Kazuo Kitagawa, secretary-general of ruling coalition partner Komeito, has voiced support for opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) leader Ichiro Ozawa’s suggestion of considering submitting a bill to give foreigners with permanent residence status the right to vote in local elections.
毎日：公明党の北側一雄幹事長は２３日の記者会見で、民主党の小沢一郎代表が永住外国人に地方選挙権を付与する法案の提出を検討する考えを示したことについて「ぜひまとめて、提出してもらいたい。民主党には反対論もあった。まとめていただくなら歓迎だ」と述べた。
朝日：永住外国人に地方自治体の選挙権を認める法案が、与党の結束を揺さぶる波乱要因となる可能性が出てきた。在日韓国人を中心に待望論があり、公明党などが繰り返し提出してきたが、そのつど自民党内から反発が出て成立していない。ところが、民主党の小沢代表が成立に向けて踏み出し、公明党がその動きに期待を表明した。民主党案が提出されれば、与野党で賛否が入り乱れる構図となりそうだ。
Speaking in Urawa, Saitama, at Wakuwaku Fiesta–an open forum to promote mutual understanding between Japanese and non-Japanese citizens of Saitama. We will have our own suggestions and find solutions to commonly encountered day-to- day problems. Together we hope to help build Saitama City as “Foreigners’ favorite City to live in”! With a diet member involved, you can express your ideas like how to improve foreigner’s rights to a country policy level. Date: January 26, 2008 Time: 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm 「Open Forum」…
Per Bodner, a professional photo journalist from Sweden (8 years resident in Japan, married with a house here), was arrested and charged with a alleged assault on a Tokyo taxicab driver right outside the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan on his way home from work November 28. His account of the incarceration and legal treatment (and ignored testimony) as a defendant, presented at the FCCJ December 12, 2007, blogged here.
As advertised in my previous blog entry, I gave a speech at Waseda today. You can download my Powerpoint presentation and substantiating paper from links in this blog entry.
WASEDA UNIVERSITY DOCTORAL STUDENT NETWORK PRESENTS A SYMPOSIUM:
“Implications of Japanese domestic human rights record (for foreign residents or Japanese) on Asian Integration”
JANUARY 22, 2008 5PM-7PM,
FEATURED SPEAKERS: Kawakami Sonoko, Amnesty International, Katsuma Yasushi, Associate Professor, Waseda University, and Arudou Debito.
ABC Radio Australia: “The new regulations, supposedly aimed at eradicating illegal residents, is just going to push them underground more than anything,” Dr Burgess told Radio Australia. “I think, in some ways this is a poorly thought out policy and just a knee-jerk reaction to public attitudes which demand more to be done to tackle the foreign crime – a myth that you see in newspapers all the time, that foreigners are criminals; unfounded statistically, but that’s the myth.” Coupla other comments worth viewing/listening to…
Christian Science Monitor: “Certainly, the self-image of a homogeneous society remains strong. But some say that perception is incorrect. The official count of registered foreign residents is 2 percent of the nation’s total population of 128 million; but that represents an increase of 47 percent in the past 10 years and excludes many non-Japanese residents. While Japan has witnessed more international marriages – 21,000 children are born to these couples every year – its census figures do not show ethnicity. Moreover, the number of registered foreigners does not include naturalized citizens, indigenous people, or those who overstay their visas, argues Debito Arudou, a US-born social activist who became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 2000.”
Old historical breakdown of jobs for foreigners a quarter century ago. The number seems a bit low (less than 15,000 accounted for), even for back then. And of course the Zainichi aren’t included as “real foreigners” worth tabulating. Seems bad social science isn’t just the domain of the present day.
GOJ Foreign Minister Komura floated a policy trial balloon to require language testing and improvement before granting NJ long-term visas in future. Problems abound, not the least the GOJ is resorting to sticks, not carrots, to make people learn Nihongo. The term “long term” is vague, and how many laborers would want to spend all this time learning a language which only matter within this archipelago (when they could learn English, French, Spanish, etc. and work in lots more places)? I agree that everyone should learn how to read, write, and speak Japanese if they want to live here. I just think the proposal as it stands is (as usual) half-baked and encouraging of more NJ workplace and visa abuses.
