Burakumin

The largest minority group in Japan, with numbers ranging from 1.5 to 3 million, the Burakumin (“the people of the hamlet”) are often known in Western [Page 214]scholarship as an “invisible minority.” This so-called invisibility comes from an American and European understanding of definitions of many minority groups. From this perspective, defining characteristics between minority and majority groups include racial and ethnic differences, yet the Burakumin in Japan fit neither of these categories. The Burakumin are Japanese, physically, ethnically, and culturally, and they follow the same varied religious beliefs as majority Japanese. In short, there is nothing that clearly marks the Burakumin as minorities, other than a continuing social stigma in membership. Discrimination against the Burakumin was based on occupational marginalization prior to emancipation in the late 19th century, when the categorization shifted to residency. The majority of the districts where the Burakumin live tend to be in western Japan. Great strides have been made in changing the living and social conditions of the Burakumin through national laws first implemented in 1969.

Owing to how the Burakumin are counted, their numbers are not as easily substantiated as those of other minorities in Japanese society, such as resident Koreans. For the government, the statistics on the Burakumin, including the number of Burakumin, are based on residence in an area recognized as a Buraku district, and once someone moves from that area, he or she is no longer counted. For the Buraku Liberation League, the largest Buraku social movement organization, membership is based on ancestry, not area of residence; thus, migration will not change the numbers.