{"id":15158,"date":"2018-09-23T09:58:24","date_gmt":"2018-09-23T19:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15158"},"modified":"2018-09-23T09:58:24","modified_gmt":"2018-09-23T19:58:24","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-september-23-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15158","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 23, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Books, eBooks, and more from Dr. Debito Arudou (click on icon):<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/handbook.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11452\" title=\"Guidebookcover.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Guidebookcover.jpg\" alt=\"Guidebookcover.jpg\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/japaneseonly.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11335\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/japaneseonlyebookcovertext-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"japaneseonlyebookcovertext\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/handbook.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1298\" title=\"Handbook2ndEdcover.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Handbook2ndEdcover.jpg\" alt=\"Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants to Japan\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/inappropriate.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8577\" title=\"inappropriatecoverthumb150x226\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/inappropriatecoverthumb150x226.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/japaneseonly.html#japanese\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1700\" title=\"jobookcover\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/jobookcover-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\u300c\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30cb\u30fc\u30ba\u30fb\u30aa\u30f3\u30ea\u30fc\u3000\u5c0f\u6a3d\u5165\u6d74\u62d2\u5426\u554f\u984c\u3068\u4eba\u7a2e\u5dee\u5225\u300d\uff08\u660e\u77f3\u66f8\u5e97\uff09\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cinemabstruso.de\/strawberries\/main.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2735\" title=\"sourstrawberriesavatar\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/sourstrawberriesavatar.jpg\" alt=\"sourstrawberriesavatar\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?cat=32\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4921\" title=\"debitopodcastthumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/debitopodcastthumb.jpg\" alt=\"debitopodcastthumb\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12473\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-12474\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/FodorsJapan2014cover-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"FodorsJapan2014cover\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nUPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito<br \/>\nDEBITO.ORG PODCASTS on iTunes, subscribe free<br \/>\n&#8220;LIKE&#8221; US on Facebook at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/debitoorg\">http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/debitoorg<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embeddedrcsmJapan\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embeddedrcsmJapan<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/handbookimmigrants\">http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/handbookimmigrants<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JapaneseOnlyTheBook\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JapaneseOnlyTheBook<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BookInAppropriate\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BookInAppropriate<\/a><br \/>\nIf you like what you read and discuss on Debito.org, please consider helping us stop hackers and defray maintenance costs with a little donation via my webhoster:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/donate.cgi?id=17701\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.newdream.net\/donate4.gif\" alt=\"Donate towards my web hosting bill!\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>All donations go towards website costs only. Thanks for your support!<\/i><\/p>\n<p><strong>DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 23, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Table of Contents:<br \/>\n\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<br \/>\n<strong>ASSIMILATION AND ITS DUES<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>1) Naomi Osaka\u2019s US Open victory over Serena Williams: Congratulations, but I don\u2019t think you know what you\u2019re getting yourself into.<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>2) JT\/Kyodo: Immigration Bureau to be upgraded to Immigration Agency April 2019. Baby steps towards Immigration Ministry with actual immigration policy?<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>3) GOJ sets targets for importing even more NJ temp labor, Kyodo editorializes on how badly Japan needs NJ<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>ASSIMILATION AND ITS MISINTERPRETATIONS<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>4) Farrah on Hamamatsu\u2019s city-sponsored \u201cGaijin Day\u201d event: Problematic wording and execution, esp. given the history of Hamamatsu, and who attended.<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>5) NYT: Dr. Sacko, Kyoto Seika University\u2019s African-Born President, claims no experience of racism in Japan. Just of \u201cbeing treated differently because he doesn\u2019t look Japanese\u201d. Huh?<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>6) Daily Show&#8217;s Trevor Noah controversy on French World Cup team: \u201cAfrica won the World Cup\u201d. Debito.org disagrees with French Ambassador\u2019s protest letter.<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>7) Kyodo\/Mainichi: Japan increases \u201cnuclear security\u201d before 2019 Rugby World Cup, 2020 Olympics (again, insinuating NJ are potential terrorists)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>8 ) TJ on \u201cDoing a Debito\u201d: Gaijin Carded at Nagoya Airport and Airport Comfort Inn<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>&#8230; and finally&#8230;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>9) My Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 112: \u201cWhat about we stop it with the \u2018whataboutism\u2019?