Search Results for: employment

Kobe Shinbun on new GOJ requirements on employers to report NJ laborers

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Kobe Shinbun: Beginning October 1st, according to new amendments in the Employment Promotion Law, all firms employing foreign workers will be obliged to report employment conditions to labour offices. The goal of the reforms are two fold – to provide foreigner workers with job support and to help curb illegal employment. As awareness about the amendments is still relatively low, officials at the Hyogo Labour Department are eager to distribute leaflets to business groups. However, some have pointed out the danger that such reforms might invite new kinds of prejudice toward foreigners.

Japan Times Community Page on NOVA Eikaiwa, and Advice for Teachers

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Japan Times Community Page reports: Nova is on the rocks, and the rosy forecast from the man at the helm of the Osaka-based “eikaiwa” behemoth may not be enough to reassure members of the 7,000-strong Nova crew — including some 5,000 foreigners — that the company isn’t sinking as Japan’s biggest conversation school chain plans to abandon at least 200 of its 900 branches, according to reports. Advice on what to do if you are a NOVA employee also blogged, courtesy of the Japan Times.

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER SEPT 16 2007

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

1) GOJ’S HUMAN RIGHTS SURVEY WITH ODD QUESTIONS
2) NEW JUSTICE MINISTER TO GET TOUGH ON FOREIGNERS AGAIN
3) UN NEWS: UN PASSES RESOLUTION ON RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
4) UN NEWS: UNHCR URGES HUMAN RIGHTS REVIEW OF EVERY COUNTRY
5) TPR NEWS: SHASETSU COLUMN ON SNAFU AT MOFA
6) LETTER FROM GRASSROOTS UYOKU, DISRUPTERS OF AUG 31 MOFA MEETING
7) “ISSHO KIKAKU REP” TONY LASZLO IN COURRIER JAPON
8) FUN FACTS FROM SEIDENSTICKER’S “TOKYO RISING”

and finally…
9) ACTIVIST REBECCA WALKER ON THE “IDENTITY POLICE”

UN passes resolution on indigenous peoples (hello Ainu, Ryukyuans)

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Sorry for not talking about the Abe resignation (truth is, I don’t know what to say. Yet. Nor does anyone, really). Instead, germane to Debito.org is that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been approved after more than two decades of debate. This may become a historical event, especially given the indigenous peoples in Japan (Ainu, Ryukyuans) and their lack of official recognition (in 1997, the Ainu received tentative recognition for their aboriginal status from the GOJ, not that it meant they got any money or special favors for it).

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER AUGUST 9, 2007

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

1) HIROSHIMA PEACE FOUNDATION STEVEN LEEPER’S ODD VIEWS ON NJ IN JAPAN
2) JAPAN TIMES SERIES ON DIVORCE AND CHILD ABDUCTION IN JAPAN
3) ECONOMIST’S SOPHOMORIC ARTICLE ON J FUTURE DEMOGRAPHICS
4) KYODO AND YOMIURI ON JAPAN’S NEGLIGENCE EDUCATING NJ CHILDREN
5) UCLA BASKEBALL PLAYER NATURALIZES… SO DOES BOBBY OLOGUN
6) WHILE DPRK REFUGEES REMAIN STATELESS DESPITE FUJIMORI PRECEDENT
7) SPEECH ON UNIVERSITY BLACKLIST AT TOUDAI, PLUS NEW ADDITIONS

and finally…
8) TPR INTERVIEW RE NJ LABOR MARKET… AND MY LOVE OF DURAN DURAN

Blacklist: Kansai Gaidai, Shokei Gakuin, Kyushu U; Greenlist: Nagoya, Aichi U of E

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

The Blacklist of Japanese Universities gets Kyushu University, Shokei Gakuin U, and Kansai Gaidai, now totalling 105 universities which offers full-time contracted work with no hope of tenure to Non-Japanese academics. Greenlisted 34 get Nagoya University and Aichi University of Education (although they still refrain from a tenure review system, so they also remain on the Blacklist).

Brief: Visit to San’ya, Tokyo’s Homeless District

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

I briefly blogged last week that I was visiting San’ya, Tokyo’s day-laborer and homeless district, and was asked to write up a brief describing the dynamic, the conditions, and the odd infighting that comes with this odd slum. I make no case that my narrative is properly informed, empathetic, or representative. It’s just an eyewitness account from someone who stayed one night in the comfort of a dive hotel, with proper access to food and basic amenities. Those who wish to know more, links enclosed.

