If there had been a background check, a copy of the family register would not have been necessary.

I have ever discussed background checks in my books and articles. I found out that M was the key person in charge of background checks in this area. I was later told that M and that doctor were acquaintances. I suspect that such persons exist randomly in the community and that a network has been established historically. Moreover, the list, called the Buraku Chimei Sokan, is spreading on the Internet.