{"id":10145,"date":"2012-05-02T04:47:06","date_gmt":"2012-05-01T19:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10145"},"modified":"2012-12-18T07:07:39","modified_gmt":"2012-12-17T22:07:39","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-april-30-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10145","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER APRIL 30, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_8577\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8577\" style=\"width: 149px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/inappropriatecoverthumb150x226.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8577\" title=\"inappropriatecoverthumb150x226\" alt=\"IN APPROPRIATE, A novel of culture, kidnapping, and revenge in modern Japan, By ARUDOU Debito\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/inappropriatecoverthumb150x226.jpg\" width=\"149\" height=\"226\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8577\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Novel IN APPROPRIATE by ARUDOU, Debito<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Other works\/publications by ARUDOU, Debito (click on icon):<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/handbook.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1298\" title=\"HANDBOOKsemifinalcover.jpg\" alt=\"Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants to Japan\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/HANDBOOKsemifinalcover.jpg\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/tshirts.html\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1701\" title=\"joshirtblack2\" alt=\"\\&quot; width=\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/joshirtblack2-150x150.jpg\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/japaneseonly.html#japanese\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1700\" title=\"jobookcover\" alt=\"\u300c\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30cb\u30fc\u30ba\u30fb\u30aa\u30f3\u30ea\u30fc\u3000\u5c0f\u6a3d\u5165\u6d74\u62d2\u5426\u554f\u984c\u3068\u4eba\u7a2e\u5dee\u5225\u300d\uff08\u660e\u77f3\u66f8\u5e97\uff09\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/jobookcover-150x150.jpg\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/japaneseonly.html#english\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1699\" title=\"japaneseonlyecover\" alt=\"JAPANESE ONLY:  The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/japaneseonlyecover-150x150.jpg\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cinemabstruso.de\/strawberries\/main.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2735\" title=\"sourstrawberriesavatar\" alt=\"sourstrawberriesavatar\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/sourstrawberriesavatar.jpg\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?cat=32\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4921\" title=\"debitopodcastthumb\" alt=\"debitopodcastthumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/debitopodcastthumb.jpg\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10137\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-10142\" title=\"Fodors\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Fodors.jpg\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nUPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito<br \/>\nDEBITO.ORG PODCASTS on iTunes, subscribe free<\/p>\n<p><strong>DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER APRIL 30, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hello Blog. May 2012 is a rather special one, as Debito.org will be turning fifteen since it started back in 1997, and the Japan Times Community Page will be celebrating its 10th Anniversary. For the latter, I&#8217;ll be doing double-duty this month, as the page&#8217;s columnist and perhaps most frequent contributor (about a sixth of their articles are mine), I&#8217;ve been asked to offer (with a couple of other writers) a brief perspective on what I think about the page (good stuff, of course).<\/p>\n<p>Now for this month&#8217;s Newsletter:<\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<br \/>\n<strong>Table of Contents:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CAUSES TO CHEER<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 1) Debito writes the Hokkaido Section in FODOR\u2019S Guidebook on Japan, 20th Edition, out now<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 2) Japan Times Community Page 10th Anniversary: Vote for your favorite article at JT by May 5<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 3) JT Community Page 10th Anniversary: Write a Haiku, win a copy of Debito\u2019s HANDBOOK<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>WEIRD OUTCOMES UNDER JAPAN&#8217;S RACIALIZATION PARADIGMS<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 4) JDG on self-appointed Hanami Vigilantes in Osaka harassing NJ<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 5) Tsukuba City\u2019s resolution against NJ suffrage passed in 2010, a retrospective in the wake of alarmism<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 6) Mainichi: JHS teacher arrested for defrauding insurance companies by repeatedly claiming his luggage was stolen by foreigners!