KM on how only NJ suspects get named even when J perps also involved in crime

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Hi Blog. Here’s a letter from KM at The Community. Interesting read. Arudou Debito in Sapporo

Hi Community! Here’s something I thought I should share with you today. First, please have a look at the following article:

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http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20081027p2a00m0na014000c.html

Woman arrested for faking marriage to obtain Japanese citizenship for son

A Chinese woman suspected of faking her marriage to a Japanese man just before she gave birth so her son could obtain Japanese citizenship has been arrested, it has been learned.

Metropolitan police arrested Jiang Xinxin, 27, a resident of Tokyo’s Kita-ku, on suspicion of making a false declaration on an official document.

It is the first time a fake marriage arranged to acquire Japanese citizenship for a child has come to light. It is believed that Jiang had been trying to obtain a long-term residence qualification for herself by having her son acquire Japanese citizenship.

“I thought that if my child got Japanese citizenship, then I would be able to keep working in Japan,” police quoted the 27-year-old as saying.

Investigators said that Jiang registered her marriage to a junk dealer from Okaya, Nagano Prefecture, at Okaya City Hall in September 2006, despite having no desire to marry him.

At the time Jiang was eight months’ pregnant. She gave birth in November that year. The child was fathered by a 33-year-old Chinese man, who is now serving time over an immigration law violation. Jiang reportedly paid about 1 million yen to people including a 44-year-old Japanese female broker, who introduced her to a man who could fill the role of husband. The broker also faces charges for making false declarations on official documents.

Jiang got divorced in May 2007. The child is currently being brought up by Jiang’s family in China. If the crime allegations against Jiang are confirmed, then the boy’s family register will be amended and he will lose his Japanese citizenship.

(Mainichi Japan) October 27, 2008

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I’m wondering why the name of the Chinese woman has been published but not the name of her Japanese accomplice (that is, the man she had the fake wedding with).

I first read this article in Japanese, in the paper version of the Asahi paper I get at my house. I found the same article on line:

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http://www.asahi.com/national/update/1026/TKY200810260169.html

中国人同士の子に日本籍 出産直前、日本人と偽装結婚

2008年10月27日3時2分

 中国人の女が、同居する中国人の男との間にもうけた男児を出産する直前、日本人の男と偽装結婚し、生まれてきた男児に日本国籍を取得させていたことが警視庁の調べでわかった。同庁は、子供に日本国籍を与えることで、自分も日本で働き続けるのが目的だったとみている。

 男児は現在、中国で暮らしている。中国の事情に詳しい同庁の捜査員は「同じような経緯で日本国籍を得た子供が中国国内に確認されている。具体的な数はわからないが多数だ」と証言する。今回、明らかになったケースは氷山の一角とみられ、偽装結婚をめぐる新たな問題が明らかになった形だ。

 組織犯罪対策1課と練馬署などによると、女は姜欣欣被告(27)=電磁的公正証書原本不実記録・同供用罪で起訴。01年10月に留学のため入国し、千葉県の私立大学に通うなどしていた。06年9月、長野県岡谷市の日本人の男(47)=同罪で起訴=との間で、婚姻届を出すだけの偽装結婚をしたとされる。

 姜被告はその2カ月後の06年11月、男児を出産。日本名が付けられ、岡谷市の男の実子として戸籍に記載された。

 しかし、男児は実際は、姜被告が同居していた不法就労ブローカーの陳錐被告(33)=入管法違反罪などで公判中=との間の子。姜被告は偽装結婚後も陳被告と暮らし、出産後は男児と3人で生活。大学へ通いながら東京・秋葉原の免税店などで働き続けていた。姜被告は「偽装結婚は日本で長く働くためだった」と供述したという。姜被告は、男児誕生から約半年後、岡谷市の男と「離婚」した。

 男は警視庁に「姜被告は初めて会ったときからおなかが大きかった」と話したという。男は、偽装結婚を仲介した長野県のブライダル会社から54万円の報酬を受け取っていた。

一方、陳被告も07年2月、長野県箕輪町の女(40)=電磁的公正証書原本不実記録・同供用罪で起訴=と偽装結婚している。

 姜被告は今年4月、出身地の中国・山東省に男児を渡航させ、男児は姜被告の親族に育てられているという。

 法務省によると、姜被告の偽装結婚に伴う罪が確定すれば、手続きを経て男児の戸籍が訂正され、日本国籍を失うことになる。しかし偽装結婚が摘発されず、偽装結婚の事実が法的に認定されない場合は子供の日本国籍は維持される。問題を解決するには摘発を続けるしかないのが現状だ。

