Anti-discrimination templates/meetings

Ways in which people are taking direct and concerted action against discrimination in Japan.

Asahi: Kurashiki hotel refuses foreigners

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

mytest

Hi Blog. This just came through this morning on the Asahi. They haven’t bothered to translate it for the IHT, so I will:

==============================
PERSON REFUSED HOTEL LODGING IN KURASHIKI BUSINESS HOTEL “BECAUSE HE’S A FOREIGNER”
THE ASAHI SHINBUN May 17, 2007
Translated by Arudou Debito. Thanks to about ten people for notifying me.
Original Japanese blogged at
https://www.debito.org/?p=400

KURASHIKI, Okayama Pref: In April, a Chinese man (45) living in Hiroshima was refused lodging in a Kurashiki business hotel. The reason given was that he was a foreigner.

According to Japan’s Hotel Management Law, refusals may only take place if there is a clear risk of infection from a patient, or the suspicion that illegal activities will occur, such as gambling [tobaku]. [sic]

The City Government of Kurashiki apologized for causing discomfort to the refused man. They added that they will redouble their efforts to ensure that every hotel in the area is informed not to refuse non-Japanese.

The Chinese man first went to a Kurashiki hotel on the evening of April 3, which was full, so management phoned around and found another hotel with rooms available.

Unfortunately, they were told by the management there that “we don’t allow foreigners to stay here”.

When the Chinese man went to the other hotel to find out more, he was told by the manager (70) that “our rule is to not give foreigners accommodation”, and was refused a room.

A few days later, a friend of the man contacted the Kurashiki Tourism Convention Bureau, which followed up on the issue. Kurashiki’s Desk for Promoting International Peace and Communication then called the Chinese man in late April to apologize, saying “We’re sorry for the discomfort caused you by our city, which is promoting itself as a a place for international tourism.”

The same bureau sent a letter of warning (chuui kanki) and guidance to its affiliated members dated May 7.

The Chinese man works in Japan and has no problems communicating in Japanese. He fumed, “This is outrageous. How would Japanese feel if the same thing happened to them? It must stop.”

The management of the hotel refusing foreigners, on the other hand, said, “We can’t deal with all the language issues regarding foreign lodgers, so that’s why we refuse them.” They indicated that they would continue doing so.
======================
ARTICLE ENDS

COMMENT: Not mentioned in the article is that the hotel in question is

BUSINESS HOTEL APOINTO
(Kurashiki Miwa 1 chome 14-29, phone 086-423-2600), website http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~apoint/

I called the Kurashiki City Government (particularly the Kankou Convention Bureau, 086-421-0224, Mr Ono), and a few other places today to find out more about the case.

Finally calling the hotel, I talked to a Mr Kawakami, who said that they saw the error of their ways (thanks to administrative guidance from the city government), and would no longer be refusing foreign guests.

Good, but this is quite a U-turn, on the very day an Asahi article comes out saying that they would continue. Guess it remains to be seen. I have notified my friends in Kurashiki to keep an eye out.

In the end, thanks are owed the Kurashiki City Government (unusually; see other cases of government inaction in the face of clear and signposted racial discrimination archived at the ROGUES’ GALLERY OF EXCLUSIONARY ESTABLISHMENTS) for actually doing something about the problem.

They were, of course, legally bound to, since the Ryokan Gyouhou (Hotel Management Law) Article 5 requires hotels to keep their doors open to anyone, unless there is a health issue involving contagious disease, a clear and present endangerment of public morals, or because all rooms are full. (See Japanese original of the law here.) [No mention of “gambling” as one of the endangerments, despite what the Asahi article says above.]

Which is what makes hotels a relatively refusal-free haven for NJ in Japan (on the books, anyway). One of the issues brought forth in the Otaru Onsens Case was that the Otaru City Govt’s hands were tied because the bathhouses were private-sector, therefore outside of any legal control vis-a-vis discrimination. As I keep saying, racial discrimination is not illegal in Japan.

But hotels in particular are specifically-governed by a law preventing wanton refusals, including those based upon race or nationality. See more here.

Still, the law is only as good as those who enforce it. Tokyo Shinjuku-ku, for example, has a business hotel named TSUBAKURO (Tokyo Shinjuku-ku Hyakuninchou 1-15-33, Tel 03-3367-2896, website here.).

