Multiculturalism in the New Japan

Nelson H. Graburn (1936-2025) was educated in Natural Sciences and Anthropology at Cambridge, McGill, and the University of Chicago. He carried out ethnographic research with the Inuit of Northern Canada and in Japan. He taught at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1964, with visiting appointments at the National Museum of Civilization, Ottawa; Le Centre des Hautes Etudes Touristiques, Aix-en-Provence; the National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku) in Osaka; and the Research Center for Korean Studies, Kyushu National University, Fukuoka. His recent research focused on the study of art, tourism, museums, and the expression and representation of identity.

“All in all, this is a very good book, informed and well formed, with vivid descriptions of the varieties of social life. There is something to whet the appetites of sociological researchers of every major subfield here, especially given that it invites further inquiry and analysis at every turn. Multiculturalism in the New Japan is highly recommended both for Japan specialists and for anyone interested in transnational, comparative research involving Japan.”  ·  Sociology“…a valuable addition to the increasing literature on Japanese multiculturalism which has challenged the long-held homogeneous Japan thesis…A particular contribution of this … book is to illuminate the ground-level process where hybridities emerge and group boundaries are redrawn in a particular local context…I greatly enjoyed reading [this book] from beginning to end. My undergraduate students who encountered it in their subject reading list also enjoyed it. I would recommend it highly for both undergraduate and graduate students studying Japanese society."  ·  Japan Studies“This book importantly seeks out the meanings behind the nooks and crannies in which peoples from different cultures are juxtaposed within Japan. However the real work of living side by side, of respecting individual and cultural differences, of embracing diversity…remains a vital challenge to both Japan, as well as to scholars who stand poised to connect the dots of this critical and evolving picture. I recommend this volume as one further step toward that undertaking.”  ·  Asia Pacific World“…a very readable volume offering through its focus on the local a vivid picture of multiculturalism in Japan.  All articles are ethnographically grounded and it is here, and not in systematic and theoretically exhaustive treatment of the subject of multiculturalism.”  ·  Zeitschrift für Ethnologie

• Preface and AcknowledgementsChapter 1. Introduction: Internal boundaries and models of multiculturalism in contemporary JapanNelson Graburn and John ErtlChapter 2. The great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake and town-making towards multiculturalismYasuko TakezawaChapter 3. Globalization and the new meanings of the foreign executive in JapanTomoko HamadaChapter 4. (Re)constructing boundaries: International marriage migrants in Yamagata as agents of multiculturalismChris BurgessChapter 5. Internationalization and localization: Institutional and personal engagements with Japan’s Kokusaika movementJohn ErtlChapter 6. Transnational migration of women: Changing boundaries of contemporary JapanShinji YamashitaChapter 7. Crossing ethnic boundaries: Japanese Brazilian return migrants and the ethnic challenge of Japan’s newest immigrant minorityTakeyuki “Gaku” TsudaChapter 8. Datsu Zainichi-ron: An emerging discourse on belonging among ethnic Koreans in JapanJeffry HesterChapter 9. Transnational community activities of visa-overstayers in Japan: Governance and transnationalism from belowKeiko YamanakaChapter 10. "Newcomers" in public education: Chinese and Vietnamese children in a Buraku communityYuko OkuboChapter 11. A critical review of academic perspectives of blackness in JapanMitzi Carter and Aina HunterChapter 12. Traversing religious and legal boundaries in postwar Nagasaki: An interfaith ritual for the spirits of the deadJohn NelsonChapter 13. Outside the Sumo ring? Foreigners and a rethinking of the national sportR. Kenji TierneyChapter 14. Multiculturalism, museums, and tourism in JapanNelson GraburnList of ContributorsBibliographyIndex