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Hi Blog. I know it’s a couple of weeks in, but Happy New Year! May all Debito.org Readers feel safe and happy, and professionally secure and fulfilled in 2023!
I’ll classify this as one of my Debito.org Newsletters, since I haven’t put one up on Debito.org for a few months.
As regular Readers know, the second half of 2022 was particularly quiet for me as a blogger. Not as an author, of course, as I still put out my regular monthly Shingetsu News Agency “Visible Minorities” Columns. And not as a professional, as I have been employed full time in recent semesters with six classes teaching hundreds of students Political Science. All of my energies have been going towards crafting lectures and powerpoints, grading, and lecturing. Last semester alone, despite Covid, I held 210 in-person classes, and enjoyed every minute of them. I love teaching. It’s probably as much my calling as writing and research.
That is why blogging here on Debito.org has taken a back seat as of late. Also, my teaching involves Japan a lot less, as I’m teaching courses on other governmental systems, and reminding myself that it’s a big, complex world out there with lots to talk about. Many times the things on my mind aren’t something I see as materiel for this blog, so I’ve had trouble getting my writing mojo going.
(But if my thoughts on issues that aren’t necessarily Japan-specific are also of interest to Debito.org Readers, please let me know as such in the Comments section below.)
But one thing that makes me thankful: Debito.org Readers are still thinking about the issues long discussed here, and are carrying on the conversation even if I’m busy elsewhere. You can see their comments both under my posts and under the Debito.org Newsletters.
Thank you everyone for keeping the torch lit. I’ll try to do better but I can’t promise. I’m teaching another six classes this semester, and anticipating enjoying it just as much as ever.
Thank you all for reading Debito.org. Sincerely, Debito
======================
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36 comments on “DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER, JAN 17, 2023: Happy New Year! And Debito.org’s relative inactivity”
Great post and understood. Maybe allow someone like JK to “direct” the site in your absence. I notice that there are not many newcomers posting.
@Scipio
It would be an honor and a privilege to provide Dr. Debito a helping hand with the site from time-to-time.
While it’s obvious he enjoys teaching, we certainly don’t want him to become karoshi / 過労死 from overwork!
Hi Dr. Debito,
Personally, I’d like to get your take on OpenAI’s ChatGPT — do you foresee the need to change how you give your students exams and essay assignments?
For the teaching that you do which is Japan-related, it might be worth asking your students their thoughts on why Kishida has been so busy as of late with travel to France, Italy, the UK, the US, and Canada (here’s a hint).
I checked out the article on Japan’s militarisation. Informative and thorough, although, even before reading it, I had a feeling that might be the reason for his travels to begin with, given how it was covered in the media.
The LDP and the Japanese right in general like to paint China as this existential threat. However, as much as I understand how detrimental the CCP is to its own citizens as well as parts of the world (much more in Africa than it probably ever will be to Japan), I still fail to see a justification for such a dramatic military budget increase. Being the layman I am, I can’t see much of a threat to Japan itself except trade, obviously, sea routes and access to resources in the South China Sea (which should be left alone to begin with if we don’t want to completely destroy the only biosphere we have).
I do suspect industries that profit from such an arms race play a role in this. Also, ideologically, Nippon Kaigi-affiliated politicians see militarisation as desirable and noble, a move away from the “humiliating” peacefulness imposed on Japan after WWII.
I’ve heard the argument that, “If Japan doesn’t defend itself, China will attack Japan and do to the Japanese the same as they did to Uyghurs”. This is not only extremely ignorant of how things work (who would China sell its goods to made by those Uyghur workers?) but also adds a bit of projection from the far right and their nostalgia for times when Japan was doing exactly that.
But as I say, I’m just a layman with a deep distrust of politicians and their motivations in general.
Well, in exactly the same way that the Japanese right wing can’t understand that Japan’s 1960s-1980s economic boom wouldn’t have happened if they had won the war (dead/subjugated gaijin don’t buy Sony walkmans, panasonic VHS players or Toyota cars), they can’t understand that it is counterproductive for China to attack Japan (unless Japan assists the US military in clashes against China).
As I have been pointing out here for weeks, the US military position is that it can’t defend Japan in a war with China to protect Taiwan.
See last weeks news about leaked Pentagon war game outcomes.
Looks like BBC News Japan correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes has sent his last dateline; Tokyo, and what a bombshell!
