{"id":10973,"date":"2013-01-02T05:48:02","date_gmt":"2013-01-01T20:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10973"},"modified":"2013-01-02T05:48:02","modified_gmt":"2013-01-01T20:48:02","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-december-31-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10973","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 31, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Books etc. by ARUDOU Debito (click on icon):
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DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 31, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hi Newsletter Readers. Hope you are enjoying the holiday season and the end of 2012. On this last day of the year in Japan (penultimate day for places around the globe reading this before midnight), let me send you advance notice of two things:<\/p>\n

a) My next Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE column 59, \u201cTop Ten Human Rights Events for 2012\u2033<\/strong>, comes out right on January 1, 2013 (as it falls on a Tuesday this year; no rest for us with journalists’ deadlines). That’s about 24 hours from now in Japan, so have a read! Also, if you’d like to speculate for fun on what events made the Top Ten (ten events plus five bubble-unders), visit https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10971<\/a><\/p>\n

b) Our HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS, MIGRANTS, AND IMMIGRANTS TO JAPAN, Second Edition,<\/strong> now has its own special public Facebook page. If you’re on Facebook, drop by and “Like” it if you like! At http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/handbookimmigrants<\/a><\/p>\n

Now on with the Newsletter:<\/p>\n

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

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

POST-ELECTION ANALYSIS<\/strong>
\n 1) Japan\u2019s lurch to the right has happened, as predicted. DPJ routed, LDP and Ishihara ascendant in Dec 2012 LH Election<\/strong><\/p>\n

UNSUSTAINABILITY<\/strong><\/p>\n

2) \u201cJapanese Only\u201d hospital Keira Orthopaedic Surgery in Shintoku, Tokachi, Hokkaido. Alleged language barrier supersedes Hippocratic Oath for clinic, despite links to METI medical tourism<\/strong>
\n 3) Japan now a place to avoid for international labor migration? NHK: Even Burmese refugees refusing GOJ invitations, electing to stay in Thai refugee camp!<\/strong>
\n 4) Al Jazeera: \u201cThe mighty downfall of Japan\u2019s tech giants\u201d due to the lack of diversity in thought and innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n

GLIMMER<\/strong><\/p>\n

5) Good news: Rightist sentenced to a year in jail for harassing company using Korean actress in their advertising<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

6) Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 58, Dec. 11, 2012: \u201cDo Japan a favor: Don\u2019t stop being a critic\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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By ARUDOU Debito (debito@debito.org, www.debito.org, twitter arudoudebito)
\nFreely Forwardable<\/p>\n

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

POST-ELECTION ANALYSIS<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) Japan\u2019s lurch to the right has happened, as predicted. DPJ routed, LDP and Ishihara ascendant in Dec 2012 LH Election<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been said that people get the democracy that they deserve. Although unduly harsh, that rings true today, as the results of 2012\u2032s election have absolutely routed the DPJ and placed the old-school LDP\/Koumeitou alliance and the even older-school Ishihara Party, pardon, Japan Restoration Party (JRP) with a greater than 3\/4 majority (LDP\/KMT at 324, JRP 54) as a total in the 480-seat Lower House. (Source: Yomiuri 12\/17\/12) This is well over the 320 votes necessary to override the Upper House\u2019s vetoes, and essentially makes Japan\u2019s bicameral legislature unicameral. This new parliamentary composition could very well squeeze out a revision to the Self-Defense Forces (calling it what it really is: a standing military that should be unconstitutional) as well as force a \u201crevision of the pacifist American-made Japanese Constitution\u201d out of this. My synopsis of this election, and future prospects for the direction Japan is now heading, follow below.<\/p>\n

In brief: Keep an eye on what happens from now, folks, because I think that once the sake cups have been drained and hangovers recovered from, these people are going to get to work with a vengeance. Because for this generation of old-schoolers (such as Ishihara), there\u2019s not much time left for the Wartime Generation to undo all the Postwar liberalizations of Japan that have helped make Japan rich without overt remilitarization and aggression. For these fans of a martial Japan, who only value, respect, and covet a world in terms of power and hierarchy, revenge will be sweet.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10854<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

UNSUSTAINABILITY<\/strong><\/p>\n

2) \u201cJapanese Only\u201d hospital Keira Orthopaedic Surgery in Shintoku, Tokachi, Hokkaido. Alleged language barrier supersedes Hippocratic Oath for clinic, despite links to METI medical tourism<\/strong><\/p>\n

