{"id":10839,"date":"2012-12-12T05:09:29","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T20:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10839"},"modified":"2012-12-15T05:10:16","modified_gmt":"2012-12-14T20:10:16","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-december-10-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10839","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 10, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Books etc. by ARUDOU Debito (click on icon):
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DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 10, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

Table of Contents:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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GOOD NEWS<\/strong>
\n 1) Updated 2nd Edition of HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS, MIGRANTS, & IMMIGRANTS to Japan now on sale<\/strong><\/p>\n

MORE BAD SOCIAL SCIENCE<\/strong>
\n 2) PTA-recommended \u201cChagurin\u201d mag puts propaganda article \u201cChildren within the Poverty Country of America\u201d in Japan\u2019s 6th-Grader classrooms<\/strong>
\n 3) NYT on Donald Keene \u201cbecoming one of them\u201d, in an underresearched article that eulogizes the man before time<\/strong>
\n 4) SITYS: IC Chips in new NJ Gaijin Cards are remotely scannable, as witnessed in USG\u2019s Faraday Envelopes to protect cardholders\u2019 privacy<\/strong>
\n 5) Irony: GOJ pushes citizen ID law despite outcry over J privacy rights. Sadly, never similar concerns for NJ privacy, natch.<\/strong>
\n 6) BBC: Japan\u2019s pseudoscience linking personality traits to blood types. I say it dumbs society down.<\/strong><\/p>\n

DEBATES WITHOUT END<\/strong>
\n 7) Kyodo: UN HRC prods Japan on sex slaves, gallows. But the elephant in the room still remains no law against racial discrimination in Japan<\/strong>
\n 8 ) Interesting debate on martial arts as newly required course in JHS under Japan\u2019s Basic Education Law reforms<\/strong>
\n 9) Archiving Tottori\u2019s 2005 Jinken Ordinance (the first and only one ever passed, then UNpassed, penalizing racial discrimination in Japan) to keep it in the historical record<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026 and finally\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

10) My Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 57, November 6, 2012: \u201cIf bully Ishihara wants one last stand, bring it on\u201d<\/strong>
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By Arudou Debito (debito@debito.org, www.debito.org, twitter arudoudebito)
\nNewsletter Freely Forwardable<\/p>\n

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1) GOOD NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Updated 2nd Edition of HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS, MIGRANTS, & IMMIGRANTS to Japan now on sale<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m very happy to announce that at long last (it takes a number of months to get things through the publishing pipeline), the Second Edition of HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS, MIGRANTS AND IMMIGRANTS TO JAPAN is now on sale.<\/p>\n

This long-selling bilingual guide to life in Japan, co-authored with legal scrivener Akira Higuchi, has assisted thousands of readers and engendered rave reviews. Its goal has been to assist people to live more stable, secure lives in Japan, and walks the reader through the process of securing a better visa, getting a better job (even start one\u2019s own business), troubleshooting through difficult situations both bureaucratically and interpersonally, establishing one\u2019s finances and arrangements for the next of kin, even giving something back to Japanese society. It is a one-stop guide from arrival in Japan through departure from this mortal coil, and now it has been updated to reflect the changes in the Immigration and registry laws that took place in July 2012. Get ready to get yourself a new copy! Or please pass the word along to people who need this information to get by. A table of contents, excerpt, more details on what\u2019s inside, how you can get the book, and those rave reviews at:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10821<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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MORE BAD SOCIAL SCIENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n

2) PTA-recommended \u201cChagurin\u201d mag puts propaganda article \u201cChildren within the Poverty Country of America\u201d in Japan\u2019s 6th-Grader classrooms<\/strong><\/p>\n

Contributor Stephanie<\/strong>: My daughter is a 6th grader at a small country public school here in Hokkaido. Every month they get a magazine called \u201cChagurin\u201d (I think it may be JA sponsored). Anyways, she looks forward to reading these as they have interesting articles and ideas. But this month in the December issue there is an article called \u201cHikon Taikoku America no Kodomotachi\u201d [Children of the Poverty Great-Power Country of America]. After reading it she told her teacher she did not think parts of it were true, the teacher said it was written so it is true.<\/em><\/p>\n

