{"id":13742,"date":"2016-01-04T16:21:18","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T02:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13742"},"modified":"2016-01-07T16:22:38","modified_gmt":"2016-01-08T02:22:38","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-january-3-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13742","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JANUARY 3, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Books, eBooks, and more from Dr. ARUDOU, Debito (click on icon):
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DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JANUARY 3, 2016<\/strong>
\nHappy New Year to all Debito.org Readers! May health and happiness ensue for you.<\/p>\n

First off, my thanks to Dr. Jeff Kingston, Director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan, for adding to the positive book reviews of \u201cEmbedded Racisms: Japan\u2019s Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination\u201d, by mentioning it in the Japan Times \u201cRecommended Readings\u201d of the year.
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/opinion\/2015\/12\/19\/commentary\/recommended-reading-holidays-beyond\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Second, my latest Japan Times Just Be Cause Column 94 is the annual recap of Top Ten Human Rights Issues as they affected Non-Japanese residents of Japan in 2015. A teaser:<\/p>\n

======================================
\nBattles over history, the media and the message scar 2015<\/strong>
\n BY DEBITO ARUDOU<\/strong>
\n THE JAPAN TIMES, JAN 3, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

2015 was another year of a few steps forward but many steps back in terms of human rights in Japan. The progressive grass roots consolidated their base and found more of a voice in public, while conservatives at the top pressed on with their agenda of turning the clock back to a past they continue to misrepresent. Here are the top 10 human rights issues of the year as they affected non-Japanese residents:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

10) NHK ruling swats \u2018flyjin\u2019 myth\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rest at http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2016\/01\/03\/issues\/battles-history-media-message-scar-2015\/<\/a> ======================================<\/p>\n

Now on with the Newsletter:<\/p>\n

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

GOOD NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) Asahi: Immigration Bureau inundated with e-mails \u201csnitching on\u201d Korean nationals, suspends program after nearly 12 years of snitching<\/strong><\/p>\n

2) Asahi: Justice Ministry issues first-ever hate speech advisory to Sakurai Makoto, ex-leader of xenophobic Zaitokukai group<\/strong><\/p>\n

3) JT on Japan\u2019s Brave Blossoms rugby team: \u201cImagining a Japan that thinks beyond blood and binary distinctions\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

NOT SO GOOD<\/strong><\/p>\n

4) Saitama Pref. Kawaguchi City Assemblyman Noguchi Hiroaki (LDP): \u201cWe have more foreigners registered than dogs,\u201d querying about potential NJ tax dodgers<\/strong><\/p>\n

5) JT: Anti-war student organization SEALDs to disband after Upper House poll in 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

6) The Year in Quotes: \u201cMuch jaw-jaw about war-war\u201d (2015 Roundup), Foreign Element column, Dec. 23, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

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

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

GOOD NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) Asahi: Immigration Bureau inundated with e-mails \u201csnitching on\u201d Korean nationals, suspends program after nearly 12 years of snitching<\/strong><\/p>\n

Asahi: Baffled by a surge of e-mails snitching on resident Koreans as \u201cillegal aliens,\u201d the Immigration Bureau shut down its tipster program on people overstaying their visas and contacted the police for assistance. \u201cThis is a highly regrettable situation,\u201d said an official with the bureau\u2019s general affairs division. \u201cSending e-mails to slander foreigners does not meet the purpose of the system to inform on illegal residents.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The bureau, an arm of the Justice Ministry, said that since May it had received more than three times as many e-mails informing on supposed illegal residents than in fiscal 2014. It attributed the surge to misinformation that spread on the Internet claiming Korean nationals would become illegal aliens as of July 9.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Immigration Bureau adopted the tipster system in 2004 to crack down on people overstaying their visas. It received 460 or so e-mails on a monthly average on the topic last fiscal year. But in May of this year, the figure jumped to 1,821, with 1,562 in June. The number of e-mails received in July through September is still being tallied, but could exceed 10,000, according to the official.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Comment<\/strong>: Good news. After the Immigration Bureau instituted this easily-abusable program of \u201csnitch sites\u201d, where the general public can anonymously rat on \u201cforeigners\u201d for any reason whatsoever, it has finally been suspended (not abolished) after people really began abusing it. Pity it only took nearly twelve years (it was instituted on February 16, 2004) before Immigration realized it. Yet another example of callous disregard by the bureaucrats towards the very people they are charged to serve.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13722<\/a><\/p>\n

