DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JUNE 21, 2021

mytest

Books, eBooks, and more from Debito Arudou, Ph.D. (click on icon):
Guidebookcover.jpgjapaneseonlyebookcovertextHandbook for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants to Japan「ジャパニーズ・オンリー 小樽入浴拒否問題と人種差別」(明石書店)sourstrawberriesavatardebitopodcastthumbFodorsJapan2014cover
UPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito
DEBITO.ORG PODCASTS on iTunes, subscribe free
“LIKE” US on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/debitoorg
https://www.facebook.com/embeddedrcsmJapan
http://www.facebook.com/handbookimmigrants
https://www.facebook.com/JapaneseOnlyTheBook
https://www.facebook.com/BookInAppropriate

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JUNE 21, 2021
Table of Contents:
//////////////////////////////////
1) Justice Ministry’s new “Gaijin Card Reader App” now unlawfully enables the general public to scan you. So much for GOJ promises of privacy.
2) NHK: Ibaraki Public Health Center targets foreigners as vectors of Coronavirus, then retracts discriminatory claims as “misleading” and “inappropriate”
3) Mainichi Editorial: Foreign workers would also serve roles as consumers, taxpayers. Bravo. It needs to be said by somebody in the Wajin media
4) Celebrating 15 Years of the Debito.org Blog (June 17, 2006-2021)

…and finally…
5) My SNA Visible Minorities column 22: “Interrogating the Discriminatory Covid Self-Quarantine Scandal”, May 17, 2021
//////////////////////////////////

By Debito Arudou, Ph.D. (debito@debito.org, www.debito.org, Twitter @arudoudebito)
Debito.org Newsletters are as always freely forwardable

//////////////////////////////////

1) Justice Ministry’s new “Gaijin Card Reader App” now unlawfully enables the general public to scan you. So much for GOJ promises of privacy.

The Ministry of Justice has made a “Residence Card Checker App”, available from December 25, 2020, downloadable from their website (English, Japanese). It’s available for Windows PC, Apple Mac App Store, Google Play, and iOS (with manuals!). It scans RFID Zairyuu Cards, aka “Gaijin Cards”, which is personal ID required of foreign residents only, and must be carried 24/7 on pain of criminal penalty. In their words, “This app reads and displays the information (such as the bearer’s name) stored on the IC chips of residence cards and special permanent resident certificates, helping users to confirm that the card is not a forgery.”

How nice. Except that the only people allowed to demand, let alone scan, Gaijin Cards are people connected with the Ministry of Justice (Immigration, the police, etc.). This has now unlawfully put the ability to read private information within the general public’s grasp. Such as people posing as fake cops (which does happen). It’s not that far removed from the government “snitch sites” where anyone could anonymously report their local gaijin to the government and have them harassed, er, investigated by local authorities. (They’ve since disappeared after nearly two decades in action, so this is a new form of potential harassment.)

Debito.org will archive below the sites in English and Japanese for the record, with some screen captures. Especially enjoy reading the Privacy Policy, especially since one initial reason why the government advertised that the RFID card was a better system was due to privacy (and “convenience”)–random people wouldn’t be able to read the embedded information. Now they can. Where is the outcry over “privacy concerns” that Japanese citizens enjoy whenever the government makes personal ID policy affecting them?

https://www.debito.org/?p=16688
//////////////////////////////////

2) NHK: Ibaraki Public Health Center targets foreigners as vectors of Coronavirus, then retracts discriminatory claims as “misleading” and “inappropriate”

Tokyo Reporter: A health center in Itako City this week retracted an “inappropriate” advisory that stated foreigners are the source of an increase in novel coronavirus infections, reports NHK (May 22). On May 19 and 20, the Itako Health Center distributed the notice by email to agricultural cooperatives and city halls within its jurisdiction. The document stated, “There are many coronavirus patients likely infected by foreigners.” It advised, “If you talk to a foreigner, wear a mask. As well, please do not eat with them.”

