Japan's Minorities: The illusion of homogeneity / Edition 2

by Michael Weiner

Overview

Based on original research, Japan's Minorities provides a clear historical introduction to the formation of individual minorities, followed by an analysis of the contemporary situation.

This second edition identifies and explores the six principal minority groups in Japan: the Ainu, the Burakumin, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Nikkeijin and the Okinawans. 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 book addresses key themes including:

• the role of this ideology of ‘race’ in the construction of the Japanese identity
• historical memory and its suppression
• contemporary labour migration to Japan
• the three-hundred year existence of Chinese communities in Japan
• mixed-race children in Japan
• the feminization of contemporary migration to Japan.

Still the only scholarly examination of issues of race, ethnicity and marginality in Japan from both a historical and comparative perspective, this new edition will be essential reading for scholars and students of Japanese studies, ethnic and racial studies, culture and society, anthropology and politics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415772648
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/25/2008
Series:	The University of Sheffield/Routledge Japanese Studies Series
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Michael Weiner is Professor of Modern Japanese History and Director of International Studies at Soka University of America

Table of Contents

1. Self’ and ‘Other’ in Imperial Japan 2. The Ainu: Indigenous People of Japan 3. "Mixed-Blood" Japanese: A Reconsideration of Race and Purity in Japan 4. Burakumin in Contemporary Japan 5. The Other Other: The Black Presence in The Japanese Experience 6. Creating a Transnational Community: Chinese Newcomers in Japan. 7. Multiethnic Japan and Nihonjin: Looking through Two Exhibitions in 2004 Osaka 8. Zainichi Koreans in History and Memory 9. Okinawa, Ambivalence, Identity, and Japan 10. Japanese Brazilian Ethnic Return Migration and the Making of Japan’s Newest Immigrant Minority

Editorial Reviews

'There is much to savor in this fine collection, one that is ideal for undergraduates and any readers curious about the dynamics of diversity in supposedly "homogeneous" Japan.' -Jeff Kingston is director of Asian Studies at Temple University, Japan campus, The Japan Times: Sunday, April 19, 2009

From the Publisher