DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER FEB 20, 2007

1) NEW JAPAN TIMES ARTICLE OUT TODAY ON “MYTH OF JAPAN’S CRIME WAVE”
2) UN’S DOUDOU DIENE BACK IN TOKYO NEXT WEEK
–ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE ME TO SUBMIT TO HIM? BY NOON FRIDAY
3) UPCOMING SPEECHES IN TOKYO, ONE WITH DIENE RE GAIJIN HANZAI MAGAZINE
4) ECONOMIST ON J POLICE INTERROGATIONS AND NEW SUO MOVIE
5) J TIMES: PREFECTURES RANKED RE SUPPORT FOR FOREIGN RESIDENTS

GAIJIN HANZAI editor Saka responds on Japan Today, with my rebuttal

Here we have an interesting development: The editor of the GAIJIN HANZAI URA FILES responds to his critics. A fascinating and relatively rare glimpse into the mindset of a person with a “thing” about gaijin. I post his response below, then comment after each paragraph.

Japan Focus on public perceptions of crime in Japan

“While Japan has one of the lowest victimization rates, the International Crime Victim Surveys (ICVS) indicate that it has among the highest levels of fear of crime. The Japanese moral panic about crime has been extremely durable in the new millennium. Some now claim that the panic perspective has become institutionalized in Japan and that there has been collapse of the pre-existing psychological boundary dividing experience of the ordinary personal world where crime is rare, and another hyper-real world where crime is common.”

Japan Today: “Blond Hair Blue Eyes” Eikaiwa job ad

Kyodo News/Japan Today: “An English-language school in Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, had publicly posted a recruitment poster limiting instructors to those with “blond hair, blue or green eyes,” leading activists to file complaints, people involved said Sunday.” First reported on debito.org last November, hits press more than two months later.

JT/Kyodo on foreign crime *decrease*, yet Mainichi focusses on increase

Kyodo/Japan Times reports that despite all the punditry about the foreign crime rise, that foreign crime has actually gone DOWN. Nevertheless, the Mainichi reports (in the J version, at least) on the bits that have gone up (while cleaning it up for the E version). Foreigners can’t seem to avoid a bum rap in the J media.

GAIJIN HANZAI mag endgame: “out of stock”

Looks as though the threat of boycott worked. Letters from major distributors pulling the GAIJIN HANZAI mag off their shelves has led to publisher Eichi saying they will recall the issue; even Eichi’s website has “sold out”. Amazon remains the lone seller holdout… Used all this information very effectively in my speeches today…

Japan Probe: GAIJIN HANZAI publisher Saka responds

Shigeki Saka, Eichi Shuppan’s editorial director denied the magazine has any xenophobic sentences, claimed he’s not a racist and refused to apologize: ” I know there are some people bothered but if you read the magazine, you’ll see there’s no single discriminatory phrase, so I don’t know why I should.”

Review of GAIJIN HANZAI Mag: what’s wrong with it?

To deflect the cultural relativists and naybobs who make a sport of poking holes in any argument or social movement, it’s probably a good idea to give a review of the “GAIJIN HANZAI UNDERGROUND FILES” publication. and why it’s symptomatic of so much of what is wrong about a media which has insufficient safeguards against hate speech and defamation of ethnic groups.

The Times (London) Weblog on GAIJIN HANZAI Mag Issue

The Times (London) Weblog: “I’ll keep this brief because the tale is recounted in detail on other blogs – but there is an illuminating flap in progress over a magazine which appeared a few days ago in Japanese convenience stores. It is entitled Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu…”

“BOYCOTT FAMILY MART”; Letter in E and J for you to download

Dear Family Mart Management:

I have always enjoyed being a customer of yours. However, I am gravely disappointed that you have decided to stock and sell a magazine entitled GAIJIN HANZAI URA FAIRU, which in my view offers discriminatory statements and images about non-Japanese residents of Japan.

Please remove this magazine from your shelves immediately and return them to the publisher. Please take care not to sell magazines of this type ever again in your stores.

Until you do, I will not shop in your store, and will tell my friends overseas and nationwide to boycott your stores. Non-Japanese are important customers too, and in this competitive market it will be no trouble for us to take our business elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Guardian UK on GAIJIN HANZAI Mag

Human rights activists said the magazine was indicative of the climate of fear of foreigners created by conservative newspapers and politicians, notably the governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara.

“It goes beyond being puerile and into the realm of encouraging hatred of foreigners,” Debito Arudou, a naturalised Japanese citizen, told the Guardian. “The fact that this is available in major bookstores is a definite cause of concern. It would be tantamount to hate speech in some societies.”

One section is devoted to the alleged tricks foreign-run brothels use to fleece inebriated Japanese salarymen, while another features a comic strip retelling, in graphic detail, the murders of four members of a Japanese family by three Chinese men in 2003.

Mr Arudou accused the mainstream press of exploiting the supposed rise in foreign crime by failing to challenge official police figures. Although the actual number of crimes has risen, he said, so has the size of the foreign population.