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

2) Asahi: Justice Ministry issues first-ever hate speech advisory to Sakurai Makoto, ex-leader of xenophobic Zaitokukai group<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s keep the good news coming, on the heels of the suspension of the anti-foreigner government online \u201csnitch sites\u201d. Anti-Korean hate group Zaitokukai\u2019s activities have been singled out for official frowning-at for some time now, including being put on the National Police Agency watch list, being publicly berated by the Osaka Mayor, and losing big in court\u2013setting a good anti-defamation precedent recognizing hate speech as an illegal form of racial discrimination.<\/p>\n

Now the \u201cformer leader\u201d of Zaitokukai, Sakurai Makoto, has been issued Japan\u2019s first ministerial warning that his activities are unlawful and violate human rights. And that individuals (not just groups) are also covered against hate speech. Good. But let\u2019s take into account the limitations of this \u201cadvisory\u201d. One is that it has no legal force (it\u2019s basically, again, an official frowning-at). The other is that it can only claim this is unlawful, not illegal, because even after twenty years of signing the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Japan still has no laws against racial discrimination. And, as noted below, the GOJ declined to pass any laws against hate speech in 2015. Thus, the debate in Japan can only focus on abstract issues of victim reaction such as \u201cdignity\u201d and \u201cpersonal agony\u201d, which are much harder to proactively enforce in a legalistic manner. All the GOJ can do is run on fumes and frown\u2013not actually arrest these
\nextremists for encouraging violence against an entire ethnicity within Japan, or even stop the police for selectively keeping order in favor of the rightists.<\/p>\n

Asahi: The Justice Ministry for the first time issued a hate speech advisory, warning the former leader of a group against ethnic Koreans on Dec. 22 that its activities are unlawful and violate human rights. The advisory was issued to Makoto Sakurai, former chairman of Zainichi Tokken wo Yurusanai Shimin no Kai (Group of citizens who do not tolerate privileges for ethnic Korean residents in Japan). The group is more commonly known as Zaitokukai, and it has gained international attention for blaring discriminatory and menacing taunts at its street rallies in ethnic Korean neighborhoods. Although the advisory does not carry legal force, the ministry deemed Zaitokukai\u2019s actions to be unlawful. The advisory also recognized individuals as victims of hate speech for the first time.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13720<\/a><\/p>\n

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

3) JT on Japan\u2019s Brave Blossoms rugby team: \u201cImagining a Japan that thinks beyond blood and binary distinctions\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

One important item that Debito.org has been unduly slow in celebrating is the victories of the Japan \u201cBrave Blossoms\u201d multiethnic rugby team. They did very well, finishing ninth in the world rankings, even unexpectedly beating South Africa in a match, and part of that was claimed as being due to their multiethnic mix.<\/p>\n

An interesting think-piece (that says much of what Debito.org has been saying for decades, and it\u2019s nice to see that others share that view in print) came out in the Japan Times last October. I\u2019ll excerpt bits below that are pertinent to the rugby issue. Bear in mind, however, that rugby in Japan has been decried as being TOO foreign in the past, and seen as a reason why Japan was losing (which was why the team was afterwards ethnically cleansed (see Embedded Racism p. 156), albeit clearly temporarily). Then, once Japan wins, those very same characteristics are claimed as the reason why. It would be nice if someday people would just keep analysis on the level of the talents of individual players, but that\u2019s pretty far off (what with the beating of nationalistic drums every Olympics).<\/p>\n

Anyway, Debito.org (belatedly) congratulates the Brave Blossoms on a job well done, and wishes them well in the future. Sport can have a positive effect too on social tolerance. As long as your teams wins, of course.<\/p>\n