<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 7) Bryant in UCLA Law Review on oppressiveness of Family Registry (koseki) and Household Registry (juuminhyou)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 8 ) Cracked.com: Racialized characters in Japanese video games<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 9) Yomiuri: J population falls record 259,000 in 2011 (as does NJ pop.); Keidanren think tank sees ROK surpassing J GDP by 2030<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u2026 and finally\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>10) Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 50, April 3, 2012: Donald Keene should engage brain before fueling \u2018flyjin,\u2019 foreign crime myths<\/strong><br \/>\n\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p>By ARUDOU, Debito (debito@debito.org, wwww.debito.org, Twitter arudoudebito)<br \/>\nFreely Forwardable<\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>CAUSES TO CHEER<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>1) Debito writes the Hokkaido Section in FODOR\u2019S Guidebook on Japan, 20th Edition, out now<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m happy to announce that more than a year after writing my piece within (and what with major disasters in Japan naturally setting back the publication date), FODOR\u2019S has just released their JAPAN Guide, 20th Edition (of which I got a copy yesterday, thanks!).<\/p>\n<p>I was privileged to be allowed to write their Section on Hokkaido, so if you can\u2019t get enough of my writing, get yourself a copy!<\/p>\n<p>Scans of the cover, Table of Contents, and my opening essay on what\u2019s so nice about Hokkaido are at the link below. Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10137\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10137<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>2) Japan Times Community Page 10th Anniversary: Vote for your favorite article at JT by May 5<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>SPECIAL NOTICE: The JT Community Page: A decade serving the community<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>JT: <strong><em>On May 8, the Japan Times will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Community pages, which have been providing news, analysis and opinion by, for and about the foreign community in Japan since May 9, 2002. To mark the occasion, we are asking readers to pick their favorite Zeit Gist article of the past decade, be it a memorable scoop, informative feature or scathing critique.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>In return, The Japan Times is offering readers the chance to win a B4-size poster (above) illustrated by longtime Community artist Chris Mackenzie.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Alternatively, winners can opt for one of 10 copies of \u201c3.11: One Year On,\u201d a 64-page Japan Times Special Report bringing together JT articles from the past year about the triple disasters in Tohoku and their aftermath. Please state your preference on the form below. This offer ends at 5 p.m. JST on Friday, May 5.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The following are the Community editor\u2019s picks of just some of the standout Zeit Gist articles of the last decade. Some were chosen because they help tell the story of of the last 10 years in Japan, others because the articles proved to be extremely popular \u2013 and in some cases simply because they are great reads.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>COMMENT<\/strong>: Short list of the editor\u2019s picks at<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/life\/community-anniversary.html\"> http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/life\/community-anniversary.html<\/a><br \/>\nDebito has two of those articles listed, \u201cPunishing foreigners, exonerating Japanese\u201d (on skewed criminal jurisprudence by nationality), and \u201cDemise of crime magazine historic\u201d (on the GAIJIN HANZAI magazine and how we not only got it off the shelves, but also helped drive the slimy publisher bankrupt). Or you can see all the Community Page articles I\u2019ve written, with one-line synopses, at<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/publications.html#JOURNALISTIC\"> https:\/\/www.debito.org\/publications.html#JOURNALISTIC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>3) JT Community Page 10th Anniversary: Write a Haiku, win a copy of Debito\u2019s HANDBOOK<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As I wrote last week, next week heralds a celebration of the Tenth Anniversary of the Japan Times\u2019 Tuesday Community Page. As I\u2019ve written about 100 articles and JBC columns for it so far, I\u2019ll be doing double duty next week with two articles, one in commemoration, and one a regular JBC column (more on the topic shortly before publication).<\/p>\n<p>This week, however, in anticipation, the JT announced that it would be offering FIVE free copies of Akira Higuchi and Arudou Debito\u2019s bilingual HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS, MIGRANTS, AND IMMIGRANTS (more on it at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/handbook.html\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/handbook.html<\/a>), which has been a solid and steady seller, what with all the information about getting the right visa, getting a steady job, getting settled for a permanent life in Japan, and dealing with problems and issues that may come up.