Submitter Hillary<\/strong>: Today, I was experiencing a problem with my foot; I thought I broke a toe over the weekend. I spoke with a Japanese Teacher of English with whom I work with and she offered to call a clinic in neighbouring Shintoku and accompany me to the clinic after school for treatment. She made the telephone call in Japanese and was advised of their location and hours of business and took down their information. Once we arrived there, she spoke with reception and a man (presumably a doctor) motioned to me, making the \u201cbatsu\u201d gesture and said (in Japanese) that the clinic\u2019s system doesn\u2019t allow for the treatment of foreigners because of our inability to understand Japanese. I looked at my colleague for confirmation on what I heard and she looked completely dumbstruck\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

COMMENT<\/strong>: I called Keira Seikei Geika Iin first thing in the morning JST on December 18, 2012, and talked to a man who did not give his name. He apologetically confirmed that his institution does not take foreigners. The reason given was a language barrier, and that it might cause \u201cinconvenience\u201d (meiwaku). When asked if this did not constitute discrimination, the answer given was a mere repeat of the meiwaku excuse and apology. When asked about having an interpreter along to resolve any alleged language barrier, the answer became a mantra. I thanked him for his time and that was the end of the conversation.<\/p>\n

As part of a long list of \u201cJapanese Only\u201d establishments, which started with bars and bathhouses and has since expanded to restaurants, stores, barber shops, internet cafes, hotels, apartments, and even schools denying NJ service, has now taken the next step \u2014 denying NJ medical treatment. If even Japanese hospitals defy the Hippocratic Oath to treat their fellow human beings, what\u2019s next? I have said for at least a decade that unchecked discrimination leads to copycatting and expansion to other business sectors. Now it\u2019s hospitals. What\u2019s next? Supermarkets? And it\u2019s not even the first time I\u2019ve heard of this happening \u2014 click here to see the case of a NJ woman in child labor in 2006 being rejected by 5 hospitals seven times.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10915<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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3) Japan now a place to avoid for international labor migration? NHK: Even Burmese refugees refusing GOJ invitations, electing to stay in Thai refugee camp!<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this time of unprecedented migration of labor across borders (click to see some international labor migration stats from the ILO and the OECD), I think increasingly one can make a strong case that Japan is being seen as a place to avoid. As I will be mentioning in my next Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE column (out January 1, 2013), as part of my annual countdown of the Top Ten most influential human rights issues in 2012 affecting NJ in Japan, Japan\u2019s \u201crevolving-door\u201d visa regimes (which suck the most productive work years out of NJ while giving them fewer (or no) labor law protections, and no stake in Japanese society \u2014 see here and here), people who are even guaranteed a slot in Japan\u2019s most difficult visa status \u2014 refugees (see also here) \u2014 are turning the GOJ down! They\u2019d rather stay in a Thai refugee camp than emigrate to Japan. And for reasons that are based upon word-of-mouth.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I mean \u2014 word is getting around, and no amount of faffing about with meetings on \u201clet\u2019s figure out how We Japanese should \u2018co-exist\u2019 with foreigners\u201d at the Cabinet level is going to quickly undo that reputation.<\/p>\n

Immediately below is the article I\u2019m referring to. Below that I offer a tangent, as to why Burmese in particular get such a sweetheart deal of guaranteed GOJ refugee slots. According to media, \u201cFrom 1982 to 2004, Japan accepted only 313 refugees, less than 10 per cent of those who applied. Even after its rules were slightly liberalized in 2004, it allowed only 46 refugees in the following year. Last year it accepted only 34 of the 954 applicants. Those numbers are tiny in comparison with Canada, which accepted more than 42,000 refugees last year, despite having a much smaller population than Japan. But they are also tiny in comparison to European countries such as France and Italy. On a per capita basis, Japan\u2019s rate of accepting refugees is 139th in the world, according to the United Nations.\u201d This means that Burmese make up between a third to a half of all refugees accepted! Why? As a holiday tangent, consider the elite-level intrigue of a wartime connection between the Japanese Imperial Army and SLORC\u2026<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10943<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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4) Al Jazeera: \u201cThe mighty downfall of Japan\u2019s tech giants\u201d due to the lack of diversity in thought and innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n

