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DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER FEB 21, 2022
Hello Debito.org Newsletter Readers. Things have been busy in my corner of the world with the Spring Semester, and I haven’t had much time to put stuff up on Debito.org, and that means a slimmer Newsletter for this month.
Table of Contents:
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1) Japan Govt’s “Kizuna” magazine: “Beyond Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Leading the Way towards an Inclusive Society”, Winter 2021: Govt propaganda whitewashing history & rewriting exclusionary narratives
2) Ruminations on Ishihara Shintaro’s death: Good riddance to an evil man.
3) My SNA Visible Minorities 30: “US Military Should Combat Japan’s Xenophobia”, i.e., counteract apparent Japanese media disinformation about their bases’ Covid policies (Jan 24, 2022)
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By Debito Arudou, Ph.D. (debito@debito.org, www.debito.org, Twitter @arudoudebito)
Debito.org Newsletters as always are freely forwardable.
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1) Japan Govt’s “Kizuna” magazine: “Beyond Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Leading the Way towards an Inclusive Society”, Winter 2021: Govt propaganda whitewashing history & rewriting exclusionary narratives
Have a look at this Japanese Government article in their “Kizuna” Magazine trying to present the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as a liberalizing force, allowing Japan to embrace “inclusivity”. Of course, we here at Debito.org are all in favor of inclusivity. But when even the data it presents below doesn’t substantiate the headline, you know even the Japanese government is indulging in propagandizing clickbait based on incomplete social science. No surprises there, I guess, but let’s parse the article. Here’s the opening, with my comment:
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PORTRAITS OF JAPAN
BEYOND TOKYO 2020: LEADING THE WAY TOWARD AN INCLUSIVE SOCIETY
Kizuna Magazine, Winter 2021
https://www.japan.go.jp/kizuna/_userdata/pdf/2021/winter2021/beyond_tokyo_2020.pdf
The Tokyo 2020 Games, which reached a safe conclusion even under the difficult circumstances presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, made a significant step toward the realization of an inclusive society—one in which everyone respects one another regardless of gender, age, or ability.
(Comment from Debito: So the inclusivity is restricted to gender, age, and ability? Not nationality, minorities (who were in fact shut out of the Games), or other racialized characteristics for Visible Minorities in Japan? Granted, those three items are good ones, but it’s a narrower scope for “inclusivity” than should be possible or laudable.)
Article continues, and so do I…
https://www.debito.org/?p=16904
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2) Ruminations on Ishihara Shintaro’s death: Good riddance to an evil man.
It was with some measured amount of joy that I saw that a quintessentially awful man, Former Tokyo Governor and Political-Resident Racist Ishihara Shintaro, recently died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 89. Predictably, the eulogies and hagiographies have minced their words about what an awful man this was, watering down their modifiers to call him a “brash” “hawk” “firebrand”, a ‘fiery nationalist” with “controversial views” etc. Even after some admit that he deliberately used his political power to try to start a war with China over some island scraps, and to publicly denigrate and persecute people not only because they crossed him, but also because they were born a certain way. Simply saying he was not a force for good is to have a fundamental misconception of what evil is.
https://www.debito.org/?p=16982
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…and finally…
3) My SNA Visible Minorities 30: “US Military Should Combat Japan’s Xenophobia”, i.e., counteract apparent Japanese media disinformation about their bases’ Covid policies (Jan 24, 2022)
Excerpt: Shingetsu News Agency has reported for two years on how the Japanese government and media have gone out of their way to blame foreigners for the domestic spread of Covid. Each time we’ve gone out of our way to point out that Covid was usually brought in by Japanese citizens disobeying lenient quarantines. The government’s exclusionary border policies, treating people without Japanese passports as somehow more contagious, is routinely supported neither by logic nor science. The latest mutation of this narrative has been the blame targeted at US military bases in Japan for community spread.
For example, Japan Times reported on January 8, stitching together wire reports from Jiji Press and Kyodo News, that “US military personnel are believed to have triggered a coronavirus resurgence in [Okinawa, Yamaguchi, and Hiroshima]. Many people in the three prefectures live in close proximity to American bases. Infection prevention measures taken by the US forces, which some have criticized as being too lax, are thought to be behind that explosion of cases.” […]. But this is contradicted by what the US Forces Japan say are their actual policies, with 92-98% vaccination rates and limitations on movement.
