{"id":10980,"date":"2013-01-02T05:48:28","date_gmt":"2013-01-01T20:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10980"},"modified":"2013-01-05T05:23:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-04T20:23:00","slug":"japan-times-just-be-cause-column-59-the-year-for-nj-in-2012-a-top-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10980","title":{"rendered":"Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 59: The year for NJ in 2012: a Top 10"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. Thanks everyone for putting this article in the Top Ten Most Read once again for most of New Year’s Day (and to the JT for distinguishing this with another “Editor’s Pick”). Great illustrations as always by Chris Mackenzie. \u00a0Here’s hoping I have more positive things to say in next year’s roundup… This version with links to sources. Enjoy. And Happy New Year 2013. \u00a0Arudou Debito<\/p>\n

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

The Japan Times: Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

JUST BE CAUSE<\/a><\/div>\n

The year for non-Japanese in ’12: a top 10<\/h1>\n
By ARUDOU DEBITO<\/strong><\/div>\n
Courtesy of\u00a0http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/text\/fl20130101ad.html<\/a><\/div>\n
\n

Back by popular demand, here is JBC’s roundup of the top 10 human rights events that most affected non-Japanese (NJ) residents of Japan in 2012, in ascending order.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

10. Keene’s naturalization (March 7)<\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\"News<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This should have occasioned great celebration in Japan’s era of crisis, but instead, scholar Donald Keene’s anointment as a Japanese citizen became a cautionary tale, for two reasons. One was his very public denigration of other NJ (despite their contributions as full-time Japan residents, taxpayers and family creators) as alleged criminals and “flyjin” deserters (JBC, Apr. 3<\/a>), demonstrating how Old Japan Hands eat their young. The other was the lengths one apparently must go for acceptance: If you spend the better part of a century promoting Japanese literature to the world, then if you live to, oh, the age of 90, you might be considered “one of us.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It seems Japan would rather celebrate a pensioner salving a wounded Japan than young multiethnic Japanese workers potentially saving it.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

9. Liberty Osaka defunded (June 2)<\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\"News<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Liberty Osaka (www.liberty.or.jp<\/a>), Japan’s only human rights museum archiving the historical grass-roots struggles of disenfranchised minorities, faces probable closure because its government funding is being cut off. Mayor Toru Hashimoto, of hard-right Japan Restoration Party fame (and from a disenfranchised minority himself), explicitly said the divestment is due to the museum’s displays being “limited to discrimination and human rights,” thereby failing to present Japan’s children with a future of “hopes and dreams.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In a country with the most peace museums in the world, this politically motivated ethnic cleansing of the past augurs ill for cultural heterogeneity under Japan’s right-wing swing (see below).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sources: \u00a0https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10619<\/a> http:\/\/japanfocus.org\/-Tessa-Morris_Suzuki\/3818<\/a><\/p>\n

8. Nationality Law ruling (March 23)<\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\"News<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

In a throwback to prewar eugenics, Tokyo District Court ruled constitutional a section of the Nationality Law’s Article 12 stating that a) if a man sires a child with a foreigner b) overseas, and c) does not file for the child’s Japanese citizenship within three months of birth, then citizenship may legally be denied.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not only did this decision erode the 2008 Supreme Court ruling that granted citizenship to international children born out of wedlock, but it also made clear that having “foreign blood” (in a country where citizenship is blood-based) penalizes Japanese children \u2014 because if two Japanese nationals have a child overseas, or if the child is born to a Japanese woman, Article 12 does not apply. The ruling thus reinforced a legal loophole helping Japanese men evade responsibility if they fool around with foreign women.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sources: \u00a0https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10060<\/a> https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=1715<\/a><\/p>\n

7. No Hague signing (September 8)<\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\"News<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Japan’s endorsement of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction became a casualty of months of political gridlock, as the opposition Liberal Democratic Party blocked about a third of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan’s bills.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The treaty outlines protocol for how children of broken marriages can avoid international tugs of war. As the Community Pages have reported umpteen times, Japan, one of the few developed countries that is not a signatory, remains a haven for postdivorce parental alienation and child abductions.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Since joint custody does not legally exist and visitation rights are not guaranteed, after a Japanese divorce one parent (regardless of nationality) is generally expected to disappear from their child’s life. Former Diet member Masae Ido (a parental child abductor herself) glibly called this “a Japanese custom.” If so, it is one of the most psychologically damaging customs possible for a child, and despite years of international pressure on Japan to join the Hague, there is now little hope of that changing.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sources: \u00a0http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/text\/nn20120908a2.html<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10548<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

6. Immigration talks (May 24-August 27)<\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\"News<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