She brought this article home to us and translated it. I am so \u2026 what is the word\u2026disappointed, mad\u2026it is just not right that this lady writes an article with so many false statements and big generalizations. There are parts of truth but presented in a negative way.<\/em><\/p>\n

Basically saying America is not a good place and no matter where you go you will see people living in tents in the parks. Other points \u2014 the poorer you are the fatter you are (which implies people are fat because they are poor). The health care is poor and it costs 150.000 yen to get one filling! Because people can not afford this they do not go to the dentist they in turn can not bite right, have interviews or get jobs.<\/em><\/p>\n

One more thing. If you take a look at the photo with the boy with the \u201cbad teeth\u201d \u2014 as soon as I saw this photo I doubted those teeth are real. They remind me way too much of the fake halloween wax costume teeth I always had growing up. I sent the photo to a dental hygienist who has been working in America 20+ years and she said \u201cIn my 20+ years I have never seen teeth like these. They look like the fake halloween teeth.\u201d When I write the author of the article I will be asking her for the photographer\u2019s info to clarify the facts behind this photo. I think you can glean more by reading this yourself so I will attach the article, front cover, and back page\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

COMMENT<\/strong>: The plot thickens within the comments section, as the author, award-winning journalist Tsutsumi Mika, is outed as a xenophobic Dietmember’s wife with a long history of unjournalistic scaremongering\u2026<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10806<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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3) NYT on Donald Keene \u201cbecoming one of them\u201d, in an underresearched article that eulogizes the man before time<\/strong><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know the New York Times was in the habit of writing eulogies before their subject dies. But that\u2019s essentially what happened earlier this month with their write-up on Donald Keene.<\/p>\n

Frequent readers of Debito.org will remember why I take such a dim view of Keene\u2019s ignominious actions at the twilight of an illustrious career. I\u2019ve devoted a Japan Times column to how a scholar of his standing used poor social science in his public statements alluding to the \u201cFlyjin Myth\u201d and the fiction of foreigners as criminals. Despite this, Keene has still refused to acknowledge any of the good things that NJ residents have done (not only in terms of disaster relief \u201cin solidarity\u201d with \u201cThe Japanese\u201d, but also on a day-to-day basis as workers, taxpayers, and non-criminals). Nor has Keene amended his public statements in any way to reflect a less self-serving doctrine \u2014 thus elevating himself while denigrating others in his social caste. In essence, Keene has essentially \u201cpulled up the ladder behind him\u201d, stopping others from enjoying the same trappings of what the NYT claims is \u201cacceptance\u201d. Thus, how NJ sempai in Japan (even after naturalization) eat their young to suit themselves is a fascinating dynamic that this article inadvertently charts.<\/p>\n

This article represents a missed research opportunity for an otherwise incredibly thorough reporter (Martin has written peerless articles on Fukushima, and I simply adored his report on the Ogasawaras). How about this for a research question: Why else might The Don have naturalized? I say it doesn\u2019t involve the self-hugging cloaked as some odd form of self-sacrifice. How about investigating the fact that while gay marriage is not allowed in Japan, adoption (due to the vagaries of the Koseki Family Registry system) is a common way for same-sex partners to pass on their inheritance and legacies to their loved ones \u2014 by making them part of their family. Naturalization makes it clear that there will be no extranationality conceits to interfere with the smooth transfer of claims. This article could have been a fine peg to hang that research on.<\/p>\n

Not to mention the fact that even seasoned journalists at the NYT can fall for The Fame: Ever hear of the old adage that enables many a minority to receive the veneer of \u201cacceptance\u201d despite all the racialized reasons to deny it? It\u2019s called: \u201cThey\u2019ll claim us if we\u2019re famous.\u201d Yes, so many lovely \u201cthanks\u201d from strangers in coffee shops; but as I\u2019ve written before, The Don sadly won\u2019t be around for any denouement once The Fame inevitably fades.<\/p>\n