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s right, five free copies of HANDBOOK, and all you have to do is write a Haiku in English about Japan \u2014 \u201cthe good, the bad and the ugly\u201d. Some examples by Zeit Gist contributor Colin Jones this week include:<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Random card checking<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong> Fingerprints at the airport<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong> Yokoso Japan!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Non-Japanese folk<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong> Have constitutional rights<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong> Except when they don\u2019t<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Barred from the hot springs<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong> for invisible tattoo<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong> It says \u201cforeigner\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now, those are my kinda Haiku. And no doubt we\u2019ll have some anti-Debito ones too (taste the irony of being rewarded by the very person you\u2019re dissing!). Go for it! Submit via:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/life\/community-anniversary.html\"> http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/life\/community-anniversary.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Haiku Debito.org Readers have already submitted to the blog for fun:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10130\"> https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10130<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>WEIRD OUTCOMES UNDER JAPAN&#8217;S RACIALIZATION PARADIGMS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>4) JDG on self-appointed Hanami Vigilantes in Osaka harassing NJ<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>JDG: <em>On Sunday (8th April) I went via Hankyu Kurakuenguchi station to Shukugawa, where along the river bank many people enjoy hanami every year. It is (apparently) a very highly rated location on a national scale.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I have been meny years with Japanese friends, and have never had a problem. However, this was the first year that I went early and alone in order to secure a nice spot. Shukugawa has rules on it\u2019s website (such as no \u2018reserving\u2019 of a spot with unattended blue sheets, and you must not enter the roped off areas around the tree roots), which I read in advance.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I arrived at 10.30 am, and immediately I found a nice spot and stopped, then some old guy started hassling me to move on, saying that I wasn\u2019t allowed to stop there. I told him to shut up, and then ignored him (thinking he was just some grumpy old codger), but as I was setting out my sheet and blanket, four more old guys came along to join him, and tried telling me that the place I was in was off limits. I pointed to the Japanese groups set up all around me, and asked \u2018What about them?\u2019, but the old guys just ignored my question, and told me that they would call the police if I tried to give them any trouble.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I know I wasn\u2019t breaking any of Shukugawa\u2019s rules, so I just ignored them and waited for the rest of my group to arrive. For the next hour the group of five old guys stood over me, coming over every 5 minutes to ask me if I was going to move on, or asking me if I didn\u2019t think that I was selfish by taking up so much room (one blue sheet), and even taking my photo twice. I told them that it was against the law to take my photo without my permission\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10091\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10091<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>5) Tsukuba City\u2019s resolution against NJ suffrage passed in 2010, a retrospective in the wake of alarmism<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve sat on this for more than a year. Now that the whole debate on \u201cgranting foreigners suffrage will mean the end of Japan\u201d has probably died down a bit, it\u2019s time that we look back on what happened then, and on the aftermath wrought by people losing their heads.<\/p>\n<p>After the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in 2009, after decades of mostly unbroken and corrupt Liberal Democratic Party rule, there was hope for some new inclusive paradigms vis-a-vis NJ in Japan, one of their smaller party planks was granting NJ (undecided whether NJ would be Permanent Resident or Zainichi Special Permanent Resident) the right to vote in local elections (like other countries do). This, alas, occasioned much protest and alarmist doomsaying about how Japanese society would be ruined by ever enfranchising potentially disloyal foreigners (\u201cThey\u2019d concentrate in parts of Japan and secede to China!\u201d, \u201cKim Jong-Il will now have influence over Japan!