Being aware of Buraku discrimination, I started to see the world carefully - I was convinced that unless I stood up against discrimination, my future would never come. Thus, I joined the Buraku liberation movement.

Kazuo Ishikawa was illiterate. He never knew about the judicial system that could help him. All were attributable to Buraku discrimination that he was suffering from. When he was a child, he had to work to help his family, rather than go to school. He had no choice. It was also true of my father when he was a child. They started to work when they were small children, but never saw an improvement in their lives.

Those who discriminated against the Buraku people would have said, "People out there (in Buraku communities) are violent, rogue, poor and dirty," to justify their treatment of the Buraku people. They did so, as if Buraku people had deserved to being discriminated against. Thus, they would have repeated discrimination until everybody accepted it as a matter of course. Despite such circumstances, Kazuo Ishikawa, my father and other Buraku people never gave up and kept working hard.

Under such circumstances, a murder took place in the neighborhood of Kazuo Ishikawa. A female high school student aged 16 was abducted, and a culprit demanded a ransom. Right under the police stakeout, the culprit managed to run away. Several days later, a girl was found dead. Actually, Kazuo was part of the crowds of curious people around the spot where the body was discovered.

It compelled me to imagine that my father could have been arrested if this incident had happened in my neighborhood. Kazuo Ishikawa happened to be a victim of the false charge made by Japan's authorities, taking advantage of deep-rooted social prejudice against the Buraku. It could have just as well been my own father. Thus, the Sayama Case, a false charge victimizing Kazuo Ishikawa, has been a significant part of my life as a 'Burakumin.'