{"id":13443,"date":"2015-08-01T09:05:41","date_gmt":"2015-08-01T19:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13443"},"modified":"2015-08-17T09:06:46","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T19:06:46","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-august-2-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13443","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

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DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

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THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE FOR NJ WITH THE REACTIONARY-NATIONALIST ABE ADMINISTRATION<\/strong><\/p>\n

2) Discussion: Abe rams through Japan\u2019s new security guidelines: How will this affect NJ and Visible Minorities in Japan?<\/strong>
\n 3) Japan Times: Govt \u201cSnitch Sites\u201d being used to target Zainichi Koreans for harassment<\/strong>
\n 4) Kyodo: \u201cOverseas work, study seen as negative point for hiring anyone handling state secrets\u201d Such as multiethnic Japanese?<\/strong>
\n 5) Mainichi: \u201cNot Japanese Enough?\u201d Bog-standard article about Miss Japan Miyamoto Ariana\u2019s fight against racial discrim in Japan, not in Japanese for J-audience<\/strong><\/p>\n

MISCELLANY<\/strong><\/p>\n

6) Update to Canada bank racism issue: Fascinating FB conversation gets me to capitulate<\/strong>
\n 7) \u201cGaikokujin ja arimasen: An Analysis of the Interactive Construction and Contestation of Being a Foreigner in Japan\u201d, an academic paper by Dr. Cade Bushnell analyzing the conversation I had with Yunohana management during Otaru Onsen Case<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

8 ) Japan Times Just Be Cause 89, \u201cMedia redraw battle lines in bid for reach\u201d, on Fuji network\u2019s acquisition of Japan Today.com, July 6, 2015<\/strong>
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By Dr. ARUDOU, Debito (debito@debito.org, www.debito.org, Twitter @arudoudebito)
\nFreely Forwardable<\/p>\n

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THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE FOR NJ WITH THE REACTIONARY-NATIONALIST ABE ADMINISTRATION<\/strong><\/p>\n

2) Discussion: Abe rams through Japan\u2019s new security guidelines: How will this affect NJ and Visible Minorities in Japan?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s happening these days in Japan under PM Abe, i.e., the ramming of new security guidelines through the Diet, will have ripple effects for years, particularly in terms of Japan\u2019s legislative practices and constitutional jurisprudence. Not since the days of Abe\u2019s grandfather doing much the same thing, ramming through the US-Japan Security Treaty more than five decades ago (which also did remarkable damage to Japan as a civil society), have recent policy measures been given the potential to undermine the rule of law in Japan. And I say this with all the disappointment of a Japanese citizen, voter, and Japanophile. The Japanese Government has truly shamed itself as a proponent of its own civilization, and its short-sighted voting public has done too little too late to prevent a self-entitled single-minded person as awful as Abe being given a second crack at governance (this time with a majority in both parliamentary houses, no less).<\/p>\n

Debito.org, with its focus on life and human rights in Japan as relates to NJ and Visible Minorities, isn\u2019t really in a position to comment on this until it becomes clear how these policy outcomes will affect them. Right now, all can say is that I told you this would happen. Consider my record in real time in my previous Japan Times columns on the rise of Abe and Japan\u2019s looming remilitarization (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). Meanwhile, I\u2019m not one to speculate further without more concrete evidence.<\/p>\n

Speculation, however, can be your job. What do Debito.org Readers think the future is for NJ and Visible Minorities under this new Japan where fundamentally-pacifist policy underpinnings are being undermined and circumvented? (We can see the forthcoming attitudes within LDP propaganda very sharply critiqued by Colin P.A. Jones recently in The Japan Times.) Your turn to crystal-ball. Opening this up for discussion:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13416<\/a><\/p>\n