After years of joining in with the whitewashing and ‘fluff-pieces’, he’s finally calling Japan out on EVERYTHING!
I am flabbergasted! He agrees with virtually every position taken by Debito.org and its contributing readers.
It’s a long read, but well worth it for the ‘I can’t believe you’ve been seeing the truth all along’ factor.
Highlights for me include (but are not limited to!);
‘it also has alt-right admirers for refusing immigration and maintaining the patriarchy’
‘they are all foreigners’
‘even fearful of the outside world.’
‘The village was on the path to extinction, yet the thought of it being invaded by “outsiders” was somehow worse.’
‘hostility to immigration has not wavered’
And it goes on! Sexism, misogyny, LDP vested interests- he’s burning it all down!
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63830490.amp
— Yes, and yet he contradicts himself at the end, by saying that change will make it lose “the things that make it so special”.
Thanks for the link and summary, Jim.
It doesn’t really surprise me anymore to see the kinds of comments from those people reflecting their xenophobia. But it always baffles me in a way since the Japan I experienced was a diverse one. I lived in Tokyo and most of my friends were people who were immigrating to Japan, like me. They mostly spoke good Japanese, most of them had jobs at Japanese companies or institutions, and were fitting in.
It’s just sad that my mostly positive experience in Japan would probably be seen as some kind of a violation or imposition from these xenophobic villagers who probably wished I was never there in the first place.
(side note: your description of Atsugiri Jason years ago is still one of the best comments I’ve ever read on the internet: https://www.debito.org/?p=13443#comment-1033158)
I wholeheartedly agree.
New film sheds light on plight of Japanese-Brazilians
Additional information about the film here:
ファミリア (映画)
映画『ファミリア』公式サイト
🎬映画『ファミリア』絶賛公開中 (@familia_movie) / Twitter
UN member states urge Japan to improve treatment of migrants
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230203/p2g/00m/0in/006000c
Props to Nagoya Fureai Union and Nowami Consultation Center in Aichi Prefecture for helping out NJ in need:
‘I was suddenly fired’: Central Japan groups aid foreign workers laid off amid pandemic / 外国人労働者、続く切り捨て 「突然クビに」途絶えない相談
Let’s see where this goes:
Japanese city set to introduce human rights ordinance with penalties including fines / ヘイトスピーチ規制「人権条例」まとまる 悪質行為に過料 相模原
It’s going to take a lot more than a website to fix this damage:
IT firm, lawyer team create site to help foreign workers in Japan
Arai was talking about sexual minorities, but I’d be willing to bet that would “not want to live next door” to visible minorities and would even “hate even to see them” too:
Aide to Japan PM says he would “hate” to see LGBT couple
Oh good lord, where to even start with the inane self-satisfaction of blowing your own nations trumpet over something your nation is actively denying the non-famous? Face, meet palm.
https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/10-year-old-becomes-first-official-dual-national-kabuki-actor
Here’s the GoJ’s latest scheme to attract NJ talent: the “special highly skilled personnel system”.
Japan sets new, simplified visa track for skilled foreigners
Japan to expand system to attract more foreign workers with advanced skills / 外国人材受け入れの新制度創設 年収2000万円以上で在留資格
Given the weak Yen, I am not sure why any highly skilled and paid NJ would come here other than for anime or some other preccadillo. Meanwhile, Japan continues to import another kind of worker- article does not perhaps go deep enough into why this, err, demand, is so deeply engrained – foreign women trafficked into prostitution.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20170609/p2a/00m/0na/022000c
A related article mentions the court awarded them damages but not for the coerced prostitution. Worried about setting a Comfort Woman precedent?
So much for attempting to enact symbolic changes aimed at encouraging NJ to engage in civic activities:
City shelves bid to clarify that foreign residents are citizens
From the article:
Ironically, most of the public comments came from outside Kumamoto prefecture!:
And for good measure, “many public comments also blasted another part of the proposal that would have stated the city is committed to promoting a multicultural society.”
@JK – a confusing article. It says: “Foreign nationals are already treated as citizens under the ordinance. ” (what ordinance?)
Then later says “… may lead to the eventual right to vote for foreigners..”
So foreigners don’t have the right to vote, or do they?
— I think it’s a translation problem. Shimin vs Kokumin. The latter is “citizen” (with voting rights), the former is “city citizen” (or resident), without voting rights. Foreigners are “shimin” after local registration, but not “kokumin” until they naturalize.
