{"id":13624,"date":"2015-11-01T06:57:41","date_gmt":"2015-11-01T16:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13624"},"modified":"2015-11-06T06:58:03","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T16:58:03","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-november-2-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13624","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Hello Newsletter Readers. The top story is that my book “Embedded Racism” hits bookshelves this week, and my Japan Times column that came out today summarizes it. Please see Item 1 below:<\/p>\n

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

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1) Japan Times JBC 93 Nov 2, 2015: \u201cTackle embedded racism before it chokes Japan\u201d, summarizing my new book out this week<\/strong>
\n 2) Asahi TV: Police training drill in Tokyo on how to deal with jewelry thieves brandishing knives. Oh, and they\u2019re \u201cforeign\u201d thieves.<\/strong>
\n 3) \u201cForeign Driver\u201d stickers appearing on Okinawan rental cars<\/strong>
\n 4) Japan Times: Japan sanctioning mass \u2018slave labor\u2019 by duping foreign trainees, observers say<\/strong>
\n 5) Japan moving on to the next sucker societies for cheap or slave labor: Cambodia and Vietnam<\/strong>
\n 6) Paul Toland Case Update: Japan as a \u201cblack hole\u201d for parental child abductions \u2014 Family Court lawsuit & press conference to raise awareness of issue<\/strong>
\n 7) \u201cOnsen-Ken Shinfuro Video\u201d: Japan Synchro Swim Team promotes Oita Pref. Onsens \u2014 and breaks most bathhouse rules doing so. Historically insensitive.<\/strong>
\n 8 ) My Japan Times JBC 92 Oct. 5, 2015: \u201cConveyor belt of death shudders back to live\u201d, on how Abe\u2019s new security policy will revive Prewar martial Japan<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026 and in case you thought I was being alarmist with JBC 92\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

9) CSM: Reviving Shinto: Prime Minister Abe tends special place in Japan\u2019s soul for mythology<\/strong>
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By Dr. ARUDOU, Debito (debito@debito.org, www.debito.org, twitter @arudoudebito)
\nNewsletter freely forwardable<\/p>\n

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1) Japan Times JBC 93 Nov 2, 2015: \u201cTackle embedded racism before it chokes Japan\u201d, summarizing my new book out this week<\/strong><\/p>\n

JBC: Japan has a dire problem it must address immediately: its embedded racism.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The country\u2019s society and government are permeated by a narrative that says people must \u201clook Japanese\u201d before they can expect equal treatment in society.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That must stop. It\u2019s a matter of Japan\u2019s very survival.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve talked about Japan\u2019s overt racism in previous Just Be Cause columns: the \u201cJapanese only\u201d signs and rules that refuse entry and service to \u201cforeigners\u201d on sight (also excluding Japanese citizens who don\u2019t \u201clook Japanese\u201d); the employers and landlords who refuse employment and apartments \u2014 necessities of life \u2014 to people they see as \u201cforeign\u201d; the legislators, administrators, police forces and other authorities and prominent figures that portray \u201cforeigners\u201d as a national security threat and call for their monitoring, segregation or expulsion.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But this exclusionism goes beyond a few isolated bigots in positions of power, who can be found in every society. It is so embedded that it becomes an indictment of the entire system. In fact, embedded racism is key to how the system \u201cworks.\u201d Or rather, as we shall see below, how it doesn\u2019t\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the rest at the Japan Times at http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2015\/11\/01\/issues\/tackle-embedded-racism-chokes-japan\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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2) Asahi TV: Police training drill in Tokyo on how to deal with jewelry thieves brandishing knives. Oh, and they\u2019re \u201cforeign\u201d thieves.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Apparently the Tokyo police believe that jewelry stores need training in how to fend off thieves. Foreign thieves, that is. Even though according to the NPA\u2019s own statistics, theft (almost always committed by Japanese) is by far the most common crime in Japan \u2014 even more than traffic accidents!<\/p>\n

And by \u201cforeign thieves\u201d, we don\u2019t just mean the cat-burglar type of jewel thief (although even police also claim those as due to \u201cforeigners\u201d because of their \u201cdaring\u201d. Seriously.) We mean the loud, violent type, with perps shouting \u201ckane\u201d while wielding knives, as foreigners do, right? Fortunately, they can be repulsed by shopkeepers wielding poles and by police brandishing batons.<\/p>\n