Recent articles on lack of compulsory education for NJ children

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Hi Blog. Some articles substantiating the emerging issue of what happens when you don’t make compulsory education a requirement for non-Japanese children. How nice of Japan to bring NJ laborers all the way over here but not take care of their children’s educational needs. Thanks for forgetting to include that in your educational reforms last …

Economist on Japan’s future demographics: No mention of NJ labor influx

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Here’s a really sophomoric article from The Economist, which discusses Japan’s future demographics, yet mentions NOT A WORD about the influx of foreign labor. Why is a magazine as thoughtful The Economist sticking its head in the sand on this issue, and even resorting to the “grown-up children who call themselves adult Japanese men” stereotypes by the conclusion of this article? The Economist should not ignore global labor mobility, which (with closing on a million NJ workers in Japan) is definitely a factor in Japan’s future demography. Just like in any other developed country. Wish people would stop assuming that Japan is uniquely able to resolve all of this by itself.

Yomiuri: Nikkei defecting from DPRK are stateless, have trouble becoming J citizens

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

“At least 24 defectors from North Korea living in Japan remain stateless, largely due to the lack of clear government guidelines on how to determine their nationalities. The statelessness of the 24 people, children or grandchildren of one Japanese citizen and a North Korean, is a result local governments being left to their own devices on how to deal with the registration of the defectors. Nationality law would otherwise grant them citizenship, since Japan confers nationality by blood, but politics inevitably gets in the way.” Contrast with wanted criminal candidate Alberto Fujimori and you really get a confusing application of Japanese citizenship laws…

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JULY 20, 2007

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

1) BLACKLIST UPDATES: HOKKAI GAKUEN & CHUUGOKU U. ICU GREENLISTED
2) JAPAN TIMES: LABOR ABUSES AT AKITA INT’L UNIVERSITY
3) YOMIURI: MOJ BARS NIKKEI BRAZILIAN FROM VOLUNTEER POLICE WORK
4) J WEDDING FUNDS OFF-LIMITS TO FOREIGNERS, er, NON-FAMILY MEMBERS
5) JAPAN’S ODD TOURISM POLICY: YOKOSO JAPAN AND MONEY LAUNDERING
6) TPR ON KYUUMA, CUMINGS ON DPRK, TAWARA ON EDUCATION LAW
7) JAPAN FOCUS ON AMENDMENTS TO BASIC LAW OF EDUCATION
8) FOREIGN POLICY MAG ON GOJ AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM

and finally…
9) UPCOMING SPEECH AT TOKYO UNIVERSITY ON UNIV. BLACKLIST, MONDAY, JULY 30

J Times on labor abuses at Gregory Clark’s Akita International University

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Hi Blog. More labor abuses coming out at Gregory Clark‘s Akita International University (he’s vice president, after all; see his nice welcoming message to the world here). As catalogued yesterday in the Japan Times Community Page. Article also includes some lessons about what you can do about employers of this ilk. Suggest you stay away …

University Blacklist adds Hokkai Gakuen and Chugoku Univ, Greenlist gets ICU

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Chugoku Gakuen University and Junior College in Okayama, for refusing to promote NJ faculty solely on the basis of nationality, and Hokkai Gakuen University in Sapporo, for demanding PhDs for terminal term-limited contracts with heavy workloads and low pay (yet require no similar qualification from Japanese applicants to the same department, who even get automatic non-contracted academic “tenure”), get added to the 100 Blacklisted Japanese universities who have discriminatory hiring practices. Meanwhile, International Christian University near Tokyo shows proof positive that they not only tenure people regardless of nationality, but even have a functional tenure review process, and get moved from the Blacklist to the Greenlist for the first time in the Blacklist’s ten-year history.

“Beware of foreigners” leaflets in Ikuno-ku, Osaka

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Ikuno-ku Osaka police/related agencies have posted on cars leaflets warning people about the evils that foreigners get up to (including long-nosers fraudulently marrying our women…). Some ideas on what to do about it from The Community.