On May 21, the health center and the Ibaraki Prefectural Infectious Disease Control Division retracted the document. “The document’s content was inappropriate,” they said. “Though we had no intention of discriminating against foreigners,” the Itako Health Center told NHK, “we are sorry if any of the expressions were misleading.”

COMMENT: “Misleading”?! “Inappropriate”?! “Unintentional”?! How about unscientific and discriminatory, especially for an official bureau safeguarding public health that should know better. But given what we know at Debito.org about Japan’s constant “Blame Game”, used to distract from official policy errors and scapegoat Non-Japanese for just about anything, we could see it coming. The bigger surprise is how quickly NHK jumped on this so quickly and got it retracted. Media watchdogs are supposed to look out for the general public, including Non-Japanese Residents. Please get ready to do more of the same in future.

https://www.debito.org/?p=16674

//////////////////////////////////

3) Mainichi Editorial: Foreign workers would also serve roles as consumers, taxpayers. Bravo. It needs to be said by somebody in the Wajin media

Mainichi Editorial in 2018: Important viewpoints are apparently lacking in discussions on accepting more foreign workers to Japan. The discourse treats foreigners only as a “workforce” to alleviate labor shortages, and fails to shed light on a variety of other roles they can play. Boosting the workforce is a vital challenge for the Japanese economy. Seeking people from overseas when labor-saving measures alone are not enough is a natural response to the reality. But foreigners working in Japan can contribute more than labor to Japanese society. This point should not be overlooked.

First of all, they are also consumers [in a depopulating workforce]. Foreign workers will push up housing and educational spending, like Japanese households do, when they live in Japan with their family members for longer periods of time. Moreover, their wide-ranging needs can be expected to create new products and services and even lead to new jobs.

Another important role that foreigners can play is paying taxes. They pay income tax when they work, and they shoulder the consumption tax as Japanese do in the course of their daily lives… [If we choose to invite] long-term settlers with family members to increase their income and spending… we need to make necessary preparations, and make corresponding commitments. This means exploring ways to benefit both foreign workers and the Japanese economy.

https://www.debito.org/?p=15206

//////////////////////////////////

4) Celebrating 15 Years of the Debito.org Blog (June 17, 2006-2021)

June 17, 2021 celebrates 15 years since the Debito.org Blog went live. (The Debito.org Website as a whole, however, went live in 1996, and we celebrated that quarter-century of online activism earlier this year in a separate post.) The Debito.org Blog was created in addition after a friend named Jim suggested that a WordPress template would make things a lot easier for me to respond to and archive daily events in real time. He was right.

As of today, in addition to the Debito.org original Website (which is still up, of course; artery site here), as of this morning the Blog alone has 2,935 individual posts by me (amounting to 16,703 pages) and 34,737 individual comments (of which only 862, or less than 2.5%, are mine). That’s about one post every two days on average, and about 12 comments per post.

That’s an active blog by many definitions, and still going strong. And materials archived here been cited in various newspapers, journals, and books. People take it seriously. Long may it continue. While I’m limiting myself to posting here about once a week (I’ve got other writing projects), I don’t see myself giving up the Debito.org Project anytime, ever. By now, it’s just what I do.

https://www.debito.org/?p=16703

//////////////////////////////////

…and finally…
5) My SNA Visible Minorities column 22: “Interrogating the Discriminatory Covid Self-Quarantine Scandal”, May 17, 2021

SNA (Tokyo) — Sometimes government-designed policies lack sense. Or, in places where the government is as unaccountable as Japan’s, policymakers ignore cautions—-or don’t get cautioned at all because a docile mass media is mobilized behind a national goal. So when things go wrong, very bad things can happen, especially when punishments for noncompliance only go one way and hurt innocent people.

That is what’s in the cards yet again with Japan’s Covid border controls. The current policy is that if you are a resident of Japan returning from overseas, you face a mandatory self-quarantine system. Everyone, regardless of nationality, signs must notify the authorities of their current location each day. If not, authorities will contact them via Skype, WhatsApp video call, or by voice cell phone number.