\u201d), and suddenly we had regional governments and prefectures passing petitions (seigan) stating that they formally oppose ever giving suffrage to foreigners.<\/p>\n<p>The Tsukuba City Council was no exception, even though Tsukuba in itself is an exceptional city. It has a major international university, a higher-than-average concentration of NJ researchers and academics, a centrally-planned modern showcase living grid with advanced communication networks, and one of Japan\u2019s two foreign-born naturalized citizens (Jon Heese; the other city is Inuyama\u2019s Anthony Bianchi) elected to its city council. Yet Tsukuba, a city designed to be one of those international communities within Japan, was given in December 2010 a petition of NJ suffrage opposition to consider signing and sending off to the DPJ Cabinet. Here\u2019s the draft:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=8459\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=8459<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>6) Mainichi: JHS teacher arrested for defrauding insurance companies by repeatedly claiming his luggage was stolen by foreigners!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chalk this one up to the idiocracy that springs up whenever unquestioned hegemonic discourse (i.e., \u201cforeigners commit crime\u201d) in a society leads to too much giving the benefit of the doubt. We have some Japanese guy (a junior high school teacher, no less) repeatedly \u201closing\u201d his luggage while traveling and then successfully getting insurance paid out on it due to claims of \u201cthefts by foreigners\u201d. (The idiot did it with enough frequency that cops became suspicious because they remembered his claims.)<\/p>\n<p>Frauds and blaming foreigners are nothing new. I wrote a whole Japan Times column in 2007 on how foreigners have been targets of a \u201cBlame Game\u201d for many years now. But often it goes beyond comical. We have a trucker in 2004 who overslept his appointment and then formally blamed it on being kidnapped by foreigners. We have a bosozoku biker gang that same year who killed somebody and tried to blame it on a foreign gang. And we have murder suspects in 2006 who tried to blame a homicide on a lurking \u201cblond man\u201d (in a city with very few foreigners to boot).<\/p>\n<p>Clearly the \u201cforeign crime wave\u201d which was fabricated by Tokyo Gov. Ishihara from 2000 has cast a long shadow. As submitter Becky says, \u201cNo wonder they get microaggressive, look at all the crime we commit!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10088\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10088<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>7) Bryant in UCLA Law Review on oppressiveness of Family Registry (koseki) and Household Registry (juuminhyou)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An excellent paper (linked below) is Taimie Bryant, \u201cFor the Sake of the Country, for the Sake of the Family: The Oppressive Impact of Family Registration on Women and Minorities in Japan\u201d (39 UCLA Law Review Rev. 1991-1992), with just about everything you need to know about the subtle (but very definite) \u201cothering\u201d processes found in Japan\u2019s Family Registry (koseki) and Household Registry (juuminhyou) Systems. It gives the history of each (the koseki\u2019s historical role in rooting out Christians, the juuminhyou\u2019s role in census taking and tracking people), and then gives us some vagaries that arise from it:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1) The doctor who temporarily lost his license to practice medicine because he offered pregnant women an alternate means to register their children rather than have them aborted to avoid the shame and stigma of illegitimacy.<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 2) The woman professor who wished to continue using her maiden name professionally after marriage despite her university telling her that she could only be identified as per her husband\u2019s koseki.<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 3) The women who sued Nissan for discrimination because they were denied standard corporate allowances just because as women they were not registered as \u201chead of household\u201d (setai nushi).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It also very neatly unpacks:<br \/>\n<strong>1) the genealogical tracing of family for generations by corporations and prospective marriage families to see if the person was a Burakumin, or had aberrant behavior from other family members,<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 2) the hierarchical structure of Japan as a remnant of the prewar ie seido and how upper-class family values and structures were officially foisted upon the rest of Japanese society,<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 3) the power of the normalization of labeling, and how the state\u2019s attitudes towards anti-individualism (as these are dossiers on the family, not just the individual) as seen in this system creates a socially-constructed reality of constant subordination,<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 4) the difficulty in fighting or reforming this system because of its normalization (although people have been trying for generations), as it is difficult to prove discriminatory intent of a system with no targetable individual discriminator (and with a plausible deniability of unintended consequences).