来日外国人：入国や在留審査で日本語能力を重視へ 政府 毎日新聞 2008年1月15日 http://mainichi.jp/select/world/news/20080116k0000m010023000c.html 政府は日本に長期滞在する外国人の入国や在留許可審査の際、日本語能力を要件として重視する具体策を外務、法務両省が検討することを決めた。就労目的などで増加傾向にある外国人が地域社会に溶け込みやすい環境整備につなげるとともに、来日する外国人にも日本語学習意欲を高めてもらうのが狙い。 高村正彦外相が１５日の閣議後会見で明らかにした。外相は「日本語能力は、外国人自身の生活の質を高めるためにも、日本社会のためにも大切」と強調したうえで「『日本へ行くために日本語を勉強しよう』という機運が高まれば大変よいことだ」と述べた。 具体的には、入国時の上陸審査基準に日本語能力を新たに盛り込むかどうかや、在留期間の更新、資格変更時に日本語能力の向上について確認するなど、何らかの形で考慮することが検討対象となる見通し。外務省によると、カナダでは就労目的の永住者が査証申請時に提出する略歴で、語学力を含む６項目をポイント化し、総ポイント数に応じて許可。英国、ドイツ、フランスで語学能力を重視する移民政策を取っているという。 ただ、政府内には、要件を厳しくすることで「査証（ビザ）の発給・更新などに影響が生じ、貴重な人材が入国できなくなる可能性もある」との課題を指摘する声もある。【上野央絵】 毎日新聞 2008年1月15日 18時12分 （最終更新時間 1月15日 23時34分）
SPECIAL ISSUE: STARING DOWN THE DISCRIMINATORS IN JAPAN
1) STARING DOWN AN EXCLUSIONARY BALLET SCHOOL IN TOKYO
2) STARING DOWN AN EXCLUSIONARY NEWSPAPER OUTLET IN ISHIKAWA PREF
3) STARING DOWN AN EXCLUSIONARY LANDLORD IN YAMAGATA
4) GOING TOO FAR IN THE OTHER DIRECTION: CHEST HAIR AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT!?
…and finally, just for fun…
5) HUMOR: LETTER TO THE EDITOR REGARDING GOJ “UFO INVASION” SCENARIO
Iwate festival produces “offensive” festival poster with exposed chest hair, banned by JR East as “sexual harassment”. Now let’s see if they’ll do the same with broadcasts of Sumo on their premises… The concept of human rights in this society are mechakucha indeed, and it’s situations like these that make it all the more difficult for people to take human rights activists seriously!
Ryan Hagglund on how he successfully dealt with a very common problem in Japan–dealing with exclusionary landlords. Lessons: 1) be as polite as possible while being clear that you will not accept a denial based on being foreign, and 2) audio record everything just in case you have to go to court. (Covert recordings are also admissible in court.)
Mark Mino-Thompson reports below on his discovery of new “amendments” to the Ryokan Gyouhou (Hotel Management Law), created in English and Japanese legalese and in generic format (meaning written by somebody else) for use in hotels nationwide. They are vague enough to make it seem as though a hotel could refuse a NJ lodging if the lodger poses an “unreasonable/unrational burden” (such as speaking a foreign language or offering beds instead of futons?).
Got this letter last night from a friend who’s gotten disgusted with the US Embassy’s inaction towards protecting the human rights of its citizens. Myself, I think the USG has long forgotten it’s primary duty to its taxpayers/citizens, and sees its main duty as selling weapons and maintaining military bases and regional interests. Even though it has plenty of wherewithal (especially vis-a-vis Japan) to take on issues that affect the NJ residents here under their purview. The Canadian Govt. does, what with the Murray Wood Case, for one example. They even commented personally during the Otaru Onsens Case. (The USG did comment on its Country Reports on Human Rights, which I appreciate very much, but it was essentially too little, too late) Here’s the letter.
Is this happening to you? Cops coming to your door assiduously to find out who’s living there? Asking you to write down very personal details on a special card for keeping at the local police station? Are places with NJ residents being singled out? I open this topic to comments to see if there is any kind of national campaign going on, since this has never happened to me in all my twenty plus years in Japan, either as a Japanese or as a NJ. And if it did, I doubt I am under any legal compulsion to cooperate.
Economist (London) on Immigration: “Above all, perspective is needed. The vast population movements of the past four decades have not brought the social strife the scaremongers predicted. On the contrary, they have offered a better life for millions of migrants and enriched the receiving countries both culturally and materially. But to preserve these great benefits in the future, politicians need the courage not only to speak up against the populist tide in favour of the gains immigration can bring, but also to deal honestly with the problems it can sometimes cause.”
