This book, though, is more than a narrative of instances of discrimination and campaigns for redress. The author also seeks to explore the roots of the problem, which he locates in the legal apparatus of nationality, the workings of the court system, the lack of serious official mechanisms to combat discrimination, and stereotypes perpetuated by the mass media.... This book is an important addition to the literature on problems of citizenship and minorities in Japan, particularly because it highlights the distinctive problems of visible minorities, rather than focusing on the large ‘invisible minorities’ (Zainichi Koreans and Chinese, etc.) who have been the subject of much existing research.... This is an important, courageous and challenging book, and it casts a sharp light on problems which are often ignored or veiled, but which have profound consequences for the present and future of Japanese society.

Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Australian National University, Japanese Studies

Japan Times readers familiar with columnist Debito Arudou’s views on the politics, policies and perils of an exclusionist national identity can now access a fuller scholarly elaboration in 'Embedded Racism: Japan’s Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination.'

Jeff Kingston, Temple University, Japan Campus, Japan Times

That is what his long and passionately argued book is all about [racial discrimination]. . . .Arudou’s book describes . . . convoluted problems very well and some of the ludicrous situations they produce.

JPRI: Japan Policy Research Institute

There are important academic contributions to the study of racism in Japan in this book, but it is as a must-read text on the crisis facing the shrinking Japanese population and its leaders that it really leaves its mark. Embedded Racism is highly recommended reading to anyone—whether they self-identify as Japanese or foreign or both—who is interested in Japan’s future.

Social Science Japan Journal

[Any] limitations are more than offset by Arudo's meticulously collected popular culture evidence, legal case studies, and wealth of experience living in Japanese society as a non-native citizen of Japan.... Embedded Racism's contribution to both Japanese Studies and debates on race and contemporary racialized human experiences remain valuable contributions in their own right.

Japan Studies Association of Canada

[Embedded Racism] is a brave critique of Japanese society and its failure to look outward in its demographic and economic development. The book will, no doubt, add to a lively discussion already afoot in Japanese studies, critical race studies, and critical mixed race studies of racism in Japan.... The book is clearly written and seems to be aimed primarily at undergraduate students, as it makes an important contribution for those wishing to understand racism in Japan better, and it compiles interesting documentary legal data about the history of cases of discrimination in Japan. The book would easily also suit courses that address global conceptions of race and ethnicity and how these are changing in Japan at the both the micro and macro-levels because of globalization.

Sociology of Race and Ethnicity