\u201d (July 16, 2018)<\/strong><br \/>\n\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p>By Debito Arudou Ph.D. (debito@debito.org, www.debito.org, Twitter @arudoudebito)<br \/>\nThe Debito.org Newsletter is, as always, freely forwardable.<\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>ASSIMILATION AND ITS DUES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>1) Naomi Osaka\u2019s US Open victory over Serena Williams: Congratulations, but I don\u2019t think you know what you\u2019re getting yourself into.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I want to say congratulations to Naomi Osaka for winning the US Open last weekend, soundly defeating her hero and template, tennis legend Serena Williams. But Ms. Osaka, I don\u2019t think you have idea what you\u2019ve gotten yourself into by deciding to play for Japan.<\/p>\n<p>Debito.org has talked extensively in the past how Japan puts undue pressure on its athletes (especially in international competitions, since national pride and issues of superiority-inferiority come into play very quickly), sometimes with fatal results. Doubly so for \u201chaafu\u201d Japanese, since questions about their identity and loyalties seep in to complicate things further. There are plenty of examples of Japanese with diverse backgrounds being discounted or disqualified from being \u201ctrue\u201d Japanese when they don\u2019t win something (such as international beauty pageants). But when they do win (as seen numerous times with Japan\u2019s Nobel Laureates, many of whom have long left Japan, taken foreign citizenships, and even said that they wouldn\u2019t have gotten their achievements if they had remained in Japan), it\u2019s suddenly because they are \u201cJapanese\u201d. But most of that support will only continue if she continues to win. Otherwise, given Japan\u2019s constant self-conception as radicalized entities, she\u2019d be losing tournaments because of her mixed-ness (as has been claimed about Japan\u2019s rugby teams and figure skaters). She\u2019s not pure enough as a haafu to measure up.<\/p>\n<p>So why do it? The NYT notes why Ms. Osaka\u2019s father decided she should represent Japan: \u201c\u201dIf Osaka played under the American flag, it\u2019s very unlikely that these [highly-lucrative] opportunities would exist. Japanese companies would have no reason to court her and U.S. brands would have other higher-ranked young guns to consider, like Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens. But as Japan\u2019s top-ranked player, Osaka has the full attention of the country\u2019s top brands, whose sponsorship fees can run far higher than those of their Western counterparts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then all Ms. Osaka\u2019s talent and youthful energy may wind up being frittered away dealing with Japan\u2019s pressure on their sports representatives \u2014 a pressure of perfectionism that expects Japanese champions to remain champions no matter what. In essence, this approach, decided by Ms. Osaka\u2019s father, to make her a bigger-fish-in-a-smaller-pond may backfire, becoming the millstone around her neck: a drag that could shorten her overall career if not her life. Again, I congratulate Ms. Osaka on her success, and wish her the best of luck. But I really don\u2019t think she knows what she\u2019s gotten herself into.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15145\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15145<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>2) JT\/Kyodo: Immigration Bureau to be upgraded to Immigration Agency April 2019. Baby steps towards Immigration Ministry with actual immigration policy?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>JT: The Justice Ministry will upgrade its Immigration Bureau to an agency from April to deal with an anticipated influx of foreign workers, Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa said at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday. With the government seeking to accept more foreign workers from April and introducing a new status of residence amid a serious labor crunch across industries, the Justice Ministry will be conducting \u201ca fundamental revision of the Immigration Bureau\u201d and is currently finalizing the establishment of a new agency that will oversee immigration, Kamikawa said. [\u2026]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>COMMENT<\/strong>: The GOJ is starting to take NJ influx more seriously now, with a ministerial upgrade (from Bureau to Agency). When it becomes a full-fledged Ministry that explicitly says \u201cImmigration\u201d in it (as in, Imin-Shou), not a \u201cBureau\/Agency for Processing National Influx\u201d (which is what the Nyuukoku Kanri Kyoku literally is), with an actual Immigration Policy, then Debito.org will be a bit more cheery. That raises hope that someday the GOJ will actually want NJ to stay and become productive members of society and citizens, not revolving-door visa recipients.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15129\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15129<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>3) GOJ sets targets for importing even more NJ temp labor, Kyodo editorializes on how badly Japan needs NJ<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Debito.org has been charting for decades just how much Japan reflexively distrusts NJ, and wants them in and out of here as soon as possible without settling down (hence no official immigration policy). Yet, in case you wonder why this is still an issue, here\u2019s yet another article demonstrating why Japan NEEDS NJ labor, and intends to import even more (and as ever, temporarily):<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Kyodo: The government has set a target of accepting 10,000 Vietnamese caregivers by the summer of 2020 to address a chronic labor shortage in the nursing sector, an official said Wednesday\u2026 Due to the country\u2019s rapidly graying population, the labor ministry estimates a need for an additional 550,000 caregivers in fiscal 2025 compared to the fiscal 2016 total\u2026 Japan is also considering inviting caregivers from other countries, including Indonesia and Cambodia, the official said. As of March last year, there were roughly 1.9 million carers in Japan. The labor ministry estimates Japan will need about 2.45 million care workers in fiscal 2025, at which point the people belonging to the baby boomer generation born in the late 1940s will all be 75 years or older, meaning the need for nursing care service will almost certainly increase\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>COMMENT<\/strong>: Oddly enough (or rather, not so oddly), Japan\u2019s corporate sector is again asking for more cheap labor without taking into account that they are importing people, not raw materials. And of course, as argued below in the second Kyodo JT article on the same day, there is at best mumbled support for actual immigration.