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According to the Japanese article both the Chinese woman and the Japanese man are being prosecuted. Yet, only the name of the Chinese woman has been published. Well, that’s not exactly right — the name of her Chinese husband, the real father of the child, has also been published in the Asahi article. The Japanese Asahi article says that he is being prosecuted for violation of immigration laws. His occupation is listed rather matter-of-factly as “broker for the employment of illegal immigrants.” At any rate, the name of the father is also being dragged through the mud, though he is being prosecuted for an offense that is not directly related to the subject of the article.

Finally, I thought it was interesting that the part of the Nerima police force that deals with organized crime was cited in the article. So, what kind of organized crime is this? Might not the Japanese man (who, again, is being prosecuted) have affiliations with organized crime?

The English article includes the following: “Jiang reportedly paid about 1 million yen to people including a 44-year-old Japanese female broker, who introduced her to a man who could fill the role of husband. The broker also faces charges for making false declarations on official documents.”

Hmmm. I think I see a pattern here. If a foreigner is involved, even tangentially, publish the name. If a Japanese person is involved, respect their privacy. Problematic coverage, don’t you think?

ENDS

8 comments on “KM on how only NJ suspects get named even when J perps also involved in crime

  • i completely agree with you debito, and the newspapers are not the only one are guilty of doing this, because it also happens on television..so this is indeed a strange and twisted pattern that has been going on for some time now..where i come from its called slander,,

    Reply
  • Andrew Smallacombe says:

    Does anyone remember those “24 hour up-close” specials on the police, where one of the catch phrases was “foreign criminals”?
    I remember one from back in ’92 or ’93 where a group of Iranians were selling drugs to people on the street. The faces of the Iranian dealers were fully exposed. The faces of their Japanese customers (that’s right, drug users) were pixellated over.

    Reply
  • Well, you’re going to love this, if you haven’t already seen it. Seems like Shizuoka Police have a handbook telling locals to keep an eye on foreigners. Even to have store staff go out and take their license plate numbers down! http://www.zone81.com/arch_news/1030420647324
    It happened to me at a Circle-K in Iwata-shi once, someone came out, stood in front of my car and wrote down my number. When I asked “WTF?” I was told it was in their crime prevention manual from the local gendarmes. I found a link on the police site a little later and verified it. (Not sure if it’s still there or not.) I fired off an e-mail to the Tokyo HQ of Circle-K threatening to sue Circle-K, and to launch a web campaign against them. The very next day a Snr. Management guy showed up, gift in hand and apologized. As did the staff at the store next time I visited. (Zero tolerance. That’s my attitude. Taking on SPP was a bit out of my scope of activity at the time, and now I’m outside Japan so it’s moot for me, but be my guest! Apparently senior officers have quashed an internal affairs investigation into a vast slush fund they’ve accumulated, said to be the biggest in the country. Not the folks I’d trust at all, the SPP)
    But having J-citizens monitor NJ residents IS the official Shizuoka Prefectural Police policy. They even counsel reporting on J-citizens if they are seen with NJ, or are heard speaking foreign languages to them. The kenpeitai are alive and well, it seems, in Shizuoka! Be warned!

    — Yep, I’ve already seen it. In fact, Zone81 is copying the report I wrote in its entirety without acknowledgment of Debito.org. Thanks for spreading the word, anyway, Zone81, I guess. And do you have any evidence for the claims in the last paragraph? We’d love to hear it! Debito

    Reply
  • It is inappropriate and unfair to make the Chinese father’s name public and to withhold the names of the Japanese perpetrators.

    The Chinese father’s name shouldn’t be publicized. Two points must be reminded.

    1) This fake marriage which involves an expected baby is unlikely to have been carried out without the Chinese father’s knowledge. That said, that didn’t have him prosecuted as an accomplice. Therefore, his name shouldn’t have been put in the article.