So is the blame game grounded in facts and science? Or are these reactions to people trying to find another foreign scapegoat for the latest Covid spike? We don’t know because US Forces Japan aren’t making their practices sufficiently loud and clear. As usual.
The upshot: How US Forces Japan are yet again ignoring being used for domestic political capital is irresponsible. USFJ has the duty to recognize that what they do affects Visible Minorities in Japan, whether it be inspiring “Japanese Only” bigots to slam shop doors in their faces, or giving more ammunition to reactionaries who seek to seal off Japan’s borders.
Full article at https://shingetsunewsagency.com/2022/01/24/visible-minorities-us-military-should-combat-japans-xenophobia/
Anchor site for comments at https://www.debito.org/?p=16974
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That’s a brief one for this month! See you in March! Debito
DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER FEB 21, 2022 ENDS
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73 comments on “DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER FEB 21, 2022”
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Former Nissan employee Kelly found guilty on one charge, not guilty on seven others. Spent four years in jail already just to be given a suspended sentence (read ‘not found innocent of all charges to prevent him from claiming compensation for having 4 years of his life stolen by hostage so-called justice).
https://japantoday.com/category/crime/ex-nissan-exec-kelly-found-guilty-gets-suspended-sentence#
Was the damage to Japan’s image and cost of this 4 year investigation and incarceration justified with a suspended sentence?
— I doubt Japan’s criminal justice system worries as much about the international image as it does with making a public example of Kelly. Making sure at least somebody associated with Ghosn gets it. And for that to happen, it took years for the system to chew Kelly up and spit him out. The fact that his sentence was suspended is basically a face-saving measure so he can be forgotten about as quickly as possible. Now on to those two extradited people who spirited Ghosn out. I’ll be surprised if they get a suspended sentence.
If there’s a silver lining to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine, it’s that the GoJ is actually doing something positive for NJ for a change:
Japan to let Ukrainian refugee applicants stay in country: chief Cabinet secretary / ウクライナ難民 「人道上配慮が必要なら在留許可」と官房長官
岸田首相 ウクライナからの避難民 日本への受け入れを表明
Japan to accept people displaced by Russian invasion of Ukraine
Japan to accept family members, acquaintances of 1,900 Ukrainian residents / ウクライナ難民受け入れ「日本在留者の家族・知人など人道的に対応」
Heck, even the company that operates Don Quijote is getting involved:
Operator of Japan’s Don Quijote stores to help house 100 Ukrainian refugee families / ドンキ、ウクライナ避難民100世帯受け入れへ 運営会社が発表
Too bad it took a Russian invasion to motivate the GoJ to do something.
Speaking of doing something positive for NJ for a change, starting March 14, Japan will raise the daily cap on overseas entrants from 5,000 to 7,000, and will give priority entry to students.
Tourists, however, are sill being denied entry.
OK, one last dig at the GoJ’s fool’s errand of throwing its weight behind fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs):
EDITORIAL: Drastic rethink called for in support for FCV technology
-It does not make sense to stick to the original plan.
Ah, but the Erai HIto who made this decision will be embarrassed by a reversal, and who would dare to point it out to them? They spent a lot of time wining and dining to build a consensus for the current plan and so they must stick to it.
Forgive my cynicism. Based on realism.
Here is an update on the Taylor’s situation:
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2022-03-10/ghosn-escape-ex-green-beret-michael-taylor-seeks-transfer-us-prison-5291223.html
Somebody has to pay the price for putting Nissan in a “lesser” position vis-a-vis a hated foreign company. Since Ghosn managed to elude his vindictive tormentors, another foreigner may die in a Japan prison.