If you are found to be breaking quarantine as a Japanese, you get your name exposed to the public. However, foreign residents will lose everything—their lives, livelihoods, and anything they ever invested in Japan—by getting deported. So with punishments this disproportionate, the government had better make sure nothing goes wrong. Guess what? Things are going wrong, and it’s the government’s fault…

Rest is at http://shingetsunewsagency.com/2021/05/17/visible-minorities-interrogating-the-discriminatory-quarantine-scandal/
Anchor site for comments at https://www.debito.org/?p=16656.

//////////////////////////////////

That’s all for this month! We have relatively few posts this month because I’ve been working on a big writing project over the past four months. More on that soon. Thanks for reading!

Debito Arudou, Ph.D.
DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JUNE 21, 2021 ENDS

======================
Do you like what you read on Debito.org?  Want to help keep the archive active and support Debito.org’s activities?  Please consider donating a little something.  More details here. Or if you prefer something less complicated, just click on an advertisement below.

22 comments on “DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JUNE 21, 2021

  • Here we go again, another local government that posts discriminatory illustrations of immigrants in order to combat visa violations. Thankfully it has been taken down, but I think that this is just the beginning. Since the „card checker“ app has been released, which basically allows every Japanese citizen to illegally scan your residency card, I except that more local goverments, the police and even private companies will start to promote such anti-foreigner sentiments.

    ///////////////////////////
    Central Japan pref. removes illustration labeled discriminatory against foreigners
    June 29, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
    https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210629/p2a/00m/0na/010000c

    The illustration posted by Mie Prefectural Police on the prefectural government website regarding illicit employment and illegal stays by foreigners is seen. (Image courtesy of parties concerned)

    TSU — The Mie Prefectural Government has removed an illustration from its website containing statistics and educational information on the prevention of illegal employment and illegal stays by foreigners, after receiving complaints from outsiders that it promotes discrimination against foreigners, the Mainichi Shimbun learned on June 28.

    The statistics and educational content, including the illustration, were prepared by Mie Prefectural Police. The illustration depicts three foreign nationals who either have no residency status or are falsely pretending to have a “cook” or “study abroad” visa status while working as construction workers or hostesses.

    According to the prefectural police, the illustration was internally available and was used for public relations purposes.

    When posts critical of the illustration spread on social media on June 26, comments such as “It’s based on a discriminatory mindset against foreigners and is too much” and “I feel it’s malicious” followed. On the other hand, some people said, “It’s natural because they’re criminals” and “It’s not discrimination against foreigners.”

    The prefectural police concluded, “We used an easy-to-understand illustration assuming someone who violated the law, but if even one person feels uncomfortable, it was not appropriate.” The prefectural government consequently removed the illustration on June 26.

    Kyoko Wada, representative director of Iga no Tsutamaru, a nonprofit organization in the prefectural city of Iga that supports foreign residents, said, “Illicit employment and illegal stays are of course legal violations, but there are also people who overstay their visas for various reasons. It is hard to understand why this illustration was used, as it could lead to discrimination by generalizing the situation with a fear-inducing picture.”

    (Japanese original by Yuka Asahina, Tsu Bureau)
    Japanese version

    外国人差別「助長」イラスト 三重県警のHP、批判受け削除
    毎日新聞 2021/6/29 東京朝刊
    https://mainichi.jp/articles/20210629/ddm/012/040/072000c

     三重県警が、外国人の不法就労や不法滞在の防止に関する統計や啓発内容をまとめたホームページ(HP)に掲載したイラストに対し、外部から「外国人への差別を助長させる」との指摘があり、HPを管理する県がイラストを削除していたことが28日、明らかになった。

     イラストは、外国人が在留資格が無かったり、「調理師」「留学」資格があるように偽ったりして、建設作業員やホステスなどとして働いているような姿が描かれていた。県警によると、イラストは県警内部で使用できる素材で広報用に使っていたとい…

    この記事は有料記事です。 残り358文字(全文596文字)

    Reply
  • “..as it could lead to discrimination by generalizing the situation with a fear-inducing picture.”

    How is that a fear-inducing picture? Happy foreigners. Working at jobs.