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3) Japan Times: Govt \u201cSnitch Sites\u201d being used to target Zainichi Koreans for harassment<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the previous blog entry, I pondered aloud a future Japan after the rule of law and the Japanese Constitution is further eroded for the sake of reactionary nationalism. Under Debito.org\u2019s purview, without clearer evidence I wasn\u2019t able to speculate how this would affect NJ residents of Japan. Now there is some evidence (which was brought up elsewhere on Debito.org within Comments starting from here) within a Japan Times article excerpted below.<\/p>\n

Not all that long ago, NJ residents of Japan were basically seen as misunderstood guests. As I describe in great detail in my upcoming book \u201cEmbedded Racism: Japan\u2019s Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination\u201d (out in November), thanks to GOJ campaigns in the 2000s the narrative officially shifted to seeing NJ as a source of crime, illegal overstaying, infectious diseases, and terrorism.<\/p>\n

As can be seen in the JT article, this attitude has percolated down to the interpersonal level. Again, not that long ago, Japanese in general were quite unaware that NJ had to carry \u201cGaijin Cards\u201d 24-7 or face arrest, detention, and financial penalty (many I talked to were even more flabbergasted when they realized that NJ fingerprinting \u2014 the hallmark of criminal tracking in Japan \u2014 was once involved).<\/p>\n

This has clearly changed: anonymous xenophobes-cum-bullies empowered by the Internet are now aware enough of NJs\u2019 vulnerable status as something trackable by Gaijin Cards (thanks to official NJ-targeting campaigns such as this one, found in places like subway stations back in 2011) that they are now spreading false rumors about Gaijin Card conversion (from the ARC to the remotely-trackable Zairyuu Card) and visa overstaying (in this case targeting the Zainichi Korean \u201cgenerational foreigners\u201d ethnic minority in Japan). They are now \u201coverwhelming Immigration\u201d with \u201ctips from bounty seekers\u201d.<\/p>\n

The kicker to this incident is that the internet bullies have been empowered by a system of \u201csnitch sites\u201d that the Japanese Government set up long ago (and Debito.org has long decried as incredibly open to abuse: see also here) to anonymously rat on any NJ based upon any reason whatsoever. Did the fools who set up this system really think that sooner or later this wouldn\u2019t happen? What\u2019s next, as Japan\u2019s general public starts to get involved in this GOJ-sponsored \u201cGaijin Hunt\u201d?<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13421<\/a><\/p>\n

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4) Kyodo: \u201cOverseas work, study seen as negative point for hiring anyone handling state secrets\u201d Such as multiethnic Japanese?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Continuing with this month\u2019s theme of how a reactionary-nationalist Japan will treat its NJ and Visible Minorities in future, the article below is very indicative. Although I did refer to it in my end-year JT roundup of Japan\u2019s Top Ten Human Rights Issues for 2014, somehow it escaped being properly archived on Debito.org as a single blog entry. So here it is: people with connections abroad will be considered a security risk and potentially be excluded from pubic service. No doubt that will include Japanese citizens with NJ roots. This is, in a word, odious.<\/p>\n

Kyodo: The Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office has warned government offices before the new state secrecy law takes effect Wednesday that people who have studied or worked abroad have a higher risk of leaking secrets. [\u2026]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The documents presented by the intelligence and research office at a meeting with other government bodies in November 2011 state that the experience of attending schools overseas or foreign schools in Japan as well as working abroad or working for foreign companies \u201ccould be an opportunity to nurture a special feeling about foreign countries.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The papers said such people \u201ctend to be influenced by\u201d approaches from foreign countries and there is a \u201crisk\u201d that they \u201cprioritize the benefits of foreign countries and voluntarily leak secrets.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13431<\/a><\/p>\n

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5) Mainichi: \u201cNot Japanese Enough?\u201d Bog-standard article about Miss Japan Miyamoto Ariana\u2019s fight against racial discrim in Japan, not in Japanese for J-audience<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve been withholding comment on the very good news about Miyamoto Ariana\u2019s ascension to the role of Miss Japan, and for the role that she is taking on of her own volition to fight \u201cracial discrimination\u201d (yes, explicitly jinshu sabetsu \u2014 something that the J-media generally refuses to even acknowledge exists in Japan). What I\u2019ve been waiting for is how the J-media (as opposed to the predictable reaction from the J-xenophobes) would react to her activism. And here\u2019s a good example from the Mainichi Shinbun: (A few comments follow the article.)<\/p>\n

