{"id":12968,"date":"2015-01-01T00:09:07","date_gmt":"2015-01-01T10:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12968"},"modified":"2015-01-06T08:38:58","modified_gmt":"2015-01-06T18:38:58","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-january-1-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12968","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JANUARY 1, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

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DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JANUARY 1, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hello Debito.org Newsletter Readers, and Happy New Year! \u00a0Table of Contents:<\/p>\n

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

1) DEBITO.ORG ELECTION SPECIAL DECEMBER 2014: A clear LDP victory, normalizing Japan\u2019s Rightward swing<\/strong><\/p>\n

2) Japan Election 2014: \u201cWhy taboo?\u201d Grotesque foreigner-bashing cartoon by Hiranuma\u2019s Jisedai Party, features \u201cTaboo Pig\u201d sliced in half over NJ welfare recipients \u201cissue\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

3) Grauniad: Police in Japan place anti-Korean extremist group Zaitokukai on watchlist; good news, if enforced<\/strong><\/p>\n

4) Holiday Tangent: Hanif Kureishi on UK\u2019s Enoch Powell: How just one racist-populist politician can color the debate in an entire society<\/strong><\/p>\n

5) Quiet NJ Success Story: Go game master and naturalized citizen Seigen Go dies at age 100<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026and finally\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

6) My Japan Times JBC Column 82: \u201cTime to Burst your Bubble and Face Reality\u201d, December 4, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

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

1) DEBITO.ORG ELECTION SPECIAL DECEMBER 2014: A clear LDP victory, normalizing Japan\u2019s Rightward swing<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the Japanese media run-up to this election, there was enough narrative of doomsaying for opponents to PM Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), what with Japan\u2019s Left in disarray and Japan\u2019s Right ascendant after 2013\u2019s electoral rout. The LDP was to \u201cwin big by default\u201d in a \u201clandslide victory\u201d. The day after the election, we can say that yes, Abe won, but \u201cbig\u201d is a bit of a relative term when you look at the numbers\u2026<\/p>\n

CONCLUSIONS<\/strong>: The Far-Right (Jisedai) suffered most in this election, while the Far-Left (JCP) picked up more protest votes than the Center-Left (DPJ). My read is that disillusioned Japanese voters, if they bothered to vote at all, saw the LDP\/KMT as possibly more centrist in contrast to the other far-right parties, and hedged their bets. With the doomsaying media awarding Abe the election well in advance, why would people waste their vote on a losing party unless they felt strongly enough about any non-issue being put up this election?<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the result will not be centrist. With this election, Japan\u2019s lurch to the Right has been complete enough to become normalized. PM Abe will probably be able to claim a consolidated mandate for his alleged fiscal plans, but in reality his goals prioritize revising Japan\u2019s \u201cPeace Constitution\u201d and eroding other firewalls between Japan\u2019s \u201cchurch and state\u201d issues (e.g., Japan\u2019s remilitarization, inserting more Shinto\/Emperor worship mysticism in Japan\u2019s laws, requiring more patriotism and \u201clove of country\u201d in Japan\u2019s education curriculum, and reinforcing anything Japan\u2019s corporatists and secretive bureaucrats don\u2019t want the public to know as \u201cstate secrets\u201d).<\/p>\n

All of this bodes ill for NJ residents of Japan, as even Japanese citizens who have \u201cforeign experiences\u201d are to be treated as suspicious (and disqualified for jobs) in areas that the GOJ deems worthy of secrecy. And as Dr. Jeff Kingston at Temple University in Japan notes, even the guidelines for determining what falls into that category are secret. Nevertheless, it is clear that diversity of opinion, experience, or nationality\/ethnicity is not what Japan\u2019s planners want for Japan\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12928<\/a><\/p>\n

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2) Japan Election 2014: \u201cWhy taboo?\u201d Grotesque foreigner-bashing cartoon by Hiranuma\u2019s Jisedai Party, features \u201cTaboo Pig\u201d sliced in half over NJ welfare recipients \u201cissue\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

As everyone in Japan probably knows (as they cover their ears due to the noise), it\u2019s election time again, and time for the sound trucks and stump speeches to come out in force until December 14. And with that, sadly, comes the requisite foreigner bashing so prevalent in recent years in Japan\u2019s election and policy campaigns (see for example here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). Here\u2019s 2014\u2019s version, from \u201cThe Party for Future Generations\u201d (Jisedai no Tou; frontman: racist xenophobe Dietmember from Okayama 3-ku Hiranuma Takeo), courtesy Debito.org Reader XY:<\/p>\n

XY<\/strong>: Today I ran across this election campaign video that isn\u2019t as bad as the usual CM fare, but seems to suggest that 8 times as many foreigners as native Japanese are receiving welfare hand-outs. Here\u2019s the lyrics (from the video\u2019s own description):<\/em><\/p>\n