TV Asahi was on the scene to record the event at a real jewelry store in public (in Okachimachi, Tokyo) to make the proceedings even more visible. Broadcast October 9, 2015. Check it out (video recording):<\/p>\n

COMMENT: If you want an exercise to show how to repulse robbers, fine. But there is no need to depict them as foreigners. Depict them as thieves, regardless of nationality, and arrest them.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13598<\/a><\/p>\n

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3) \u201cForeign Driver\u201d stickers appearing on Okinawan rental cars<\/strong><\/p>\n

In another turn of logic in Japan, where differentiation between foreigners and Japanese is so normal that it\u2019s standard operating procedure for a significant amount of public policy, we have a case where \u201cForeign Driver\u201d stickers have been created in Okinawa to call public attention to rental cars rented by foreigners. (image) Of course, with this constant differentiation comes the facile logical conclusion by policymakers that foreigners get into accidents BECAUSE they are foreigners. And presto, more public policy that once again targets foreigners. All the heart marks and polite language below in the \u201cForeign Driver\u201d sign can\u2019t overcome that fact. Anyone want to find out if domestic NJ residents with Japanese driver licenses, who of course also become tourists if they travel within Japan, also get stuck with this sticker?<\/p>\n

Fukuoka Now Magazine: The number of foreign visitors renting cars is on the rise. In fiscal 2014, the number of car rentals around Fukuoka Airport jumped 250% to 6,572. Meanwhile, the Kyushu District Transportation Bureau offers a \u00a52,500 2-day \u201call-you-can-drive\u201d expressway pass. In the three-month period of last October to December, about 2,000 foreign tourists used the service, and the bureau expects this year\u2019s numbers to outstrip last year\u2019s. In Okinawa, a spate of minor accidents has led car rental shops to put \u201cForeigner Driving\u201d stickers on cars rented to foreign tourists.\u201cI keep an eye out for rental cars with wa license plates now,\u201d admits a local taxi driver, referring to the rental car license plates whose numbers are prefaced by the hiragana character wa (\u308f).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13610<\/a><\/p>\n

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4) Japan Times: Japan sanctioning mass \u2018slave labor\u2019 by duping foreign trainees, observers say<\/strong><\/p>\n

Japan Times: The [Industrial Trainee and Technical Internship Program], however, has not been without its critics. Japan\u2019s top ally, the U.S., has even singled it out, with the State Department\u2019s annual Trafficking in Persons Report for years slamming the program\u2019s \u201cdeceptive recruitment practices.\u201d \u201cThe (Japanese) government did not prosecute or convict forced labor perpetrators despite allegations of labor trafficking in the TTIP,\u201d it said this year, using the program\u2019s acronym.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Past allegations include unpaid overtime work, karoshi (death from overwork), and all kinds of harassment, including company managers restricting the use of toilets or demanding sexual services. The government rejects claims the program is abusive, yet acknowledges there have been some upstream problems. \u201cIt is true that some involved in the system have exploited it, but the government has acted against that,\u201d an immigration official said. \u201cIt is not a system of slave labor.\u201d The official insisted it was not in authorities\u2019 power to control the behavior of middlemen but insisted they were not allowed to charge deposit fees. \u201cIt is also banned for employers to take away trainees\u2019 passports,\u201d he added.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has unveiled a plan to expand the program that would allow foreign trainees to stay in Japan for five years instead of three, and says such labor will increasingly be needed, particularly in the construction boom ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Abe is also aware that the nation\u2019s health care sector must increasingly look abroad to fill the shortage of workers. \u201cIt has been said that we will need 1 million caregivers for the elderly by 2025, which would be impossible to handle only with the Japanese population,\u201d said Tatsumi Kenmochi, a manager at a care home near Tokyo that employs Indonesian nurses. For Kenmochi, foreign staff are a precious commodity and the sector must do as much as it can to make them feel welcome. \u201cIt must be hard to leave home and work overseas,\u201d he said. \u201cWe make sure that they don\u2019t get homesick, listening to them and sometimes going out to have a warm bowl of noodles with them.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Torii of Solidarity Network With Migrants Japan said this is just the kind of attitude Japan needs to learn: \u201cThe issue is not whether we accept immigrants or not. They are already here, playing a vital role in our society.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Japan Times: Japan sanctioning mass \u2018slave labor\u2019 by duping foreign trainees, observers say<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n