The Comparative Method in Sociology Journal article by Stephen Thomas; Sociology, Vol. 36, 2002

Tight immigration controls mean that there is little ethnic diversity in Japan. Only 0.75% of the population is foreign, the majority Korean. The exceptions to all this are the 2 million 'burakumin' who are an outcaste minority group, indistinguishable from other Japanese, who live in ghetto districts and work in trades such as leather-making to which Buddhist taboos restricted them in the past. This group is ignored by the media and in private conversation.



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