（前略）下請けの販売所担当の桜井氏の言い分は、松田さんはきちんと契約をしなかったから契約をキャンセルをしました。外国人だからではなく、契約にとって色々な問題が発生するからと。私は「それなら、違う人を顧客の自宅まで送って再契約すればどうでしょうか？なぜ２ヶ月経過してから何も動きはなかったですか。わざわざ顧客の自宅まで訪れて、契約して、そして解約するですか。ハガキは『外国人だから拒否』は明確にあるのに、間違いなくそうなんじゃないでしょうか。私はここでクレームをしなかったら、そのまま解約と顧客精神苦痛はあるのでは？」と問いました。が、桜井氏は「松田はそういうハガキを書いたのかは知らなかった。」（後略）
Here’s something weird. A newspaper refusing a NJ a subscription (paid in advance), even though reps from the paper came to his door and sold him a contract! What are they afraid of, that the foreigner might be able to read? It’s not the threat of nonpayment, or cultural misunderstandings, or anything that could be stretchably plausable in any other situation I’ve ever encountered. Scans of the contract and the notice of refusal blogged here. Update with responses from Hokkoku Shinbun et al. now also included.
Yomiuri: “Lawmakers in the Democratic Party of Japan are stepping up efforts to resubmit a bill that would grant permanent foreign residents the right to vote in local elections, according to sources. With New Komeito also strongly demanding local suffrage for permanent foreign residents, DPJ lawmakers hope in the upcoming Diet session “to split the ruling camp by submitting the bill to the House of Councillors and call on New Komeito to endorse it,” according to one of the sources…” Wouldn’t it be interesting if what finally toppled the LDP from power was issues of immigration and assimilation?
読売：外国人の地方参政権法案、民主内で再提出の動き、永住外国人に地方参政権を付与する法案を巡り、民主党内で次期通常国会に再提出を目指す動きが活発化してきた。
This is so good I couldn’t just let it languish within the comments section of this blog. It deserves an entry all its own. Charles Kowalski sent this letter to the Yomiuri when Defense Minister Hashiba (inter alia) was getting all nerdy about defenses against a theoretical UFO invasion late last year. Charles takes the issue and runs with it. The Yomiuri, predictably, wouldn’t publish it. So I will.
Hi Blog. Ironic article, given many eikaiwa won’t hire Subcontinental Indians because they don’t look the part or speak “gaijin” English… Then again, as the author admits, the following is just one of those fads, and fads fade. And when I sent this to an education list I’m a member of, they doubted many of …
A survey reported in the Asahi indicates that a quarter of all hotels nationwide sampled have qualms about asking NJ for their passports, and a third of them refused to copy them. (No wonder–they can’t. By law they can only ask NJ who have no addresses in Japan–meaning foreign tourists.) But you wouldn’t know that if you read the English translation of the article, which renders the targets of this anti-terrorist move as “foreign guests”. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Meanwhile, after a month, no reply from Toyoko Inn regarding their racial profiling last November. Recommend you take your business to hotels that are more concerned about customer relations for NJ and handicapped guests.
Translation of a Shuukan Asahi interview on screwball Justice Minister “my friend of a friend is in al-Qaeda” Hatoyama Kunio, on capital punishment. And a window not only into how screwed up the Japanese justice system is, but also into the people who run it.
More on the Sasebo Sports Club Shooting (where the media rampantly speculated a gaijin dunnit just because the shooter was tall). Seems according to Philip Brasor of the Japan Times, the willful exceptionalism that Japan practices as part of its national narrative (“Gun crimes are a foreign problem, not something that happens in our peaceful society”–alluded to by PM Fukuda shortly afterwards) has made it quite blind to just how deep gun control problems go here. Excellent investigative journalism sorely lacking in the vernacular media, and the media treatment of the issues proves it.
読売：来年７月の北海道洞爺湖サミット（主要国首脳会議）の警備強化に備え、法務省は、「反グローバリズム活動家」の入国を阻止するため、出入国管理・難民認定法（入管法）の「フーリガン条項」を適用する準備に着手した。
The latest permutation of the NJ Fingerprinting Law: Yomiuri: The Justice Ministry has begun preparations to put into force a hooligan provision of the immigration law to prevent antiglobalization activists from entering the country to protest the Group of Eight summit meeting to be held in Hokkaido in July. Policy creep. SITYS.
