DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 4, 2015

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DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 4, 2015
50TH BIRTHDAY EDITION

Table of Contents:
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ON BIRTHDAYS AND BIRTHDAY PRESENTS

1) I turned 50 years old on January 13, 2015. Photo on the day.
2) A debate I’ve been having on whether birthdays are to be celebrated or not. Discuss.
3) Lawyer threatens Debito.org in 2009 re a 1993 article in The Australian Magazine on Japan pundit Gregory Clark. Had received reprint permission, so nothing came of it.

NOW BACK TO BUSINESS AS USUAL

EXCLUSIONISM
4) IPC Digital et al.: Shizuoka Iwata City General Hospital doctor refuses care to Brazilian child, curses out parents and tells them to “die” (kuso, shine)
5) Khaosod (Thailand): Taxi Association Condemns ‘No Japanese Passengers’ Sign

MIXED MESSAGES
6) Nobel Prize winner Dr. Shuji “Slave” Nakamura urges Japan’s youth to “get out of Japan”
7) Fukuoka Subway Poster Contest winner: Rude Statue of Liberty “overdoes freedom”, takes space from J passengers

MISPLACED HOPE
8 ) Yomiuri: GOJ sky-pie policy proposes to deal with rural population decrease with resettlement info websites, and robots!
9) Japan Times: Japan’s “Omotenashi” (“selfless hospitality”) not in tune with what visitors want, NJ expert warns

…and finally…
10) My Japan Times JBC 83 Jan 1, 2015: “Hate, Muzzle and Poll”: Debito’s Annual Top Ten List of Human Rights News Events for 2014
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By Dr. ARUDOU, Debito (debito@debito.org, www.debito.org, twitter @arudoudebito)
Freely Forwardable

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ON BIRTHDAYS AND BIRTHDAY PRESENTS

1) I turned 50 years old on January 13, 2015. Photo on the day.

This sort of thing only happens once, and it’s happening now in Japan (tomorrow in Hawaii), so I’ll enjoy 48 hours of birthday this year. I turn fifty on January 13. This is a personal milestone in many ways…

https://www.debito.org/?p=12983

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2) A debate I’ve been having on whether birthdays are to be celebrated or not. Discuss.

Did I mention it’s my birthday? Well, I’m the type of person who loves to be wished “Happy Birthday!”, so I even go out of my way tell people that today is the day. And as my Facebook shows, people very kindly respond with greetings and best wishes. Thanks!

But since I broached the subject , I’ve had interesting conversations yesterday and today with people who take a dim view of birthdays. No, it’s not for the reason you might think (i.e., growing older and more clearly one day, month, year closer to death). They put it down to modesty, even culture.

One friend I talked to today never advertises his birthday because he’s afraid that doing so will invite somebody to give him a present. Then he’d feel obligated to give something back and that causes him stress. He prefers his birthdays and his celebrations be immediate family affairs celebrated only by the people who care enough to remember it’s his birthday without being told. Telling other people kinda spoils something. He’d rather enjoy fruit fallen from a tree due to a windfall, not because he deliberately shook the tree.

Another friend talked about how birthdays are to him an artificial Western invention — who celebrated birthdays in days of yore, and in his Eastern culture? He also feels that a celebration of oneself on one day is silly, when every day that one is alive should be a cause for celebration. Why focus in on one day? To them I said…

https://www.debito.org/?p=12987

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3) Lawyer threatens Debito.org in 2009 re a 1993 article in The Australian Magazine on Japan pundit Gregory Clark. Had received reprint permission, so nothing came of it.

I’ve been sitting on this blog post for nearly six years, so I think it’s safe to say that nothing has come of this. Back in 2009, somebody claiming to be a lawyer representing the publisher of The Australian Magazine contacted me, claiming copyright infringement, and demanded that Debito.org remove from its archives a 1993 article concerning Japan pundit Gregory Clark (who writes articles occasionally so embarrassingly xenophobic and bigoted that at least one has been deleted from the Japan Times archive).