Anyway, if one gives the NYT the benefit of the doubt here, I think the tack of the article should have been, \u201cA person has to jump through THIS many hoops in order to be considered \u2018one of them\u2019 [sic] in Japan? Go through all of this, and you should be \u2018accepted\u2019 by the time you are, oh, say, ninety years old.\u201d Instead, this development is portrayed as a mutual victory for The Don and Japan.<\/p>\n

Why is this not problematized? Because this article is a eulogy \u2014 it\u2019s only saying the good things about a person (not yet) departed, and about a society that will not realize that it needs New Japanese who are younger and able to do more than just feebly salve (instead of save) a \u201cwounded nation\u201d. That\u2019s the bigger metaphor, I think, The Don\u2019s naturalization represents to today\u2019s Japan.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10721<\/a><\/p>\n

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4) SITYS: IC Chips in new NJ Gaijin Cards are remotely scannable, as witnessed in USG\u2019s Faraday Envelopes to protect cardholders\u2019 privacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Readers of Debito.org know, Japan instituted its new Gaijin Cards (Zairyuu Kaado, or ZRK) from July 15, 2012, promising to promote the \u201cconvenience\u201d of NJ residents by streamlining bureaucratic procedures. But as I have argued, the Ministry of Justice\u2019s main interest is not the convenience of NJ (or else it would have not left NJ in legal limbo when Japan\u2019s Postal Authorities arbitrarily decided not to honor the old Gaijin Cards as a valid form of ID any longer \u2014 even though the MOJ acknowledged the old Gaijin Cards issued by them were still legal for at most three more years). No, the MOJ\u2019s interest is in policing NJ (well, \u201cadministering\u201d (kanri) is how they benignly put it, as they explicitly noted in their Cabinet-level presentation last May about how to \u201cco-exist\u201d with NJ in future \u2014 essentially by cracking down on visa overstayers further).<\/p>\n

To that end, the ZRK has an embedded IC Chip with RFID technology, which, as I have argued for years now, is a means to remotely track NJ in a crowd and beef up racial profiling. After all, if the NPA scans a crowd and sees somebody walking while visibly \u201cforeign\u201d, they now have probable cause to stop them for one of their patented ID checkpoints formerly permitted under the Foreign Registry Law. Hey you, gaijin, why aren\u2019t you showing up on our scanners? Woe betide the naturalized citizen or Japanese of international roots, who now have the burden of proving somehow that they are not \u201cforeign\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

However, here\u2019s where the SITYS (See I Told You So) comes in: People who should know better have constantly argued that I\u2019m donning a tinfoil hat for saying that embedded IC Chips are remotely trackable, and will be used not only for identity theft (for NJ only, since only they are legally required by law to carry ZRK at all times or face criminal penalty), but also for enhanced policing. No amount of evidence presented (even \u201cthe scan-proof travel pouches\u201d long on sale) has convinced them. So let\u2019s try again:<\/p>\n

Look, even the US Government acknowledges that their cards (in this case, my friends\u2019 \u201cGreen Card\u201d and Global Entry Card) need to be issued with Faraday Cage envelopes \u201cto protect their privacy\u201d. If these cards were not remotely trackable, why would the USG bother issuing them with the following instructions?\u2026<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10750<\/a><\/p>\n

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5) Irony: GOJ pushes citizen ID law despite outcry over J privacy rights. Sadly, never similar concerns for NJ privacy, natch.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a follow-up to the Debito.org post a few weeks ago on putting trackable chips on all non-citizens, we have the same kind of push happening for Japan\u2019s citizens (as per this old article that got buried in my draft blog posts, sorry) for very different express reasons (except for the oft-claimed \u201cconvenience\u201d of those being identified, with the unescapable whiff of policing). That said, note how whenever there is an issue involving the infringement of civil\/human rights for \u201ccitizens\u201d, there is also an ameliorating push to protect those rights with legislation (see second article below). For \u201cforeigners\u201d, however, all civil, political, and human rights are essentially left to the mandate of the policing Ministry of Justice, which frequently makes a hash of things. But all this public concern over, say, privacy rights (whereas foreigners in Japan have had no guaranteed right to privacy in the Postwar Era, since the creation of the Foreign Registry Law)\u2026 Again, it\u2019s one differentiation within Japan\u2019s discourse that alienates Newcomers and Oldcomers, and sets the stage for making disenfranchised exceptions for people who don\u2019t appear to be \u201cJapanese\u201d. Have a think about this dichotomy, and how the GOJ a) normalizes discrimination, while b) ironically tries to foist the same style of rights abrogations on the general public that have been long-tested upon the \u201cgaijin guinea pigs\u201d.<\/p>\n