A Japanese cannibal can be transferred or deported back to Japan and set free even, so indeed, why not the Taylors? (because as you say, someone need to be blamed for Ghosn)
“Sagawa’s subsequent publicity and macabre celebrity likely contributed to the French authorities’ decision to deport him to Japan, where he was immediately committed to Matsuzawa Hospital in Tokyo. His examining psychologists all declared him sane and found sexual perversion was his sole motivation for murder.[2] As the charges against Sagawa in France had been dropped, the French court documents were sealed and were not released to Japanese authorities; consequently Sagawa could not legally be detained in Japan. Sagawa checked himself out of the hospital on 12 August 1986, and has subsequently remained free since that day.[2]’
Wikipedia
They say they “deeply regret” helping Ghosn escape. I doubt it. They deeply regret being incarcerated.
@Baud, ah, but Sagawa killed and ate an NJ woman so it doesn’t count as a crime in Japan…
Remember ‘foreigners and yakuza have no rights’, straight from the prosecutor’s mouth?
@TJJ, and why not ‘deeply regret being incarcerated’ in a case that has resulted in a few bows and ‘moshi iiwake arimasen’, and a six month suspended sentence.
It all seems a farce, does it not?
Frostbite for that?
If you read the transcript of an interview with his wife, it seems they trusted their lawyers who told them there was no way they were going to be extradited for what they did. Then they got extradited, and nobody could believe it.
It had to be pressure at the State level.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20510043-lamiataylor
Wow, progress.
Rules on underwear color, black hair to be abolished at Tokyo public high schools in 2022
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220311/p2a/00m/0na/028000c
@Anonymous
From the article you linked. “Rules asking students with naturally curly or non-black hair to voluntarily submit proof of their natural hair will be abolished in 35 courses, but remain in 20 others. Officials explained that students and parents requested the proof system’s retention.”
Doesn’t say anything about not requiring them to dye their hair.
Perhaps Japan has finally turned the corner w.r.t. its acceptance of refugees?:
Tsunami-hit cities keen to offer homes to Ukrainians
Japan accepts 8 people displaced by Russian invasion of Ukraine
Tokyo gov’t to supply as many as 700 homes to Ukrainian refugees / 東京都、ウクライナ避難民に都営住宅100戸用意 最大700戸
Fukuoka-based NPO offering free consultations, housing help for Ukrainian refugees / 福岡に避難民相談窓口
In other news, it looks like the GoJ is trying to clear the NJ student backlog by June:
Japan eyes entry of most foreign students waiting amid COVID by end-May
Just read this excellent article about Putin/Putin’s Russia;
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/20/solve-problem-like-putin-writers-russia-ukraine-oliver-bullough-peter-pomerantsev
Main takeaways (for me);
1. Corrupt Kleptocracy in control.
2. Uses ‘only I can fix it’ narrative.
3. Narrative of historical grievances going un-righted.
4. A threat of ‘others’ whom populace need to be protected against.
5. A lack of trust in authority begetting apathy in the populace (who are happy to abdicate responsibility).
6. No vision of the future; everything focuses on past perceived ‘wrongs’ (which justifies spiteful cruelty).
Naturally, I thought of Trump, then Bannon, and then (since Bannon mentioned it himself!), Japan.
Has the GoJ turned over a new leaf, or will it be business as usual after the dust has settled?
29 Ukrainian evacuees have arrived in Japan; gov’t vows to help with jobs, housing / ウクライナ避難民29人が入国 官房長官「寄り添った支援する」
Japan begins accepting war-fleeing Ukrainians without guarantor
Japanese group to offer free language education, financial support to Ukrainian evacuees / ウクライナ避難民に無償で日本語教育、生活費補助 専門学校有志ら
In other news, Japan may allow 10,000 people per day to enter country from April.
In other news, popular Japanese caramel maker sues Vietnamese workers for joining a union and police arrested a random Vietnamese man because some entitled ojisan complained about loud foreigners.
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14557544
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/shutoken-news/20220321/1000078121.html
So, does Tokyo still plan to become Asia‘s new international hub? Looks like Japan doesn‘t understand that treating immigrants like second class citizens with 0 rights will not work out if you‘re trying to attract foreign workers and investment.
@ Jim, I have been saying that post USSR Russia is the country Japan most closely resembles in some of the terms you mentioned. Hofstede’s country comparison confirms near identical scores in Uncertainty Avoidance. The extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these is reflected in the score on Uncertainty Avoidance. In fact Russia scores even higher than Japan!