TSUBAKURO has been refusing foreigners for years (see their signs at https://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html#Shinjuku) and have been called and visited a number of times (last time by Debito and friends in February 2005).

I have even told the local Hyakuninchou Police Box about this, shown them the law, and photos of the sign. They told me to take it up with the Shinjuku Police HQ. Great job, boys.

Meanwhile, the signs and exclusionary rules stay up at Tsukaburo. Anyone want to take this up with the authorities? (I’m too far away to make any visits to police HQ.)

In any case, thanks Kurashiki City Govt.! Arudou Debito in Sapporo

朝日：「外国人だから」と宿泊拒む　倉敷のビジネスホテル

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

mytest

ブロクの皆様こんばんは。有道　出人です。いつもお読みいただいてありがとうございました。

さて、今朝新聞に載った記事ですが、私はきょうそれぞれのところに調べに電話して、結果発表を記事の下に記載します。

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「外国人だから」と宿泊拒む　倉敷のビジネスホテル
朝日新聞　2007年05月17日06時53分
http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0517/OSK200705160090.html

　岡山県倉敷市内のビジネスホテルで４月、広島市在住の中国人男性（４５）が、外国人であることを理由に宿泊を拒否されていたことがわかった。旅館業法では、伝染病患者であることが明らかな場合や賭博などの違法行為をする恐れがある場合など以外は宿泊拒否は認められておらず、同市は男性に「不愉快な思いをさせた」と謝罪した。同市は市内の宿泊施設に外国人を理由に宿泊拒否をしないよう周知徹底を図る、としている。

　中国人男性は４月３日夜、最初に訪れた倉敷市内の別のホテルが満室だったため、ホテルの従業員が電話でこのビジネスホテルに空室があることを確認してくれた。しかし、従業員を通じて「外国人は泊めないと言われた」と伝えられた。

　男性がビジネスホテルを訪れて真意をただしたところ、フロントで支配人の男性（７０）に「外国人は泊めないのが方針」と言われ、宿泊を拒否されたという。

　男性から話を聞いた知人が数日後、同市の外郭団体の倉敷観光コンベンションビューローに相談し、同市が事実関係を確認。市国際平和交流推進室が４月中旬、「国際観光都市として売り出している中、不愉快な思いをさせて申し訳ない」と電話で男性に謝罪した。

　同ビューローも加盟施設あてに５月７日付で指導の徹底を求める注意喚起の文書を送付した。

　日本で仕事をしている男性は日本語に不自由はなく、「日本人が同じことをされたらどう思うか。非常に心外だし改善してほしい」と憤っている。一方、宿泊を拒んだビジネスホテルの支配人は「外国人客は言葉などの面で対応しきれずお断りしている」と話し、今後も外国人の宿泊を断るという。

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有道よりコメント：

　本日午後、当局（倉敷市観光振興課、観光コンベンションビューロ（086-421-0224 小野氏)など）に電話して、結局ホテルの名前を聞きました：

　ビジネスホテル「アポイント」（倉敷市美和１丁目１４−２９, 086-423-2600）website http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~apoint/

　当ホテルに電話して、「かわかみ」という方と話しましたが、「外国人お断りは取り止めました。市から指導を受けて、これから外国人を受付します」などと言いました。

　よかろうが、なぜ今朝こその朝日新聞さえ『宿泊を拒んだビジネスホテルの支配人は「外国人客は言葉などの面で対応しきれずお断りしている」と話し、今後も外国人の宿泊を断るという』を報道したのでしょうか。ましてや、倉敷市の観光コンベンションビューロがアクションを起していなければ、このUターンにならなかったのではないでしょうか。

　対照的な事例は東京都新宿区の「ビジネスホテル　つばくろ」（東京都新宿区百人町1-15-33 Tel 03-3367-2896）は数年間「外国人お断り」をしています。私と友人は数回も（２００５年２月は前回）「このポリシーはいかないですよ、旅館業法五条違法」と説明しても、支配人はそのままです。最近「（日本語話せる方はＯＫ）」を書き加えたが、それでも違法行為です。（当ホテルの「外国人客お断り」の看板はこちらです。）しかし、近くの交番にこの件を通報しても、「新宿区警察署に言って」と盥回しました。結果は、放置のままです。

