GAIJIN HANZAI Magazine becomes a “Taboo” topic in a 2007 magazine, victimizing J publisher

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Hi Blog. Here’s something that’s been sitting on my server since September 2007 (!!) and I’ve finally decided to put up now. (Didn’t want to encourage sales of something like this by attracting attention to it until long after the fact.)

A magazine on “Taboos”, sent to me more than two years ago by MS, tells the story of the reactionary gaijin who took the “Gaijin Hanzai Ura File” mook to task for the lies and hate speech it was spreading on convenience store newsstands nationwide (substantiation of that all here).  And portrays that pitifully misunderstod publisher, Eichi Shuppan Inc., which went bankrupt within two months of releasing that mook, as victim.

It has quotes from me (even of me laughing) that it never garnered through any interviews (they apparently talked to Eichi, but I received no communication from this publication), and shows me as some sort of fearsome activist (thanks, I guess).  It of course offers no counterarguments to Eichi’s spurious published assertions, for example about the rise of NJ crime (I would have given those counterarguments if they’d only asked), accepting their assertions at face value.  And of course we have no real debate on whether or not the book was actually telling the truth or not (obviously, as I argued in many venues, it wasn’t).  For all the research they did pulling my written quotes out of context, they didn’t cite my questions of the veracity of the portrayals that assiduously at all.

In other words, it’s a debate that once again favors and victimizes Team Japan.  Those poor victimized convenience stores responding to public pressure (yeah, like that worked for “Mr James”; McDonald’s basically ignored us).  It couldn’t just be that the stores carrying the mook were convinced by our arguments about its exaggerated and errant claims and hateful tone now, could it?  Naw, Japanese lost to the foreigners, therefore the foreigners didn’t fight fair.  And now because of that, we have yet another “taboo” that hurts We Japaneses’ Freedom of Speech.

Hardly a “taboo” here.  You overdid it, and lost the debate.  That’s all.  And if you spread lies and hate speech in public again like this, you should be called on it again and debated against.  And if you lose the debate (moreover your company after your risky business decisions), don’t put it down to sour grapes and blame the other side for your losing.  Take responsibility for your actions like an adult, and put it down to publishing stupid things that were trying to defame and hurt people, particularly Japan’s NJ residents.  You lost.  Live with it.  Arudou Debito in Sapporo

(Click on any image to expand in your browser)

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ENDS

10 comments on “GAIJIN HANZAI Magazine becomes a “Taboo” topic in a 2007 magazine, victimizing J publisher

  • 「有道出人氏に〜証言してもらった」 They had you testify???
    One would think there would be legal action you could take for them lying if you never were contacted. Of course the typical Japanese omission of the subject of the sentence could prove a loophole as it doesn’t exactly say who had you testify…
    Start another recall movement? Probably not worth the effort as the only ones who really take these sort of books seriously are those who are just looking for confirmation for their conspiracy theories.

    Reply
  • Question: If blatant lies are acceptable, and maybe even profitable, what is to stop someone from “interviewing” the taboo magazine people, and making up their answers?

    — Er, ethics?

    Reply
  • Funny how when Eichi shuts down over the magazine, it’s boo hoo as you said.

    Yes when Waiwai shuts down over articles translated from Japanese sources, it’s “good riddance to scum who are trying to bash Japan”.

    Note to publishers and 2channers: You can’t have it both ways (if you expect to be taken seriously.)

    — But you see, Team Japan wants it both ways at all times. That way they can’t lose.

    Reply
  • > Simon

    But you see, Waiwai was based on Japanese tabloid sources that were obviously untrue, while the content in the Eichi mook is… I mean, come on! They’re Koreans and Chinese! They have to be true, by common sense!

    I guess that would be the (il)logic the publishers and 2channelers will pull out of their anus…

    — Anything critical of Japan is a personal affront to these people. Chinese and Koreans, however, since they’re victimizing us, are fair game.

    Reply
  • Deepspacebeans says:

    Simon: I knew it! We should have just released an English language version of the magazine for them. That way, the right wingers in the internet community could be gladdened that we got rid of something which makes Japan look like a bunch of xenophobic cooks and we could have roused up enough press to pressure all those conbinis to stop distributing. win-win. All we have to do is make it a national frakking embarrassment.

    … Or we will be pummeled with Japanese MSM coverage that portrays the publisher as the victim of some sort of foreign media agenda to control speech in our country.

    The logic of “Don’t quote us verbatim, that’s slander” never ceases to entertain me. What is written in Japanese, stays in Japanese.

    Reply
  • Debito, Debito,

    It’s obvious this is the work of one of the most powerful of gods, the Shinto god of Spite.

    This god survives (and hides) because his followers build his shrines not out of wood, but in their hearts.

    Reply
  • I now have this Blue Oyster Cult song stuck in my head – something like “oh no, there goes Tokyo go go Debito”

    now all we need someone with some photoshop skills…

    Reply
  • I was unaware of this “book” when it was published back in 2007, and only found out about it from this blog. I’ve done some quick research and found some scans, too… I was shocked. Not only by the fact that such a pathetic excuse for a book was ever sold, but by the way “Team Japan” is fighting tooth and nail to prove that the publisher was well within its right and those pesky foreigners had their way yet again.

    Same goes for the article Debito posted here. Journalists are supposed to stay impartial and only publish a story once they’ve made contact with all sides involved. I guess that’s not the case here. At the risk of sounding like any other 4-channer out there, I only have two words for this… epic fail.

    “I now have this Blue Oyster Cult song stuck in my head – something like “oh no, there goes Tokyo go go Debito”

    now all we need someone with some photoshop skills…”

    I’m pretty good with Photoshop. What did you have in mind? 🙂

    Reply

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