DEBITO<\/strong>: Debito.org is concerned about this normalization of NJ bashing \u2014 to the point of believing that blaming foreigners for just about anything gains you political capital. Look how this alleged \u201cNJ welfare cheats\u201d issue has become one of Jisedai\u2019s four (well, three, actually, since the first issue mentioned is a grumble instead of a substantive claim) planks in their platform. Even though, as we have discussed here earlier, this is a non-issue. Link to CM and screen captures enclosed with analysis.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12904<\/a><\/p>\n

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3) Grauniad: Police in Japan place anti-Korean extremist group Zaitokukai on watchlist; good news, if enforced<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the Grauniad (article below), hate group Zaitokukai (which has been part of a group publicly advocating the killing of Japan\u2019s generational Korean residents, the Zainichi) has been placed on a National Police Agency \u201cwatchlist\u201d as a threat to law and order. That is good news. However, I wonder if it will deter Zaitokukai\u2019s bullying activities, where they can verbally abuse, knock down, and even punch (watch the video to the end) an old man who counterdemonstrates against them: Where were the police then? (Or then? Or then? Or then? Or then? Or then? Or within the movie Yasukuni?)<\/p>\n

As Debito.org has argued before, the Japanese police have a soft touch for extreme-rightists, but take a hard line against extreme(?) leftists. So placing this particular group on a watch list is a good thing. As having laws against violence and threats to law and order is a good thing. Alas, if those laws are not enforced by Japan\u2019s boys in blue, that makes little difference. We will have to wait and see whether we\u2019ll see a softening of Zaitokukai\u2019s rhetoric or Sakurai Makoto\u2019s bullying activities.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, according to the Mainichi Shinbun at the very bottom, local governments (as opposed to the foot-dragging PM Abe Cabinet) are considering laws against hate speech (well, they\u2019re passing motions calling for one, anyway). That\u2019s good too, considering that not long ago they were actually passing panicky resolutions against allowing Permanent Residents (particularly those same Zainichi) the right to vote in local elections. Methinks that if the world (e.g., the United Nations) wasn\u2019t making an issue of Japan\u2019s rising hate speech (what with the approaching 2020 Tokyo Olympics and all), this would probably not be happening. In other words, the evidence suggests that it\u2019s less an issue of seeing the Zainichi as fellow residents and human beings deserving equal rights, more an issue of Japan avoiding international embarrassment. I would love to be proven wrong on this, but the former is a much more sustainable push than the latter.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12907<\/a><\/p>\n

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4) Holiday Tangent: Hanif Kureishi on UK\u2019s Enoch Powell: How just one racist-populist politician can color the debate in an entire society<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the first of a few Holiday Tangents, the Guardian offers an excellent account of life for migrants, immigrants, and citizens of color in a society in flux (Great Britain in the 1970s, as it adjusted to the effects of a post-empire Commonwealth). It depicts well how one racist-populist politician, Enoch Powell, could affect an entire society, and though fear-mongering invective effectively accelerate the othering and subordination of residents.<\/p>\n

But that was just one person. Imagine the effects of a proliferation of Enoch Powellesque racists and fearmongerers throughout a society, such as the leader of a party (Hiranuma Takeo), the governor of the capital city (like Ishihara Shintaro), or the Prime Minister of an entire country (like Abe Shinzo), or Japan\u2019s entire national police force (see here, here, and here in particular). Enoch had his effects, and Kureishi can now look back with some degree of \u201cthe past is a foreign country\u201d relief. Japan cannot. Not right now.<\/p>\n

Kureishi<\/strong>: I was 14 in 1968 and one of the horrors of my teenage years was Enoch Powell. For a mixed-race kid, this stiff ex-colonial zealot \u2013 with his obscene, grand guignol talk of whips, blood, excreta, urination and wide-eyed piccaninnies \u2013 was a monstrous, scary bogeyman. I remember his name being whispered by my uncles for fear I would overhear.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I grew up near Biggin Hill airfield in Kent, in the shadow of the second world war. We walked past bomb sites everyday. My grandmother had been a \u201cfire watcher\u201d and talked about the terror of the nightly Luftwaffe raids. With his stern prophet\u2019s nostalgia, bulging eyes and military moustache, Powell reminded us of Hitler, and the pathology of his increasing number of followers soon became as disquieting as his pronouncements. At school, Powell\u2019s name soon become one terrifying word \u2013 Enoch. As well as being an insult, it began to be used with elation. \u201cEnoch will deal with you lot,\u201d and, \u201cEnoch will soon be knocking on your door, pal.\u201d \u201cKnock, knock, it\u2019s Enoch,\u201d people would say as they passed. Neighbours in the London suburbs began to state with some defiance: \u201cOur family is with Enoch.\u201d More skinheads appeared\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The influence of Powell, this ghost of the empire, was not negligible; he moved British politics to the right and set the agenda we address today. It\u2019s impossible not to summon his ghost now that immigration is once again the subject of national debate. Politicians attack minorities when they want to impress the public with their toughness as \u201ctruth-tellers\u201d. And Powell\u2019s influence extended far. In 1976 \u2013 the year before the Clash\u2019s \u201cWhite Riot\u201d \u2013 and eight years after Powell\u2019s major speeches, one of my heroes, Eric Clapton, ordered an audience to vote for Powell to prevent Britain becoming a \u201cblack colony\u201d. Clapton said that, \u201cBritain should get the wogs out, get the coons out,\u201d before repeatedly shouting the National Front slogan \u201cKeep Britain White\u201d.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12925<\/a><\/p>\n