Japan Press<\/strong>: The Noda Cabinet approved bills at its meeting on February 14 that will assign an identification number to every citizen and every company, without regard to concerns over privacy abuse or to apprehensions about the possibility of having to pay more in taxes in order to receive better welfare services. The identification system will collate personal information currently administrated under different programs such as for pension, healthcare, and taxation. The government states that it wants to implement a national ID system in January 2015.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

There is now growing concern that such a national identity system could lead to invasion of privacy issues and may also be used to restrict government social security payments. The government claims that a national ID system will provide easier access to social welfare programs for low-income families. If that is the aim, it can use other means to provide benefits. What is the government\u2019s true motive?…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10514<\/a><\/p>\n

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6) BBC: Japan\u2019s pseudoscience linking personality traits to blood types. I say it dumbs society down.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s something that\u2019s been on my mind for years, and probably on other Readers\u2019 minds too: The emphasis on blood in Japan in determining one\u2019s status in society.<\/p>\n

The BBC below talks about the hegemony of discourse in Japan linking personality traits to blood types. Most of the developed world with any social science training has debunked this. There is of course other quackery of the same ilk (horoscopes\/palmistry etc.), but they are hardly taken seriously (they don\u2019t matter in, for example, job interviews). But \u201cblood\u201d-based conceits encourage much more dangerous habits. As noted below, they have historical connections with eugenics, Master-Race theories and Social Darwinism (i.e. that people can be sorted into personality \u201ctypes\u201d based upon birth-determined genotypical markers) which, in extreme cases, have led to pogroms and genocide.<\/p>\n

Yet in Japan, blood-based theories of social behavior hold significant sway. In my opinion (based upon my current research), a conceit with \u201cblood\u201d not only legitimizes a lot of bad science (both physical and social), but also converts a lot of latent racializing tendencies into \u201cold-school racism\u201d (I say \u201cold school\u201d because most social scientists nowadays acknowledge that racism is a social construct, not a biological one). In some cases, for example, one has to be \u201cpure-blooded\u201d in order to be, for example, a \u201creal\u201d Japanese. Thus it doesn\u2019t just allegedly determine personality \u2014 it determines one\u2019s legal standing in society. More on that from me some other time.<\/p>\n

In any case, in society such as Japan\u2019s that has this amount of weight put on hierarchy, having a quack science like this (so normalized that people can profit handsomely from it) avails people with poor analytical skills of one more factor to \u201csort, categorize, typify, and even stigmatize\u201d people for things that are simply not their fault. It\u2019s one more way of taking the individual out of the equation for personal behavior.<\/p>\n

Simply put, this pseudoscience fosters horrendously bad habits. For in Japan, once the \u201cblood type\u201d equation is expanded beyond the allegedly \u201cuniform and homogeneous society\u201d trope, people become more susceptible to engaging in racial profiling towards \u201cforeigners\u201d \u2014 once the invisible genetic markers get expressed as visible phenotypical ones.<\/p>\n

In sum, dumb ideas with common currency dumb down an entire society. And personality typing by blood is one of the dumbest.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10728<\/a><\/p>\n

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DEBATES WITHOUT END<\/strong><\/p>\n

7) Kyodo: UN HRC prods Japan on sex slaves, gallows. But the elephant in the room still remains no law against racial discrimination in Japan<\/strong><\/p>\n

The UN Human Rights Council has once again prodded Japan to do something to improve its record on human rights (and this time the GOJ, which must submit a report every two years, actually submitted something on time, not eight years overdue as a combined \u201cThird, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Combined Report\u201d). Here\u2019s how the media reported on their interplay:<\/p>\n