Hi Blog. Here is a situation covered only infrequently by the media and by the likes of Debito.org (mainly because there is so little public information out there, and it’s a topic I’m not at liberty to research myself)–how sex trafficking, particularly that involving non-Japanese, is a flourishing business. And how Japan is one of …
Happy New Year, everyone. Let’s kick off the new year with a post on our future as bloggers here: Internet info site Gyaku on Japan’s future regulation of the Internet. If enacted, we’re going to see widespread regulation of online content, cellphone use, and file sharing in Japan. Have to admit–places like 2-Channel (with whom I have an unrequited libel lawsuit victory against) have brought this down upon all of us.
Holiday special on twelve things which changed my life in 2007, now becoming an annual tradition.
ARCHIVING A HOLIDAY NEWSLETTER FROM LAST YEAR WHICH SOMEHOW NEVER GOT BLOGGED: 1) INTERVIEW WITH J-SELECT MAGAZINE
2) BECOMING A LAWYER IN JAPAN: THE BIFURCATED J BAR EXAM
3) JOEL DECHANT AND HIS GUIDED TOURS OF BEPPU
4) TEN THINGS WHICH CHANGED MY LIFE IN 2006
and finally… DEBITO.ORG A DECADE ON…
Hi Blog. News is piling up, but I promised more holiday tangent: Turning the keyboard to comedian Dave M G, with news about a comedy show he’s doing as a non-native speaker on domestic events. I’ve seen Dave in action many times before (he’s an amazingly funny guy, and I’ve spent a lot of time …
Hi Blog. Debito.org is following the template set by The Economist Newsmagazine, where the journalists digress from the usual serious stuff and put out a holiday issue of tangents. In this year’s Economist holiday issue, we have a three-pager on how people (particularly whalers and other merchant marines) were trying to open up Japan before …
Human rights group IMADR in Tokyo offers a synopsis of the new UN Human Rights Council’s first year in existence. Scans of the print article, as well as links to other articles from The Economist and UN News archived at Debito.org, provided.
Gregory Hadley in the Japan Times: “I became fascinated by that legendary B-29 [which crashed in Niigata during WWII]. Had it existed? If so, where had it come down? And what had happened to the crew? Fifty years had passed. Given the taboo of Japan not liking to talk about those dark days, would it be possible for me, a foreigner, to learn anything?” So began a three-year quest — a search that took him into small Japanese farming communities, dusty archives and mid-American townships, and to meet what he describes as “the quite exceptional members” of a POW support group in Japan…
Happy Boxing Day, readers. As another special treat, let me send you this manga created by fellow naturalized citizen Kaoru, who scribbles with great aplomb on a situation I’m bound to encounter sooner or later. In great manga style–so that’s how I look to some… Love it.
Hi Blog, and Merry Christmas. I’m going to talk about something completely unrelated to Japan for a change. Duran Duran. Yes, the 80’s rock band. And give you a line up of both songs and reasons why you shouldn’t dismiss them too quickly.
Hi Blog. Here’s evidence that other countries are putting up less immigration controls, not more (unlike Japan with its new fingerprinting policy, justified on overtly xenophobic grounds). Yes, the article mentions that border controls are toughening outside the Schengen Zone, but it’s still an amazing feat to be able to drive from Estonia to Portugal …
For the first time in the 400 year history of the geisha, a Westerner has been accepted, and on December 19, will formally debut under the name Sayuki.
Sayuki is specialized in social anthropology, a subject which requires anthropologists to actually experience the subject they are studying by participating in the society themselves.
