At the margins of multiculturalism: Assessing Kymlicka’s liberal multiculturalism in Japan

Will Kymlicka’s theories of multiculturalism have gained wide interest in the West but only recently have been applied beyond it. This research note assesses whether a Kymlickian approach provides traction for grasping the configuration of nondominant ethnic groupings in Japan and how they have achieved a degree of multicultural recognition. It first identifies equivalents and exceptions within the Japanese case to Kymlicka’s key groupings: national minorities, indigenous peoples, immigrants, and metics. It then shows that of these, the last two drove the expansion of multicultural rights. Finally, it examines why they launched claims within a multicultural framework and assess the limits of the multicultural claims for bolstering the rights of subordinate groups.