Mainichi Waiwai: Schoolkids smell, partly cos they’ve got foreign parents

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

“There seems to be a lot of trouble surrounding couples where an older Japanese man has married a young Southeast Asian woman who’s come to Japan to make some money,” an education insider says. One teacher approached a Japanese father and spoke of how his wife, who worked as a nightclub hostess and saved whatever she could while living in squalor in Japan so she could build a palatial home in her native country. The teacher, pointing out that Japan is living through an age of internationalization, encouraged the father to help his child learn Tagalog, the native tongue of his mother’s homeland, the Philippines. The teacher was shocked by the father’s response. “There’s no need to do that,” the teacher tells Sunday Mainichi the 60-something Japanese father said. “If Japan had won that war, they’d all (Filipinos) be speaking Japanese by now.”

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JUNE 3, 2007–SPECIAL ON NJ WORKERS

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

INTRODUCTION: WSJ ON JAPAN’S NJ LABOR MARKET
1) YOMIURI: 20,000 NJ STUDENTS CAN’T UNDERSTAND JAPANESE
2) ASAHI: GOJ GRANTS TO LOCAL GOVTS TO HELP NJ RESIDENTS
3) ASAHI: SKIMMING FROM “TRAINEE VISA” SCAMS CAUSES MURDER
4) YOMIURI: MINISTRIES SPLIT OVER WHAT TO DO RE VISA PROGRAMS’ ABUSES
5) THE VIEW OF THE ORIGINAL ARCHITECT OF THESE PROGRAMS, KEIDANREN
and finally…
6) REGISTERED NJ POPULATION HITS RECORD NUMBERS AGAIN IN 2006: 2.08 MILLION …and the “Newcomer” immigrants will probably outnumber the “Oldcomer” generational foreigners by the end of this year.

Keidanren on Accepting NJ workers (March 2007)

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

In its opinion paper, “Recommendations on Accepting Non-Japanese Workers,” released in April 2004, Nippon Keidanren recommended that the Japanese government take advantage of the diversified sense of values, experiences and skills of workers from other countries to increase Japan’s capacity to create added value. #1 The Recommendations proposed specific measures regarding facilitating the acceptance of non-Japanese workers in specialized and technical fields and in sectors where future labor shortages in Japan are anticipated, enhancing the Industrial Training Program and the Technical Internship Program, and improving the living conditions of non-Japanese workers in Japan. (Keidanren still, however, does not lose its “revolving-door” attitude towards NJ labor (see Footnote One))…

REPORT: Immigrant children and Japan’s Hair Police

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

During one of my recent speech tours, I was told by a Nikkei Brazilian student (I will call her Maria) that her sister (call her Nicola) had been victimized by a Japanese high school’s rules. According to Maria, Nicola had been forced by her school to dye her hair weekly because it was not as dark as her peers’. Maria said she herself escaped the Hair Police (she looks more phenotypically “Japanese” than her sister), but Nicola was told to darken and even straighten hers. Although graduated from the high school, Nicola still has not only mental trauma from the ordeal, but also damaged hair which to this day has not recovered. An example of how Japan’s cookie-cutter educational rules are doing a disservice to Japan’s imminent internationalization…

UTU: Petition against outsourcing NJ jobs (人材派遣会社からの雇用を中止)

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

The University Teachers Union has launched a “Stop Outsourcing – Job Security for All” petition and is seeking the support of individuals, organizations and unions in Japan. The petition, which will be submitted in early July, aims to highlight the threat of outsourcing to educational standards at universities, the threat of outsourcing to the job security of university teachers, and the general threat posed by the strategy of outsourcing to the living standards and job security of all workers – both Japanese and foreign. Deadline for submission: July 1, 2007.

Asahi: SMJ protests proposed “compulsory reporting of foreign workers” bill

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

On April 10, 2007, civil rights groups including “Solidarity for Migrants Japan” (Imin Roudousha to Rentai suru Zenkoku Network) convened an assembly at the Diet’s Upper House Kaikan in Nagatacho, Tokyo, to protest a proposed revision to the labor laws requiring all companies to report their foreign workers to the authorities.