In one of the few potentially bright spots for NJ in Japan this year, the Yoshihiko Noda Cabinet convened several meetings on how Japan might go about creating a “coexistence society” that could “accept” NJ (JBC, July 3<\/a>). A well-intentioned start, the talks included leaders of activist groups, local governments and one\u00a0nikkei\u00a0academic.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sadly, it fell into old ideological traps: 1) Participants were mostly older male Japanese bureaucrats; 2) those bureaucrats were more interested in policing NJ than in making them more comfortable and offering them a stake in society; 3) no NJ leader was consulted about what NJ themselves might want; and 4) the Cabinet itself confined its concerns to the welfare of nikkei residents, reflecting the decades-old (but by now obviously erroneous) presumption that only people with “Japanese bloodlines” could “become Japanese.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In sum, even though the government explicitly stated in its goals that NJ immigration (without using the word,\u00a0imin) would revitalize our economy, it still has no clue how to make NJ into “New Japanese.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Source: \u00a0https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10396<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Mainali, Suraj cases (June 7, July 3)<\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\"News<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

2012 saw the first time an NJ serving a life sentence in Japan was declared wrongfully convicted, in the case of Govinda Prasad Mainali. The last time that happened (Toshikazu Sugaya in 2009), the victim was released with a very public apology from public prosecutors. Mainali, however, despite 15 years in the clink, was transferred to an immigration cell and deported. At least both are now free men.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On the other hand, the case of Abubakar Awudu Suraj (from last year’s top 10<\/a>), who died after brutal handling by Japanese immigration officers during his deportation on March 22, 2010, was dropped by public prosecutors who found “no causal relationship” between the treatment and his death.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thus, given the “hostage justice” (hitojichi shih\u014d) within the Japanese criminal prosecution system, and the closed-circuit investigation system that protects its own, the Japanese police can incarcerate you indefinitely and even get away with murder \u2014 particularly if you are an NJ facing Japan’s double standards of jurisprudence (Zeit Gist, Mar. 24, 2009<\/a>).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sources:\u00a0https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=9265<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10407<\/a>
\n\u201cHostage justice\u201d: https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=1426<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Visa regimes close loop (August)<\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\"News<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Over the past two decades, we have seen Japan’s visa regimes favoring immigration through blood ties \u2014 offering limited-term work visas with no labor law rights to Chinese “trainees” while giving quasi-permanent-residency “returnee” visas to nikkei South Americans, for example.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, after 2007’s economic downturn, blood was judged to be thinner than unemployment statistics, and the government offered the nikkei (and the nikkei only) bribes of free airfares home if they forfeited their visa status (JBC, Apr. 7, 2009<\/a>). They left in droves, and down went Japan’s registered NJ population for the first time in nearly a half-century \u2014 and in 2012 the Brazilian population probably dropped to fourth place behind Filipinos.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But last year was also when the cynical machinations of Japan’s “revolving door” labor market became apparent to the world (JBC, March 6<\/a>) as applications for Japan’s latest exploitative visa wheeze, “trainee” nurses from Indonesia and the Philippines, declined \u2014 and even some of the tiny number of NJ nurses who did pass the arduous qualifying exam left. Naturally, Japan’s media (e.g., Kyodo, June 20<\/a>; Aug. 4<\/a>) sought to portray NJ as ungrateful and fickle deserters, but nevertheless doubts remain as to whether the nursing program will continue. The point remains that Japan is increasingly seen as a place to avoid in the world’s unprecedented movement of international labor.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sources: https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10010<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10497<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10340<\/a>
\nInternational labor migration stats http:\/\/www.oecd.org\/els\/internationalmigrationpoliciesanddata\/internationalmigrationoutlook2012.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

3. New NJ registry system (July 5)<\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\"News<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

One of the most stupefying things about postwar Japan has been how NJ could not be registered with their Japanese families on the local residency registry system (j\u016bmin kihon daich\u014d) \u2014 meaning NJ often went uncounted in local population tallies despite being taxpaying residents! In 2012, this exclusionary system was finally abolished along with the Foreign Registry Law.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this good news was offset by a) NJ still not being properly registered on family registries (koseki), b) NJ still having to carry gaijin cards at all times (except now with potentially remotely readable computer chips), and c) NJ still being singled out for racial profiling in spot ID checks by Japanese police (even though the remaining applicable law requires probable cause). It seems that old habits die hard, or else just get rejiggered with loopholes.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sources: \u00a0https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10414<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=9718<\/a>
\nRemotely readable computer chips https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10750<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Post-Fukushima Japan is bust<\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\"News<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

