ABSTRACT
Ethnicity in Japan, as in other countries, is a favourite target for both outright linguistic slurs and linguistic stereotyping. This chapter will look at three case studies, that of the Ainu people, Japan’s ethnic Korean community, and other foreigners, but this list is by no means exclusive. The case studies are intended only to outline the dimensions and nature of the terminology used about these specific groups as a guide to the sort of language protested by ethnic groups in Japan. Okinawans, for example, at the other end of Japan from most Ainu people, have also been targeted, as have Middle Eastern immigrant workers.
