{"id":11638,"date":"2013-07-10T08:32:19","date_gmt":"2013-07-10T18:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11638"},"modified":"2013-07-10T08:32:19","modified_gmt":"2013-07-10T18:32:19","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-july-7-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11638","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JULY 7, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>eBooks, Books, and more from ARUDOU Debito (click on icon):<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/handbook.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11452\" title=\"Guidebookcover.jpg\" alt=\"Guidebookcover.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Guidebookcover.jpg\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/japaneseonly.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11335\" alt=\"japaneseonlyebookcovertext\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/japaneseonlyebookcovertext-150x150.jpg\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/handbook.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1298\" title=\"Handbook2ndEdcover.jpg\" alt=\"Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants to Japan\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Handbook2ndEdcover.jpg\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/inappropriate.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8577\" title=\"inappropriatecoverthumb150x226\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/inappropriatecoverthumb150x226.jpg\" width=\"75\" 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=\"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<br \/>\n&#8220;LIKE&#8221; US on Facebook at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/debitoorg\">http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/debitoorg<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/handbookimmigrants\">http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/handbookimmigrants<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JapaneseOnlyTheBook\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JapaneseOnlyTheBook<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BookInAppropriate\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BookInAppropriate<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JULY 7, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Table of Contents:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE DARK CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>1) Meidai\u2019s Lawrence Repeta lecture May 23 on LDP\u2019s likely constitutional reforms: Deletes fundamental guarantee of human rights, shifts from \u201crights\u201d to \u201cduties\u201d &amp; prioritizes \u201cpublic order\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2) FGU on how Japan\u2019s employers are circumventing new contract law protections: poison pills in contracts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>3) Tangent: Julian Ryall on how Japanese employees educated abroad are denied opportunities by Japanese companies<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE RACIALIZED HUCKSTERISM<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>4) Racist 2013 Toshiba commercial for product APB-R100X, SuiPanDa combination ricecooker\/breadmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>5) KAJ and Debito.org on foreign crime and racial profiling in Japan: statistical hocus-pocus<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>6) NPA \u201cCrime Infrastructure Countermeasures\u201d campaign also targets \u201cforeign crime\u201d anew. Justifies more anonymous anti-NJ signs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>7) Ueda Hideaki, GOJ rep at UN Committee Against Torture, repeatedly tells people to \u201cshut up\u201d for audibly laughing at Japan\u2019s human rights record<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u2026 and finally\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>8 ) My Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Col 64 Jun 4, 2013: \u201cBy opening up the debate to the real experts, Hashimoto did history a favor\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p>By ARUDOU Debito (debito@debito.org, www.debito.org, twitter arudoudebito)<br \/>\nFreely Forwardable<\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE DARK CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>1) Meidai\u2019s Lawrence Repeta lecture May 23 on LDP\u2019s likely constitutional reforms: Deletes fundamental guarantee of human rights, shifts from \u201crights\u201d to \u201cduties\u201d &amp; prioritizes \u201cpublic order\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We are mere weeks away from the next Diet Upper House election (July 23, to be exact), where half the seats are up for grabs, and at this point it looks like Japan\u2019s rightward swing will be successful and complete. According to current opinion polls (and they do matter a priori, as Japan\u2019s voting culture rarely supports underdogs), the LDP is far and away in the lead (so far so that the opposition DPJ won\u2019t even bother to field more than one candidate in the Tokyo constituency), meaning they will probably add the Upper House to its collection of majorities in the more-powerful Lower House as well.