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t a sustainable long-term strategy, and everybody knows it. But they go through the kabuki for as long as possible. I daresay someday soon somebody will advocate Middle-Eastern-Oil-Countries\u2019 style labor importation (where foreigners do all the work, and wind up outnumbering the leisured citizen class), since we\u2019ve already had one major Japanese pundit crazily arguing for instituting South-African-style Apartheid in Japan. Except for one problem with ever considering an oil-economy model: Japan is not an oil economy. And again, Japan\u2019s other silly policy balloon \u2014 robotizing society \u2014 doesn\u2019t work either because robots don\u2019t pay taxes.<\/p>\n<p>In sum, Debito.org advocates that Japan consider a real immigration policy to make NJ migrants into permanent residents and citizens. It\u2019s the only way, as myself and the UN (not to mention the Japanese Government itself!) have argued for decades, to avert Japan\u2019s otherwise unavoidable demographic crisis.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15107\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15107<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>ASSIMILATION AND ITS MISINTERPRETATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>4) Farrah on Hamamatsu\u2019s city-sponsored \u201cGaijin Day\u201d event: Problematic wording and execution, esp. given the history of Hamamatsu, and who attended.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>FARRAH<\/strong>: <em>In late-August, an ALT friend of mine from Kansai told me about this event that was happening in Hamamatsu, called, \u201cGaijin Day\u201d. Amused and slightly offended by the wording, she was actually interested in coming all the way down to my neck of the woods to attend it. The flyer for the event went viral in many expat groups on social media, and posts were flooded with comments about the title of the event. I figured that the organizers chose to call this event \u201cGaijin Day\u201d to get lots of attention, and they did.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>At first I thought that it would merely be a spectacle of foreigners flying into Japan to perform. But when I looked at the list, it was a bunch of people who were sansei\/yonsei, Japanese people of mixed-heritage who lived in the Tokai region. I was immediately offended by the name of the event at that point. This is my fifth year living in Hamamatsu, and I\u2019ve done extensive ethnographic research on Brazilian and Peruvian immigrant communities since November of last year. I know that referring to such an established part of the Japanese diaspora as merely \u201cgaijin\u201d was inaccurate and disrespectful. The worst part of all was that the Hamamatsu City Government and HICE Center (Hamamatsu Foundation for International Communication and Exchange) were the main sponsors for the event. [\u2026]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>COMMENT FROM DEBITO<\/strong>: First, it is disappointing that the site of Gaijin no Hi is Hamamatsu. Given Hamamatsu\u2019s special history with NJ residents (particularly its very progressive Hamamatsu Sengen of 2001), using exclusionary language such as \u201cGaijin\u201d (given its history as an epithet as well; see below) feels truly, as Farrah put it, regressive. Have they also learned nothing from the Toyoda Sengen of 2004 and Yokkaichi Sengen of 2006? Second, about that word Gaijin. As I\u2019ve argued before, it\u2019s essentially a radicalized epithet with \u201cothering\u201d dynamics similar to \u201cnigger\u201d. My arguments for that are in my Japan Times columns here, here, and here. Bad form, Hamamatsu. You should know better by now. And if not by now, how much will it take? That\u2019s the power of Embedded Racism: It even overcomes history.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15135\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15135<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>5) NYT: Dr. Sacko, Kyoto Seika University\u2019s African-Born President, claims no experience of racism in Japan. Just of \u201cbeing treated differently because he doesn\u2019t look Japanese\u201d. Huh?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>People in Japan are still accepting the antiquated notion of \u201crace\u201d as an abstract, biological concept. As opposed to a socially-constructed one that differs from society to society in its definitions and enforcement, or as a performative one that is created through the process of \u201cdifferentiation\u201d, \u201cothering\u201d, and subordination. So strong is this centuries-old belief that even Mali-born naturalized Japanese Dr. Oussouby Sacko, recently-elected president of Kyoto Seika University (congratulations!), made the bold statement in the New York Times that his differential treatment in Japan is not due to racism: \u201cDr. Sacko, a citizen of Japan for 16 years, says he is treated differently because he does not look Japanese. But he distinguished that from racism. \u2018It\u2019s not because you\u2019re black,\u2019 he said.