HJ on Mainichi article on “Preventing Illegal Hires of Foreigners”; what about campaigns to prevent illegal ABUSES of foreign workers?

mytest

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Hi Blog. Turning the keyboard over to Debito.org Reader HJ, who translates and comments:

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Found this rubbish on Mainichi:

外国人不法就労
ビラで防止訴え 赤羽署など /東京
毎日新聞2015年12月8日 地方版
http://mainichi.jp/articles/20151208/ddl/k13/040/192000c

外国人の不法就労や不法滞在を防ごうと、赤羽署などは7日、JR赤羽駅(北区)周辺で、外国人の適正な雇用を求めるビラを飲食店経営者や地域住民らに配るキャンペーンを行った。

同署員のほか、都や東京入国管理局などの職員ら約20人が参加。都が作成した「外国人労働者雇用マニュアル」も配布し、不法就労を知りながら外国人を雇用した事業主への罰則規定があることなどを紹介した。

東京オリンピック・パラリンピックに向けて多数の外国人の来日が予想されており、同署は「今後も定期的に注意喚起していきたい」としている。【神保圭作】

〔都内版〕

Translation (my own):
===================================
ILLEGAL EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGNERS
Demanding Prevention with Handbills
Mainichi Shinbun, December 8, 2015

Hoping to prevent illegal employment of foreigners and illegal foreign residency, on December 7th the Akabane police department held a flyer-distribution campaign around JR Akabane station, distributing handbills, which urge the proper hiring of foreigners, to restaurant owners and area residents.

Other than police officials, city officials and Tokyo immigration bureau officals also participated, for a total of about 20 participants. They also distributed a ‘Foreign Laborers’ Employment Manual,’ created by the city, and introduced the penal regulations for business owners who knowingly employed illegal foreign laborers.

A police official stated that in light of the upcoming Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, more foreigners are expected to be visiting Japan, so ‘from here on out we want to regularly urge caution’ [in regards to illegal foreign residency/employment].
==================================

What I noticed particularly is the lack of any effort to cite any statistics that might justify this blatantly fear-mongering use of taxpayer money. No citation of illegal foreign employment statistics, or what harm such infractions might meaningfully bring on society, or really any attempt to establish any reason for this “campaign” at all. It’s as if there’s no need at all to demonstrate why this behavior is necessary or what occasioned it in the first place.

We want to urge caution about illegal employment practices…because why? They’re on the rise? They cost taxpayers lots of money last year? There’s a lack of procedural knowledge? Where’s the handbilling to remind employers not to abuse their foreign employees? Haven’t we already seen many instances where that factually does occur? Where’s the “regular cautioning” about that? The whole thing is just completely disgusting.

Moreover, why the need to distribute handbills related to employment law to area residents? How does that have any effect on them at all, over then to instill in them a sense of mistrust of non-Japanese residents, which itself has no basis in reality, and which furthermore has nothing to do with the average resident at all?

The more I’ve started reading Japanese newspapers, the more I’m starting to feel like all you have to do to find this sort of incendiary, blatantly racist behavior is due a keyword search for “外国人.” It’s like they’re just incapable of discussing foreigners without blatantly exposing their ignorant prejudice.  HJ

3 comments on “HJ on Mainichi article on “Preventing Illegal Hires of Foreigners”; what about campaigns to prevent illegal ABUSES of foreign workers?

  • Andrew in Saitama says:

    It’s easy to set up a straw man and then demonstrate how hard you are fighting crime by making a show of attacking the straw man.

    Reply
  • If they went after employers abusing non-Japanese workers and it made the news, they’d have to start going after employers abusing Japanese workers as well (granted, nothing here is as egregious as the “trainee” cases). You can go to the government here with concrete evidence of employers breaking labor laws and basically be told to put up with it.

    Reply
  • On the topic of 不法就労 and 不法滞在, ~6 years after HJ’s submission, problematic depictions of NJ continue:

    外国人イラストに「差別」と批判 三重県がHPから削除

    Allow me to deconstruct the trajectory of events:

    June 1: A racist illustration of 3 NJ overstayers each holding a 在留資格カード goes up on the Mie prefectural police website.

    June ?: Discussion of said content finds its way onto social media platforms where it gets roundly criticized for being exclusionary and prejudiced.

    June 26: a Mie prefecture webpage admin becomes aware of said content and removes it.

    June 28: Mie prefecture becomes aware that the content was deleted.

