Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity.

TLDR

Japan presents itself as culturally and racially uniform, yet it hosts diverse minority groups such as the Ainu, Burakumin, Chinese, Koreans, Nikkeijin, and Okinawans. The study offers a historical overview of each minority’s formation and analyzes their contemporary status through original research. By examining how events like Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and broader racial ideologies have been used to construct a homogeneous “Japaneseness,” the authors reveal mechanisms of exclusion and suppression of minority identities. The research shows that marginalized minorities are increasingly asserting their cultural identities, thereby challenging the nationalist myth of a homogeneous Japan.

Abstract

The Japanese have traditionally projected themselves as a culturally and racially uniform society, while in reality, Japan is home to diverse minority populations. Japan's Minorities identifies and explores the six principal minority groups in Japan: the Ainu, the Burakumin, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Nikkeijin and the Okinawans. After years of marginalization, many of these 'hidden' minorities in Japan are now beginning to challenge this image by reasserting their cultural identities. Examining the ways in which the Japanese have manipulated historical events, such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the contributors reveal the presence of an underlying concept of 'Japaneseness' that excludes members of these minorities. The themes addresses include the role of this ideology of 'race' in the construction of the Japanese identity; historical memory and its suppression; contemporary labor migration to Japan and the three-hundred year existence of Chinese communities on Japan. Japan's Minorities provides a clear historical introduction to the formation of individual minorities, followed by an analysis of the contemporary situation based on original research. The result is a challenge to the nationalist myth of a homogeneous Japan.