　要は、当局からのアクションがなければ、「放置」国家となりますね。差別撤廃は行政府次第です。特に注目することは、小樽温泉問題と違って、「入浴施設は民間会社なので差別行為を取り止める法律がないため、行政府は拘束力がない」と当局が言ったが、ホテルの場合該当する法律（旅館業法）が存在しています。
———————————
旅館業法 第五条
　営業者は、左の各号の一に該当する場合を除いて は、宿泊を拒んではならない。
一 　宿泊しようとする者が伝染性の疾病にか かつていると明らかに認められるとき。
二 　宿泊しようとする者がとばく、 その他の違法行為又は風紀を乱す行為をする虞があると認められるとき。
三 　宿泊施設に余裕がないときその他都道府県が条例で定める事由があるとき。
———————————

　よって、「外国人だから」を理由して拒んではいけません。いつ東京都は法律を執行するのでしょうか。

　とにもかくにも、倉敷市へ感謝いたします。有道　出人

　以上

Mainichi: Bio of the man who got “Toruko” off “special bathhouses”

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

mytest

Hello Blog. Here’s a recent article from the Mainichi talking about a man who apparently single-handedly got the word “Toruko” (Turkish bath) signs removed from what are now “Soaplands” etc.–places which offer deluxe massages, if you will.

I include the word “apparently” above, since article depicts Mr Sancakli as a man motivated by shame and love of his wife, country, and Japan. Fine. But somehow I don’t think it’s so simple that he spoke to some media and politicians and they automatically saw the error of their ways–and within a few months got “Toruko” nationwide to change their signs at their own expense.

Call me cynical, but it’s gotta be a little more behind it than that. A bit of pressure from the Turkish government, perhaps? Anybody out there know? (Citation from Wikipedia below the article.)

Anyway, I offer this up to show that once again, it is possible for one person to make a difference. Well done, Mr Sancakli. Arudou Debito in Sapporo

==============================
PERSONALITY PROFILE:
MR NUSRET SANCAKLI, THE PERSON WHO GOT “TORUKO” (TURK) REMOVED FROM “SOAPLANDS”
Mainichi Shinbun, March 7, 2007. Translated by Arudou Debito. Original Japanese at
http://www.mainichi-msn.co.jp/shakai/wadai/news/20070407k0000m070152000c.html
or https://www.debito.org/?p=322

The bright lights of neon signs fill the city streets. It’s been 23 years since he’s seen Tokyo Shinjuku so radiant. Cherry blossoms scatter about. “I feel as light as a bird. I don’t have to walk around and avert my eyes anymore.”

It was 1981 when Mr Sancakli came to Japan from Turkey [rendered in Japanese as “Toruko”] as an exchange student to study earthquakes, and had been here about six months. In the evening twilight he saw a place named after his home country and went to investigate.

“We got a gaijin here,” he heard from inside, and several women in their undergarments appeared. [It was a brothel.] He couldn’t understand how this country he loved and his home country could have gone so far off track. He thought about his 19-year-old wife, Hadie, who had also accompanied him to Japan, and locked his feelings deep inside.

But one day, when he and his wife on the way home by subway, an elderly woman asked where they were from. She was still a bit rusty in Japanese, so she answered, “I go to Toruko with him”. The old women began to shake and blush, to Mrs Sancakli’s embarrassment. So he explained to his wife for the first time what “Toruko” meant in Japan: “Turkish baths”–with sexual services.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” she said over and over, and said she wanted to go back home to Turkey. So Sancakli said , “If it’s the last thing I do, I promise you I’ll get ‘Toruko’ off those signs.”

He came back to Japan in the summer of 1984. He went on a pilgrimage to tell politicians and the media what a “hammam”, a real Turkish bath, was like. There were instant repercussions, and within a few months all “Toruko” signs were gone [changed into “Soaplands”].

He returned to Turkey feeling a great debt of gratitude to Japan. In 1992, he set about setting up a Japanese language department in his local university. He has written three textbooks himself and graduated more than 1500 students. “More and more people don’t know about this bit of history, but I’m still returning the favor.”