<\/p>\n<p>With this comes the likelihood of first changes in the Postwar Constitution. Legal scholar Colin P.A. Jones of Doshisha University has already come out with articles in the Japan Times discussing the LDP\u2019s proposed changes (see here and here). What I will do in this blog entry is scan and paste in the lecture notes (ten pages) from another legal scholar, Lawrence Repeta of Meiji University, who gave his analysis in a lecture at Temple University in Tokyo on May 23, 2013. It is less accessible than Colin\u2019s newspaper articles but no less authoritative, so here it is, courtesy of CP (notes in the margins probably also by CP). Repeta similarly holds that we will see a shift in focus towards strengthening The State in the name of \u201cpublic order\u201d, and prioritizing the duties and obligations of the Japanese public rather than guaranteeing their rights as individuals.<\/p>\n<p>In sum, we are seeing the return of Japanese as Imperial subjects rather than citizens, where rights and duties are granted from above rather than secured and guaranteed from below. This is what\u2019s coming, folks. Be prepared.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11592\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11592<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>2) FGU on how Japan\u2019s employers are circumventing new contract law protections: poison pills in contracts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve talked about Japan\u2019s Academic Apartheid at the university level (i.e., NJ on perpetual contracts, J on permanent tenure) for decades now on Debito.org (especially since employment standards of NJ in academia set precedents for employment everywhere). And thanks to decades of pressure, as of April 2013 the GOJ built in safeguards to stop perpetual contracting \u2014 where working five years continuously on fixed-term contracts now gives the contractee the option for more stable contract work. But employers are now getting around that by capping their contracts at five years with a \u201cnon-renewal clause\u201d, building in a poison pill for employees no matter how hard they work or contribute to the company.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s one more reason to reconsider ever working in Japan. For those who have no choice, keep an eye out for the poison pill and don\u2019t sign a contract with one.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11582\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11582<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>3) Tangent: Julian Ryall on how Japanese employees educated abroad are denied opportunities by Japanese companies<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ryall: <strong><em>Many young Japanese students go abroad to study with high hopes. They return home with foreign degrees and even higher hopes, only to be shot down by conservative company ideals.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>On the very first day in her first job after graduation, Tomoko Tanaka says her dominant emotion was of disappointment. Tanaka, who does not want her real name or the name of her company used in this article because it could affect her career, began work in April of this year and had high hopes that the years she spent studying overseas would make her a popular candidate with Japanese employers.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Instead, it seems, the effort and money that went into perfecting her English skills in the UK may have been wasted as Japanese firms do not always welcome potential recruits who have been exposed to foreign ways of thinking and behaving\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>A survey conducted in March 2012 by Disco, a Tokyo-based recruitment company, determined that less than one in four firms planned to hire Japanese applicants who had studied abroad. Even among major, blue-chip companies, less than 40 percent said they would employ Japanese who had attended a foreign university. Aware of the problems they face if they have invested their time and funds on an education overseas, more are staying closer to home.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11532  \">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11532<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE RACIALIZED HUCKSTERISM<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>4) Racist 2013 Toshiba commercial for product APB-R100X, SuiPanDa combination ricecooker\/breadmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>World-class company Toshiba seems to think that domestic commercials will only be seen within the putatively hermetic Japanese domestic market. And that there are no people in Japan who might take offense at being racially caricatured. The advertised product in question: A rice cooker that can also double as a bread maker \u2014 Toshiba SuiPanDa Model APB-R100X. The issue: Gaijinizing the user to promote bread consumption. Some stills from the CM enclosed. Note the accented speech rendered in katakana subtitle for the Gaijinized Japanese actress, complete with blond hair, appended big nose, and overexuberant gestures and speech patterns. Not to mention the dichotomous stereotype that people who eat bread (as opposed to potatoes or some other kind of starch) are automatically \u201cWestern\u201d (youfuu).