Funny thing is that once I reproduced an email from 2000 from The Australian Magazine that permitted reproduction of said article on Debito.org, that somebody and her threat vanished. Again, that was back in 2009. It’s now 2015, so let’s put this up for the record. Something tells me that Gregory Clark really doesn’t want you to read this very revealing article in The Australian about him, his modus operandi, and his motives in Japan.

https://www.debito.org/?p=7812

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NOW BACK TO BUSINESS AS USUAL

EXCLUSIONISM
4) IPC Digital et al.: Shizuoka Iwata City General Hospital doctor refuses care to Brazilian child, curses out parents and tells them to “die” (kuso, shine!)

IPC Digital via Google Translate (from Portuguese original): Video of alleged discrimination in hospital resonates with Japanese Internet:

The video shows a Brazilian accusing a doctor of refusing care and offended her daughter with curses, wishing his death (Kuso, Shine), reflected in forums of discussions and Japanese blogs. Dozens of posts in livedoor.biz blogs and other forums, highlighted the event… The vast majority of comments were against the alleged discrimination.

Some Japanese netizens pointed out that, despite the apparent exaltation of the father, the doctor should have attended the transfer request and that should never have used those words with the child. Even in anonymous forums where it is not necessary to identify to post a comment, most Internet users showed outrage at the perceived attitude of the doctor, saying that “certainly should be fired,” and that “the university should be responsible for the wrong attitudes of physicians.”

COMMENT: It has made the news. Unlike, say, this “Japanese Only” hospital reported on Debito.org back in 2012, which wound up being ignored by the local media. It pays to video these things — they go viral, and force apologies. Not sure how this will stop it from happening in future, but glad that somebody is paying attention this time. Portuguese videos first, then Portuguese article, Google translated version, and finally Japanese articles.

https://www.debito.org/?p=13026

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5) Khaosod (Thailand): Taxi Association Condemns ‘No Japanese Passengers’ Sign

Here’s something for the Shoe on the Other Foot Dept.: A “No Japanese Passengers” taxi in Thailand, refusing to take all “Japanese” passengers (sign courtesy of Khaosod English). Naturally, Debito.org condemns all exclusionism of this type, and encourages people to challenge it and have these signs and rules repealed. We have devoted much cyberspace to recording and archiving the converse, “Japanese Only” signs that exclude all “foreigners” (that unfortunately have gone largely unchallenged in Japan). not to mention the occasional “Japanese Only” establishment run for Japanese clientele outside of Japan (that excludes all “foreigners” in their own country, natch).

What’s important is how swift and decisive the challenge from society is, and whether it is effective. In the Thai taxi case below, according to media, the taxi driver (rightly) lost his license to do business at the airport, and quite a furore happened both online and in print media denouncing this act as wrong-headed, even racist. Good. A similar furore also happened when a hotel in India had “Japanese Only” rules (the Indian authorities did not brook this kind of discrimination either).

Now, if only the Japanese authorities would be so decisive about this kind of exclusionism in Japan (as Debito.org has demonstrated over these past twenty years, they generally aren’t; they even deny racial discrimination ever happens in Japan, quite counterproductively). Of course, some hay has been made about this Thai taxi on Japanese social media, with rightly-deserved (but unironic) condemnations of the “discrimination” against Japanese overseas.

One last point: Koki Aki, the Japanese gentleman who set this issue in motion by complaining online after being ripped off by a Thai cabbie (prompting the cabbie to exclude), subsequently defended himself against trolls who said he must not like Thailand: “I criticize Thailand, but I don’t hate Thailand.” Well put. Now, if only other debaters in Japan’s debate arenas would be so cognizant.

https://www.debito.org/?p=13007

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MIXED MESSAGES
6) Nobel Prize winner Dr. Shuji “Slave” Nakamura urges Japan’s youth to “get out of Japan”

RocketNews: In 2014, Dr. Shuji Nakamura, along with two other scientists, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his work in creating bright blue LEDs. In 1993, Nakamura held only a master’s degree and worked with just one lab assistant for a small manufacturer in rural Japan, yet he was able to find a solution that had eluded some the highest paid, best-educated researchers in the world.

If his story ended there, he would no doubt be the poster boy for Japanese innovation and never-say-die spirit, but in the years since his discovery, he has instigated a landmark patent case, emigrated to the US, given up his Japanese citizenship and become a vocal critic of his native country. Last week, the prickly professor gave his first Japanese press conference since picking up his Nobel and he had some very succinct advice for young Japanese: Leave…

“In the world, Japanese people [have] the worst English performance,” he said. “Only they are concerned about Japanese life. That’s a problem.” He also said that lack of exposure to foreign cultures breeds a parochial ethnocentrism and makes young Japanese susceptible to “mind control” by the government.