———————————
BIO: Nusret Sancakli, 53, is a specialist in earthquakes. Born in Montenegro, he moved to Turkey at the age of 6. He currently represents a hand-made carpet company.
ENDS

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

Wikipedia offers up this information:

Soaplands were originally called toruko-buro (トルコ風呂), meaning Turkish bath. A Turkish scholar, Nusret Sancakli, set off on a newspaper campaign to denounce Japan’s Turkish girls and the so-called Turkish baths they worked in,”[2] and the word “soapland” was the winning entry in a nationwide contest to rename the brothels.[3]

Footnotes: Peter Constantine, Japan’s Sex Trade: A Journey Through Japan’s Erotic Subcultures, (Tokyo: Yenbooks, 1993), 37–8.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soapland
ENDS

外国人偏見廃止テンプレート：特殊浴場の名称からトルコ外させたヌスレット氏

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

mytest

ブログの皆様、これは「一人でも社会を変えられる」との証しとして載せます。問題点があれば、泣き寝入りをすべからず、国が好きなら声を挙げて改善すべきですね。有道　出人。

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ひと：ヌスレットさん　特殊浴場の名称からトルコ外させた
毎日新聞　2007年4月7日　0時05分
http://www.mainichi-msn.co.jp/shakai/wadai/news/20070407k0000m070152000c.html

　街並みを埋める看板やネオンに目をやる。２３年ぶりの東京・新宿は晴れやかだった。桜の花びらが舞う。「鳥になった気分ですよ。もう、うつむいて歩かなくていい」
　８１年、地震の研究でトルコから日本に留学して半年余り。夕暮れの新宿で母国の名前を見つけ、店に飛び込んだ。「ガイジンが来た」の声とともに数人の肌着姿の女性が現れた。この問題で母国と大好きな日本がぎくしゃくするのはたまらない。一緒に日本に滞在中の当時１９歳の妻、ハディエさんをおもんばかり、一人胸に抱え込んだ。
　ある日、妻と地下鉄で帰宅する途中、老いた女性が「どこから来ましたか」と妻に尋ねた。日本語に不慣れの妻は「（彼と）トルコへ行きます」と答えた。女性は動揺して顔を赤らめた。その様子に妻も戸惑った。腹を決めて「トルコ（風呂）」を説明した。
　「『うそよ』と繰り返す妻は、帰国すると言いました。私は『死ぬまでにこの呼び方は必ずなくす』と約束しました」
　８４年夏に再来日。政治家やメディアに訴える一方で本物のハマム（トルコの風呂）を伝えて行脚した。反響は瞬く間に広がり、数カ月後、街から「トルコ」の名称が消えた。
　帰国後、日本への感謝の気持ちがふくらんだ。９２年、地元の大学に日本語学科の開設を働きかけた。自ら作った３冊の教本で巣立った若者は１５００人を超える。「この歴史を知らない人も増えましたが、私の心からの恩返しは続いています」【高尾具成】
　【略歴】Ｎｕｓｒｅｔ　Ｓａｎｃａｋｌｉ（ヌスレット・サンジャクリ）さん　地震研究家。モンテネグロで生まれ、６歳で母国トルコへ。手織りじゅうたん会社の顧問も務める。５３歳。
ENDS

Niigata Nippou: Joetsu City to abolish Nationality Clause

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

mytest

Hello Blog. 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.

Non-Japanese, even those born in Japan with Japanese as their first language (as generational diaspora of former citizens of empire–the Zainichis), have been systematically excluded from even qualifying to sit examinations for Japan’s bureaucracy. Moreover, the Supreme Court decided in 2005, in defiance of Article 14 barring discrimination, that excluding a Zainichi Korean named Chong Hyang Gyun from sitting her admin exam for the Tokyo Government was constitutional!

Proponents of the Nationality Clause say inter alia that it is for security reasons, as you apparently cannot allow untrustworthy foreigners (especially those apparently shifty North Koreans) to hold jobs in, for example, firefighting and civil-service food preparation. Hell, you can’t trust a foreigner with a fire ax and potential damage to our Japanese property (potential insurance problems and international incidents), and what if they poisoned us during a busy lunchtime and took over! Or if proponents can’t be bothered to overthink the situation, they just punt and say that if anyone seriously wants to become a bureaucrat, they should naturalize, as many other countries require nationality for their civil-service jobs.