@debito OK thanks. Then it’s an English usage problem because then the sentence “Foreign nationals are already treated as citizens under the ordinance” is objectively and unquestionably wrong, and probably even designed to mislead the reader.
Update: Japan city stumbles over plan to recognize foreigners as citizens
From the article: “The city of Kumamoto in southwestern Japan, which currently only defines its citizens as residents as well as people studying there, had planned to add the phrase “those with a foreign nationality” amid a growing foreign population.”
My concern is that this good intention on the part of Kumamoto city is going to end up as paving material for the road to hell, namely that there will be such blow-back that NJ will stop being counted as shimin / 市民 (city residents).
In other news, a Saudi sovereign wealth fund has become the biggest outside Nintendo investor.
From the article, “the purchase of Nintendo and other gaming stocks entangles the video game companies into the politics surrounding Saudi Arabia and its assertive 37-year-old crown prince. Nintendo did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Saudi investment. The Public Investment Fund did not immediately acknowledge increasing its holdings in Nintendo.”
The GoJ needs to amend the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act in order to “solve the problem of foreigners being detained at immigration facilities for long periods of time.”:
Protesters take aim against controversial immigration bill
Protests held across Japan against proposed changes to immigration law / 「排除でなく受け入れを」入管法改正案に抗議、大阪で150人デモ
入管難民法改正に反対する全国一斉運動 名古屋でも80人がデモ行進
This sounds good, but there’s a slight problem: the system itself is breaking the rules! Specifically, Article 33(1) of the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of refugees (of which Japan is a signatory):
I do agree with him on one point though: long-term detentions should be quickly resolved…by granting the detainees refugee status!
References:
Cabinet approves proposals for Japan immigration law changes
Cabinet approves bill to speed up deportations of illegal stayers
EDITORIAL: Detention system needs improving before speeding up deportations
Editorial: Immigration bill shows Japan gov’t has learned nothing about human rights / 社説：入管法の改正案 人権軽視への反省見えぬ
入管法の改正案を閣議決定 難民申請中の送還が可能 対決法案に
So much for the GoJ trying to actively encourage community participation by foreign residents (i.e. ~2% of the total population):
Just 16% of Japan assembly heads open to foreigner referendum voting
Back in May 2022, the FCCJ hosted a special performance of a bunraku play from 1959 called ‘The White Buddha’ which depicts the social stigma around a biracial boy in 1950s Japan.
Almost as interesting as the play itself is how it got resurrected:
Wow, there’s lots to unpack here! Where to start?
The fact that this case has ended up going all the way to the Supreme Court speaks volumes about what’s wrong with the Technical Intern Training Program:
Former intern argues that she didn’t abandon stillborn twins
I have to admit, Kyodo’s honesty is refreshing:
References:
Japan to introduce GPS trackers to prevent int’l bail jumping
Bill gets OK from Cabinet to track defendants out on bail with GPS
Dr. Debito, I’d be curious to get your take on this story:
A hate crime lays bare Hawaii’s complicated race relations
In particular, have you encountered racism while in Hawaii (e.g. called a ‘haole’)?
— Certainly. Going into neighborhoods that are majority Native Hawaiian will get you “the stare” (if not outright confrontation), as often will darkening the doorstep of academic departments such as Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Studies and Ethnic Studies. Grievance politics are supercharged in Hawaii, as they are throughout Oceania. Understandably, given the legacy of the land grabs and the “Bayonet Constitution”. But the indiscriminate resentment of anyone who “looks” like a historical colonizer alienates natural allies, and is in my view counterproductive for the sovereignty movements.
Spoiler alert: Indonesian technical interns are keeping Ishinomaki city itself afloat, not just its fishing industry!:
Indonesian interns keep fisheries afloat in city hit by 3/11
Heck, they’re literally supporting the local festival:
Indonesian technical interns are not just part of the scenery, they’re part of the society.
One final thought from the article: if “living with foreign workers represents the way for our town to survive”, then living with naturalized Japanese and Japanese with foreign-roots represents the way for Ishinomaki to thrive.