COMMENT: Wow. “Slave” Nakamura not only refused to settle for the pittance regularly doled out to inventors in Japan that transform innovation and profit for Japan’s corporate behemoths (yes, he sued — millions of people do in Japan every year — and he won!), but also he wouldn’t settle for life in Japan as it is. He emigrated and now publicly extols the virtues of not being stifled by Japan’s insularity (and mind control!?). Pretty brave and bracing stuff. Bravo.

It isn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened within Japan’s intelligentsia. How many readers remember the “Tonegawa Shock” of 1987? It set off a chain of events that led to the despotic Ministry of Education deciding to “enliven” (kasseika) Japan’s education system by doing away with tenure. Sounds great to people who don’t understand why tenure exists in an education system, but what happened is that the MOE first downsized everyone that they could who was not on tenure — the NJ educators on perpetual contract eemployment (ninkisei) — in what was called the “Great Gaijin Massacre” of 1992-1994 where most NJ teachers working in Japan’s prestigious National and Public Universities over the age of 35 were fired by bureaucratic fiat. It was the first activism that I took up back in 1993, and the underlying “Academic Apartheid” of Japan’s higher education system exposed by this policy putsch became the bedrock issue for Debito.org when it was established in 1996.

With this in mind, I wonder what reverberations will result from Dr. Nakamura encouraging an exodus? Hopefully not something that will further damage the NJ communities in Japan. But if is there more NJ scapegoating in the offing, you’ll probably hear about it on Debito.org. That’s what we’re here for.

https://www.debito.org/?p=13019

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7) Fukuoka Subway Poster Contest winner: Rude Statue of Liberty “overdoes freedom”, takes space from J passengers

This is a photograph of a subway banner last month designed by an eighth grader in a Fukuoka Junior High School, taking first place in a Fukuoka City Subway contest for “Riding Manners”. The caption: “Don’t overdo the freedom.”

December 25, 2014, Reader TJL remarks: Hmmm…Fukuoka is now jumping on the “ugly American” bandwagon by portraying a rude Lady Liberty taking up too much space and playing her music too loud…the poor old lady in kimono can’t sit down and the salary man is disturbed by the noise. My graduate student from Chile found this on the subway. So much for the kinder, gentler Japan welcoming visitors by 2020 for the Olympics.

COMMENT: First, praise. It’s a clever, well-rendered poster by a Junior High School student who at a surprisingly young age has a great grasp of space, color, perspective, and poster layout (I’ve done a lot of posters in my day, and I wasn’t anywhere near this quality until high school). I especially love the jutting out bare foot, the extra-spiky headdress, the update to include noisy iPod headphones, and the open flame of Liberty’s torch on the seat. The artist also displays careful attention to detail — he even remembered Liberty also carries a book (it’s on the seat by the torch).

Now, critique. It’s sad to see such a young artist with an image of seeing freedom as an American symbol that can be so abused in a Japanese context. Remember, just about anything humanoid could have been posed here taking up too much space, and comically too. However, as rendered, it comes off more as a cheap shot at something foreign…

https://www.debito.org/?p=12953

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MISPLACED HOPE
8 ) Yomiuri: GOJ sky-pie policy proposes to deal with rural population decrease with resettlement info websites, and robots!

Yomiuri: In an effort to address population declines in provincial areas, the government plans to create a database to provide people thinking of moving from urban to regional areas with information about potential destinations, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The government hopes to encourage more urbanites to move to regional areas by making it possible for them to extensively search for information on such issues as residency and welfare services anywhere in the country…

The government plans to promote the development of robots for use in the service industry, such as at hotels and pubs, to cope with the industry’s worsening problems of labor shortages and heavy workloads, according to sources. In September, the government is expected to establish a panel dubbed the “committee for the realization of the robot revolution,” which will comprise manufacturers and users of robots, and plans to subsidize programs judged to have bright prospects.

COMMENT: Of course, the Yomiuri diligently types it down and offers it up uncritically, with the typical pride of showing off “Japan’s stuff”. The policy assumption is that if you offer people information, they’ll magically want to move out to the countryside — up to now they were just chary because they didn’t know where they could get an onigiri in Nakamura-son, Inaka-Ken.