<\/p>\n<p>Debito.org has added this to its collection of Japanese commercials and product lines that use biological memes of racism to hawk product. Here are some stills of those, some of which were taken off the air when people protested. Of course, you are welcome to protest this as well. Here\u2019s the Toshiba website with the product in question and some links to feedback sites. Many Japanese advertisers just never seem to learn. It\u2019s up to us to tell them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>UPDATE JUNE 29<\/strong>: Here are two other commercial spots for other Toshiba products, featuring the same businesswomen actresses in the same vein, but without the racialization. As a friend pointed out elsewhere, \u201cToshiba could have communicated the same message more effectively by interviewing a master baker or some other expert.\u201d Courtesy of Kotaku. Note that in these videos, these people are co-workers who know each other. Gaijinized in the breadmaker commercial, she\u2019s an unknown stranger. Once again, Gaijin are the perpetual \u201cOther\u201d who don\u2019t belong, even with all the NJ working for Japanese corporations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>UPDATE TWO<\/strong>: Toshiba is clearly aware that this commercial is problematic because they immediately removed it from their website. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toshiba.co.jp\/eco\/ch\/homebakery\/index_j.htm\">http:\/\/www.toshiba.co.jp\/eco\/ch\/homebakery\/index_j.htm<\/a><br \/>\nThat\u2019s kinda funny. A world-class electronics company thinking that it can just remove their racist advert without comment, retraction, or apology, and that would be it? Not very media- or tech-savvy, are they? Download your own copy from Debito.org in mp4 format, for posterity. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/Toshibasuipanda.mp4\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/Toshibasuipanda.mp4<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>UPDATE THREE<\/strong>: Even funnier, this racist advertisement goes against its own Corporate Standards of Conduct!<\/p>\n<p><strong>14. Advertising<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 1. Toshiba Group Corporate Policy<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Directors and Employees shall: \u201cnot make reference to politics or religion in advertising, cause offense or show disrespect by implying discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, physical disability or age.<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.toshiba.co.jp\/csr\/en\/policy\/soc.htm#SOC01_14\">http:\/\/www.toshiba.co.jp\/csr\/en\/policy\/soc.htm#SOC01_14<\/a><br \/>\nJapanese version<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.toshiba.co.jp\/csr\/jp\/policy\/soc.htm#SOC01_14\">http:\/\/www.toshiba.co.jp\/csr\/jp\/policy\/soc.htm#SOC01_14<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11590\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11590<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>5) KAJ and Debito.org on foreign crime and racial profiling in Japan: statistical hocus-pocus<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A few days ago KAJ, the editor of MRbloggen, a Norwegian human rights blog, sent me a very insightful article on racial profiling and foreign crime reportage in Japan. Let me excerpt from KAJ and from some writing I\u2019m doing:<\/p>\n<p>KAJ: <em>On 26 May 2013, a large mass demonstration demanding the eradication of foreign crimes and the expulsion of illegal immigrants was commenced in Tokyo. The demonstration ran for approximately two hours (between 11:00 \u2013 13:00) starting from Shinjuku Park. In a statement calling for participation of the Japanese public, it was noted that \u201cthis demonstration is not a demonstration against foreign crime specific. It is a demonstration for the expulsion of all bad foreigners\u201d [translated]. The procession of the demonstration can be viewed here. This is not the first time such mass distress against foreign crimes occured. So the question that should be asked is, is foreign crimes really a problem in Japan? What may have caused Japanese to fear foreign criminals?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>COMMENT: The NPA\u2019s annual White Papers on crime illustrate how crime reportage in Japan is differentiated into \u201ckokumin versus gaikokujin\u201d, with no comparison between them in scope or scale: Note the difference. Comparing a base year of 2009 (H.21), there were a total of 30,569 total cleared cases of crime committed by all foreign nationals (blue plus red bars). For kokumin, corresponding thefts and regular penal offenses not including traffic violations (purple bar, on a scale of \u4e07\u4ef6) total to over 1.5 million cases, or a difference of about a factor of 49. If put on the same chart with the same scale, foreign crime numbers would thus be practically invisible compared to kokumin crime numbers. However, the NPA has chosen to avoid this comparison, focusing instead on the rise and fall \u2013 mostly the purported rise \u2013 of foreign crime\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>UPDATE<\/strong> <strong>June 24 2013<\/strong>: A Reader sends in \u201cGaijin Crime\u201d [sic] stats from the Shizuoka Pref. Police website that similarly try to visually accentuate any rises they can. This is the group that put out the racist \u201cCharacteristics of Foreign Crime\u201d pamphlet back in 2000. Still up to their old tricks.