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5) Quiet NJ Success Story: Go game master and naturalized citizen Seigen Go dies at age 100<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yomiuri Obit<\/strong>: Go master Seigen Go, heralded as the strongest professional player in the Showa era, died of old age early Sunday morning at a hospital in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture. He was 100. Go was born in 1914 in Fujian Province, China. His talent at go was recognized at an early age, and in 1928 he came to Japan at the age of 14. Go became a disciple of Kensaku Segoe, a seventh-dan player, and was quickly promoted to third dan the following year. He was granted the ninth dan in 1950 and became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 1979.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Submitter JK<\/strong>: IMO there\u2019s more going on here than just a typical obituary \u2014 to me, the article is an NJ success story. BTW, it\u2019s a shame the article doesn\u2019t detail Go\u2019s decision to naturalize at 65 instead of earlier (e.g. 1950 when he reached ninth dan).<\/em><\/p>\n

Debito<\/strong>: Quite. We hear all sorts of provincial navel-gazing whenever somebody foreign dominates a \u201cJapanese\u201d sport like sumo (to the point where the Sumo Association has to change to rules to count naturalized Japanese as \u201cforeign\u201d, in violation of the Nationality Law). Maybe there was that kind of soul-searching when Go ascended, I don\u2019t know (it was two generations ago). But it is a remarkable legacy to leave behind, and I wonder if there are any Go-nerds out there who might give us some more background. Like JK, I think there\u2019s a deeper story here.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12889<\/a><\/p>\n

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

\u2026and finally\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

6) My Japan Times JBC Column 82: \u201cTime to Burst your Bubble and Face Reality\u201d, December 4, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of my most controversial columns ever opened like this:<\/p>\n

I want to open by saying: Look, I get it. I get why many people (particularly the native speakers of English, who are probably the majority of readers here) come to Japan and stay on. After all, the incentives are so clear at the beginning.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Right away, you were bedazzled by all the novelty, the differences, the services, the cleanliness, the safety and relative calm of a society so predicated on order. Maybe even governed by quaint and long-lamented things like \u201chonor\u201d and \u201cduty.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not that the duties and sacrifices necessary to maintain this order necessarily applied to you as a non-Japanese (NJ). As an honored guest, you were excepted. If you went through the motions at work like everyone else, and clowned around for bonus points (after all, injecting genki into stuffy surroundings often seemed to be expected of you), you got paid enough to make rent plus party hearty (not to mention find many curious groupies to bed, if you happened to be male).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Admit it: The majority of you stayed on because you were anesthetized by sex, booze, easy money, and the freedom to live outside both the boxes you were brought up in and the boxes Japanese people slot themselves in.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But these incentives are front-loaded. For as a young, genki, even geeky person finding more fun here than anywhere ever, you basked in the flattery. For example, you only needed to say a few words in Japanese to be bathed in praise for your astounding language abilities! People treated you like some kind of celebrity, and you got away with so much.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mind you, this does not last forever. Japan is a land of bubbles, be it the famous economic one that burst back in 1991 and led two generations into disillusionment, or the bubble world that you eventually constructed to delude yourself that you control your life in Japan\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12891<\/a><\/p>\n

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That\u2019s it for another year. We\u2019re coming up on the 20th Anniversary of Debito.org soon. Will keep you posted! \u00a0Thanks as always for reading us!<\/p>\n

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JANUARY 1, 2015 ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Table of Contents:
\n1) DEBITO.ORG ELECTION SPECIAL DECEMBER 2014: A clear LDP victory, normalizing Japan\u2019s Rightward swing
\n2) Japan Election 2014: \u201cWhy taboo?\u201d Grotesque foreigner-bashing cartoon by Hiranuma\u2019s Jisedai Party, features \u201cTaboo Pig\u201d sliced in half over NJ welfare recipients \u201cissue\u201d
\n3) Grauniad: Police in Japan place anti-Korean extremist group Zaitokukai on watchlist; good news, if enforced
\n4) Holiday Tangent: Hanif Kureishi on UK\u2019s Enoch Powell: How just one racist-populist politician can color the debate in an entire society
\n5) Quiet NJ Success Story: Go game master and naturalized citizen Seigen Go dies at age 100<\/p>\n

\u2026and finally\u2026
\n6) My Japan Times JBC Column 82: \u201cTime to Burst your Bubble and Face Reality\u201d, December 4, 2014<\/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-12968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12968","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=12968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}