    Reply
    • Jaocnanoni says:

      I’d call the way how their faces are drawn a mean grin, not a happy smile. So, yeah, I think it can induce or strengthen fear in people, especially in those who’ve a questionable opinion about NJ already.

      Reply
  • So I just read these two mainichi articles which just further validate my suspicion that democracy and human rights are basically dead in Japan.

    The first one is about former PM Abe who claims that people opposing the Olympics are „anti-Japanese“

    https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210703/p2a/00m/0na/009000c

    Kinda reminds me of China and North Korea, where everyone not supporting the government is labeled as anti-Chinese/Korean. His quotes also revel the truth about the Olympics: „ Speaking on the significance of the Olympics, Abe said that people being moved together when Japanese athletes win medals and perform amazing feats leads to “mutual confirmation of the bonds between Japanese people. He stressed there was “historical significance in Japan making the games a success as a country believing in freedom and democracy.“

    This is just hilarious. He basically admits that the only reason Japan is hosting the Oympics is nationalism and the only important thing is that Japanese athletes win as much medals as possible in order to create some special bond between Japanese people. Then he talks about Japan being a democratic country, while simultaneously calling everyone who‘s opposing the Olympics anti-Japanese. Comedy gold.

    The second article is about Wishma Sandamali.

    https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210703/p2a/00m/0na/016000c

    Apparently immigration officials told the doctor that she was just faking her illness in order to gain temporary release. The doctor believed this of course and therefore just let her die.

    You can bet that there will be no consequences for this. Neither the doctor, nor the immigration official will go to jail for this. Since this is just another dead „gaijin“, nothing will be done.

    =====================
    First Mainichi article:

    Ex-PM Abe says ‘anti-Japan’ people are strongly opposing Tokyo Olympics
    July 3, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)

    TOKYO — Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe criticized those opposing Japan’s hosting of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in a magazine piece, saying people tagged as being anti-Japan are now intensely criticizing the games.

    “People who have been criticized by some as anti-Japan because of their historical perceptions and other views are now strongly opposing staging the Olympics,” Abe said in a discussion published in the current edition of monthly magazine Hanada. As specific examples, Abe cited the Japanese Communist Party and the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, which called for the games to be cancelled in an editorial in May.

    Speaking on the significance of the Olympics, Abe said that people being moved together when Japanese athletes win medals and perform amazing feats leads to “mutual confirmation of the bonds between Japanese people.” He stressed there was “historical significance in Japan making the games a success as a country believing in freedom and democracy,” adding that Japan had “a responsibility” to do so. As for why opposition parties have criticized the hosting of the games, he said, “They probably feel displeasure about the Olympics being successful in Japan.”

    Regarding the heated stance taken by Yukio Edano, head of the largest opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, during a party leader’s debate with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on June 9, Abe said, “He really hates it when his plan (for a speech) crumbles.” He added, “Some people take the view that he’s really narcissistic, so he can’t stand it when he’s criticized.” Abe said that when he was prime minister, Edano “had a tendency to avoid interactive debate, starting and ending with criticism.”

    The former prime minister’s comments appeared in the magazine as part of a dialogue with journalist Yoshiko Sakurai.

    (Japanese original by Ryuko Tadokoro, Political News Department)

    安倍前首相「反日的な人が五輪開催に強く反対」 月刊誌の対談に
    毎日新聞 2021/7/3
    https://mainichi.jp/articles/20210703/k00/00m/010/034000c

     安倍晋三前首相は発売中の月刊誌「Hanada」で、東京オリンピック・パラリンピックについて、「歴史認識などで一部から反日的ではないかと批判されている人たちが、今回の開催に強く反対している」と批判した。具体的には共産党や5月の社説で中止を求めた朝日新聞を挙げた。

     安倍氏は五輪の意義について、「(日本人選手のメダル獲得などの)感動を共有することは日本人同士の絆を確かめ合うことになる」「自由と民主主義を奉じる日本がオリンピックを成功させることは歴史的な意味があり、日本にはその責任がある」と強調。五輪開催を批判する野党については「彼らは、日本でオリンピックが成功することに不快感を持っているのではないか」とも述べた。