That’s unrealistic. It’s not a matter of lack of information. It’s a matter of lack of economic opportunity for Japan’s largely white-collar labor force (the “potential migrants” being mentioned, of course, are Japanese) being offered out in The Boonies. Hasn’t the GOJ gotten the memo yet after more than a quarter century of Japanese turning their noses away from 3K blue-collar work? Not to mention the inevitable “Taro-come-lately” outsider treatment from the locals that greets many Japanese urbanites deciding to move out of the cities? Fact is, Japan’s ruralities are even giving their land away for FREE, and it’s not stemming the exodus from.

Moreover, how about that other proposal below of introducing more robots in service areas to produce the 3K stuff? Laced within that Industrial Policy is an appeal to national pride, as in Japan’s future as a world leader in robot use (without the actual substance of practicality behind it). Ooh, our robots can produce bentos? Can yours, France? Then what: build robots to consume what robots produce? No matter what, offering robots as replacements for humans in the labor market inevitably overlooks how this does nothing to revitalize Japan’s taxpayer base, because ROBOTS DO NOT PAY TAXES.

There is another option, the unmentionable: Immigrants assuming the mantle of Japan’s farming economy and rural maintenance. No, you see, that would be a security risk. Too high a local foreign population would mean those areas might secede from Japan! (Seriously, that is the argument made.)…

https://www.debito.org/?p=12609

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9) Japan Times: Japan’s “Omotenashi” (“selfless hospitality”) not in tune with what visitors want, NJ expert warns

JDG: Hello Dr. Debito, I wondered if you had chanced upon this article in the JT:
Now boastful Japan not really in tune with what visitors want, foreign expert warns | The Japan Times

Now boastful Japan not really in tune with what visitors want, foreign expert warns

It’s really interesting, since it was written about a guy who has no connection (AFAIK) to the debate about NJ human rights, and is not a scholar of Japan. However, he has independently reached a conclusion that you yourself have expressed several times on Debito.org; Japanese deciding amongst themselves what NJ want/need/have difficulty with, is a sign of cultural arrogance aimed at controlling NJ. I think this is important external reinforcement of your point of view. It shows that you are not alone and paranoid (as the apologists always try to portray you), but rather shows that in a totally different field of expertise, another observer has witnessed the same phenomena as you.

There are many interesting points that he raises, and I agree with him, but the main takeaway from the article is that the concept of ‘omotenashi’ is being used as a system of control over NJ in Japan (and we know how much the Japanese establishment believes that NJ need to be controlled), whilst at the same time serving a very racist nihonjinrongiron function of reassuring the Japanese themselves that they are unique and superior to NJ.

https://www.debito.org/?p=12966

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…and finally…
10) My Japan Times JBC 83 Jan 1, 2015: “Hate, Muzzle and Poll”: Debito’s Annual Top Ten List of Human Rights News Events for 2014

As is tradition for JBC, it’s time to recap the Top Ten human rights news events affecting non-Japanese (NJ) in Japan last year. In ascending order:

10) WARMONGER SHINTARO ISHIHARA LOSES HIS DIET SEAT
This newspaper has talked about Shintaro Ishihara’s unsubtle bigotry (particularly towards Japan’s NJ residents) numerous times (e.g. “If bully Ishihara wants one last stand, bring it on,” JBC, Nov. 6, 2012), while gritting our teeth as he won re-election repeatedly to the National Diet and the Tokyo governorship. However, in a move that can only be put down to hubris, he resigned his gubernatorial bully pulpit in 2012 to shepherd a lunatic-right fringe party into the Diet. But in December he was voted out, drawing the curtain on nearly five decades of political theater…

Read the next nine and five bubble-unders below with links to sources:

https://www.debito.org/?p=12959

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That’s all for this month. Thanks everyone for reading Debito.org for now approaching twenty years! I hope to do it for at least another twenty. Dr. ARUDOU, Debito

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 4, 2015 ENDS

11 comments on “DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 4, 2015

  • Jim Di Griz says:

    UK Immigration center inspectors slam Japanese immigration centers as being like ‘prisons’ where immigrants rights are limited in contrast to the UK.

    http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/06/national/immigration-detention-centers-like-prisons-u-k-inspectors-say/

    I am shocked! After all, didn’t Japan’s former envoy to the UNHCR say that in the field of Human Rights, ‘Japan is a world leader in this field’?