Sayuki has been doing anthropological fieldwork in Asakusa – one of the oldest of Tokyo’s six remaining geisha districts – for the past year, living in a geisha house (okiya), and participating in banquets as a trainee. She has been training in several arts, and will specialize in yokobue (Japanese flute)…
SAYUKI 花柳界歴史上初の外国人芸者 http://keyshots.smugmug.com/gallery/4014935 国籍 オーストラリア 日本の４００年の歴史上において初めて異国の外国人女性として花柳界への扉を開き紗幸の名で芸者デビュー極めて異例の出来事である。 ２００７年１２月１９日東京浅草においてお披露目される。 日本で活躍する外国人女性として初の試みに加え、肩書きも異例で海外の国立大学での講師などを務め主な学位として、オックスフォード大学でＭＢＡを取得後博士号「社会人類学｣ならびに経営学の修士を取得最初の学位は日本の慶応大学「心理学｣]で白人女性として初めて授与される。またテレビプロデューサーの顔も持ち、おもに比較文化的ドキュメンタリーの制作の監督を務めNHKをはじめBBCなど海外メディアで数多くのドキュメンタリー番組の監督、司会、ナレーションを日本語で行う、ファイナンシャルタイムス、ジャパンタイムスなどの記者として記事を寄稿、また、共同通信、ロイター通信の記者としての活動もこなす。 日本文化の著作を３冊海外で発表し民族研究・経営学の研究著作は海外で話題を呼ぶ日本の伝統文化・花柳界を海外メディア、日本のメディアを通しドキュメンタリー番組の制作なども手がけていく予定 お問い合わせ マスターマインド メールアドレスinfo@master-mind.jp http://www.master-mind.jp In English: http://www.sayuki.net, sayuki.geisha@gmail.com Fax-03-3713-1604 Photographs are available for purchase and download at: http://keyshots.smugmug.com/gallery/4014935 Photo by Kerry Raftis http://www.keyshots.com© ENDS
GOJ engaging in serious discussion of alien attack. No, not foreigners. Real space aliens. And this is the world’s second biggest economy still wanting to be taken seriously? I told you the legislative peerage was out of touch with reality. Somebody call a snap election and get these fools out.
Yomiuri provides a public service for the youth of this nation–telling them in their “Kodomo News” that the new Gaijin Fingerprint Policy is for controlling crime and terrorism. The only drawback is they say you’d better manage the information properly. It’s not a matter of managing the information. It’s a matter of how you manage this policy so that you achieve your goals without imaging-down an entire segment of the population. As usual, the Yomiuri has no qualms about selling the policy as a crime-prevention measure against “foreign guests” even to impressionable children, carrying the bias down to the next generation.
ブロクの読者、こんばんは。きょうの件は、子供の教育ですが、どうしても子供にも「外国人はテロリスト・犯罪者」を助長しないといけないですか。日本におけるテロは漏れなく日本人に起こされ、国内犯罪はほとんど日本人に犯されているのでこの指紋採取再実施は無意味と無関係です。この措置は税金の使用の手段にすぎないとはっきり言いましょう。でも、これは子供に伝わるでしょうか。有道 出人 =========================== こどものニュースウィークリー 指紋や顔写真を義務づけ入国審査の厳格化 （イメージをクリックすると拡大） http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/kyoiku/children/weekly/20071201ya01.htm http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/kyoiku/children/weekly/photo/20071201ya0101_L.jpg ●イラスト スパイスコミニケーションズ（ごみかわ淳） （情報管理の問題ではなく、外国人のイメージダウンの管理が問題では？それに、相変わらず、外国人の鼻を大きくしないと外国人になり得ないのでしょうか。） １１月２０日から、日本に来た外国人には、空港などで指紋（しもん）の読み取りや顔写真の撮影（さつえい）に応じることが義務（ぎむ）づけられました。テロリストや犯罪者（はんざいしゃ）といった悪い外国人の入国を防ぐのが狙（ねら）いです。このような制度（せいど）が設（もう）けられたのは、アメリカに次いで２国目なのだそうです。 新制度は、外国人の不法な入国や滞在（たいざい）を禁じた出入国管理（しゅつにゅうこくかんり）・難民認定法（なんみんにんていほう）という法律（ほうりつ）を改正（かいせい）して、２７の空港と１２６の港で導入（どうにゅう）されました。観光客も含めた１６歳以上の外国人が対象で、その人数は１年間で約７００万人に上ると見られています。 具体的（ぐたいてき）には、外国から到着（とうちゃく）した空港や港などで、機械の前に立ち、指示に従（したが）って、ガラス板の上に両手の人さし指を置きます。すると１秒ぐらいでチャイムが鳴り、指紋の登録（とうろく）が終了します。顔写真も、同じ機械の前に立つと、小型のデジタルカメラで撮影されます。 入管リストと照合 日本に入ってくる人をチェックしている「入国管理局（にゅうこくかんりきょく）」という国の機関がありますが、登録された指紋などは、この入国管理局のコンピューターにすぐに送られます。入国管理局は、入国させない外国人のリスト（ブラックリスト）を作っており、送られてきた指紋は、これらの外国人の指紋と照合（しょうごう）されます。ブラックリストに載（の）っている外国人かどうかが、５秒ぐらいで分かる仕組みになっているそうです。 では、ブラックリストには、どのような人が載っているのでしょう。