<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 5) How ethnic minorities in Japan are excluded and invisible because they simply aren\u2019t listed as \u201cspouse\u201d or even \u201cresident\u201d on either form (Debito.org has talked about this at length in the past).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As an aside, one game played under this system same-sex couples get linked to one another for inheritance and other family-dependent purposes. Same-sex marriage is not allowed in Japan. However, people CAN adopt each other, and those ties are just about as dissoluble as a marriage.<\/p>\n<p>This is one other (unmentioned, of course) reason why I believe Donald Keene recently naturalized. If he remained a foreigner in Japan, he could be adopted, but his name would not be listed properly on the koseki and juuminhyou and no rights or benefits would accrue either way. However, if his partner adopts him after he becomes a Japanese citizen, then all the benefits accrue. Good for Don, of course (and my beef, remember, is not with him making these life choices, which he should do, but with him portraying himself as somehow morally superior to other NJ, something the Japanese public, according to a recent fawning Japan Times article, seems to buy into). But wouldn\u2019t it be nice if Don, who seems to be speaking a lot in public these days about how things aren\u2019t to his liking, would also speak out about these vagaries of the Family Registry System?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10095\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10095<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>8 ) Cracked.com: Racialized characters in Japanese video games<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As Japan switches its economic clout into more \u201csoft power\u201d issues (i.e., selling its culture instead of its hardware; cf. METI\u2019s promotion of \u201cCool Japan\u201d), we are seeing instances of where Japan\u2019s conceits and \u201cblind spots\u201d (i.e., a lack of cultural sensitivity towards, for example, minorities both in Japanese society and in other societies) have seeped into its output, with imperfect filters in place.<\/p>\n<p>Take for example one of my favorite sites for procrastination and indulging in hilarious writing: Cracked.com. They have a pretty good research staff, and have dug up several instances of Japanese video games (since Japan dominates the industry) that are, as they put it, \u201cpolitically incorrect\u201d (today\u2019s word for \u201cracist\u201d, since you can still be \u201cpolitically incorrect\u201d yet use it as a source of, say, humor; but it\u2019s still the same \u201cothering\u201d, racializing, and subordinating process). We have examples of:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gay characters in the Sega\u2019s VENDETTA street-fighting game the dry-hump everything as a weapon, and in BARE KNUCKLE 3 that mince about flamingly etc. (these were left in the Japanese version but removed from the overseas versions and in subsequent versions).<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Blackface and n*gger-lipped characters in Nintendo\u2019s SQUARE NO TOM SAWYER game (which never got released in the US; wonder why).<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> GEKISHA BOY, where street-animal African-Americans come in three types: \u201cstreet pimp, prostitute, and Michael Jackson\u201d.<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Sega\u2019s DJ BOY, which features a stereotypical Big Black Mama shooting fireballs out of her anus.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And plenty more. As Cracked.com demonstrates, the Japanese market generally keeps these (and other) stereotypes and conceits alive and well (as if Japan doesn\u2019t need to worry about how they affect public perceptions of minorities in Japan), while for overseas markets things get sanitized (or not, occasioning protests and backpedaling) when Japanese sellers suddenly develop a \u201csensitivity\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>If Japan really wants to keep its cultural exports viable, maybe it should attempt understand how other people anywhere, including within Japan, might feel about being represented in such a fashion. Or, if stereotyping is used as a source of humor, allow for everyone to be \u201cfair game\u201d (which, I have argued before, doesn\u2019t happen enough in Japan; there is certainly ample Japanese protest when Japanese get similarly stereotyped).