    Right before he said; ‘SHUT UP! SHUT UP! WHY YOU LAUGHING?’.

    Reply
  • An interesting one. Depending upon one’s slant this can be taken either way:

    “..Japan’s authorities have seized the passport of a journalist planning to travel to Syria, local media say.

    It was necessary to confiscate Yuichi Sugimoto’s passport in order to protect his life, the authorities said.

    The 59-year-old photographer, who had planned to enter Syria on 27 February, described the move as a threat to the freedom of press…”

    * http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-31235403

    Reply
  • NY Times Hiroko Tabuchi kicks off after Japanese idol group Momoiro Clover Z does black-face.
    http://www.japantrends.com/blackface-in-japan-momoiro-clover-z-rats-star-fuji-tv/

    I’m not so surprised by Momoiro Clover Z being racist, after all, they’ve been grabbing every photo-op the can get with Abe for the last 2 years.

    But isn’t it shameful?
    Michelle Obama is visiting Japan next month, and Japanese still think its ok to do black-face! Japan is still decades behind other societies in terms of even understanding what discrimination means.

    Reply
  • Jim, just my postmodern take on the images- Momoiro Clover Z seem to be very revisionist zeitgeist, with a dose of Akihabara’s own Taro Asso’s “Cool Japan as major cultural export” spin as seamless as if had been no DPJ rule in between him and Abe. As I said about Sono and the “Eternal Right” in Japan, they are so firmly entrenched thay no mere change of government can make a meaningful difference to the cultural narratives.

    Anyway, check out this video of them versus (note “versus”, not “with”) http://blog.japantimes.co.jp/japan-pulse/i-wanna-rock-n-roll-all-night-and-be-kawaii-ev-er-y-day/

    There are all the trad Japan images, Mount Fuji with a rising sun, trouts, tengus(?) HIroshige type tsunamis, etc employed as counter measures against the scary Americans, Kiss (who are just portrayed as themselves- they do not have, e.g. an American flag or any nationalistic imagery). Yes, some of the members’ characters are actually quaking with fear in the video.

    Now of course it could be this is just the same old peddling of Japan cliches to a western audience. But it is old wine in new bottles-the new bottles of revisionism.

    My first impression was this is the new idoru “Japan that can say no” (to America/Kiss) using “Onko Chi Shin” (a tired cliche oft peddled as venerable or even as clever, but it really is just trad think- “learn something new from the old”-which isn’t as exciting in practice as it sounds, as it usually is just the same old conservatism.

    So Jim, I am not surprised if Momoiro Clover Z provide the J Pap soundtrack to Abe’s tenure. I tried to say the same thing about Morning Musume’s “NIppon no Mirai wa Sekai no Urayamu” but perhaps went off topic at the time, but Amazon picked up on the relevance http://www.amazon.com/Love-Machine-Morning-Musume/dp/B00079UD3I

    “Whether such a declaration proves true or not, one can acknowledge the nationalism inherent in such a lyric and still simply enjoy the song for what it is, a catchy, infectious dance piece filled with positive sentiments designed to make its young listeners feel good about themselves and their future.”

    Actually, thats what I am afraid of. Nationalist feel good mass delusion of youth. No, Japan needs more punk rebels, music that parents don’t like, more non manufactured real musicians.

    Reply
  • Sumo’s been featured here before for it’s governing bodies racist ideas, but here’s the same old trouble again.

    Mongolian-born Yokuzuna Hakuho beats the record for winning Emperor’s Cup, previously held by a Japanese, by winning 33 times.

    Officials say it was ‘too close to call’ and demand a rematch. Hakuho points out that ‘the tradition’ is that if it’s ‘too close to call’, the more senior wrestler is awarded the win- which is him.
    Officials say that Hakuho ‘lacked the dignity required to hold sumo’s elite rank’.

    Analysis? Hakuho may ‘lack the dignity’, but he’s got ‘the skill’ yo hold sumo’s top rank. Maybe there are plenty of Japanese wrestlers with loads of dignity…but they aren’t winning, are they.

    http://www.japantoday.com/category/sports/view/hakuho-denies-breaching-sumo-protocol

    Reply
  • Hate speech!