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER APRIL 14, 2007

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

1) ANSWER FROM ALEX KERR re HIS JAPAN TIMES COMMENTS
2) TAKAHASHI SPEECH ON REMILITARIZING JAPAN AT U OF CHICAGO
3) LATEST CRAZINESS FROM J JUDICIARY: SURROGATE MOTHERHOOD
4) NATURALIZED KOREAN-J RUNS FOR OSAKA PREF ASSEMBLY
5) PROTEST RE LABOR BILL: COMPANIES MUST REPORT THEIR FOREIGN WORKERS
6) SUCCESSFUL PROTEST: CHANGING “TORUKO” TO “SOAPLAND”
7) JAPAN TIMES: SHIGA GOVERNOR BACKS ANTI-DISCRIM LAW
and finally…
NORTHERN TERRITORIES DISPUTE… OVER A CASE OF BEER

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER MARCH 30, 2007

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

1) SAKANAKA ESSAY ON NEW FRAMEWORK FOR J IMMIGRATION POLICIES
2) KEIDANREN WANTS MORE FOREIGNERS
3) NIIGATA PREF CITY TO ABOLISH “NATIONALITY CLAUSE”
4) TOKYO GOVERNORSHIP HEATS UP: ASANO DECRIES ISHIHARA’S XENOPHOBIA
5) PM ABE: “OK OK, I APOLOGIZE FOR THE ‘COMFORT WOMEN’ ALREADY”. KINDA.
6) FOREIGN MINISTER ASO: DIPLOMACY AS A MATTER OF HAIR AND EYE COLOR
7) MANUAL: BEWARE FOREIGN P*NISES! WITH CHART OF SIZES
8) DEBITO.ORG UPDATES: KARA KIKAN, NATURALIZATION, APARTMENT “SHIKIKIN” REFUND
9) MEDIA UPDATES: JET INTERVIEW, DEBITO.ORG MAKES JAPANZINE’S BEST FOR 2007
10) 2-CHANNEL UPDATE: NISHIMURA WILL PAY FINES “ONLY ON PAIN OF DEATH”
11) CONCLUDING GAIJIN HANZAI ISSUE WITH JT AND J FOCUS ARTICLES
and finally… JAPANESE ONLY T-SHIRTS ALSO ON SALE IN FRONT OF JR TOKYO STATION

Niigata Nippou: Joetsu City to abolish Nationality Clause

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Good news. Local newspaper Niigata Nippou reports that another city government, Jouetsu, intends to abolish the “Nationality Clause” (kokuseki joukou), the guideline enforced by many local, regional, and national government agencies that only citizens may hold administrative positions (kanrishoku) in the Japanese civil service. This echoes similar moves in other Niigata Prefecture cities, including the Niigata City government as well. Bravo.

Debito.org updates: Naturalization, kara kikan, foreign penises, and JT/Japan Focus to conclude GAIJIN HANZAI issue

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Some odds and sods waiting to be webbed: Concluding articles to the GAIJIN HANZAI Case for posterity (Japan Times and Japan Focus), an article on how your overseas work can count towards a J pension (kara kikan), other countries’ attitudes towards citizenship (some deprive it at will, some sell it), and, yes, a handbook cautioning J women about foreign men because of drug use and penis size…

“HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS” to be published March 2008

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

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.

AP primer on Japanese Immigration issues

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

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.

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JAN 12, 2007

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

1) IMMIGRATION BUREAU VIOLATES PRIVACY OF MARRIAGE,
IN QUESTIONING J SPOUSES FOR LONGER-TERM VISAS
2) ECONOMIST ON THE BASIC EDUCATION LAW’S REFORM
3) BUSINESS CONSORTIUM INTRODUCING IC CHIP SHOPPING DEVICES
4) MORE LABOR ABUSES OF FOREIGN “TRAINEES” COMING TO LIGHT

and finally…

DEBITO’S EXPANDED ITINERARY: UPDATED SCHEDULE WITH OPEN DAYS
GOING THROUGH TOKYO, KANSAI, AND KYUSHU, NEED ME TO SPEAK?

J Times Jan 3 07 on foreign “trainees” facing chronic abuses

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Launched by the government in 1993, the training and internship programs allow young foreigners to undergo language and other training for one year and to serve as interns at companies in Japan
for up to two years… In 2005 alone, as many as 80,000 young people came to Japan on the
programs. However, those in the programs are left unprotected by labor law. During the first year of training, monthly pay is limited to 60,000 yen — below the legally set minimum wage. Although monthly pay rises to around 120,000 yen over the internship period, employers often deduct management and other fees to cut net pay by tens of thousands of yen.

