Minorities and Education in Multicultural Japan: An Interactive Perspective. Asia's Transformations

This volume examines how Japan's increasingly multicultural population has impacted on the lives of minority children and their peers at school, and how schools are responding to this trend in terms of providing minority children with opportunities and preparing them for the adult society. The contributors focus on interactions between individuals and among groups representing diverse cultural backgrounds, and explore how such interactions are changing the landscape of education in increasingly multicultural Japan. Drawing on detailed micro-level studies of schooling, the chapters reveal the ways in which these individuals and groups (long-existing minority groups, newcomers, and the "mainstream Japanese") interact, and the significant consequences of such interactions on learning at school and the system of education as a whole. While the educational achievement of children of varying minority groups continues to reflect their places in the social hierarchy, the boundaries of individual and group categories are negotiated by mutual interactions and remain fluid and situational. "Minorities and Education in Multicultural Japan" provides important insights into bottom-up policy making processes and consciously brings together English and Japanese scholarship. As such, it will be an important resource for those interested in education and minority issues in Japan. Contents include: (1) Introduction: An interactive Perspective in Understanding Minorities and Education (Kaori H. Okano and Ryoko Tsuneyoshi); (2) Long-Existing Minorities and Education (Kaori H. Okano); (3) The Schooling of Buraku Children: Overcoming a Legacy of Stereotyping and Discrimination (Sarane Boocock); (4) Schooling and Identity in Okinawa: Okinawans and Amerasians in Okinawa (Naomi Noiri); (5) Ethnic Koreans in Japanese Schools: Shifting Boundaries and Collaboration With Other Groups (Kaori Okano); (6) The "Newcomers" and the Japanese Society (Ryoko Tsuneyoshi); (7) The "New" Foreigners and the Social Reconstruction of Difference: The Cultural Diversification of Japanese Education (Ryoko Tsuneyoshi); (8) Schools, Communities, and Newcomer Children: A Case Study of A Public Housing Complex (Mutsumi Shimizu); (9) (Mis)Managing Diversity in Non-Metropolitan Public Schools: The Lack of State-Sponsored Support for "Newcomer" Children (Chris Burgess); (10) The Kikokushijo: Negotiating Boundaries within and without (Misako Nukaga and Ryoko Tsuneyoshi); and (11) Concluding Remarks: Implications for Educational Research and Reform (Sarane Boocock).