Both of these types of arguments overgeneralize and misrepresent the situation, as opponents point out. Namely, that if Japan had nationality laws like its fellow developed countries, there wouldn’t be more than a quarter of a million “Zainichis” lying in legal limbo for five generations now–they would be citizens already and eligible to take the exams anyway.

So the Nationality Clause is being slowly been done away with in municipalities (except those with bunker mentalities towards internationalization, such as Tokyo Met). Here’s an example: Jouetsu City, on the Japan-Sea side in SW Niigata Prefecture. Bravo.

Translating the article from Niigata Nippou for the record. Referential websites follow the article. Arudou Debito in Sapporo

======================================
JOUETSU CITY TO COMPLETELY ABOLISH THE NATIONALITY CLAUSE
Niigata Nippou March 28, 2007
http://www.niigata-nippo.co.jp/pref/index.asp?cateNo=3&newsNo=231718
(Japanese original) or
https://www.debito.org/?p=295

The City Government of Jouetsu made clear on March 27 its aims to completely abolish the Nationality Clause for its 2008 employee hires. Mayor Konoura Masayuki said as such during question time for the city’s March regular monthly meeting.

Jouetsu City removed the Nationality Clause for employment in the Arts and Child Care in 1995, and from Welfare employees in 2003. From 2008, it will remove the restriction from all city government employment, including civil engineers and construction.

As part of its General Plan for Human Rights, drawn up in 2002, Jouetsu had been condsidering abolishing this clause entirely. Mayor Konoura explained, “We wanted to take this up during 2007 entrance exams for employees.”

The City of Minami Uonuma in Niigata Prefecture also abolished the Nationality Clause for civil-service entrance exams in 2007. The City of Niigata has also indicated that it is considering a similar abolition.
ENDS
======================================

REFERENTIAL WEBSITES:
OTHER MOVES BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO ABOLISH THE NATIONALITY CLAUSE (Kobe, Kochi, Osaka, Kawasaki)
https://www.debito.org/ninkiseiupdate1hiring.html

MORE ON CHONG HYANG GYUN CASE
ZNet February 4, 2005
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=17&ItemID=7178
More historical links (1995) from:
https://www.debito.org/ninkiseiupdate1hiring.html
In her own words at Debito.org (Japanese):
https://www.debito.org/chongsanessay.html

AN APPRAISAL OF JAPAN’S ASSIMILATION POLICIES, MENTIONING THE NATIONALITY CLAUSE PASSIM (Japan Focus, January 12, 2006)
https://www.debito.org/japanfocus011206.html
LIKEWISE PROBLEMS WITH JAPAN’S TREATMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTS, AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS (again passim)
https://www.debito.org/handout.html
ENDS

What others do re discrimination: stopping hate speech in the US

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

mytest

Hi Blog. I think I should probably start a site which talks about how other societies deal with problems of discrimination. Offer a template for what Japan can similarly do. First a comment, then the case:

The first case (thanks to Karen for notifying me) is about hate speech in the US, where somebody wrote an essay for a prominent media outlet on why he hates black people. Look at how other media and the anti-defamation leagues (not to mention national politicians) immediately pounced on it.

You don’t see that happening often enough in Japan–and when human rights groups and activists like us do react (often successfully), we get accused of “Western moralizing” (a la Gregory Clark), cultural imperialism, or worse of all censorship or denial of freedom of speech.

The US, for one, has long progressed beyond that. They don’t necessarily arrest the perpetrator, but in the following case, the media and pundits came through to debate him down.

In a similar example in Japan, the GAIJIN HANZAI magazine, the Japanese press just about completely ignored it, and it was up to us domestic bloggers and activists to tell the distributors to disavow. Which they did, eventually. But it wouldn’t have happened otherwise, because civil society is not sufficiently developed here (not to mention is suppressed by “press club” media cartels, even more so than in the US) to set things right and make the debate arena a fair fight.

This is what prominent J politicians (even people like Education Minister Ibuki Bunmei–contrast with Nancy Pelosi below) would pooh-pooh as “human rights metabolic syndrome”? Phooey. I think it’s time, given Bunmei’s Butter comments, for people to realize that Japan’s suffering from too few human rights enforcement mechanisms, not too many. This is what people should be doing in any society.

