Diversity in Japanese Culture and Language

This is the first in-depth study of the "other" Japan - the diverse and complex culture that belies the conventional portrayal of Japan as a homogenous entity. Moving, fascinating and surprising, this book sets out the largely untold story of the cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity found in Japan today, where members of marginal societal groups are ignored by the mainstream on the grounds of physical, ethnic, religious or other differences. Among them are the Ainu, Koreans, "Buraku", women, returnees and the deaf, for all of whom this work serves as a forum to give eloquent voice to their history and present situation. This unique study describes the existing plurality in Japan in order to start balancing the perspectives which currently exist in the non-Japanese literature about Japan; to challenge the myth of Japanese uniqueness by focusing on very common experiences that Japanese people share with peoples in other parts of the world; and above all, to counteract the common tendency to see complexity as a threat by illustrating the value to society as a whole of diversity and cultural plurality.

John Maher PhD studied philosophy and linguistics at the Universities of London, Michigan and Edinburgh. He is Associate Professor of Linguistics at International Christian University, Tokyo. Gaynor Macdonald studied sociology and politics at La Trobe University, Melbourne, and social anthropology at the University of Sydney. She is Lecturer in Social Anthropology and Aboriginal Studies at the University of Western Sydney - Macarthur.

PART ONE INTRODUCTION 1 Culture and Diversity in Japan PART TWO HISTORICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS 2 Nationalism and Cultural Pluralism in Modern Japan: S6etsu Yanagi and the Mingei Movement 3 The Sociology of Ethnocentrism in Japan 4 The Ainu: Construction of an Image 5 The Right Stuff: Towards an Environmental Linguistics PART THREE OTHER VOICES: AINU, KOREAN AND PEOPLE OF THE BURAKU 6 Minority Dynamics in Japan: Towards a Society of Sharing 7 Deprivation and Resistance: Ainu Movements in Modern Japan With My Heritage of Pride and Struggle 8 Maintaining Culture and Language: Koreans in Osaka 9 The Confidence to Live! Experiencing the Buraku Liberation Movement PART FOUR OTHER VOICES: FAMILIES, SIGNS AND DIFFERENCES 10 Woman as Outsider: Sexuality, Society and the Familial Mind 11 The Right to Speak: Language Maintenance in Japan 12 A Non-Japanese Japanese: On Being a Returnee 13 The Deaf and Their Language: Progress Towards Equality PART FIVE AFTERWORD 14 The Politics of Diversity in the Nation-State