“Scoring 95 Russians feel very much threatened by ambiguous situations, as well as they have established one of the most complex bureaucracies in the world. Presentations are either not prepared, e.g. when negotiations are being started and the focus is on the relationship building, or extremely detailed and well prepared. Also detailed planning and briefing is very common. Russians prefer to have context and background information. As long as Russians interact with people considered to be strangers they appear very formal and distant. At the same time formality is used as a sign of respect.
School teachers and public servants are reluctant to do things without precedence. In corporate Japan, a lot of time and effort is put into feasibility studies and all the risk factors must be worked out before any project can start. Managers ask for all the detailed facts and figures before taking any decision. This high need for Uncertainty Avoidance is one of the reasons why changes are so difficult to realize in Japan.”
10,000 ‘Foreign Children’ absent from school in Japan?
Really? Good luck to the if they are, but I don’t think 10,000 NJ minors EVER got visas, so perhaps they mean 10,000 children with one NJ parent?
And so it begins; your ‘half’ children are now ‘gaijin’, not legally Japanese citizens…
https://japantoday.com/category/national/10-000-foreign-children-in-japan-may-be-absent-from-school
Saw this on Reddit a few hours ago and thought I should share it here.
The following video is MOFA propaganda about how the Rising Sun Flag is great and a century old tradition (no mention of it being used to murder, oppress and rape people).
I can’t even begin to describe how disgusted I feel about this. Especially since according to the original post on Reddit, this video plays as commercial on YouTube. Absolutely disgusting! Also note how the comments are disabled. Nice freedom of opinion the Japanese government has going on there. I reported the video to YouTube, I doubt it will yield any results, but that’s the least I can do. Just imagine Germany doing a similar video about the Nazi Swastika flag.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9co0U5lcE0c&t=2s
@Niklas, I watched that disgusting propaganda video and thought;
‘The swastika means sun, prosperity, and auspiciousness’ being read over B&W footage of Nazi tanks rolling into Poland, and skinheads waving it at soccer matches as the perky narration explains ‘you can also see the swastika at sporting events!’
Pretty much the same meaning as they allege for the rising sun;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
After all, when you start genocidal nihilistic wars of aggression against your neighbors, you got to dig deep and appropriate symbols with upbeat meanings before you defile them permanently.
Here’s an article claiming not 10k but 20k NJ children not enrolled in school.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2022/03/28/issues/multicultural-center-tokyo-helps-non-japanese-kids-tackle-the-obstacles-of-getting-into-a-japanese-high-school/
Doesn’t this seem strange to anyone? How many NJ kids are in Japan?
Are they really sure that they don’t mean kids with one NJ parent?
I’m trying to guesstimate how many ‘elite’ NJ get to bring their spouse and kids to Japan when they are sent here for work, because the recent loosening of visas for blue collar/semi-skilled work, trainees, etc specifically DENY dependents visas.
An NJ ‘trainee’ wins (!), thanks to labor union support, the right to maternity leave!
https://japantoday.com/category/national/sri-lanka-trainee-takes-maternity-leave-gives-birth-in-japan
Let that sink in; she had to fight for the right to take time off to give birth! What’s the alternative? The company forcing her to have an abortion? That’s insane, right? Oh…
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Japan-immigration/Fear-of-deportation-weighs-on-pregnant-foreign-workers-in-Japan
Why did she even need to fight for this? It is the law after all;
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/03/14/national/social-issues/japan-warns-firms-not-fire-pregnant-foreign-trainees-interns-fear-impact-work-status/
Why aren’t labor laws actually, y’know, enforced? Why is a legal battle between the company and the trainee even an option?
Still, the Japanese government is threatening to deport the baby ASAP (despite NJ parents both being in Japan legally) so, problem solved! Whew! That’ll save Japan’s tax burden crisis, plummeting demographics, do immeasurable harm to Japan’s soft power (‘Cool Japan’, here’s looking at you) because (most) Japanese would rather be poor, overtaxed, and endure diminished public services and quality of life than bear to entertain the idea that they will have to bear so many NJ propping up Japan’s society that NJ will be able to demand to be treated without contempt and that (many) Japanese will have to keep their racism in check.