Mainichi: At first glance, Ariana Miyamoto does not look like an ordinary Japanese woman. But the 21-year-old model and former bartender speaks the language like a native and thinks and acts like a typical Japanese her age. In March, she became the first mixed race contestant to be crowned \u201cMiss Universe Japan,\u201d but not everyone cheered the result\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Debito: Okay, a few points: 1) The opening paragraph, where the article says, \u201cBut the 21-year-old model and former bartender speaks the language like a native and thinks and acts like a typical Japanese her age.\u201d Well, she IS a native speaker of Japanese, and she IS a typical Japanese her age. Because she IS a Japanese. 100%. Even she says so. Front-loading the articles to reinforce the narrative that she isn\u2019t a Japanese because she has mixed roots is one major problem in this unnecessary debate about Miyamoto-san\u2019s identity\u2026<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13425<\/a><\/p>\n

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MISCELLANY<\/strong><\/p>\n

6) Update to Canada bank racism issue: Fascinating FB conversation gets me to capitulate<\/strong><\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago, shortly before bedtime when I was tired and on vacation, I tossed off a blog entry on Debito.org about my recent experience with what I considered to be racism towards me at a Canadian bank for not having a passport that matched the bank teller\u2019s expectation of phenotype. In other words, the teller said my having a Japanese passport was \u201cfunny\u201d to him, as I didn\u2019t \u201clook Japanese\u201d.<\/p>\n

This was quickly dealt with in a way that I had never seen done in, for example, Japan (where this behavior would in my experience be explained away as a cultural misunderstanding, oversensitivity on my part, etc.). In Canada, the manager intervened, and (unbeknownst to us at the time) sent the teller home. The manager, who happened to be a minority in Canada, then said he well understood my distaste for identity policing of this ilk. In sum, the blog post was to give kudos to Canadian society for stopping this sort of thing in its tracks.<\/p>\n

I had thought this was a pretty summary case, and wrote it up as such. However, I had no idea that it would blow up in my face. So much so that I had to add an addendum to the post from a person accompanying me to that bank, filling in a number of things I hadn\u2019t bothered to mention \u2014 such as the fact that we called the manager because we had a separate issue of business that needed a manager\u2019s attention, and the teller in fact interfered with that request, and more. This blog post is to archive the essence of a very informative discussion on my Facebook that was occasioned by that blog entry. The discussion cleaved into several quite distinct camps, essentially:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13404<\/a><\/p>\n

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7) \u201cGaikokujin ja arimasen: An Analysis of the Interactive Construction and Contestation of Being a Foreigner in Japan\u201d, an academic paper by Dr. Cade Bushnell analyzing the conversation I had with Yunohana management during Otaru Onsen Case<\/strong><\/p>\n

The landmark Otaru Onsens Case of \u201cJapanese Only\u201d signs continues to reverberate more than a decade later. Dr. Cade Bushnell of the University of Tsukuba kindly sent me the following notification of a research article he wrote, based upon a taped conversation I had with exclusionary management at Onsen Yunohana back in 2000, which precipitated the famous lawsuit. Please have a read, especially if you are interested in the field of Conversation Analysis.<\/p>\n

Gaikokujin ja Arimasen<\/em> (I\u2019m Not a Foreigner):<\/strong>
\n An Analysis of the Interactive Construction and Contestation of Being a Foreigner in Japan<\/strong>
\n Cade BUSHNELL University of Tsukuba, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Associate professor<\/strong>
\n Journal of International and Advanced Japanese Studies, University of Tsukuba, Vol. 7, March 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