     また、安倍氏は6月9日に菅義偉首相と初の党首討論に臨んだ立憲民主党の枝野幸男代表の論戦姿勢について、「(演説)プランが崩れることを非常に嫌う」と述べ、「『非常に自己愛が強いので、批判されることに耐えられないのではないか』と見る人もいる」と指摘した。枝野氏について、「(当時首相だった安倍氏への)一方的な批判に終始するなど、インタラクティブ(双方向)な議論を避ける特徴がある」とも批判した。ジャーナリストの桜井よしこ氏との対談で述べた。【田所柳子】

    ======================

    Second Mainichi article:

    Japan immigration may have misled doctor who saw Sri Lankan detainee 2 days before death
    July 3, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)

    NAGOYA — Immigration bureau officials here may have misled a doctor examining a detained Sri Lankan woman into thinking she could be feigning illness to get temporary release, her bereaved sisters reportedly heard during a July 2 meeting with the doctor.

    Wishma Sandamali, who was detained at the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau, died aged 33 just two days after the psychiatrist saw her. The same doctor has told her sisters that immigration services informed them, “Around the time her supporters told her she could get temporary release if she got sick, she started developing psychosomatic symptoms.”

    The doctor reportedly concluded that, based on the bureau employees’ explanation, she was possibly feigning illness.

    Her supporters have denied telling her that getting sick could lead to her release, and said, “It is very serious that erroneous information was presented that swayed a doctor’s judgment.”

    On July 2, a group including Wishma’s sisters Wayomi, 28, and Poornima, 27, and their legal representative Shoichi Ibusuki spoke to reporters after a face-to-face meeting with a psychiatrist at Nagoya Ekisaikai Hospital. They said they would visit the Immigration Services Agency and find the truth.

    According to Ibusuki and others, the doctor said that if they hadn’t been given the verbal explanation from the immigration bureau, they “wouldn’t have suspected (Wishma’s) illness was an act.”

    They also said they had been told that the bureau had already had a physician run tests on Wishma that turned up nothing, which allegedly led them to seek a psychiatric diagnosis.

    The doctor also described Wishma’s condition on the day they saw her, reportedly telling the group, “Although I’d been told her physical health was fine, she looked exhausted and weak.”

    Despite the doctor telling immigration bureau officials her condition would be better if she were temporarily released, the officials reportedly responded that they would look at the examination results.

    The events the doctor described were not included in an interim report by the Immigrations Services Agency. Yasunori Matsui, an advisor at support organization Start, which gave aid to Wishma, said angrily, “We did not make the statements that the doctor has described. They were arbitrary assumptions by the immigration bureau.”

    The Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau has said it will “refrain from comment” to reporters.

    On the same day, Wishma’s sisters met with prosecutors at the Nagoya District Public Prosecutors Office who are investigating the case. While there, they asked for a swift examination of what happened.

    (Japanese original by Shinichiro Kawase, Nagoya News Bureau)

    入管、誤った情報伝えたか スリランカ女性死亡2日前受診の医師に
    毎日新聞 2021/7/2

     名古屋出入国在留管理局(名古屋市)で収容中の3月にスリランカ人女性、ウィシュマ・サンダマリさん(当時33歳)が死亡した問題で、死亡2日前に診察した医師が「『病気になれば仮放免してもらえる』と支援者に言われたころから、(女性は)心身の不調を生じている」と入管職員に伝えられていたと2日、医師に面会した妹らが明らかにした。医師は職員の説明で詐病の可能性があると判断していた。支援者はそうした発言をしておらず「医師の判断を左右する誤った情報を与えたことは重大だ」と批判している。

     妹ワユミさん(28)とポールニマさん(27)、代理人の指宿昭一弁護士らが2日、名古屋掖済(えきさい)会病院の精神科医との面会後、報道陣に明かした。近く出入国在留管理庁を訪問し、事実関係をただすという。