@Jim Di Griz I can’t believe the article says “sending the child home” instead of “deportation”. How can Sri Lanka be considered his/her home if he/she was born in Japan and his/her parents are living in Japan? Absolutely disgusting.
Do the Japanese Labour Laws protect NJ who are not citizens? Or only those who have naturalised and are citizens of Japan?
— Japan’s Labor Standards Law protects all “workers” (roudousha), regardless of nationality, including foreigners. Problem is, NJ who are slaving away as temp laborers in Japanese farms and factories are here as “Trainees” etc., meaning by design they are not “workers” protected by the Law.
Drib, drib: Japan to further relax daily entry quota to 10,000 from April 10
Translation: the business and education lobby kept complaining that they weren’t getting enough NJs, so we decided to throw them a bone by opening up the taps a little more.
In other news, it’s great to hear that Japan is rolling out the welcome mat to Ukrainians without relatives. However, the skeptic in me can’t help but wonder what the GoJ stands to gain from doing this. Are they trying to boost their refugee numbers in order to silence critics from within the G7?
I ‘love’ this type of story; you see them every now and again.
https://japantoday.com/category/crime/osaka-woman-gives-foreigner-uber-eats-worker-fake-money
20 y/o J-woman who has spent her whole life being fed exceptionalist nihonjinron giron myths about how unique ‘we Japnese’ are v’s all NJ decides that she can scam her NJ uber-eats delivery guy because he’s NJ, and therefore he won’t even know he’s being scammed. Ooops.
This is why institutional racism is such a danger to society; it makes total idiots think that they’re gifted and special geniuses.
Ukrainians without relatives (why?)….look at the picture in the news, they are all young women. Nudge nude wink wink. This is that local Govt guy sponsoring the young “attractive” (his words) Vietnamese girl with dreams to be a doctor (reality; care giver) .
Potential wives of Japanese, or hostesses. Call me a cynic, but I fear they are going to be exploited.
@ Baud We also have to remember that Japan is calling these people „evacuees“ instead of refugees in order to refuse them the rights that refugees would have. They will only get a 6 month visa and basically no support. Nobody knows what will happen after those 6 months, the Japanese government is obviously hoping that the war willl be over by then and that they can send all of them back. This is just Japanese window dressing at work again. Same like the 2016 anti racial discrimination law, that results in no penalties or consequences.
So yes, Japan is definitely just using these people to better their own international image, since the UN and other countries criticized Japan for taking in almost no refugees. I really hope that the UN doesn‘t fall for this cheap trick though. Evacuees are not refugees and an organization like the UN should know this and criticize Japan for it.
My latest take on Japan’s involvement in the Ukrainian crisis is that everyday Japanese are open to the idea of helping for humanitarian reasons…
Japan aid agency head vows support for Ukrainian evacuees
Japan locals eager to help Ukrainian evacuees, over 700 offers made
Japan’s support for Ukrainian evacuees comes in many forms
…whereas the Government of Japan is open to the idea of helping for political reasons:
Kishida pushed for government plane to bring in 20 Ukrainians
Japan’s rare move to welcome Ukraine evacuees made with voters, West in mind: experts
Complicating matters is something all too familiar to regular Debito.org readers: Japan has no coherent framework in place for accepting NJ. The result? Japan’s local bodies accepting Ukrainian evacuees struggling to figure out how to help / 仕事探しや日本語教育 ウクライナ避難民、受け入れる行政も手探り.
On a related note, I’d like to make an important point regarding the word 避難民 (hinanmin). This word can be translated as ‘evacuees’ or ‘refugees’, and is being used by the media to describe the 400+ Ukrainians that have made their way to Japan so-far. However, none of these people have received Long Term Resident Visas (as would be the case if the GoJ recognized them as refugees). Instead, they have been given short-term visas (references here, here and here).
So they’re here for now, but by design, not for long.
In other news, Japan to lift COVID nonresident foreigner entry ban for 106 nations, but Kishida denies Japan will soon resume tourist entry amid pandemic.
