Religion and minority in Japanese contexts

ABSTRACT This collection brings together five contributions that draw on ethnographic research into a range of cases from Japanese contexts to explore religion and minority from a variety of perspectives. This introduction provides a brief overview of the key questions and themes that the collection addresses. How is minority religion constructed and by whom? What is the impact of minority status on a group or an individual’s marginalisation and exclusion? What are the implications when a particular group, practice, or faction within a larger organisation is defined as ‘minority’? And how do marginalised groups use their minority status to negotiate their place within society or inside their religious community? Taken together, these contributions highlight how minorities emerge within minority groups such as so-called new religions and immigrant religions, how traditional practices or traditions can themselves be minoritised in different social, historical, and geographical contexts, and how minority status can be used as a tool of empowerment as well as exclusion.