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JAN 4 2007

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

1) DEBITO’S WINTER SCHEDULE–ANYONE WANT ME TO SPEAK SOMEWHERE?
2) US EMBASSY: RANDOM GAIJIN CHECKPOINTS NOW OFFICIAL TOKYO NPA POLICY
3) MAINICHI: FOREIGN CRIME FEARMONGERING AS OFFICIAL GOVT POLICY
4) ASAHI DULLS ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF “GAIJIN IC CARD” ARTICLE
5) FUTURE PM?: LDP KINGPIN MACHIMURA SPEAKS AT MY UNIVERSITY
6) KYODO: GIFU FIRMS EMPLOY FOREIGN CHILDREN “AT PARENTS’ REQUEST”
7) YOMIURI: IMMIG’S “GAIJIN TANKS” VIOLATE U.N. DETENTION GUIDELINES
8) ASIA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY ADDED TO UNIVERSITY BLACKLIST
9) JAPAN IRONICALLY KVETCHES ABOUT FOREIGN CRIME EXTRADITION PROBLEMS
10) ECONOMIST: ALBERTO FUJIMORI UPDATE
11) GREG CLARK IRONICALLY KVETCHES ABOUT IDEOLOGICAL BULLY PULPITING
12) 2 CHANNEL: MAINICHI DOES GANTAN TOKUSHUU
13) “JAPANESE ONLY” SIGN ON OKAZAKI INTERNET CAFE
and finally… I AM NOW OFFICIALLY “ARUDOU DEBITO

Asia Pacific U gloats over its court injunction victory over dismissed workers

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Asia Pacific University, a subsidiary of Ritsumeikan, in Oita, Kyushu, has announced on its home page its victory in the courts, regarding an injunction on the preservation of status launched by former full-time Japanese language lecturers. Nice bit of gloating. Sounds like a lovely place to work.

Sunday Mainichi on Foreign Crime Fearmongering as NPA policy

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Hi Blog. SITYS. See I told you so. As far back as 2000 (when this whole thing started, really–Check out Chapter Three of my book JAPANESE ONLY), I was saying that foreign crime was being artificially generated by policymakers in order to justify more budgetary outlay. Well, here’s an article on it from the Mainichi …

Yomiuri: Factory has foreign worker sign oath not to pray, fast, use cellphone, write letters, wire money home, ride in a car…

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Hello Blog. Interesting article on how Japan’s factories’ abusive practices towards foreign “trainee” workers are coming to light. (I have another article on this subject on this blog at https://www.debito.org/?p=105) In this case, a Muslim trainee worker has had to sign a “seiyakusho” (a written oath, mildly translated in the article as merely a “note”) …

PALE: 朝日：派遣労働者の直接雇用、政府の義務撤廃を検討　経財会議

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Asahi article in Japanese is about how the government wants to remove the right of dispatch workers (haken roudousha) to claim regular full-time job status (seishainka gimu) after a certain number of renewals. This development will undermine people on perpetually-renewed contracts (such as foreign academics) and their legal right to claim permanent employment.

GOJ requires fingerprints and criminal history for long-term visas, yet refuses domestic means to produce them.

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

As of April 2006, Japan is now requiring fingerprints for long-term visas, yet now refusing to provide domestic police assistance to get them. US citizens, for example, are now told to give their fingerprints to the FBI and get a Rap Sheet–and pay for the privilege. Nice little money spinner for the USG on the behest of the GOJ, which requires compliance yet refuses to provide assistance. This is what people pay taxes for?