Japanese scientists develop technology for two ‘fathers’ to create a child;
https://japantoday.com/category/national/'revolutionary'-scientists-create-mice-with-two-fathers
When I saw this in international news last week, they were gushing over the opportunities it opens for single men and gay couples, but all I kept thinking was that in Japan (a country with gender equality ranking of 116th out of 146 countries, and Nippon Kaigi’s explicit goal of returning to pre-surrender laws making women property) they have found a way to make women obsolete! They have found a way to take away all of womanhood’s agency.
Well, they would still need a womb for gestation. But any womb would do. Could be a vietnamese one.
Some good news for a change: On March 15th, the Osaka District Court ordered the GoJ to recognize a Ugandan woman as a refugee after she fled to Japan out of fear of being persecuted because she is gay.
Court orders gay Ugandan woman to be granted refugee status
Ugandan woman granted refugee status in Japan offers hope for sexual minorities / 「難民鎖国」日本、同性愛迫害での認定わずか3件 入管の問題点は
And there’s more: On March 17th, the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau granted a ‘designated activities’ visa to Andrew High which will allow him to remain in Japan for up to a year (he had previously only been granted a temporary visa).
Japan grants long-term visa to gay U.S. man wed to Japanese
The good news continues: On March 17th, the Tokyo District Court ordered the Tokyo metropolitan government to pay damages over the 2017 death of Arjun Bahadur Singh, a Nepalese man who was forcibly restrained while in police custody. The only drawback is that the family had sought ~62 million yen in damages (~$469,100) but will only be awarded ~1 million yen ($7,500).
Tokyo gov’t ordered to pay damages for death of arrested Nepalese man
And last, but not least, the Kagawa prefecture government has called on local hotel operators to stop asking foreign residents for identification when they check in.
Hotels in western Japan urged not to request foreign residents’ ID
＠JK
Hotels in western Japan urged not to request foreign residents’ ID
To quote from the article:
”Mun Gong Hwi from the Osaka-based nonprofit organization the Multi-Ethnic Human Rights Education Center for Pro-existence said that “changing one’s response based on nationality with no logical reasoning is discrimination. I want to spread the knowledge of Kagawa Prefecture’s approach as a good example.”
They almost got it right. I don’t know why this is so difficult to understand. The hotel demands are not based on nationality, they are based on race. I’ve never once been asked for my nationality at a hotel in Japan, but I have been asked for my passport plenty of times. It’s just racial profiling.
@JK
RE:Tokyo gov’t ordered to pay damages for death of arrested Nepalese man
I mean, you know that’s our taxes paying those damages, not any of the government officials. So the government doesn’t give a f*ck and those same people will still be in power.
The big NJ-related news this week is that the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Le Thi Thuy Linh was not guilty of corpse abandonment in November of 2020 when she placed the bodies of her stillborn twin boys in a cardboard box and left them on a shelf in her room for around 33 hours along with a letter of apology.
Japan top court acquits Vietnam trainee of abandoning stillborn twins
Top court acquits ex-foreign intern of abandoning stillborn twins
【死産の双子“遺棄”】最高裁で逆転無罪 ベトナム人元実習生
【速報】ベトナム人元技能実習生の双子遺棄事件で逆転無罪判決 最高裁(2023年3月24日)
【外国人技能実習生】「無罪判決を聞き本当に心からうれしい」最高裁で逆転無罪判決 ベトナム人元技能実習生が“孤立出産” 死産した双子の遺体を遺棄｜TBS NEWS DIG
This is a rare legal victory for an NJ in the highest court in the land, but as I mentioned here, it’s a battle that never should have needed to be fought in the first place. Rather, the elephant in the room that needs addressing is the 30-year old Technical Intern Training Program.
Another new ‘record’: in 2022, the Immigration Services Agency granted refugee status to a whopping 202 people which surpasses the previous high of 74 in 2021.
At the same time, the agency has unveiled its refugee recognition guidelines for the first time since they were compiled (which was way back in December 2014!).
As I see it, the move towards greater transparency at this point in time is designed to take heat off of the GoJ ahead of upcoming changes to the immigration law.
Agency compiles first guidelines for refugee recognition
Japan unveils guidelines on refugee status recognition for 1st time
Speaking of refugee recognition (or rather, the lack thereof), a year later and there are now 2,351 Ukrainian ‘evacuees’ in Japan:
Editorial: Japan should expand support for foreign evacuees escaping horrors abroad / ウクライナ侵攻1年 難民の受け入れ 支える仕組みを広げたい