Kyodo<\/strong>: A panel under the U.N. Human Rights Council has endorsed some 170 recommendations for Japan to improve its human rights record, including Tokyo\u2019s handling of the so-called comfort women issue, the euphemism for the Imperial army\u2019s wartime sex slaves\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Other recommendations include the safeguarding of Japanese citizens\u2019 right to lead a healthy life, in light of the enormous amount of radioactive fallout spewed over a vast area by the March 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 plant. The town of Futaba, which found itself in the center of the nuclear storm since it cohosts the wrecked plant, had actively campaigned for the inclusion of this right. The report also called on Japan to abolish the death penalty after more than 20 countries, including prominent EU member states, objected to its continued use of capital punishment.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

COMMENT<\/strong>: As you can see in the HRC\u2019s press brief enclosed in this blog entry, once again the GOJ is avoiding the topic of creating a legal framework to protect people against racial discrimination \u2014 claiming it\u2019s already forbidden by the Japanese Constitution (but as we\u2019ve stressed here umpteen times, no explicit law in the Civil or Criminal Code means no enforcement of the Constitution). But all the UN HRC seems to be able to do is frown a lot and continue the talk shop. Further, the UN still chooses the word \u201cmigrants\u201d over \u201cimmigrants\u201d, which makes NJ (and their J children) who need these rights look like they\u2019re only temporary workers \u2014 the \u201cblind spot\u201d continues. Meanwhile, Fukushima and the death penalty seem to have sucked all the oxygen out of the debate arena regarding other human rights issues. In this blog entry is an excerpt of what Japan submitted to the HRC for consideration, and a media brief of the HRC\u2019 s recommendations. It\u2019s basically cosmetic changes, open to plenty of bureaucratic case-by-case \u201cdiscretion\u201d, and amounting to little promise of fundamental systemic or structural changes.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10730<\/a><\/p>\n

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8 ) Interesting debate on martial arts as newly required course in JHS under Japan\u2019s Basic Education Law reforms<\/strong><\/p>\n

Something that came up on one of the mailing lists I\u2019m on (a JALT group called PALE) is an interesting debate on physical education in Japan as part of cultural education in Japan \u2014 the new requirement for students to take a martial art in Junior High School as an attempt to \u201ctransmit tradition\u201d and develop one\u2019s inherent inner Japanese-ness.<\/p>\n

My basic objection with all this education on \u201cwhat it means to be Japanese\u201d (which reasserted itself with former PM Abe\u2019s reforms of the Basic Law of Education in 2006 to foster \u201can attitude that loves the nation\u201d) is that, given the binary approach to \u201cbeing Japanese\u201d (especially when defined as \u201cbeing unique\u201d, with an added contrast to \u201cbeing foreign\u201d), it encourages people of NJ roots to be excluded (or else to deny their own diversity as incompatible). But the debate on PALE added a new dimension \u2014 an unnecessary degree of danger, given how martial attitudes in Japan often invite physical brinkmanship in unaccountable sports coaches over their young athletes. It\u2019s tangental to the discussion of diversity in Japanese education, but read on as it\u2019s good food for thought.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10650<\/a><\/p>\n

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9) Archiving Tottori\u2019s 2005 Jinken Ordinance (the first and only one ever passed, then UNpassed, penalizing racial discrimination in Japan) to keep it in the historical record<\/strong><\/p>\n

Archiving something important today: The text of the first law explicitly against (inter alia) racial discrimination in Japan that was passed (and then subsequently UNpassed by a panicky public). Although I have already written about this subject before, let me give you the story in more detail, then finish with the text of the j\u014drei so it does not disappear from the historical record. The fact that this former law has been removed entirely from the legislative record of Tottori Prefecture\u2019s website is a crime against history, and an unbefitting end to a template of human-rights legislation so needed in Japan. So let me, for the purposes of keeping a record of the casualty of this catastrophic event, blog the entire text of the Ordinance on Debito.org to keep it web searchable. First, however, the background:<\/p>\n

