Overcoming hidden discrimination in Japan, a surprising photo gallery

GlobalCompassion.com is featuring a gallery of photographs by award winning photographer Masaru Goto. The photos are portraits of Japanese people with a surprising twist. The subjects are Burakumin, a nearly invisible (yet identifiable) group of Japanese people. They are the remnant of a caste system that passed away long ago but remains in the cultural memory. Their ancestors were the untouchables -- people who worked with dead animals (tanners and butchers). Despite being racially and ethnically Japanese through and through, the "people of the buraku" still face discrimination today.