JT: The recent heroics of Japan\u2019s team in the Rugby World Cup \u2014 three wins in the group stage, including the historic nail-biting victory over South Africa \u2014 pave the way for two potentially positive outcomes: a bright future for rugby on these islands, and, just maybe, a template to discuss identity and belonging in Japan.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was obvious to anyone watching the Brave Blossoms\u2019 games that of the 31 players included in Japan\u2019s squad, some of the players did not appear \u2014 how should we put it? \u2014 typically Japanese. In fact, 11 players were born outside Japan \u2014 the same number, incidentally, as for the Welsh and Scottish teams. Under current rugby union rules, a player can be considered for selection for the national team if, amongst other considerations, they have lived in the country for three consecutive years. But in 2015, how do we define \u201ctypically Japanese\u201d? Do we do so through blood, race and ethnicity? Or would we not be better off opening up the field, and, much like the vaunted rugby squad, considering new ideas, while relegating outdated terms and modes of thinking to the sin bin?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13670<\/a><\/p>\n

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

NOT SO GOOD<\/strong><\/p>\n

4) Saitama Pref. Kawaguchi City Assemblyman Noguchi Hiroaki (LDP): \u201cWe have more foreigners registered than dogs,\u201d querying about potential NJ tax dodgers<\/strong><\/p>\n

JT: A 58-year-old official in the city of Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, has pointed out that the city\u2019s non-Japanese population is larger than the number of registered dogs. He later withdrew the remark after coming under criticism from other assembly members, according to local media reports. Hiroaki Noguchi, a Liberal Democratic Party assemblyman, made the remark at an assembly session Wednesday when he was asking questions about the number of foreign residents who had failed to pay their taxes, the daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported. After receiving complaints from some assembly members that his remark was inappropriate, Noguchi reportedly apologized, saying he only wanted to illustrate that the number of foreigners living in the city is on the rise. He said he did not mean to discriminate against them, but agreed that the remark was misleading. [\u2026]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the local daily Saitama Shimbun, Noguchi said Wednesday the number of foreign people in the city is increasing, pointing out that the number of dogs registered at the city is 26,000 while the number of foreign residents totals 27,000. Inagawa told Saitama Shimbun that the remark could be regarded as being discriminatory, adding he believes it is similar to the \u201cJapanese only\u201d banner put up at Saitama Stadium by supporters of Urawa Reds soccer team last year.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

COMMENT<\/strong>: I suspect a slow news day. These sorts of things usually don\u2019t attract this much attention (because they\u2019re so normalized in Japan), and implicit suspicions of NJ as people criminally indisposed to taking advantage of the system (unlike those \u201cstereotypical law-abiding Japanese\u201d; yet there are whole movies out there about the art of tax dodging done by Japanese \u2014 it\u2019s normalized to the level of parody). I\u2019m also pleased that the comment was retracted (they often are not, especially if the person is very powerful), although I doubt there will be any sanction against this person for implicitly putting NJ residents at the level of dogs. I\u2019m also pleased that there has been a connection made between the \u201cJapanese Only\u201d exclusions at Saitama Stadium and this event (perhaps this is why there was a peg for the issue in the local media) \u2014 although a racist tweet by a Urawa Reds supporter last month resulted in no punishments either.<\/p>\n

So all-in-all, mixed feelings. This kind of comment cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged because it demonstrates the unconscious dehumanization of NJ by Japan\u2019s registry systems (see more on that in my book EMBEDDED RACISM pp. 219-222), where until 2012 animals and fictional characters could be registered as \u201cresidents\u201d but not foreign resident taxpayers. And that\u2019s before we get to the explicit attribution of tax dodging to NJ. But all that resulted from this case was that the comment was deleted from the records, and all will continue as before, soon forgotten without recorded reprisal against the xenophobe. Meaning there is nothing to preempt some other official saying something as thoughtlessly dehumanizing as this. Clearly, more structural sanction is necessary.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13704<\/a><\/p>\n

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

5) JT: Anti-war student organization SEALDs to disband after Upper House poll in 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now here\u2019s something I find profoundly disappointing. One bright outcome of Japan\u2019s Right-Wing Swing was the reenergizing of the Grassroots Left, with regular public demonstrations promoting anti-racism and tolerance. However, one group that attracted a lot of attention for opposing PM Abe\u2019s policies, the Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy (SEALDs), made an announcement (at the Foreign Correspondents\u2019 Club of Japan, no less) last October that their leadership wasn\u2019t just stepping down due to graduation from university \u2014 they were disbanding the entire group within a year.<\/p>\n