Anyway, the case study follows. Arudou Debito in Kurohime, Nagano

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

“WHY I HATE BLACKS”

US SOCIETY SHOUTS DOWN HATE SPEECH

Article follows:

Asian Week Suspends Writer Of Racist Column

POSTED: 12:56 pm PST February 28, 2007

UPDATED: 12:50 pm PST March 1, 2007

Courtesy NBC San Francisco

http://www.nbc11.com/news/11137241/detail.html

SAN FRANCISCO — An editor of a weekly newspaper calling itself “The Voice of Asian America” apologized and suspended a columnist after Asian-American and city leaders condemned an opinion piece titled “Why I Hate Blacks.”

The controversial column by 22-year-old New York based Kenneth Eng appeared in the current edition of Asian Week, which came out Friday.

READ: “Why I Hate Blacks,” by Kenneth Eng

In the piece, which appeared in the Feb. 23 edition, Eng lists reasons why he supports discrimination against blacks — including because “they are the only race that has been enslaved for 300 years.”

Leaders at the Asian American Justice Center, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Coalition for Asian Pacific Americans and other groups are circulating a petition denouncing the column as “irresponsible journalism, blatantly racist, replete with stereotypes, and deeply hurtful to African Americans.”

Ted Fang, AsianWeek’s editor-at-large, called the decision to publish Eng’s piece a “mistake” and held a news conference with NAACP leaders in San Francisco on Wednesday to discuss how the Asian and black communities “can be different and yet get along and work together.”

Fang said he suspended Eng from writing for the paper.

“The newspaper is sorry that this got published, and I am personally sorry that this got published,” Fang told The Associated Press. “The views in that opinion piece do not in any way reflect the views of AsianWeek.”

The paper, with a circulation of 48,505, plans to review its policies to “understand how this happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he added.

Fang’s family publishes AsianWeek, along with a local newspaper called the Independent, and owned the San Francisco Examiner between 2000 and 2004.

The petition being circulated by Asian-American groups calls on AsianWeek to cut ties with Eng, issue an apology, print an editorial refuting the column, and fire or demote the editors who published it.

“It certainly does not speak for the vast majority of Asian Americans,” Stewart Kwoh, who heads the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles, said Tuesday. “This kind of inflammatory (column) really can hurt and damage relations with the broader African-American community.”

Kenneth Eng, who has described himself as an “Asian Supremacist,” has written several columns for AsianWeek since November, including pieces titled “Proof That Whites Inherently Hate Us” and “Why I Hate Asians.”

Eng is in his early 20s and a graduate of New York University, according to a biography on a Web site promoting his science fiction writing.

A telephone listing for Eng could not immediately be located.

Mayor Gavin Newsom said in a statement that the column had “no place in a city that is known around the world for civil rights and equality for all people. I am deeply concerned, both for the opinions expressed in the column and the fact that these opinions were published in a local newspaper.”

Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, one of the city’s top black officials, has co-sponsored a city resolution condemning the article and AsianWeek’s decision to publish it. But she doesn’t believe Eng’s column will hurt relations between blacks and Asians in San Francisco.

“This man clearly is very ignorant of African-American history and his own history, and he’s very angry,” said Maxwell, who represents a district with large black and Asian populations.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also weighed in on the matter.

“AsianWeek’s recent apology is a step in the right direction. Asian Week needs to make clear that despite this setback, it will move forward with policies that have no room for hate speech in its publication,” Pelosi said in a statement.

Full Pelosi Statement

“The hateful views expressed in Kenneth Eng’s column must not be tolerated and AsianWeek’s decision to print them was irresponsible. Eng’s words were not only offensive to African Americans, but to all Americans.

“AsianWeek, a publication known for promoting diversity and civil rights, has now issued an apology and has decided to no longer run material by Mr. Eng. These are steps in the right direction.

“I am proud to represent a city that prides itself on its diversity as its strength. Speech that promotes hate has no place in San Francisco or anywhere in our country. We must continue the fight to end racism and promote social justice for all.”

ENDS

What others do re discrim: unequal customer treatment

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

mytest

Hi Blog. Here’s another section on what other societies do regarding unfair or unequal treatment: The local government’s human rights protection organs investigate and make the issue public.

In this case, the New York City Human Rights Commission was notified that a Chinese restaurant was offering two separate menus, where the same items were cheaper for readers of Chinese only.

