Like others in the Yao district of the Japanese port city, Masako is a descendant of the Burakumin, the caste once solely responsible for performing work connected with death, in jobs such as ...

Today, official statistics put the number of burakumin at around 1.2 million, with unofficial estimates as high as 3 million. Despite the numbers, ... SIGN ME UP. THE JAPAN TIMES LTD.

Japan is home to a little-known group of outcasts who are battling discrimination. The burakumin are ethnically identical to their compatriots, but are descended from feudal-era workers who were ...