Japanese Studies (Lewiston, N.Y.) - 20: Prejudice and Discrimination in Japan

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During the Tokugawa period in Japan (1600-1868), leather tanners, butchers, and others working in "polluted" occupations were made to live in segregated communities. These are the buraku communities that continue, despite the end of the caste system, to suffer significant discrimination. For his research, McLauchlan (Japanese studies, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, New Zealand) conducted open-ended interviews with 21 members of the Buraku Liberation League, all members of a buraku community in East Osaka. He details the experiences of discrimination, their reactions to discrimination at the time, and their reflections on their status at the time of the interview. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)