ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the Japanese government's laws and policies concerning Ainu, Zainichi Koreans, Buraku, and sexual minorities (LGBT) in late Heisei to illustrate how the state's management of diversity and differences subtly maintains ethnic homogeneity and heteronormativity in Japan. This chapter discusses how minority-focused laws and policies have been more ornamental than functionally effective. By design, minority laws and policies in Japan work to promote Japan's standing in the international community instead of confronting inequality and protecting the rights of minority groups. External factors including pressure from international bodies, activism by minority groups, and hosting the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are the major impetus for recent legislation. Overall, these laws and policies indicate that the state considers minority rights as a regulatory process rather than a statutory responsibility. In effect, the enacted measures privilege the majority and maintain the status quo of an imagined Japan that is homogenous and heteronormative.