それは、警察が指名手配（しめいてはい）している容疑者（ようぎしゃ）や、以前に日本で悪いことをして強制的（きょうせいてき）に本国に帰国させられた人、国境（こっきょう）を超（こ）えて活動するテロリストなどです。登録された指紋が、こうした人物のものと一致（いっち）すれば、入国管理局は入国を拒否（きょひ）したり警察に通報（つうほう）したりします。 初日５人入国拒否 新制度が始まった２０日には、ブラックリストの人物と指紋が一致したとして、５人が入国を拒否されました。５人は、偽（にせ）のパスポートを使い、ほかの人になりすまして入国しようとしたようです。 今回の制度が設けられたのは、空港などから日本に入国しようとする外国人に対し、パスポートをチェックしたり、入国の目的を口頭（こうとう）で質問（しつもん）したりするだけだった今までのやり方では、日本に入ってはいけない人が紛（まぎ）れていても、見逃（みのが）す恐（おそ）れがあると考えられたからです。 ２００１年９月１１日にアメリカで発生した同時テロ事件は、「アル・カーイダ」という国際テロ組織（そしき）が起こしました。この組織に関係する男が指紋付きで国際手配されていたにもかかわらず、この男は、１９９９年から２００３年までの間に６回も日本に入っていたことが分かっているのです。 ほかにも、過去に強制的に帰国させられたのに、偽造（ぎぞう）パスポートを使ったり、名前を変えて新しいパスポートを手に入れたりして、また日本に来る外国人がたくさんいます。０６年に強制帰国させられた外国人約５万６０００人のうち、約７３００人は過去にも強制帰国させられたことがあり、本来なら入国できない人たちでした。 情報管理など課題 新制度の導入で、こうした外国人の入国が防げると期待されているわけですが、指紋や顔写真といった情報の管理については、それらを見る権限（けんげん）を持っていない人が見たり、外に漏（も）れたりしないよう、十分に気をつける必要があります。 また、地方の小さな港に不定期に上陸する漁船などについては、入国管理局の職員（しょくいん）の数が足りないために、チェックしきれないという問題もあります。 新しい制度ができたから大丈夫と考えるのではなく、これからも改善（かいぜん）すべき点が見つかれば直していくことが大切です。 (2007年12月1日 読売新聞)
For those travelling over the holiday season, here are some helpful letters for those going through Kansai International Airport (Kankuu, or KIX). It turns out NJ residents can go through the APEC Immigration Channel (business line). Print up these letters if the terms apply to you, show them at the border, and decriminalize yourself more efficiently.
We all notice it eventually: how nice individual Japanese people are, yet how cold — even discriminatory — officialdom is toward non-Japanese (NJ). This dichotomy is often passed off as something “cultural” (a category people tend to assign anything they can’t understand), but recent events have demonstrated there is in fact a grand design. This design is visible in government policies and public rhetoric, hard-wiring the public into fearing and blaming foreigners.
Start with the “us” and “them” binary language of official government pronouncements: how “our country” (“wagakuni”) must develop policy for the sake of our “citizens” (“kokumin”) toward foreign “visitors” (rarely “residents”); how foreigners bring discrimination upon themselves, what with their “different languages, religions, and lifestyle customs” an’ all; and how everyone has inalienable human rights in Japan — except the aliens…
Feeling down this holiday season? Consult if necessary with International Mental Health Professionals Japan–a volunteer group of certified professionals offering a range of recognized theraputic approaches, for the treatment of relationship issues, stress, anxiety, depression, abuse, cross-cultural issues, children’s emotional and educational problems, and many other issues. Many members also offer phone counseling. Given the state of mental health services in this country (generally pretty lousy; most Japanese quasi-“counselors” will probably unhelpfully attribute any mental issue involving a NJ to a matter of “cultural differences”, and Japan doesn’t even have certifications for clinical psychologists), this group is a boon. Check it out if you or one of your friends needs help.
Hi Blog. Here’s another lawsuit of note (sorry for not seeing it sooner). Note the errroneous headline. This person is not a Chinese worker. She is a naturalized Japanese citizen, therefore a Japanese. Bishibashi for the copy editor (and the translation is pretty hokey too). Quick comment follows article. =================================== Hitachi sued by Chinese worker …