Mark Ramseyer published four articles (two articles published in peer-reviewed journals, and two discussion papers) about the Buraku issue from 2017 to 2020. Responses to them were slower to emerge than the ones to his work on “comfort women,” ianfu, but in the course of the last twelve months a number of historians, anthropologists and sociologists in Japan have produced critiques of his claims about Buraku history showing that they are based on equally flawed scholarship. This special issue comprises five statements originally written in Japanese pointing out his “misunderstandings,” accompanied by a joint statement by a group of two Japanese and two Anglophone social scientists on his research objectives and methodology, and a trenchant comprehensive joint statement produced by five Anglophone scholars who have a broad spectrum of expertise on the history and culture of Buraku communities. Special issue of The Asia-Pacific Journal, Japan Focus, edited by Ian Neary and Saito Naoko, with special issue coordinator Tomomi Yamaguchi.
