{"id":14242,"date":"2016-10-02T00:17:49","date_gmt":"2016-10-02T10:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=14242"},"modified":"2016-10-02T09:18:08","modified_gmt":"2016-10-02T19:18:08","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-october-3-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=14242","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 3, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

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DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 3, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

Table of Contents:<\/em><\/strong>
\n \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/strong>
\n THE OPPOSITION FACES OPPOSITION<\/strong>
\n 1) JT: Democratic Party Leader Renho and the \u201cpure blood\u201d mythos (covered in detail in book \u201cEmbedded Racism\u201d)<\/strong>
\n 2) JT: Renho nationality furor exposes Japan\u2019s deeply embedded gender bias<\/strong><\/p>\n

A GOOD MONTH FOR MEDIA APPEARANCES<\/strong>
\n 3) Debito panelist on Al-Jazeera program \u201cThe Stream\u201d: \u201cThe politics of identity in Japan\u201d after Yoshikawa Priyanka\u2019s pageant victory<\/strong>
\n 4) ABC NewsRadio Australia, Japan in Focus: The winner of Miss World Japan, Yoshikawa Priyanka, prompts another racial debate. Interviews Debito<\/strong>
\n 5) Deep in Japan Podcast, Debito Interview Pts. 2 and 3 on book \u201cEmbedded Racism\u201d and issues of racial discrimination etc. in Japan<\/strong><\/p>\n

OLD-HAT<\/strong>
\n 6) Discussion: Should I stay or should I go? What\u2019s your personal threshold for staying in or leaving Japan?<\/strong>
\n 7) Book \u201cEmbedded Racism\u201d now discounted to $34.99 if bought through publisher directly, using promo code<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026 and finally\u2026<\/strong><\/em>
\n 8 ) Japan Times column Sept. 5, 2016: \u201cJBC marks 100 columns and a million page views\u201d<\/strong>
\n\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

By Dr. ARUDOU, Debito
\ndebito@debito.org, www.debito.org, Twitter @arudoudebito
\nNewsletter freely forwardable<\/p>\n

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

THE OPPOSITION FACES OPPOSITION<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) JT: Democratic Party Leader Renho and the \u201cpure blood\u201d mythos (covered in detail in book \u201cEmbedded Racism\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n

JT: \u201cIt\u2019s no coincidence that [opposition party leader Murata] Renho\u2019s detractors are the same people who are against allowing a female emperor. \u201cPure blood\u201d ideology is at the root of Yawata\u2019s philosophy \u2014 the \u201cscoop\u201d about Renho\u2019s dual nationality was merely a delivery device. The law means nothing to them because their faith is invested in an occult mythos about the unbroken Imperial line. [Journalist] Kosugi Misuzu insists these beliefs amount to \u201cracism,\u201d since they limit the rights of some people born and raised in Japan due to genetics. Asahi reported on July 6, 2014 \u2014 well before the Renho controversy \u2014 that the pure blood faction wants to kick out permanent Korean residents as well as anyone with dual citizenship by making all Japanese sign a loyalty oath. They are not just rightists, said the paper, they are \u201canachronisms.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c[Former bureaucrat] Yawata Kazuro says Renho can\u2019t be trusted because she doesn\u2019t use her Japanese married name and gave her children names that \u201csound Chinese.\u201d These value judgments should mean nothing in a democracy. Zakzak, another Sankei organ, adds to the din by saying that Japanese people do not like the idea of someone with dual citizenship \u201crising to the top.\u201d What about best-selling Japanese-American singer Hikaru Utada and all those bicultural athletes at the Rio Olympics? For that matter, what about former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, who was allowed to settle here and escape prosecution in his native country by asserting his Japanese nationality?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

COMMENT<\/strong>: All of these issues, particularly the \u201cpure blood\u201d conceit, have been brought up passim<\/em> in book \u201cEmbedded Racism: Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination in Japan\u201d. Renho herself features prominently in the book (Chapter Seven), given that Japan\u2019s racist politicians have questioned her loyalty many times before \u2014 for example when she was a Cabinet member in the previous DPJ government \u2014 simply because she\u2019s to them a mudblood. And they can get away with it because the \u201cpure blood\u201d narrative is so strong.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=14218<\/a><\/p>\n

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

2) JT: Renho nationality furor exposes Japan\u2019s deeply embedded gender bias<\/strong><\/p>\n

Colin Jones has come up with another insightful column, with a legalistic spine, in regards to how Japanese nationality has historically been awarded (until 1985, through fathers only, not mothers) until it was challenged. And, true to their nature in Japanese jurisprudence, Tokyo courts sided with the status quo (of discriminating against international children with Japanese mothers), and it wasn\u2019t until the Diet amended the laws before they changed their tune. Yet, as Colin points out, the stigma still remains, especially in light of the debate regarding DP leader Renho\u2019s true \u201cJapaneseness\u201d, a dual-nationality flap that never should have been an issue in the first place, \u2013regardless of whether you are proponent of single nationality or double (I fall in the latter camp). Read the article for a breathtaking tour through Japan\u2019s convoluted legal logic.<\/p>\n

Jones: In short, decades after her birth, Renho is still being punished for having a Japanese parent who was female rather than male. Renho\u2019s case thus offers a stark illustration of the deeply rooted structural impediments faced by women in Japan even today.<\/p>\n

It also demonstrates the Japanese establishment\u2019s general inability to acknowledge the past. The fact that such blatant government-sanctioned discrimination existed until the 1980s simply disappears into the memory hole, a hole that probably exists because the people who ran Japan back then are essentially the same as those who run it today.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=14232<\/a><\/p>\n

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A GOOD MONTH FOR MEDIA APPEARANCES<\/p>\n

3) Debito panelist on Al-Jazeera program \u201cThe Stream\u201d: \u201cThe politics of identity in Japan\u201d after Yoshikawa Priyanka\u2019s pageant victory<\/p>\n

For the second year in a row, Japan has crowned a biracial woman the winner of a major beauty pageant, reviving a conversation in the island nation about race, xenophobia and what it means to be Japanese. Japan is frequently labeled as one of the most homogeneous countries in the world, but some say this is a myth that discounts the minorities living there and stifles dialogue about discrimination in the country.<\/p>\n

In May, Japan passed its first anti-hate speech law in an attempt to curb racism and xenophobia. While critics sceptical about the law\u2019s effectiveness poked holes in the bill, many have applauded the government for taking steps toward addressing what they say is an often ignored issue. Some have viewed Priyanka Yoshikawa\u2019s Miss World Japan win as a sign the country is becoming more open to diversity. Others argue Japan has been open for a long time, and stories suggesting otherwise are reinforcing antiquated stereotypes.<\/p>\n

Panelists: Miss World Japan beauty pageant winner Yoshikawa Priyanka, Edward Sumoto, Baye McNeil, Aoki Yuta, and Arudou Debito.<\/p>\n

Debito panelist on Al-Jazeera program “The Stream”: “The politics of identity in Japan” after Yoshikawa Priyanka’s pageant victory<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n