Recent trends in ethnic geography in Japan

Abstract

This study explores recent trends in ethnic geography in Japan. Although ethnicity was not an important theme of research for geographers in post-war Japan, ethnic geography has developed since the 1980s. Initially, Japanese migrants and spatial segregation were major themes, and very few articles on ethnic minorities in Japan appeared in selected geographical journals published in Japan. However, since the mid-1990s, the number of the case studies on ethnic minorities in Japan, both oldcomers and newcomers, has increased rapidly. Recently, humanistic and radical approaches have been added to the domain in which Japanese ethnic geographers have been interested, although traditional approaches still seem to be useful. Furthermore, geographers' contributions are expected in interdisciplinary ethnic studies. Thus, many frontiers still remain for Japanese ethnic geographers.