Burakumin, meaning “hamlet people”, originally referred to communities made up of supposedly “impure” workers. The lowest of them, the eta, ...

Today, official statistics put the number of burakumin at around 1.2 million, with unofficial estimates as high as 3 million. Despite the numbers, the issue is something of a taboo in Japan: ...

Known in the feudal period as "filth" or "non-human," the outcasts were legally trapped below the castes of the warriors, artisans, farmers and merchants, which were ranked in that descending order.

Many burakumin quietly blend into the rest of society, marrying outside their caste and taking on mainstream work. But more than a century after Japan’s caste system was abolished, ...

Like many in the abattoir because of his profession, Miyazaki is associated with the Burakumin, Japan's "untouchable" class. Burakumin, meaning "hamlet people", dates back to the feudal era.

Overshadowed by the 11th-hour furor over casino legalization and other legislation forced through the Diet by the ruling bloc last week was the enactment of a lesser-known law that has significant ...

Roger Witherspoon reports on the inhumane conditions facing the Burakumin, a social minority in Japan that has faced centuries of discrimination. JAPAN OF old did not have a captive black ...

The burakumin were considered “unclean” for holding jobs shunned by the wider Shinto and Buddhist society – often ones involving animals, blood or death.

The Japanese word burakumin literally translates as “village people”—and the burakumin are outcasts in Japanese society. Discriminated against since the 15th century, ...

Burakumin discrimination is a testament to human nature. Humans will find ANY excuse to malign each other. In the absence of people who are different, they will create those differences amongst ...