That makes the leadership comes off as human-rights hobbyists. There is no need to make what should be a handing over of the reins to the next generation into a public spectacle of disbandment. Alas, they\u2019re quitting, and taking the brand name with them. Abe must be grinning in great satisfaction. From eroding Japan\u2019s democratic institutions to making investigation of government chicanery illegal to marching Japan back to its martial past (while decimating Japan\u2019s Left in formal Japanese politics), Abe is truly winning this fight. He\u2019s even got these brave kids running scared.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13663<\/a><\/p>\n

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

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

6) The Year in Quotes: \u201cMuch jaw-jaw about war-war\u201d (2015 Roundup), Foreign Element column, Dec. 23, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love year-end roundups, and this year I was given the privilege of compiling the year in quotes. Fuller version follows with more quotes that didn\u2019t make the cut and links to sources:<\/p>\n

JT: The past year has seen a number of tensions and tugs-of-war, as conservatives promoted past glories and preservation of the status quo while liberals lobbied for unprecedented levels of tolerance. This year\u2019s Community quotes of the year column will break with tradition by not giving a guided tour of the year through quotations, but rather letting the words stand alone as capsule testaments to the zeitgeist. Quotes follow:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot think of a strategic partnership that can exercise a more profound influence on shaping the course of Asia and our interlinked ocean regions more than ours. In a world of intense international engagements, few visits are truly historic or change the course of a relationship. Your visit, Mr. Prime Minister, is one.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u2014 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe\u2019s December trip to India, where agreements were reached on infrastructure investment (including a much-feted high-speed train), nuclear energy cooperation, classified intelligence sharing and military hardware sales to deter China from encroaching upon the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince taking office, I\u2019ve worked to rebalance American foreign policy to ensure that we\u2019re playing a larger and lasting role in the Asia Pacific \u2014 a policy grounded in our treaty alliances, including our treaty with Japan. And I\u2019m grateful to Shinzo for his deep commitment to that alliance. He is pursuing a vision of Japan where the Japanese economy is reinvigorated and where Japan makes greater contributions to security and peace in the region and around the world.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u2014 U.S. President Barack Obama, during a joint press conference marking Abe\u2019s visit to the United States in April, during which he became the first Japanese leader to address both houses of Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Japan gets attacked, we have to immediately go to their aid. If we get attacked, Japan doesn\u2019t have to help us.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u2014 Donald Trump, U.S. Republican presidential candidate, on the stump.<\/p>\n

Rest at https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13718<\/a><\/p>\n

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Thank you as always for reading Debito.org, as 2016 heralds the 20th Anniversary of Debito.org (founded on March 15, 1996). Here\u2019s to twenty more years. Debito<\/p>\n

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JANUARY 3, 2016 ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Table of Contents:
\nGOOD NEWS
\n1) Asahi: Immigration Bureau inundated with e-mails \u201csnitching on\u201d Korean nationals, suspends program after nearly 12 years of snitching
\n2) Asahi: Justice Ministry issues first-ever hate speech advisory to Sakurai Makoto, ex-leader of xenophobic Zaitokukai group
\n3) JT on Japan\u2019s Brave Blossoms rugby team: \u201cImagining a Japan that thinks beyond blood and binary distinctions\u201d<\/p>\n

NOT SO GOOD
\n4) Saitama Pref. Kawaguchi City Assemblyman Noguchi Hiroaki (LDP): \u201cWe have more foreigners registered than dogs,\u201d querying about potential NJ tax dodgers
\n5) JT: Anti-war student organization SEALDs to disband after Upper House poll in 2016<\/p>\n

\u2026 and finally \u2026
\n6) The Year in Quotes: \u201cMuch jaw-jaw about war-war\u201d (2015 Roundup), Foreign Element column, Dec. 23, 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-13742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13742","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=13742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13742\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}