My take on 「かりほうめんダイニング」 (i.e. ‘Karihomen Dainingu’ / ‘Provisional release dining’) — it’s a good first step toward educating wajin about the plight of NJ on the fringe of Japanese society:
Event links locals with Japan immigration detainees through fabulous food
仮放免中の外国人 「かりほうめんダイニング」で母国料理 愛知
Finally a survey about racial profiling by the police. I doubt anything will change though.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/04/10/national/foreign-residents-police/
Japan’s population plummeted by 640,000 in 2021 for biggest drop on record and yen is on a record low, but hey, we don’t need immigration, we have robots, right?
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/04/15/national/population-drop-japan-record/
https://japantoday.com/category/business/urgent-yen-tumbles-to-nearly-20-yr-low-against-u.s.-dollar
Yet people cheer for the LDP because they’re keeping the bad “gaijin” out, since only “gaijin” can get infected by covid. Japanese nationals who return from overseas are immune of course.
A quick update on my post about ‘evacuees’ vs. ‘refugees’: Asahi Shimbun has a nice summary article here.
Moving on from that, the latest twist from the GoJ in the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis that they are providing the evacuees a living allowance of $19 a day.
On a related note, in her op-ed, associate professor Naoko Hashimoto at Hitotsubashi University makes the case that the GoJ is discriminating against non-Ukrainian evacuees based on race:
At the same time, the GoJ is considering a system for accepting people as refugee equivalents from a humanitarian standpoint even if they do not fall under the 1951 refugee convention. What is a ‘refugee equivalent’? I guess we’ll have to wait and find out!
Meanwhile, on the topic of Japan’s revolving labor door, a Chinese man gets Japan’s 1st skilled worker visa with no time limit. Of course if the GoJ decides not to renew his visa, then hopefully he’s got enough yen saved up to relocate back to China.
All the while Japan’s population drops by largest figure since 1950.
While the GoJ let in around 30,000 foreign students since March, and plans to have the backlog cleared by May, a question that needs asking is what (if anything) is the GoJ going to to do to regain foreign students’ trust after 2-yr entry ban?
As Professor Takakazu Yamagishi of Nanzan University states, “there needs to be a concerted effort to restore Japan’s image and lure back all the (international) talent that has been lost” and that, “it won’t be that easy to restore trust in Japan among the world’s young people.”
Well, if it were just foreign students that got burned by the GoJ’s ‘zero-entry’ policy, that would be one thing. But this policy also left a foul taste in the mouth of foreign academic institutions as well — so much so that some (including the University of California) have frozen their exchange relationships with Japanese schools (even Nanzan’s partner institutions have demanded Nanzan stop sending them exchange students).
Reference: 令和の鎖国：鎖国の日本「影響は2～5年後」 信頼回復、緩和だけでは不十分
“Why then is Japan giving preferential treatment to Ukrainians? Why does it forsake forced migrants already on its soil and refugees from other countries such as Afghanistan who need to be saved?”
That is not difficult to answer: Japan only identifies with countries and people that the G7 exclusive club of rich countries approve of. Since Ukraine is a “European” country (read white and rich even though it really isn’t that rich and has a lot of people from Middle Eastern decent) Japan cohorts to the club that it is an adopted quasi-member of, by virtue of its wealth, not racial characteristics. Since it is rich but not technically racially white, it is an “honorary member” which binds it to duties it has to perform from time to time, like giving lip-service to refugees. These would never have been accepted unless the other club members were not putting pressure on all the members to behave in certain ways. Besides this, are 20 people people Japan took in a significant number given the millions that have fled their homeland? It is done just so Japan can point its finger and say LOOKY HERE at all the poor refugees we have taken in! Don’t criticize us!
There are wars that are approved of and not approved of by “the club”, so therefore there are refugees that are on the approved, or not-approved-of list. Also given the fact that Japanese have probably worse racial tendencies towards non-white people, than white people themselves do, means that they themselves get to bask in self-righteousness of their own choosing, without really having to bear any real burden or risk their own racial purity very much. They get to have their cake and eat it. i would wager you will never see a non-white refugee on a plane bound for Japan.