“The portrayal [of foreign criminals] is not one of a neutral tone,” he said. “They don’t put any of the statistics into perspective and they don’t report drops in certain crimes.”

Blogosphere: Boycott Family Mart (for selling GAIJIN HANZAI mag)

Japan Probe: “The magazine is disgusting, and I don’t think it would be out of line to use the word racist when referring to it. We here at Japan Probe are not going to let a mainstream convenience store like Family Mart get away with selling such offensive material. We would like to call for an international boycott of FamilyMart-affiliated convenience stores.”

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 3, 2007

1) “GAIJIN CRIME” TABLOID MAGAZINE ON SALE IN CONVENIENCE STORES
2) UPDATE ON “WANTED: BLUE-EYED GAIJIN TEACHER” EIKAIWA WANT AD
3) TRIP TO TOKYO: NEW BOOKS, SABBATICAL, UNHCR MEETING, VICTIM OF VIOLENCE
4) UNIVERSITY GREENLIST UPDATE, AND BLOWBACK FROM BLACKLIST
and finally…

MY SPEECHES NEXT WEEK IN KANSAI…
PLUS “JAPANESE ONLY” T-SHIRTS SELLING OUT. STOP ME AND BUY ONE

Protest against Child Abductions in Portland, Oregon, Feb 2007

From Mark Smith at the Children’s Rights Network Japan–Debito There is another “Protest Against Japanese Abductions” coming up in Portland Oregon this Saturday, Sunday and the following week. (Feb 3,4,10,11). This is the FOURTH event so far, and promises to be the biggest yet. There are over 20 left behind parents, friends, and family known …

Zakzak:2ch マルサ動く…国税局職員の父親を直撃

日本最大の掲示板「2ちゃんねる(2Ch)」の管理人、西村博之氏(30、写真)に対し、東京国税局査察部(通称・マルサ)が調査を開始したことが1日、分かった。現役国税職員を父に持ち、「年収1億円以上」と公言する西村氏だが、税金の納付が滞っており、このままでは差し押さえも時間の問題。2Chをめぐる金の流れの解明は、マルサの手に委ねられた。

“HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS” to be published March 2008

Divided into seven chapters closely reflecting the stages of assimilation into any society, WORKING GUIDEBOOK takes the reader through 1) entry procedures, 2) securing employment, 3) establishing one’s own business, 4) addressing possible problems, 5) planning for the future and retirement, and 6) participating in the development of civil society. We offer the information in easy grammatical English (for readers of English as a second language) and furigana Japanese on opposing pages. We hope this will serve a wide readership.

Yomiuri Jan 24 07 on foreigners “filling” J prisons

Interesting stats: About 3,200 inmates, 360 more than the capacity, are held at Fuchu Prison. Among them, about 550 are foreigners. The number is 1.3 times more than were incarcerated 10 years ago. Fuchu prison houses inmates from 46 countries who speak 35 languages. The figure has increased from 22 countries in 1986, and 39 in 1996.The number of foreign inmates nationwide was 5,312–2.6 times more than a decade ago.

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JAN 25 07

1) IVAN HALL NOV 3 2006 JALT SPEECH ON DEBITO.ORG
2) ENDGAME FOR JAPAN’S QUEST FOR UNSC SEAT?
3) METROPOLIS ON INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTIONS
4) AP PRIMER ON J IMMIGRATION ISSUES
5) HUMOR…
a) How to deal with Japanese police ID checkpoints: have personalities.
b) Amorously noisy bathers cause trouble at onsen. Ban them too?
c) Yunohana’s “Japanese Only” sign copied into online video game.
d) First Debito.org Dejima Award: Town approves university only if no foreign students allowed
and finally.. “JAPANESE ONLY” T-SHIRTS ON SALE AGAIN AT DEBITO.ORG

Ivan Hall Speech text JALT Nov 3 06

Ivan Hall, author of seminal work CARTELS OF THE MIND (Norton 1997), described the systematic ways Japanese “intellectual cartels” in influential sectors of thought transfer (including the mass media, academic, and legal community) shut out foreign influences as a matter of course. He gave a marvellous speech in JALT Kitakyushu on November 3, 2006. It is my pleasure to premiere the full text on debito.org.

Metropolis on J int’l child abductions

‘[Murray] Wood’s is just one of the 31 active cases of child custody and family distress that the Canadian Embassy is currently dealing with in Japan, a sharp increase from the 21 active cases a year earlier…. No Japanese court has ever caused a child abducted to Japan by a Japanese parent to be returned to the child’s habitual residence outside Japan. Part of the problem is that Japan is not a signatory to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which works to ensure the prompt return of abducted children to their country of habitual residence. “Japan continues to be a haven for international child abduction”..’

AP primer on Japanese Immigration issues

Pretty good article rounding up what we’ve been saying so far about the issues of Japanese immigration, particularly that of guest workers-cum-immigrants from South America reaching double-digit percentages of the population of some Japanese towns. Courtesy of Steve at The Community.

