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Centring and marginalizing: the “soft middle” and Japanese minority education

Examining the gap between national level minority education policies and local implementation in Japan, this paper considers this gap as a “soft middle” whereby local communities and schools have considerable leeway in how they implement policies. In particular, this paper focuses on Japan's largest minority group, the burakumin and their educational experiences. It traces the origins of educational policies targeting burakumin and how these policies were designed with this soft middle in mind. Following this, the paper considers two different localized approaches, both under policies directed at the burakumin and after the termination of such policies. It argues that schools can selectively implement policies while still fitting within the parameters of the law. Finally, it demonstrates that considering the soft middle provides for a richer, more nuanced understanding of educational systems, beyond monolithic assumptions of national systems.