    PM Abe has spoken out against hate-speech;
    ‘Abe called hate speech “extremely discomforting, unpleasant and unfortunate.”’

    http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/abe-criticizes-hate-speech

    How would Abe know how it feels? No, seriously, how would a political blue-blood and self-entitled silver-spoon sucker like him have the personal experience to tell others how hate-speech feels?

    And if it’s so bad, WHERE ARE THE LAWS TO PUNISH THOSE WHO DO IT?
    Of course, as debito.org has pointed out before, anti hate-speech laws infringe on the right-wings freedom of speech to call for my ‘extermination’ like a ‘cockroach’.

    Still, nice to see that just like Abe’s ‘womanomics’, it’s all hot-air with no legislation to enforce any meaningful action. Japanese women need to get up and fight for their own human rights before we’ll see Japanese society able to contemplate standing up for the rights of resident NJ.

    Reply
  • @ Dr. Debito,

    I have been following the discussion on Wikipedia about the entry for the word ‘Gaijin’.
    I think that you might consider making a Debito.org post on this topic.
    It seems to me that a group of apologists dedicated to slamming you are doing everything they can to prevent your addition to the Wikipedia page in question, that the use of the word ‘Gaijin’ carries a negative racialized connotation (a bizarre counter-factual argument indeed).
    Anyway, I think that you could use debito.org to inform others who are not following the Wikipedia discussion to know that the apologists personal dislike for you is now leading them to conduct a campaign of misinformation about Japan’s racism itself, the goal of which is for them to conceal/subvert negative true information, and mislead Wikipedia users about the true extent of Japanese institutional racism.

    It baffles me that Wikipedia is unaware that it is being used as the apologists battleground.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Gaijin#The_feelings_of_some_modern_commentators

    Reply
  • JDG

    “…It baffles me that Wikipedia is unaware that it is being used as the apologists battleground….”

    Its all open source and ‘self-editing’…thus what can one expect?…it panders to the most votes not the truth or facts.

    Reply
  • John (Yokohama) says:

    http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/25/national/osaka-eyes-setting-body-assess-hate-speech/

    “Osaka eyes setting up body to assess hate speech

    OSAKA – A municipal panel on Wednesday proposed to the city of Osaka that it set up a body to judge whether racist demonstrations held on the streets amount to hate speech, in a bid to crack down on discrimination.

    The panel also said the names of groups that have been involved in activities recognized as hate speech should be disclosed to the public, while the city government should offer financial support to victims who have filed lawsuits.

    Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, who received the panel’s report the same day, said: “I hope to create a framework (of measures to deal with hate speech) in Osaka city, which is said to have the largest number of Korean residents in Japan, and make it spread nationwide.”

    He also said he will seek to create related ordinances to realize the panel’s proposal in fiscal 2015 or later.

    According to the proposal, people who feel insulted or threatened by propaganda attacking a person or groups on the basis of race or ethnicity can ask the body, consisting of lawyers and experts, to check whether the activities constituted hate speech.

    The body will also hear from people who have been involved in hate speech propaganda activities, before making a judgment. It will also discuss whether the case should be disclosed to the public, and whether the city should assist victims with their legal costs.

    The body is also expected to play a role in encouraging the removal of hate speech videos posted online.

    The municipal panel considered whether it should include in its recommendations the introduction of punishments, such as imprisonment, but decided that it is difficult to take such measures from the viewpoint of freedom of expression, which is constitutionally guaranteed.

    Yuko Kawasaki, a lawyer who led the panel, said: “It is difficult to set punishments or regulations on hate speech. I think this is the best we can do.”

    A 43-year-old man, whose father is from the island of Jeju in South Korea, said he saw “progress” in the issue. But he also said he was disappointed that measures to regulate hate speech, such as a restriction on the use of public facilities, were not included in the panel’s proposal.

    “The emotional scar stemming from verbal violence remains,” the man said, adding that the only way to stop hate speech is by “regulating” it.”

    Reply
  • Finally, a world leader calling a spade a spade *

    “…German Chancellor Angela Merkel has begun a two-day visit to Japan by discussing Germany’s reconciliation efforts after World War Two…She said Germany had “faced its past squarely”, helping it move forward..”

    “…”There was the acceptance in Germany to call things by their name,” she said…”

    Well said. I’d like to hear what the apologists say to this too!

    * http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-31792313

    Reply

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