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Hi Blog. I write Debito.org SNA “Visible Minorities” columns once a month (SNA website here) and send Debito.org Newsletters to subscribers sporadically. After sending, I archive them here, and below, Debito.org Readers have been adding recent issues and articles that concern them regardless of the content of the post over the past several years. It’s been a good way to allow Readers to be heard and engaged.
I still put out Debito.org Newsletters, but since I’m only posting on Debito.org approximately once a month, there’s only one article to repost (my SNA column), and I have it here as Debito.org post anyway. So it’d only be a repeat if I dedicated another post to the Newsletter.
But I don’t want to deprive Readers of a forum, so let me continue this “Issues of Concern” section (still categorized under “Newsletters”) and let it be a free space for articles and comments germane to the mission of Debito.org.
Past “Issues of Concern” pages are getting filled with comments that are running farther afield than the original title, so let’s create a new one now.
Thanks as always for reading and contributing to Debito.org. Debito Arudou, Ph.D.
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1 comment on “DEBITO.ORG READERS’ ISSUES OF CONCERN, JUNE 2026”
As of April 1st, bicycle riding in Japan is now serious business: Japan’s New Bike Fines Are Real: What Every Cyclist Needs to Know For April 2026
From the article:
My predictions about the “blue ticket” (青切符) system:
1. It will disproportionately affect visible minorities because this group is much more reliant on bicycles than the average wajin, and is marginalized by default.
2. It will remain vague and selectively enforced, becoming a tool for managing “problem” (read: foreign-looking) cyclists rather than a universal standard.
So, in a nutshell, the J-Gov has expanded embedded racism by creating a two-wheeled regulatory Rubik’s Cube (113 rules!) which gives J-cops near-unlimited discretion to stop and cite people; if you’re riding a bike in Japan while looking foreign, expect to be pulled over, even for a minor infraction.