    2) Both (Japanese) Mainichi and the Mainichi Daily News, which don’t mention the Chinese father’s name, describe him as “now serving time over an immigration law violation.” In contrast, Asahi, the newspaper which mentions his name, also mentions him as a broker for the employment of illegal immigrants. Asahi also writes he is now being put on trial for violation of Immigration Law and other laws.
    It is not clear from the Asahi article for what reason he is on trial now. It may be due to his being “a broker for the employment of illegal immigrants.” Also, considering his connections due to his position as asserted “broker,” he may have played some role in making contact to the Japanese female broker who introduced the Chinese woman to the fake Japanese father in Okaya. All things considered, however, the Asahi article, lacking specific descriptions of his involvement in the fake marriage, shouldn’t have publicized his name.

    It is a serious defect of the articles that they didn’t write the names of the Japanese perpetrators.

    Marriage is a very personal thing. It is very hard for the third party to know whether a marriage is true or fake. In essence, the last bastion to prevent a fake marriage from happening would be the sense of morality and dignity of the people concerned. On the other hand, without the help of brokers who would have connections to crime organizations in many cases, it would be very hard for fake-marriage seekers to get their counterparts.

    Therefore, it is of critical importance to prevent such a kind of crime that those brokers, and Japanese fake husbands and wives as well, be punished properly. While these articles which publicized only foreigners’ names and withheld Japanese names should be criticized, as Debito argues, from the point of fairness and equal treatment, they are also defective for the very reason I have explained above.

    Lastly, I think it is worth mentioning that a fake marriage involving an expected baby is a serious violation of the baby’s human rights, using the nationality as means of gaining benefits of the parents.

    FYI, I have found two Mainichi articles (Nov. 1 and 8) which cover fake marriage cases involving Japanese and foreigners. They write all the names of arrested Japanese perpetrators, but withhold some names of the foreigners involved. Unfortunately, there seem to be no English translations. I put the links, anyway.
    http://mainichi.jp/area/niigata/news/20081101ddlk15040112000c.html
    http://mainichi.jp/area/chiba/archive/news/2008/11/08/20081108ddlk12040164000c.html

    Reply
  • Debito, I thought this work, as I found it above, was written by you, but as you said, there’s no acknowledgment. On the last issue of the SPP using locals to “spy” as it were on NJ and J-citizens who associate with them, I recall (and it’s from about 2004 or 2005, an article I saw in the Daily Yomiuri) with fuzzy memory on my part, about how “we all need to work together to clamp down on foreign crime, and those who help them” type of piece. It was one of a series which prompted me to cancel my subscription in disgust. Sorry I can’t be more detailed, but I can assure you it’s not just a figment of my imagination.

    Reply
  • debito,

    just goes to show the great work youre doing..
    i suppose you should be happy that this info is reaching a potentially wider audience..
    understand though that it must be annoying that they didnt even credit you…

    — Wellllll, it’s even more annoying that they’re trying to claim copyright over stuff on their site when they don’t even acknowledge that it was written by somebody else, and that Debito.org allows for free use of information as long as the source is acknowledged…

    From Zone81:

    The contents of zone81 are intended for the personal, noncommercial use of its Users. All materials published on zone81 (including, but not limited to articles, photographs, images, illustrations, audio clips and video clips, also known as “The Content”) are protected by copyright, and owned or controlled by zone81, or the party credited as the provider of the content, software, or other materials. User shall abide by all additional copyright notices, information, or restrictions contained in any Content accessed through the Service. Spammers will have their accounts revoked immediately with no negotiation or explaination.
    zone81.com is protected by copyright under Japanese copyright laws and other copyright laws. User can not modify, manipulate, transmit or sell the contents of zone81.com.

    http://www.zone81.com/arch_zone81/policies

    I have written to them (info@zone81.com) asking them to add an acknowledgment of source. No answer as yet. Debito

    Reply
  • I’m very glad to see all the interesting and informative discussion occasioned by Debito’s forwarding (with the addition of the text from the articles cited) of my e-mail message. Thanks Debito! One thought I had as I was putting it together was about how journalists get their information from the police. I wonder if it was a journalistic decision not to publish the names of the Japanese involved or a decision that was made by the police. I suspect that the police play the most important role in determining what does and does not find its way into the media. Does anyone out there have any insight into this aspect of the issue?

    KM in Kumamoto

    Reply

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