    In response, a Mie prefecture PR person says a) Mie prefectural police didn’t create the racist content, but rather they used an illustration that was produced by someone in a different prefecture with connections to the police, and b) there was no intent to promote racism. Finally, a staffer at the prefecture’s Public Information & Public Relations department said that “When I received the copy of the article from the prefectural police, I was of the opinion that some of the content was questionable human rights-wise, but since illegal overstaying is a situation which is becoming a problem, the article was published as-is”.

    So much for Mie-ken getting with the times. Maybe they should stick to abolishing excessive high school rules on dating, hair, underwear color.

    JK

    外国人イラストに「差別」と批判 三重県がHPから削除
    朝日新聞 黄澈2021年6月28日
    https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP6X6X3CP6XONFB014.html

    三重県のホームページ(HP)に掲載された「外国人の不法就労・不法滞在の防止について」のお知らせで使ったイラストに対し、SNSで「差別的」などの批判が相次ぎ、県がこのイラストを削除したことが28日、分かった。
     お知らせは、県警本部生活環境課が作成し、今月1日、県のHPにアップした。不法滞在の外国人の多くが「不法就労しているものと思われる」と指摘し、地域住民に警察への情報提供を求めるなどの内容で、イラストには「在留資格 調理師」のカードを手にした男性が、資格外の工事現場で働く人の姿で笑う様子などが描かれていた。
     これに対し、ツイッターなどでは「排他主義的な悪意が見える」「外国人への偏見をあおる」などの批判が相次いだ。HPを管理する県の職員がこれに気づき、26日朝に急きょ削除を決めたという。
     県警本部の担当者は「他県の警察関係者が作成したイラストを使用した。差別助長の意図はなかった」と説明。HPを管理する県広聴広報課の担当者は「県警から原稿を預かった際に、人権上問題があるのではとの意見も一部にあったが、不法滞在の事案があるのも事実で、そのまま掲載した」と話した。
     社会問題を巡る外国人の描写では、NHKの国際情報番組が公式ツイッターで投稿した米国の人種差別抗議デモについてのアニメ動画が、黒人を粗野な様子で描き、「差別的」との批判を浴びた事例などがある。
     ヘイトスピーチ問題に詳しい宮下萌弁護士(東京弁護士会)は「マイノリティーは犯罪に加担する危険な存在とのイメージを植え付ける典型的なヘイト事例。本来、ヘイトの解消に当たるべき公的機関による行為だけに、問題はより深刻だ」と指摘している。(黄澈)
    =====================

    West Japan pref. abolishes excessive high school rules on dating, hair, underwear color
    June 16, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
    https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210616/p2a/00m/0na/011000c
    TSU — Rules at all public high schools in west Japan’s Mie Prefecture pertaining to subjects including hairstyles, dating, and underwear color were all abolished during the current academic year, the Mainichi Shimbun learned from the Mie Prefectural Board of Education on June 15.

    Rules seen to go too far are dubbed “black school rules,” and with more attention being paid to them as a societal problem, it appears schools were forced to rethink them. The education board’s student guidance section explained, “There are school rules that remain like ‘past relics’ out of step with the times. We will seek further changes in the future.”

    According to the education board and others, among the 54 full-time public high schools in the prefecture, there were 24 in the 2019 school year banning undercut haircuts that leave the sides short and top long. All of them had abolished the rules by spring 2021. The primary reason given in forbidding the haircuts was that pupils must “be like high school students, and must not use elaborate techniques.”

    Eighteen schools also cited reasons like “students should be pure, cheerful and upright” to justify prohibiting dating among students, but the rules were abolished from spring this year. In academic 2019, 17 schools also required students to file a document certifying their natural hair’s properties and color, but this practice had also been phased out by spring 2021.

    Additionally, two schools have abolished their respective clothing rules that underwear and shirts under school uniforms should be “flesh-colored, beige, mocha or colors that are less visible under uniforms,” and, “monotone white, grey, navy blue, or black.” If patterns could be seen below a uniform’s surface, students were reportedly warned.

    From academic 2020, the prefectural education board encouraged principals’ associations and individual schools to review school rules at meetings attended by guidance counseling staff.

    Based on the reality of students’ school life and the thoughts of guardians, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology sent out notifications dated June 8 to education boards across the country urging them to review school rules.

    (Japanese original by Yuka Asahina, Tsu Bureau)
    ends

    Reply

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