Caught with a tiny amount of marijuana? Just blame it on some nebulous and ill-described generic ‘black man in a bar’. That out to do it. Cops don’t care about the cocaine this guy had when there’s an NJ to be arrested for marijuana it seems…
https://japantoday.com/category/crime/tokyo-police-arrest-video-game-youtuber-for-marijuana-possession
What’s really disturbing about this is that in this day and age a 21 year old kid has learned that blaming NJ still flies. He’s all ready acting like the octogenarian recidivists running the place and he’s still got his whole life ahead of him to keep reinforcing inappropriate stereotypes.
Interesting article about a survey that says that Japanese people feel that ‘Japan has become less safe in the last 10 years’, with half of Japanese saying they feel less safe in public spaces and ‘downtown’, yet article chooses to focus on internet crime/fraud instead of telling us why Japanese people are fearing for their safety in public.
Somewhere out there (I’d wager) is a Japanese language article on this survey that blames NJ for this surely? It’s conspicuous by its absence in this ‘for the English speaking world’ so-called news report…
https://japantoday.com/category/national/over-50-in-japan-feel-public-safety-worsened-in-last-10-yrs-survey
@David Markle, yes my response to that question is basically the same: because Ukrainians are (mostly) Caucasian.
@Jim Di Griz, apparently scoring some weed from a ‘black man in a bar’ isn’t the only bad thing you can get from an NJ: according to The Mainichi (English source here and Japanese source here), syphilis patients have been on the rise 2011, with explosive growth seen from 2013. The cause? Among other things, ‘An increase in the number of inbound tourists’ / 「海外客の増加」! Not only is there no data to substantiate this claim, in the very same sentence the article says ‘the exact cause remains unknown’ / 「詳しい原因はわかっていない」. A nebulous and ill-described generic antagonist indeed!
Here are a few more articles that echo my earlier sentiments regarding Japan’s involvement in the Ukrainian crisis:
University of Tokyo accepts 2 Ukrainian researchers fleeing war
Japanese schools seek donations to help Ukrainians continue studies
Refugee-shy Japan accepts Ukrainian evacuees, but lacks support system for long-term stays / ウクライナに帰れなければ…?前例なき受け入れ、避難民の権利曖昧 | 毎日新聞
The thing is, even if the now ~650 Ukrainians who fled to Japan were recognized by the GoJ as actual refugees (and granted long-term residency), it’s doubtful they’d want to stay:
Editorial: Japan’s education system is failing kids with foreign roots / 社説：外国ルーツの子ども 日本語習得支える制度を
48% of foreigners in Japan region earning less than before pandemic: survey / 外国人半数がコロナで「収入減った」 静岡・東部で市民団体調査
Japan foreign technical intern group admits treatment of 3 Vietnamese ‘inappropriate’ / 技能実習機構、不適切対応認める ベトナム3人に労組脱退促す
In other news, 82 foreign students finally enroll in language school in Japan after COVID delays / 新型コロナ 来日「待ち望んだ」 留学生ら82人、日本語学校入学 仙台 ／宮城
Japan objects through official diplomatic channels to Ukrainian anti-Putin video that compares him to Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito.
Japan calls this ‘inappropriate and regrettable’.
Ukrainian ambassador ‘obliged’ to says that the video creator ‘lacked understanding of history’.
What a tipsy-turvy through the looking glass moment.
The video showed an accurate understanding of history that Japanese people ought to be able to agree with but Japan is in denial about its fascist history thanks to decades of historical revisionism from the descendants of war criminals. Shame (in every sense of the word).
https://japantoday.com/category/politics/ukraine-apologizes-for-juxtaposing-japan-emperor-to-hitler-in-video
You don’t see the Germans nor the Italians complaint about this through official diplomatic channels forcing their ambassadors from Ukraine to trot out the suspiciously overused LDP/deniers line of ‘incorrect understanding of history’.
It’s almost as if Japan gave the guy a card to read like a hostage video if he wants to get his aid from Japan. It sounds written for him.