This made the front page of the NY Daily Post, with a photo of the restaurant and the facts of case in splash headlines.

Unlike Japan, where the similar human rights organ, the Bureau of Human Rights (jinken yougo bu) is all but utterly ineffectual.

Sources:
Japan Times July 8, 2003 Community Page column:
https://www.debito.org/japantimes070803.html
https://www.debito.org/policeapology.html

Not to mention the press in Japan, if they even reported on it, would not even bother to mention the name of the restaurant, in the name of “protecting the business’s privacy”. (For example, in a recent case, the press refused to name ER English School in Kofu, which was hiring people to teach English depending on the color of the applicant’s hair and eyes. Not quite the same example of discrimination, but a good example of press treatment nonetheless.)

Thanks to Dave Spector for passing this information on. Debito in Kurohime, Nagano

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ChineseRestRipOffcov.jpg

ChineseRestRipOffp3.jpg

Click on the thumbnails to see a larger image)

McGowan Case: Steve wins case on appeal at Osaka High Court

Posted on by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

mytest

Good news at last. Comment follows at bottom:

ARTICLE BEGINS
==========================

African-American wins Y350,000 in damages for being denied entry into Osaka shop
Japan Today, Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at 19:41 EDT
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/387820/all
Courtesy Kyodo News

OSAKA — The Osaka High Court ordered an Osaka optical shop owner to pay 350,000 yen in damages to an African-American living in Kyoto Prefecture for denying him entry to the shop in 2004, altering a lower court ruling in January which rejected the plaintiff’s damages claim.

Presiding Judge Sota Tanaka recognized the owner told Steve McGowan, 42, a designer living in the town of Seika, to go away when he was in front of the shop, and acknowledged damages for McGowan’s emotional pain, saying the entry denial “is a one-sided and outrageous act beyond common sense.”

However, the remark “is not enough to be recognized as racially discriminatory,” he said. McGowan had demanded 5.5 million yen.

According to the ruling, the owner told McGowan to go away to the other side of the road in a strong language several times when he was about to enter the shop with an acquaintance in September 2004.

The plaintiff had claimed the owner said, “Go away. I hate black people,” but the ruling dismissed the claim, as the possibility that he misheard the owner cannot be eliminated.
A plaintiff attorney said, “It’s unreasonable that discrimination was not recognized, but the court ordered a relatively large amount of damages payment for just demanding the plaintiff leave the shop. It seems that the court shows some understanding.”
==========================
ARTICLE ENDS

COMMENT:
I am very happy Steve McGowan appealed his case, as it shows just how ludicrous the previous District Court ruling was last January.

Full information on the case at
https://www.debito.org/mcgowanhanketsu.html

The previous decision disqualified McGowan and his wife as credible witnesses to any discrimination, by ruling:

1) McGowan’s testimony inadmissible, as he apparently does not understand enough Japanese to reliably prove that the store-owner used discriminatory language toward him.

2) McGowan’s wife’s testimony as negatively admissable. In her follow up investigation, McGowan’s wife didn’t confirm whether the store-owner had excluded McGowan because he is black (“kokujin”); she apparently asked him if it was because her husband is *foreign*.

Put another way: A guy gets struck by a motor vehicle. The pedestrian takes him to court, claiming that getting hit by a car hurt him. The judge says, “You weren’t in fact hit by a car. It was a truck. Compensation denied.”

This was a huge step backward. As I argued in a Japan Times column (Feb 7, 2006, see https://www.debito.org/mcgowanhanketsu.html#japantimesfeb7), the McGowan decision thus established the following litmus tests for successfully claiming racial discrimination. You must:

* Avoid being a foreigner.

* Avoid being a non-native speaker of Japanese.

* Have a native-speaker witness with you at all times.

* Record on tape or video every public interaction you have 24 hours a day.

* Hope your defendant admits he dislikes people for their race.

Actually, scratch the last one. The eyeglass shop owner did admit a distaste for black people, yet the judge still let him off.

Now this High Court reversal sets things back on kilter, although it pays McGowan a pittance (35 man yen will not even cover his legal fees!) and will not acknowledge the existence of racial discrimination.

That’s a shame. But it’s better than before, and far better than if he did not appeal. Gotta pray for the small favors.

Thanks to Steve for keeping up the fight! Arudou Debito in Seattle, USA