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11557\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11557<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>6) NPA \u201cCrime Infrastructure Countermeasures\u201d campaign also targets \u201cforeign crime\u201d anew. Justifies more anonymous anti-NJ signs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Last blog entry we talked about how the National Police Agency exaggerates and falsifies data to whip up media panic about \u201cforeign crime\u201d. We\u2019ve also talked for many years on Debito.org about how the NPA has been putting out racist public notices about NJ criminals (including, in my opinion, assisting the seedier J-media to publish some examples of hate speech). Well, anonymous postermakers are now getting into the act, what with the NPA\u2019s most recent anti-crime campaign:<\/p>\n<p>The poster at right calls upon Tokyo Immigration Bureau to do something about fake international marriages, claiming they\u2019re \u201crising rapidly\u201d (kyuuzouchuu), and says (with the obligatory plural exclamation points that are characteristic of the alarmist far-right) that we cannot permit illegal foreign labor or overstayers!!<\/p>\n<p>The poster at left calls for the expulsion of foreign crime (!!), with murder, mugging, arson, rape, and theft listed at 25,730 cases! (Again, no comparison with Japanese crime, which is far, far higher \u2014 especially if you look at theft.) The bottom boxes are not to me fully legible, but the blue one asks the authorities not to give up in the face of fake applications for visas, Permanent Residency, and naturalizations!<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s is a poster from the Kanagawa Prefectural Police site (a proud sponsor of the door-to-door neighborhood resident checks and forked-tongue friendly cops who produce racist posters). It warns people in four languages that what they\u2019re doing is criminal activity, including forgery, \u201cbogus marriage\u201d (wow, the language level is getting better), \u201cfalse affiliation\u201d (gizou ninchi, meaning a J male falsely acknowledges paternity of an NJ child to get that child Japanese citizenship), and false adoption (I hope this won\u2019t now target Japan\u2019s Douseiaisha). Although not mentioning NJ in specific, the poster\u2019s multilinguality means it\u2019s meant for an international audience (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, English, and I think either Tagalog or Bahasa Indonesia).<\/p>\n<p>The interesting bit is in the bottom green section, where it talks about the Hanzai Infura [illegible] Taisaku (Crime Infrastructure Countermeasures). What\u2019s meant by \u201ccrime infura\u201d? It\u2019s a new enough concept to warrant an explanation from the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Site: \u201cInfrastructure\u201d is the things and organizations that are the basic foundation of a society, meaning roads, rails, plumbing, etc. By \u201cCrime Infrastructure\u201d, this is meant to be the the same thing to undergird crime, such as cellphones under false names, fake websites, false marriages, false adoptions, and false IDs. The Ibaraki Prefectural Police have a more elaborate explanation, with helpful illustrations of eight cases (five of which racialize the issue by pinning it to \u201cforeign crime\u201d).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11568\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11568<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>7) Ueda Hideaki, GOJ rep at UN Committee Against Torture, repeatedly tells people to \u201cshut up\u201d for audibly laughing at Japan\u2019s human rights record<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>JAPAN TIMES: <strong><em>Japan\u2019s human rights envoy to the United Nations faced calls to quit Wednesday over a video that showed him shouting at fellow diplomats to \u201cshut up.\u201d YouTube footage of the incident at the [UN Committee Against Torture held 5\/21-5\/22] provoked a storm of criticism on the Internet, with demands that Ambassador Hideaki Ueda be recalled to Japan. Blogging Japanese lawyer Shinichiro Koike, who said he was at the session, explained that a representative from Mauritius had criticized Japan\u2019s justice system for not allowing defense lawyers to be present during interrogations of criminal suspects\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>JDG: <em>It says so much about what is wrong with Japan, and the way Japan views both international relations and human rights (the human rights representative shouting at other diplomats?)\u2026 Of course, we must cut the guy some slack, after all, he is forced to try and uphold the tatemae that \u2018Japan is a modern nation\u2019 in a room full of people who clearly know the truth about Japan\u2019s human rights record.