     指宿弁護士らによると、医師は入管職員から口頭でそうした説明を受けなければ「詐病は疑わなかった」と話した。「別の病院の内科でいろいろと検査し、問題が無かったので精神科を受診した」との説明も受けたといい、「体は大丈夫と言われたわりには、ぐったりしているように見えた」と当日の様子を説明。「仮放免した方が良くなる」と医師は伝えたが、入管側は「持ち帰って検討する」と答えたという。

     これらの経過は、管理庁の中間報告書には記載がなかった。ウィシュマさんを支援してきた「START(外国人労働者・難民と共に歩む会)」の松井保憲顧問は「私たちは医師の話したようなことは言っていない。入管側の勝手な決めつけだ」と憤った。名古屋入管は取材に「コメントは差し控えさせていただく」と話した。

     この日、妹らは捜査を進める名古屋地検の担当検事とも面会し、迅速な捜査を要望した。【川瀬慎一朗】
    ENDS

    Reply
    • Anonymous2 says:

      The Abe interview is depressing, but remember that he doesn’t necessarily represent every person in Japan. Over half of people in Tokyo are “anti-Japanese” according to his definition.

      Reply
      • I never said that he represents every person in Japan, but he’s literally the longest serving PM in Japanese history, which means that a lot of Japanese people voted for him and his party over and over again. And this is not the first time he or some other LDP member said, or did something undemocratic. Calling people who disagree with the government “anti-Japanese” is a century old tradition of Japanese right wingers and the LDP. Meanwhile the only ones being anti-Japanese are the LDP since they’re exposing all residents of Japan to the virus, because of greed and nationalism. But according to LDP logic, only foreigners can get infected, so everything will be daijoubu as long as foreign spectators will stay banned (even though a lot of them are already vaccinated, while Japanese spectators aren’t).

        Reply
        • Anonymous2 says:

          I agree with most of what you said! Only caveat: I don’t think they believe that only foreigners can be infected, rather I think they think or know that blaming foreigners for things like the virus “works” with a decently sized portion of the public.

          Reply
        • Baudrillard says:

          The non LDP parties need to reclaim the 60s narrative that the LDP were anti Japanese puppets by slavishly renewing the Anpo treaty with the USA. (another crime of Nobusuke Kishi, the monster 満州の妖怪 of Manchukuo, but I digress).
          Somehow its got twisted around.

          Reply
    • Jim Di Griz says:

      It’s not just Abe calling those opposed to the Olympics ‘anti-Japanese’, here’s J-police confronting a bunch old middle-aged people exercising their democratic right to protest (against the Olympics).
      The police are telling them they are ‘Damaging the interests of Japan’!
      Fascist police state.

      https://mobile.twitter.com/taeshinobu

      Reply
  • Joacnanoni says:

    South Asian Muslim mother and her three year old daughter harassed by a Japanese man, insulting her and demanding to see her gaijin card, then calls the cops who showed up with six (!) officers and harassed her and her daughter further with intrusive questioning, according to this article.

    40代ムスリム女性に警察官が不当聴取 都公安委に苦情申し出
    [日刊スポーツ 2021年7月6日1時3分]
    東京都内に住む南アジア出身で40代のイスラム教徒(ムスリム)の女性が、警視庁の警察官から不当な任意聴取を受け、他人に氏名や住所などの個人情報を漏らされたとして5日、都公安委員会に苦情を申し出たことが分かった。代理人弁護士は「公権力による外国人への差別意識が根底にある」と批判している。

    弁護団が警視庁や関係者に問い合わせるなどした結果に基づく申し出書によると、女性は6月1日、近所の公園で長女(3)を遊ばせていた際、園内にいた男性から、息子が長女に突き飛ばされたとして「外人」「在留カード出せ」などと詰め寄られた。男性の通報で警視庁の警察官6人が駆け付け、日本語が不自由な女性に「おまえ本当に日本語しゃべれねえのか」などと発言。その後女性と長女のみ最寄りの警察署で約2時間半、任意聴取された。