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER NOV 27 2006

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

1) OTARU ONSENS CASE NOW TEACHING MATERIAL
2) GAIJIN CARD CHECKS OUTSIDE “SAKURA HOUSE”
3) UPDATE ON KITAKYUSHU EXCLUSIONARY RESTAURANT
4) J TIMES ON TOURISM PROMOTION, WITH LETTER TO THE ED
5) TBS: FUJIWARA NORIKA BUMPS ARUDOU DEBITO
6) KYODO: MOCK JURY TRIAL SPRINGS FOREIGN MANSLAUGHTERER
7) JALT PALE ROUNDTABLE ON ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
and finally…
8) WASH POST: GOJ CREATING SUSHI POLICE FOR OVERSEAS J FOOD

JALT PALE Roundtable of Nov 3 06 Report re Japan’s future academic work

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Continuing the Roundtable forum that packed the hall at JALT 2005, five PALE members paneled a meeting to discuss a variety of issues relevant to the conference’s theme of “Community, Identity, and Motivation”. All presentations touched in some way upon employment issues, including issues of job security, union representation, the relationship of nationality to job description and employment terms, and the growing role of dispatch teaching arrangements in Japanese universities. They dealt explicitly or implicitly with the proper roles and responsibilities of PALE and JALT in managing these issues.

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 31, 2006

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

1) IVAN HALL ET AL SPEAKING AT JALT KITAKYUSHU
2) BERN MULVEY ON MORE MINISTERIAL MOVES AGAINST ACADEMIC TENURE
3) U HODEN LAWSUIT RE SCHOOL BULLYING DUE TO CHINESE ETHNICITY
4) “AMERICANS FOR EQUAL TREATMENT” UNION FORMING
5) RES.PUBLICA JOB ADVERT FOR FULL-TIME JAPAN-BASED ACTIVIST

IJIME LAWSUIT: THE U HODEN CASE, 2000-present

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Hi Blog. Just got finished translating the following for a friend. Debito in Sapporo THE U HODEN CASE HEISEI 16 (WA) DAI 247-GO SONGAI BAISHOU SEIKYUU JIKEN YOKOHAMA DISTRICT COURT KAWASAKI BRANCH, CIVIL COURT B SEEKING DAMAGES FOR POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER Writeup based on Japanese original dated July 20, 2006, available at https://www.debito.org/kawasakiminzokusabetsu.htm Translation by …

Ninkisei: Bern Mulvey on new ways to kill permanent tenure in J academia

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

Position titles in Japanese universites will now change from kyouju, jokyouju, koushi, joshu to four new official ranks: Kyouju, Junkyouju, Jokyou and Joshu. In other words, “Sennin Koushi”–used by almost
all Japanese universities and often translated as “assistant professor”–still will not be an “official” rank. However, the bottom three positions (anything lower than Kyouju, or Full Professor) will no longer have tenure. The Ministry of Education thus keeps chipping away at secure employment in Japanese teritary education.

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER OCT 24 2006

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

1) ERIC JOHNSTON ON MCGOWAN LAWSUIT APPEAL VICTORY
2) AERA/MAINICHI ON 2-CHANNEL’S NISHIMURA
3) SHUUKAN PUREIBOI/JAPAN TIMES ON GAIJINIZING THE PUBLIC:
POLICE CHECKPOINTS NOW HAPPENING TO JAPANESE
4) WORLD TOUR II: TOKYO, CANADA, AND SEATTLE,
AND THE MURRAY WOOD CHILD ABDUCTION CASE DOCUMENTARY

J Times Oct 8 06: Police “instant checkpoints” on rise

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

This article to me represents a continuing trend of “gaijinizing” the general population. “Police Random street searches and seizures” (which are illegal) are now being forced on Japanese. This has been up to now generally the domain of the “gaijin” targeting of “anti-terrorism and disease control” racial profiling running rampant around Japan these past years. Japan (always in my view a dormant benign police state, given the police’s far-reaching powers of search, detention, interrogation, and prosecution enabled by the law), is once again stretching their police’s powers, which we ignore at our peril.

Yomiuri Sept 23 06: Govt to have employers report info on foreign employees

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

By making it obligatory for companies to report foreign workers’ details, the government hopes to keep track of people on an individual basis, and to enhance measures for clamping down on those working illegally. In addition, it is hoped the measures will encourage foreign workers to take out social insurance, and allow central and local governments to offer better support to workers who have to change jobs frequently due to unstable contracts.

The government’s three-year deregulation program, finalized in March, discusses making it mandatory for firms to submit reports on their foreign employees and whether reports should include detailed information such as workers’ names and residence status. The policy is likely to prove controversial in light of the protection of foreign workers’ privacy and the impact of the new system on the economy.