Abstract (excerpt): In the present research, I examine a service encounter between a Caucasian Japanese national, his two friends, and the racially Japanese staff of a public bath house in Japan. In the analysis, I use conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis to examine the specific ways in which the participants co-construct the categories of Japanese and foreigner, how they constitute the category Japanese as being bound to differential sets of attributes, rights, legal statuses, and so forth, and how they treat these mutually different categorical constitutions as being problematic for assembling the real-world activity of using the bath house facilities. I also consider how the sequential and categorial aspects of the talk jointly work to make the interaction visible as being a dispute as the participants align to or contest categories in their interaction.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Link to full text follows:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13397<\/a><\/p>\n

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

8 ) Japan Times Just Be Cause 89, \u201cMedia redraw battle lines in bid for reach\u201d, on Fuji network\u2019s acquisition of Japan Today.com, July 6, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opening paragraphs: Something significant happened in April that attracted only desultory press coverage, so let\u2019s give it some more. GPlus Media Co., which operates English-language websites Japan Today and GaijinPot, was sold to Fuji TV-Lab, a subsidiary of Fuji Media Holdings Inc. The Fuji Media group has the Fuji Television Network under its wing, as well as the conservative daily Sankei Shimbun as an affiliate.<\/p>\n

This matters to Japan\u2019s resident non-Japanese (NJ) communities. Fuji TV was recently caught fabricating subtitles falsely quoting South Korean commenters as \u201chating Japan\u201d (Japan Times, June 29). That\u2019s an incredibly dishonest thing for a nationwide broadcaster to do, especially when it may have a nasty impact on Japan\u2019s Korean minorities.<\/p>\n

However, the Sankei Shimbun as a newspaper I believe is no less nasty. Over the past 15 years, for example, they have run articles grossly exaggerating foreign crime (see \u201cGenerating The Foreigner Crime Wave\u201d, Japan Times, Oct. 4, 2002), a column claiming that Chinese had criminal \u201cethnic DNA\u201d (May 8, 2001, written by regular columnist and former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro \u201clet\u2019s fight a war with China\u201d Ishihara) and an opinion piece by Ayako Sono on Feb. 11 that praised the racial segregation of South African apartheid as a model for Japanese immigration policy. The Fuji-Sankei group offers pretty much unwavering support to the country\u2019s right-wing causes and talking points. They are further right than the Yomiuri \u2014 and that\u2019s saying something. Before I get to why we should care, let\u2019s look briefly at the existing landscape of the nation\u2019s English-language media\u2026<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13389<\/a><\/p>\n

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That\u2019s all for this month. Thanks for reading!
\nDr. ARUDOU, Debito (debito@debito.org, www.debito.org, Twitter @arudoudebito)
\nDEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2, 2015 ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Table of Contents:
\nTHINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE FOR NJ WITH THE REACTIONARY-NATIONALIST ABE ADMINISTRATION
\n2) Discussion: Abe rams through Japan\u2019s new security guidelines: How will this affect NJ and Visible Minorities in Japan?
\n3) Japan Times: Govt \u201cSnitch Sites\u201d being used to target Zainichi Koreans for harassment
\n4) Kyodo: \u201cOverseas work, study seen as negative point for hiring anyone handling state secrets\u201d Such as multiethnic Japanese?
\n5) Mainichi: \u201cNot Japanese Enough?\u201d Bog-standard article about Miss Japan Miyamoto Ariana\u2019s fight against racial discrim in Japan, not in Japanese for J-audience<\/p>\n

MISCELLANY
\n6) Update to Canada bank racism issue: Fascinating FB conversation gets me to capitulate
\n7) \u201cGaikokujin ja arimasen: An Analysis of the Interactive Construction and Contestation of Being a Foreigner in Japan\u201d, an academic paper by Dr. Cade Bushnell analyzing the conversation I had with Yunohana management during Otaru Onsen Case
\n\u2026 and finally \u2026
\n8 ) Japan Times Just Be Cause 89, \u201cMedia redraw battle lines in bid for reach\u201d, on Fuji network\u2019s acquisition of Japan Today.com, July 6, 2015<\/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-13443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13443","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=13443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}