A bit of a diversion, as we get into business issues. The reason why this article is germane to Debito.org is the claim that the lack of diversity within Japanese company ranks, as well as within corporate outlooks, is partially to blame for two of Japan\u2019s mighty tech giants being downgraded to \u201cjunk\u201d status in terms of credit rating. While I\u2019m not an expert on tech business or marketing, I find the quote below by Gerard Fasol, that \u201ceven today, many of these Japanese companies have a complete focus on Japan. All the board members are Japanese men in their 60s and 70s. All the core members are Japanese and anybody who is not Japanese is automatically a second-class citizen in these companies,\u201d rings true. Especially in light of what happened to former Olympus CEO Michael \u201cincompatible with traditional Japanese practices\u201d Woodford. Most of \u201ctraditional Japan\u201d (which places great cultural value on hierarchy) reflexively will not surrender power to \u201ca foreigner\u201d under any circumstances. And as this article seeks to point out, that habit stifles innovation as Japanese society ages.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10941<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

GLIMMER<\/strong><\/p>\n

5) Good news: Rightist sentenced to a year in jail for harassing company using Korean actress in their advertising<\/strong><\/p>\n

A member of a nasty Rightist group was sentenced to a year in jail for harassing a Japanese company for using a Korean actress in its advertising. That\u2019s hopeful, as we are seeing examples of xenophobia in Japan going beyond internet and political-arena bile (as well as signposted exclusionism) and into the street for race-bating and interpersonal confrontation. Without some kind of brake like this court decision, it\u2019s only a matter of time before somebody goes too far and we have race riots in Japan.<\/p>\n

I would have liked to have seen a little more detail in the article below about the timeline of the harassment. I can speak from personal experience that it can take a year or more between an event and a conclusive court decision in Japan, so how responsive is Japan\u2019s judiciary being here? Also, note that this case is not punishing somebody for hate speech against an ethnic group or a person in Japan \u2014 it\u2019s protecting a Japanese company against threatening behavior, a bit different. I will be more reassured when we have a (similarly criminal, not civil) case involving arrest, prosecution, and jail time for an individual threatening an individual on the grounds of his\/her ethnicity\/national origin. But I don\u2019t think that will happen under the current legal regime, as \u201cthe government does not think that Japan is currently in a situation where dissemination of racial discriminatory ideas or incitement of racial discrimination are conducted to the extent that the government must consider taking legislative measures for punishment against dissemination of racial discriminatory idea, etc. at the risk of unjustly atrophying lawful speech\u2026\u201d That assessment was made by the MOFA to the UN more than a decade ago. Given what I see are xenophobic tidings in Japan these days, I think it\u2019s time for an update.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10924<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

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

6) Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 58, Dec. 11, 2012: \u201cDo Japan a favor: Don\u2019t stop being a critic\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Japan Times, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012<\/strong>
\n JUST BE CAUSE Column 58<\/strong>
\n Do Japan a favor: Don\u2019t stop being a critic<\/strong>
\n By ARUDOU Debito<\/strong>
\nCourtesy http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/text\/fl20121211ad.html<\/a>
\nVersion with links to sources and comments at
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10842<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Alright, that’s all for this year. Wishing everyone a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2013!
\nArudou Debito<\/p>\n

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 31, 2012 ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Table of Contents:
\nPOST-ELECTION ANALYSIS
\n1) Japan\u2019s lurch to the right has happened, as predicted. DPJ routed, LDP and Ishihara ascendant in Dec 2012 LH Election
\nUNSUSTAINABILITY
\n2) \u201cJapanese Only\u201d hospital Keira Orthopaedic Surgery in Shintoku, Tokachi, Hokkaido. Alleged language barrier supersedes Hippocratic Oath for clinic, despite links to METI medical tourism
\n3) Japan now a place to avoid for international labor migration? NHK: Even Burmese refugees refusing GOJ invitations, electing to stay in Thai refugee camp!
\n4) Al Jazeera: \u201cThe mighty downfall of Japan\u2019s tech giants\u201d due to the lack of diversity in thought and innovation
\nGLIMMER
\n5) Good news: Rightist sentenced to a year in jail for harassing company using Korean actress in their advertising
\n\u2026 and finally …
\n6) Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 58, Dec. 11, 2012: \u201cDo Japan a favor: Don\u2019t stop being a critic\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-10973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10973","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=10973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}