On October 12, 2005, after nearly a year of deliberations and amendments, the Tottori Prefectural Assembly approved a human rights ordinance (tottori-ken jinken shingai ky\u016bsai suishin oyobi tetsuzuki ni kansuru j\u014drei) that would not only financially penalize eight types of human rights violations (including physical abuse, sexual harassment, slander, and discrimination by \u201crace\u201d \u2013 including \u201cblood race, ethnicity, creed, gender, social standing, family status, disability, illness, and sexual orientation\u201d), but also set up an investigative panel for deliberations and provide for public exposure of offenders. Going farther than the already-existing Ministry of Justice, Bureau of Human Rights (jinken y\u014dgobu, which has no policing or punitive powers), it could launch investigations, require hearings and written explanations, issue private warnings (making them public if they went ignored), demand compensation for victims, remand cases to the courts, and even recommend cases to prosecutors if they thought there was a crime involved. It also had punitive powers, including fines up to 50,000 yen. Sponsored by Tottori Governor Katayama Yoshihiro, it was to be a trial measure \u2014 taking effect on June 1, 2006 and expiring on March 31, 2010. It was a carefully-planned ordinance, created by a committee of 26 people over the course of two years, with input from a lawyer, several academics and human rights activists, and three non-citizen residents. It passed the Tottori Prefectural Assembly by a wide margin: 35-3. However, the counterattack was immediate\u2026<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10762<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u2026 and finally\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

10) My Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 57, November 6, 2012: \u201cIf bully Ishihara wants one last stand, bring it on\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Japan lumbers towards an historic election with a looming far-rightward swing in but a few days, it looks as though Ishihara has indeed brought it on. He may even get a Cabinet post. Alright, here’s what I said when I first envisioned it happening\u2026<\/p>\n

================================<\/p>\n

The Japan Times, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012<\/strong>
\n JUST BE CAUSE<\/strong>
\n If bully Ishihara wants one last stand, bring it on<\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/text\/fl20121106da.html<\/a> or
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/text\/fl20121106ad.html<\/a>, whichever you prefer
\nBy ARUDOU Debito
\nColumn 57 for the Japan Times Community Page<\/p>\n

Version with comments and links to sources at\u00a0https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10733<\/a><\/p>\n

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That’s all for this month. Thanks for reading!
\nArudou Debito (debito@debito.org, www.debito.org, twitter arudoudebito)
\nDEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 10, 2012 ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Table of Contents:
\nGOOD NEWS
\n1) Updated 2nd Edition of HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS, MIGRANTS, & IMMIGRANTS to Japan now on sale<\/p>\n

MORE BAD SOCIAL SCIENCE
\n2) PTA-recommended \u201cChagurin\u201d mag puts propaganda article \u201cChildren within the Poverty Country of America\u201d in Japan\u2019s 6th-Grader classrooms
\n3) NYT on Donald Keene \u201cbecoming one of them\u201d, in an underresearched article that eulogizes the man before time
\n4) SITYS: IC Chips in new NJ Gaijin Cards are remotely scannable, as witnessed in USG\u2019s Faraday Envelopes to protect cardholders\u2019 privacy
\n5) Irony: GOJ pushes citizen ID law despite outcry over J privacy rights. Sadly, never similar concerns for NJ privacy, natch.
\n6) BBC: Japan\u2019s pseudoscience linking personality traits to blood types. I say it dumbs society down.<\/p>\n

DEBATES WITHOUT END
\n7) Kyodo: UN HRC prods Japan on sex slaves, gallows. But the elephant in the room still remains no law against racial discrimination in Japan
\n8 ) Interesting debate on martial arts as newly required course in JHS under Japan\u2019s Basic Education Law reforms
\n9) Archiving Tottori\u2019s 2005 Jinken Ordinance (the first and only one ever passed, then UNpassed, penalizing racial discrimination in Japan) to keep it in the historical record
\n\u2026 and finally\u2026
\n10) My Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 57, November 6, 2012: \u201cIf bully Ishihara wants one last stand, bring it on\u201d<\/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-10839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10839","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=10839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}