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>DEBITO: Well, I\u2019m not going to cut this character any slack. Ueda is a very embedded elite. Here\u2019s his resume at the MOFA. And he is living in the culture of constant denial of reality that Japan\u2019s elites excel at (get this bit where he\u2019s officially claiming in 2005 as Japan Ambassador to Australia that Japanese don\u2019t eat whales). If I were listening to Ueda say these things on any occasion, I would laugh out loud too. The UN Committee Against Torture has commented previously (2007) on Japan\u2019s criminal justice system, where treatment of suspects, quote, \u201ccould amount to torture\u201d. Ueda is part of the fiction writers maintaining the GOJ\u2019s constant lying to the UN about the state of human rights in Japan.<\/p>\n<p>Consider his statement on February 24, 2010 to the ICERD regarding Japan\u2019s progress in promoting measures against racial discrimination: Paragraph after paragraph about the Ainu (fine, but they are not the only minority in Japan covered by the ICERD), then citing a dead law proposal that failed to pass about ten years ago as some sort of progress, the absolutely useless MOJ Bureau of Human Rights, a proposal targeting a sliver of the international refugee community (who refused the hospitality anyway because they knew how unsupported it is once they get to Japan), and alleged cooperation with NGOs (which I know from personal experience is an outright lie \u2014 they are constantly ignored.) Meanwhile all sorts of things banned under the ICERD (including \u201cJapanese Only\u201d signs) also go completely ignored. It is, in the end, a joke.<\/p>\n<p>So world, don\u2019t shut up. Laugh aloud, laugh long. International awareness to the point of derision is the only thing that really shatters the veneer of politeness these officious elites keep taking advantage of in the diplomatic community.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11549\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11549<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u2026 and finally\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>8 ) My Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Col 64 Jun 4, 2013: \u201cBy opening up the debate to the real experts, Hashimoto did history a favor\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>JUST BE CAUSE<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> By opening up the debate to the real experts, Hashimoto did history a favor<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> BY ARUDOU Debito<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> The Japan Times June 4, 2013<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Courtesy <a href=\"http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2013\/06\/04\/issues\/by-opening-up-the-debate-to-the-real-experts-hashimoto-did-history-a-favor\">http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2013\/06\/04\/issues\/by-opening-up-the-debate-to-the-real-experts-hashimoto-did-history-a-favor<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Version with comments and links to sources at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11542\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11542<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s all for this month! See you next month after the election, when I&#8217;m hoping to say &#8220;see I told you so&#8221; a lot less than I anticipate.<\/p>\n<p>Arudou Debito<br \/>\n<strong>DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JULY 7, 2013 ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Table of Contents:<br \/>\nMORE DARK CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON<br \/>\n1) Meidai\u2019s Lawrence Repeta lecture May 23 on LDP\u2019s likely constitutional reforms: Deletes fundamental guarantee of human rights, shifts from \u201crights\u201d to \u201cduties\u201d &#038; prioritizes \u201cpublic order\u201d<br \/>\n2) FGU on how Japan\u2019s employers are circumventing new contract law protections: poison pills in contracts<br \/>\n3) Tangent: Julian Ryall on how Japanese employees educated abroad are denied opportunities by Japanese companies<\/p>\n<p>MORE RACIALIZED HUCKSTERISM<br \/>\n4) Racist 2013 Toshiba commercial for product APB-R100X, SuiPanDa combination ricecooker\/breadmaker<br \/>\n5) KAJ and Debito.org on foreign crime and racial profiling in Japan: statistical hocus-pocus<br \/>\n6) NPA \u201cCrime Infrastructure Countermeasures\u201d campaign also targets \u201cforeign crime\u201d anew. Justifies more anonymous anti-NJ signs<br \/>\n7) Ueda Hideaki, GOJ rep at UN Committee Against Torture, repeatedly tells people to \u201cshut up\u201d for audibly laughing at Japan\u2019s human rights record<\/p>\n<p>\u2026 and finally\u2026<br \/>\n8 ) My Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Col 64 Jun 4, 2013: \u201cBy opening up the debate to the real experts, Hashimoto did history a favor\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-11638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11638","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=11638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}