More whitewashing by the Japanese government:
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220425/p2a/00m/0na/020000c
Another interesting thing I found is this video https://youtu.be/bRRIPc1JsHY
Some random guy comes in screaming „no she‘s a gaijin don‘t let her into your store“, the streamer then shows her Japanese passport as proof of citizenship and makes the guy apologize. After that she goes away, but comes back to the area shortly after and the guy continues to harass her and physically pull her around the street. Really nice showing of omotenashi before the reopening to tourists.
Not even being a Japanese citizen has protected this poor woman from discrimination, just because she looks foreign, that guy thinks he has the right to aussault her. And now just think about how all the newspapers would cry about „foreign crime“ if the situation were reversed, or if a Japanese person would receive such treatment in the US ir Europe.
@JDG,
Maybe Hirohito was going a bit far; Tojo would have been perfect.
@Niklas,
Interesting video. ‘Safety Japan’ must be the only developed country where a man can drag a screaming young lady down a busy shopping street and no one does anything.
#misogyny.is.culture
@Andrew in Saitama,
Nah, I don’t think so. He was loving it when it was all going their way. His only comment to the attack on Pearl Harbor after being briefed on the plan by the government was to read a poem which in the years after the surrender has been presented as a nuanced and subtle opposition to the plan. It’s not enough really, is it?
Still, the J-Gov getting high on its own supply has made international news in this instance;
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/26/ukraine-apologises-after-backlash-over-hirohito-image-in-anti-fascism-video
And the following day Ukraine released a video thanking a total of 31 nations for their support. Japan wasn’t on the list (I guess 20 non-refugees and some gas masks doesn’t cut it, on top of bullying Ukraine the day before about the fascists video). The Japanese are butt hurt about that too. Something about karma…
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/04/26/national/ukraine-video-japan-omitted/
@ Jim, Can they replace his pic with one of Tojo’s? He was convicted.
“Japan wasn’t on the list (I guess 20 non-refugees and some gas masks doesn’t cut it, on top of bullying Ukraine the day before about the fascists video). The Japanese are butt hurt about that too.”
Japan is perennially butthurt. The article says they have taken in “hundreds” of refugees, really? All female of course, nudge nudge- Kishi would have approved!
Keisei Railway deploys security guards due to recent knife attacks on its Narita Airport Service Line.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220427/p2a/00m/0na/008000c
„Keisei Electric Railway on April 25 began assigning one security guard wearing a stab vest on each limited express train, with a long distance between stations, to search for suspicious people and objects, and also strengthen the ability to respond in the event of such attacks.“
Why does the pessimist in me think that „suspicious people“ will only apply to NJ and NJ looking people? Well, let‘s hope these guys will be better than the Japanese police, but somehow I doubt it.
Group of lawyers, academics asks Japan’s justice minister for action on hate crimes:
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220430/p2a/00m/0na/015000c
“The justice minister told us that ‘hate crime incidents are criminal offenses and must never be tolerated.’ We wrapped up the meeting in the belief that the national government will demonstrate its stand that hate crimes cannot be permitted.”
Ok, so laws against racial discrimination, when?
Of the many side effects of the invasion of Ukraine is the emergence of a new discriminatory trend in Japan against Russians. The tactics (e.g. bullying, harassing, denying of access) are already familiar to visible minorities, so no change there. What’s different this time is the actor, namely JR East, who covered up a Russian language information sign at Ebisu Station (declaring it to be “under adjustment”) before walking back that decision due to Internet outrage:
JR East removes cover over Russian guide sign at Ebisu Station after online backlash / JR恵比寿駅、ロシア語案内板を紙で覆い隠す ネットでは批判の声
Editorial: Discrimination against Japan’s Russian residents cannot be tolerated / ウクライナ侵攻 日本のロシア人 国籍理由の差別許されぬ
Meanwhile, according to a Mainichi poll, 69% in Japan are calling for the country to accept more Ukrainian evacuees / 避難民受け入れ「もっと」69％, and Kyoto universities are moving to accept students from war-torn Ukraine / ウクライナの学生受け入れ広がる 京都の大学で学費免除など支援.
In other news, the GoJ is printing up new ID cards for Ukrainian evacuees. This is despite the fact that the government has no plans to ease its COVID border controls.
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