    女性と長女は突き飛ばしたことを否定。だが警察官に暴行を認めるよう言われ、男性側に連絡先の電話番号を伝えることに同意するまで帰してもらえなかった。警察側は後日、民事訴訟を起こすとする男性に女性と長女の氏名や年齢、住所などの個人情報を伝達。女性が長女を監督できていなかったとして児童相談所に通報したという。

    長女は単独で4人の警察官から聴取された場面もあり、現在、トラウマ(心的外傷)による不眠の症状を訴えている。

    代理人の西山温子弁護士は、任意の聴取でも、外国人は容疑をかけられ強制送還されることを恐れて警察に逆らえないことが多いとし、「外国人というだけで警察に不当な扱いを受けることがあり、この問題は氷山の一角だ」と指摘する。

    女性は取材に「娘は絶対にやっていない。住所を漏らされ、不安で平和な生活ができない。差別的な行為が繰り返されないよう、警察にはしかるべき対処をしてほしい」と話した。(共同)

    Reply
      • Jim Di Griz says:

        Hang on…
        This NJ woman goes to the local park with her 3 year old and gets harassed by some self-appointed power trip old Japanese guy to show her ID, which she refuses (because, y’know, crazy guy in the park), so he calls the police and claims she physically assaulted him (and all HE was doing was illegally asking to see her ID and frightening her and her kid in public, oh COME ON!).
        So 6 (six!) cops turn up and drag her and her kid to the station where they subject her to gestapo style interrogation/hostage justice for 2 and a half hours (‘Admit you assaulted him’) and grill a THREE YEAR OLD kid.
        Then they force her to consent to the police giving her contact info to the trouble-making power-trip old guy stalker from the park as a precondition of her release?
        Yeah, sounds totally legit ‘country of laws’ kind of stuff. Not at all like a totalitarian racist ethno-police state.
        FFS! Come on tennis player! If not this then WHAT?!?

        Reply
  • Jim Di Griz says:

    It seems I was wrong about Black on Asian violence in the US as this research shows that White’s are the most likely perpetrators.
    However, this research also shows that I was right in that the most widely circulated images are of Black perpetrators (contrary to the data).
    https://docs.google.com/document/d/19llMUCDHX-hLKru-cnDCq0BirlpNgF07W3f-q0J0ko4/mobilebasic

    I just wanted to post that since I pondered on it publicly previously and have improved my understanding since.

    Reply
  • David Markle says:

    “Missing teacher Alice Hodgkinson found dead in Japan

    https://tinyurl.com/nvsh5jwb

    worked at Shane
    found a note
    had been distressed”

    This is really all you need to know. Eikaiwa management criminals still up their old shenanigans.

    Same ole, same ole.

    Reply
  • Jim Di Griz says:

    Philip Brasor has been walking a fine line at Japan Times for a long time, I’m surprised management haven’t ‘let him go’ for being critical of Japan, but he’s got a writing style that joins all the dots except the last, and leaves the reader a superbly inescapable trail of breadcrumbs that leaves you unavoidably staring at his unspoken conclusion. Genius really.
    Anyway, this time he’s showing how Japan is an unrepentant right wing police state that never kicked its wartime fascism.
    Case in point; yet again, right wing demonstrators have closed down an art exhibition that is critical of Japanese war crimes by threatening violence. Apparently, threatening violence is their ‘freedom of speech’.
    Contrasted with peaceful retirees protesting the Tokyo Olympics; shut down by the police for being anti-Japan terrorists and communists.

    https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/07/17/national/media-national/media-authorities-protests/

    Reply
    • David Markle says:

      https://www.wrcbtv.com

      “– but concern is growing over the danger of Covid spreading, with 55 confirmed cases now linked to the Games, including officials and contractors.”

      Its just a matter of time before that entire prison island, (so called Olympic village they have them restricted to), becomes another lepers colony, Dejima, if you will. Diamond Princess again, rinse and repeat. And we may never know with all the secrecy surrounding the potential spread of personal information, which is wheeled out whenever its convenient and ignored when its not. The defacto imprisonment of journalists, even information about specific countries and the infection incidents among athletes is all hush, hush. Typical police state.

      Reply

Leave a Reply to HJ Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>