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=9863\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=9863<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>9) Yomiuri: J population falls record 259,000 in 2011 (as does NJ pop.); Keidanren think tank sees ROK surpassing J GDP by 2030<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here are two sobering articles regarding Japan\u2019s unsustainability. The first indicates that Japan\u2019s population decrease is, as predicted, accelerating, dropping by a record quarter-million in 2011 alone. Now, let\u2019s acknowledge the caveats: This may be a blip due to the horrendous year that 2011 was for Japan. However, the death toll from the triple disasters is only estimated (highball) at around 20,000, less than a tenth of the overall fall in Japanese population. Moreover, if people say that this is due to people fleeing the country (meaning they\u2019ll come back when the coast is clear, i.e., the fall is but temporary), okay, but then, I can\u2019t help but point out, it\u2019s clear the preponderance of the \u201cflyjin\u201d phenomenon is, once again, not due to NJ fleeing. So I\u2019m not so sure that \u201cfleeing\u201d is the cause either. I\u2019ll just chalk this development as more evidence of Japan\u2019s unsustainability without immigration.<\/p>\n<p>The second article is, I believe, more alarmist and latently jingoistic \u2014 appealing to nationalism to get Japan to pull its socks up. A think tank affiliated with Keidanren (and we know how influential they are in the public policy realm \u2014 through them we got our new NJ cheap labor visa regimes from 1990 onwards) is saying that, horrors, Japan will not only drop in the world rankings (which we\u2019ve anticipated for quite a while now due to demographics), THEY\u2019LL FALL BEHIND SOUTH KOREA!! Why South Korea (as opposed to, say, Spain)? Because that would be a blow to national pride \u2014 a former colony and perpetual rival that we\u2019ve always felt superior to (and who can apparently only use but the simplest cameras) shaming us in the world economy rankings!<\/p>\n<p>Whether or not these predictions come true is irrelevant (after all, as Debito.org Reader Charuzu has pointed out in comments elsewhere, if and when the ROK and the DPRK reunify the costs will be horrendous) \u2014 if you don\u2019t want this to become a self-fulfilling prophecy and have the Koreans lord it over us, DO SOMETHING!!, is basically the underlying call. After all, we\u2019ve had warnings for well over a decade now that Japan\u2019s population is going to fall and cause economic stagnation, and that didn\u2019t change public policy all that much. It seems that only appeals to nationalism (and this time, targeting foreigners outside Japan, not within, as the latter strategy merely eliminated NJ labor and immigration as a possible solution), not appeals to logic, will pull Japan out of an economic nosedive.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10111\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10111<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u2026 and finally\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>10) Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 50, April 3, 2012: Donald Keene should engage brain before fueling \u2018flyjin,\u2019 foreign crime myths<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Japan Times Tuesday, April 3, 2012<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> JUST BE CAUSE Column 50<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Keene should engage brain before fueling \u2018flyjin,\u2019 foreign crime myths<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> (Original title: \u201dLet\u2019s put some myths to rest\u201d)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> By ARUDOU, Debito<\/strong><br \/>\nCourtesy of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/text\/fl20120403ad.html\">http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/text\/fl20120403ad.html<\/a><br \/>\nVersion with comments and links to sources at<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10081\"> https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10081<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s all for this month! Thanks for reading!<br \/>\nARUDOU, Debito<br \/>\n<strong>DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER APRIL 30, 2012 ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Table of Contents:<\/p>\n<p>CAUSES TO CHEER<br \/>\n1) Debito writes the Hokkaido Section in FODOR\u2019S Guidebook on Japan, 20th Edition, out now<br \/>\n2) Japan Times Community Page 10th Anniversary: Vote for your favorite article at JT by May 5<br \/>\n3) JT Community Page 10th Anniversary: Write a Haiku, win a copy of Debito\u2019s HANDBOOK<\/p>\n<p>WEIRD OUTCOMES UNDER JAPAN&#8217;S RACIALIZATION PARADIGMS<br \/>\n4) JDG on self-appointed Hanami Vigilantes in Osaka harassing NJ<br \/>\n5) Tsukuba City\u2019s resolution against NJ suffrage passed in 2010, a retrospective in the wake of alarmism<br \/>\n6) Mainichi: JHS teacher arrested for defrauding insurance companies by repeatedly claiming his luggage was stolen by foreigners!<br \/>\n7) Bryant in UCLA Law Review on oppressiveness of Family Registry (koseki) and Household Registry (juuminhyou)<br \/>\n8 ) Cracked.com: Racialized characters in Japanese video games<br \/>\n9) Yomiuri: J population falls record 259,000 in 2011 (as does NJ pop.); Keidanren think tank sees ROK surpassing J GDP by 2030<\/p>\n<p>\u2026 and finally\u2026<br \/>\n10) Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 50, April 3, 2012: Donald Keene should engage brain before fueling \u2018flyjin,\u2019 foreign crime myths<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10145\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}