After the multiple disasters of March 11, 2011, there was wan hope that Japan’s electorate would be energized enough to demand better governance. Nope. And this despite the revelations in December 2011 that the fund for tsunami victims was diverted to whaling “research.” And the confusing and suppressed official reports about radioactive contamination of the ecosystem. And the tsunami victims who still live in temporary housing. And the independent parliamentary report that vaguely blamed “Japanese culture” for the disaster (and, moreover, offered different interpretations for English- and Japanese-reading audiences). And the reports in October that even more rescue money had been “slush-funded” to unrelated projects, including road building in Okinawa, a contact lens factory in central Japan and renovations of Tokyo government offices.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Voters had ample reason for outrage, yet they responded (see below) by reinstating the original architects of this system, the LDP.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For everyone living in Japan (not just NJ), 2012 demonstrated that the Japanese system is beyond repair or reform.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sources:\u00a0 https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=9745<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=9756<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10706<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10428<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=9698
\n<\/a>http:\/\/japanfocus.org\/-Iwata-Wataru\/3841<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Japan swings right (December)<\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\"News<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Two columns ago (JBC, Nov. 6<\/a>), I challenged former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara (whose rabble-rousing bigotry has caused innumerable headaches for disenfranchised people in Japan, particularly NJ) to “bring it on” and show Japan’s true colors to the world in political debates. Well, he did. After a full decade of successfully encouraging Japanese society to see NJ (particularly Chinese) as innately criminal, Ishihara ratcheted things up by threatening to buy three of the privately-owned Senkaku islets (which forced the Noda administration to purchase them instead, fanning international tensions). Then Ishihara resigned his governorship, formed a “restorationist” party and rode the wave of xenophobia caused by the territorial disputes into the Diet’s Lower House (along with 53 other party members) in December’s general election.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Also benefiting from Ishihara’s ruses was the LDP, who with political ally New Komeito swept back into power with 325 seats. As this is more than the 320 necessary to override Upper House vetoes, Japan’s bicameral legislature is now effectively unicameral. I anticipate policy proposals (such as constitutional revisions to allow for a genuine military, fueling an accelerated arms race in Asia) reflecting the same corporatist rot that created the corrupt system we saw malfunctioning after the Fukushima disaster. (Note that if these crises had happened on the LDP’s watch, I bet the DPJ would have enjoyed the crushing victory instead \u2014 tough luck.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In regards to NJ, since Japan’s left is now decimated and three-quarters of the 480-seat Lower House is in the hands of conservatives, I foresee a chauvinistic movement enforcing bloodline-based patriotism (never mind the multiculturalism created by decades of labor influx and international marriage), love of a “beautiful Japan” as defined by the elites, and more officially sanctioned history that downplays, ignores and overwrites the contributions of NJ and minorities to Japanese society.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In sum, if 2011 exposed a Japan in decline, 2012 showed a Japan closing.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sources: https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10854<\/a>
\nNew arms race:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-20302604<\/a> (Watch the video from minute 5.30:\u00a0 the Hyuuga, Postwar Japan\u2019s first new aircraft carrier is now in commission, two new big aircraft carriers are in production.)<\/p>\n

Bubbling under (in descending order):<\/strong><\/div>\n

\u2022 China’s anti-Japan riots (September) and Senkaku-area maneuvers (October to now).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 North Korea’s missile test timed for Japan’s elections (December 12).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 NJ workers’ right to strike reaffirmed in court defeat of Berlitz (February 27<\/a>).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 NJ on welfare deprived of waiver of public pension payments (August 10), later reinstated after public outcry (October 21<\/a>).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Statistics show 2011’s postdisaster exodus of NJ “flyjin” to be a myth (see JBC, Apr. 3<\/a>).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sources:\u00a0https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10055<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=10081<\/a><\/p>\n

Debito Arudou and Akira Higuchi’s bilingual 2nd Edition of “Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants,” with updates for 2012’s changes to immigration laws, is now on sale. Twitter @arudoudebito. Just Be Cause appears on the first Community Page of the month. Send your comments to\u00a0community@japantimes.co.jp<\/a>.<\/em><\/div>\n
\n
The Japan Times: Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013<\/strong><\/div>\n
ENDS<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Debito’s Top Ten human rights issues in Japan for NJ residents in 2012:
\n10. DONALD KEENE\u2019S NATURALIZATION
\n9. OSAKA CITY DEFUNDS LIBERTY OSAKA
\n8. COURTS RULE THAT MIXED-BLOOD CHILDREN MAY NOT BE \u201cJAPANESE\u201d
\n7. DIET DOES NOT PASS HAGUE CONVENTION
\n6. GOVERNMENT CONVENES MEETINGS ON IMMIGRATION
\n5. MAINALI CASE VICTORY, SURAJ CASE DEFEAT
\n4. JAPAN\u2019S VISA REGIMES CLOSE THEIR LOOP
\n3. NEW NJ REGISTRY SYSTEM
\n2. POST-FUKUSHIMA JAPAN IS IRREDEEMABLY BROKEN
\n1. JAPAN\u2019S RIGHTWARD SWING
\nLinks to sources included<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,36,49,22,19,34,33,50,52,20,5,12,26,4,14,16,15,13,56,60,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-bad-social-science","category-child-abductions","category-cultural-issue","category-education","category-exclusionism","category-fingerprinting-nj","category-gaiatsu","category-hate-speech","category-history","category-human-rights","category-immigration-assimilation","category-ironies-hypocrisies","category-japanese-government","category-japanese-politics","category-labor-issues","category-lawsuits","category-media","category-nj-legacies","category-nj-voices-ignored","category-unsustainable-japanese-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10980","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=10980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}