Family Mart replies: GAIJIN HANZAI off shelves “within 7 days”

mytest

Just got this reply from a friend named Tom who wrote Family Mart management. –Debito

Hello Debito—

Really quick—I wrote the Family Mart folks a very polite note in Japanese asking them to reconsider stocking the Gaijin Hanzai mag—haven’t received a reply yet. Wrote Famina a similar note and got the belowmentioned reply in less than 10 hours. Glad to see that some folks in Japan are occasionally willing to listen.

Thanks, Tom

======================================
Dear Tom,

Thank you very much for sending e-mail to our ‘info@’
and bringing this matter to our attention.

FamilyMart Japan will have this publication off their shelves
within 7days.

Once again, thank you so much for contacting us
and will continually strive to improve the quality of our
store to meet up to your expectation of Famima!!
as your local community store.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to let us know.

Respectfully,
Hidenari Sato
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FAMIMA CORPORATION
HIDENARI SATO (I¡$B%O%3%(%K(I£¡¡$B%”%`%?%g(I¡$B%R(B
20000 Mariner Ave, Suite 100, Torrance, CA 90503
Tel:310-214-1001
Fax:310-214-7200
e-mail:hsato@famima-usa.com
URL:www.famima-usa.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ENDS

12 comments on “Family Mart replies: GAIJIN HANZAI off shelves “within 7 days”

  • The Famima reply is quite clever, it seems to accommodate your request, but really doesn’t. A magazine of this type would normally be stocked for only a week or two. So they’re just telling you they’re doing nothing different than they originally planned. The magazine will not be restocked, nor will it be pulled early.

    Reply
  • I’m glad that some kind of response has been received by someone. But really, what is the shelf time of a magazine like this anyway? I would have guessed about seven days.

    So this doesn’t sound like a serious response.

    I’ve added info about the boycott at my blog! Thanks to all who are spreading information about this issue.

    Reply
  • FORWARDED ME BY TOM. –DEBITO

    Dear Hidenari,

    Thank you very much for your reply.

    I greatly appreciate your responsiveness to this issue. However, I wonder if simply removing this offensive item from your shelves in 7 days is enough to remedy the problem. Seven days is plenty of time for you to clear out more of your inventory—during those seven days your company will still be profiting from the sale of blatantly racist materials.

    In addition to pulling this offensive item from your shelves, an appropriate response to this issue would be to make a public apology for having made such material available—by making such a formal statement, resident non-Japanese and Japanese alike could know that Family Mart takes a strong position against promoting racism in Japanese society. You might think that Family Mart could lose face by making an apology, but I think Family Mart could gain a lot of respect from the foreign community and from the international community by making such a gesture. By making such an apology, we in the foreign community and all the folks around the world could know that good and decent Japanese people will not stand for such ignorance.

    So I hope you will understand that simply pulling this publication from your store shelves is not adequate—your company needs to acknowledge that the sale of such material was not appropriate. Your company needs to make some kind of statement to the effect that it will not sell such materials again. In most developed countries, this kind of material is considered hate speech—does Family Mart wish to be viewed as the type of business that condones such ideas? Many in the resident non-Japanese community have shopped at Family Mart for many years, and would like to continue to do business with your company. However, without some substantive remedy to the issue at hand I am afraid it will be difficult for us to continue to patronize your establishment in the future without feeling some sense of dissatisfaction.

    This is something for you to think about. Consult your lawyers and see what they say. In the meantime, this issue is already gaining a lot of coverage in major news outlets overseas, and human rights activists in Japan are already exploring the legal implications of this issue. For an example of the media coverage that has already appeared, please see the following:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan/story/0,,2004646,00.html

    Let’s make Japan a better place for EVERYONE!!!

    Best Regards, Tom

    Reply
  • It’s also worth noting that none of the other major Japanese convenience stores stocked it. To give them the benefit of the doubt, it could be said that many stores REFUSED to sell this mag in Japan. Nice to believe that, right?

    I think its also worth sating that the magazine isnt a mag but a “mook”, which are designed to have a long shelf life. They could be restocked and sold for longer so it might be that family Mart is not going to sell any more.

    Not much of a gesture but something at least

    Reply
  • I went by the publisher’s office last night to try to get a few questions in, but they were closed. I think Craig is right, this type of magazine is sort of like a seasonal, in the sense that it can be on the shelves for a while; but at the same time, I don’t see Family Mart losing much here. Who knows if they’ve already gone through most or nearly all of their copies, or if they’ll even pull them off the shelf.

    Reply
  • Actually here in Nagoya I still this magazine on shelves in Family Marts in Kasugai, Narumi, and Kasadera. Also many 7-11s and the major book stores in Sakae, Kanayama, and Nagoya Eki still have it. At the airport here the book kiosks still carry it as well. A manager at a Family Mart in Narumi told my wife he had not heard Family Mart took it off shelves, but he pulled it any way when she showed him the “Oi n*****…” picture in it.

    He also said that almost all Family Marts are frachised and the company would only order the corporate shops to pull it not the franchise outlets.

    –WE’VE BEEN HEARING A LOT OF THIS RECENTLY. IF YOU SEE IT, LET THE SHOPKEEPS KNOW. AS YOU SAY, THEY WILL REMOVE THEM FROM THE SHELVES–THEY PROBABLY JUST DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE ISSUE.

    MEANWHILE, I’M GOING TO BE GIVING MY COPY OF GAIJIN HANZAI TO THE UNITED NATIONS NEXT MONDAY, SO IF ANYONE NO LONGER NEEDS THEIR COPY, FEEL FREE TO PASS IT ON UP TO ME AT 〒069-8585 HOKKAIDO INFORMATION UNIVERSITY ARUDOU DEBITO FOR MY RECORDS. THANKS EVERYONE. DEBITO IN SAPPORO

    Reply

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