The article says few things which readers of this and other mailing lists don’t already know. But I’m glad to see this issue receiving wider attention overseas. Quite often it takes “gaiatsu” (overseas pressure) from exposure before the GOJ is ever shamed into doing something about its own social problems. For what do the policymaking elites care about these people? They care more about how it tarnishes Japan’s reputation overseas.

UPDATE: Visiting Immigration re Spouse Visa questionnaire

I visited Sapporo’s very friendly Immigration Bureau (Nyuukoku Kanrikyoku) yesterday to find out more about the Questionnaire (shitumonsho) for people marrying Japanese and applying for the appropriate visa. I talked to the Inspection Division (shinsa bumon) for about an hour regarding the requirements for certain types of visas based upon conjugal status. A fascinating discussion ensued about how Japan is trying to suss out fake international marriages.

Endgame on GOJ push for UNSC seat?

I have the feeling that Japan may be approaching checkmate on getting its permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Using the appointment of Ban Ki Moon as the new UN Secretary General as an opportunity to put some wind behind their sails, the GOJ has gotten their ducks lined up: the major world powers (sans China) are falling for Japan’s arguments of quid pro quo.

2ちゃんねる:16日NTV放送(youtube), debito.orgがサイバーテロ標的

1)1月16日 23:05より、NTV「ニュースゼロ」で
  2ちゃんねるについて有道 出人とのインタビューが放送
2)夕刊フジによって「2ちゃんねるのXデー」の噂によって
  違う裁判の原告の有道 出人はヘートメイルの標的となり
  サイトのdebito.orgがやられた
3)ちなみに、毎日新聞の2ちゃんねるについての元旦特集記事

毎日:2ちゃんねる:書き込み者を名誉棄損で告訴 神奈川の学校

2ちゃんねる:書き込み者を名誉棄損で告訴 神奈川の学校 http://www.mainichi-msn.co.jp/shakai/jiken/news/20070116k0000m040145000c.html  インターネット掲示板「2ちゃんねる」の書き込みで中傷されたとして、神奈川県小田原市で不登校の子供が通う学校を運営する学校法人「湘南ライナス学園」(吉崎真里学園長)が、書き込んだ人物を被疑者不詳のまま名誉棄損などで県警小田原署に刑事告訴していたことが分かった。  告訴状は、05年12月〜06年10月、不特定多数が「学園長は精神異常者」「ライナスでは学力が低下する」などの中傷やうその書き込みをし、同学園の信用や吉崎学園長の名誉を損なった−−としている。同学園によると、中傷の書き込みは2000件以上に上り、退学者や入学予定者の辞退が相次いだという。同署は4日に告訴状を受理し、書き込み人物の特定を進めている。同学園は、2ちゃんねる運営者の西村博之氏に書き込みの削除を求めたが、削除されていない。吉崎学園長は「不登校など事情のある子供の居場所としてようやく設立された学園なのに、根拠のないことを書き込まれ運営に支障が出ている」という。  同学園は、構造改革教育特区認定校に指定されたことを受け、05年4月に不登校やLD(学習障害)などの児童生徒向けに小・中・高一貫校として開校した。計43人が通っている。【堀智行】 英文を読む 毎日新聞 2007年1月16日 3時00分

ZAKZAK: 2ch管理人に破産申し立て…35歳被害者が手続き

 日本最大の掲示板「2ちゃんねる」(2ch)の管理人、西村博之氏(30)に対し、第三者破産が申し立てられていたことが16日、分かった。12日に東京都内の男性会社員(35)が西村氏の全財産仮差し押さえを申し立てたことから「2ch閉鎖」の憶測が広がる中、西村氏の包囲網は確実に狭まりつつあるようだ。

NEWSFLASH: NTV interviews Arudou Debito re 2-Channel Lawsuit

NEWS FLASH I got interviewed earlier tonight with Nippon TV (Ch 5 in Sapporo, Ch 4 in Tokyo). Details as follows: ///////////////////////////////////////////// 2-CHANNEL INTERNET BBS LIBEL ISSUE INTERVIEW WITH ARUDOU DEBITO, PLAINTIFF “NEWS ZERO” NEWS PROGRAM STARTS FROM 11:05 PM TONIGHT, JANUARY 16, 2007 ///////////////////////////////////////////// I’d send you a link for background on the issue …

MDN Waiwai: J bad bath manners :-)

Assuming that this is true: Gracious old rural inns, traditionally, have been places where Japanese go to relax in natural surroundings while soaking away their aches and pains in mineral hot springs. But, reports Shukan Jitsuwa (10/13), inns’ clientele of late seem to have other ideas. “The idea of 24-hour bathing was to let you get up early, and soak in the tub while watching the rising sun burn off the morning mist,” continues the kami. “Or, you could go late there at night and gaze at the starry sky. It made things all the more relaxing. But when you’ve got to worry about families bathing within hearing range of these noisy young couples, it’s really vexing.”…