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sorry, that\u2019s not now modern definitions of racism work anymore, Dr. Sacko. Differential treatment of Visible Minorities in Japan is still a racialization process. But I guess anyone can succumb to the predominant \u201cJapan is not racist\u201d groupthink if it is that strong. Read the NYT article below for fuller context. But the questions remain: Is this a form of Stockholm Syndrome? A cynical attempt to parrot the narrative for the sake of professional advancement? A lack of awareness and social-science training on the part of a person, despite fluency in several languages, with a doctorate in a non-social science (engineering\/architecture)? I\u2019m open to suggestion. Especially from Dr. Sacko himself, if he\u2019s reading.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, congratulations, Dr. Sacko. But I would suggest you utilize your position also to raise awareness about the very real issues of racism in Japan, not attempt a mitigating or denialist approach.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=14968\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=14968<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>6) Daily Show&#8217;s Trevor Noah controversy on French World Cup team: \u201cAfrica won the World Cup\u201d. Debito.org disagrees with French Ambassador\u2019s protest letter.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Trevor Noah, host of Comedy Central\u2019s \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d, pointed out early last month how the ethnically-diverse French Soccer Team won the 2018 World Cup, what with a significant number of their players of African origin. He summarized it as a joke: \u201cAfrica won the World Cup!\u201d This occasioned a letter of protest from Gerard Araud, Ambassador of France to the U.S (excerpt):<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cAs many of the players have already stated themselves, their parents may have come from another country, but the great majority of them, all but two out of 23 were born in France. They were educated in France. They learned to play soccer in France. They are French citizens. They\u2019re proud of their country, France. The rich and various backgrounds of these players are a reflection of France\u2019s diversity. France is indeed a cosmopolitan country. But every citizen is part of the French identity. Together they belong to the nation of France. Unlike in the United States of America, France does not refer to its citizens based on their race, religion, or origin. To us, there is no hyphenated identity. Roots are an individual reality. By calling them an African team, it seems like you\u2019re denying their French-ness. This, even in jest, legitimizes the ideology which claims whiteness is the only definition of being French.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Noah counterargued: <em>\u201cWhy can\u2019t they be both? Why is that duality only afforded a select group of people? Why can\u2019t they not be African? What they\u2019re arguing here is, \u2018In order to be French, you have to erase everything that is African\u2026?\u201d So what are they saying when they say, \u2018our culture\u2019? So you cannot be French and African at the same time, which I vehemently disagree with\u2026 I love how African they are, and how French they are. I don\u2019t take their French-ness away, but I also don\u2019t think you have to take their their African-ness away.\u201d He concluded, \u201cAnd that is what I love about America. America is not a perfect country, but what I love about this place is that people can still celebrate their identity in their American-ness.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>COMMENT<\/strong>: Debito.org\u2019s take on this is probably not hard to guess. We agree with Noah\u2019s argument that hyphenated identities can, should, and in fact must exist, as a) hyphenated identities are a reality (people are diverse, and they shouldn\u2019t have to suppress them for national goals of homogeneity); b) they are a personal choice, to include as one\u2019s self-determined identity, and not the business of The State to police; and c) the alternative incurs too many abuses\u2026<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15116\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15116<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>7) Kyodo\/Mainichi: Japan increases \u201cnuclear security\u201d before 2019 Rugby World Cup, 2020 Olympics (again, insinuating NJ are potential terrorists)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Kyodo: As part of the country\u2019s efforts to boost counterterrorism steps before hosting the major sporting events, the government will aim at enforcing related laws in September 2019, in time for the Rugby tourney kicking off on Sept. 20 that year\u2026 Hospitals and companies and the like would be required to install surveillance cameras near their storage sites for radioactive materials. The containers must be kept in rooms with solid doors and manuals and communication equipment must be provided for personnel to deal with intruders, to prevent such materials from falling into the hands of terrorists.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Amid the globally mounting threat of terrorism, the International Atomic Energy Agency advised countries in January 2011 to take measures to better manage radioactive materials. Tokyo, however, has yet to introduce these steps due to its need to deal with the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>COMMENT<\/strong>: Entry #715 in the continuing saga of Japan\u2019s \u201cBlame Game\u201d, where Non-Japanese are falsely blamed for all manner of unrelated things. The IAEA has recommended sensible precautions. Yet the GOJ has taken its time to implement them since 2011. It\u2019s only suddenly seeing the light because of \u201cintruders\u201d, clearly in this case meaning NJ coming to Japan during the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Clearly? Yes. You\u2019re telling me Japan didn\u2019t have issues of \u201cintruders\u201d before this? It does have \u201cterrorists\u201d, but so far they\u2019ve all been Japanese (i.e., Aum, The Red Army, etc).<\/p>\n<p>As I wrote in my Japan Times column last week, \u201cJapan invites over waves of foreign nationals (be they workers, tourists or diplomats), hate speech and reactionary policies emerge.\u201d I mentioned there about the weird new minpaku laws stopping AirBnB style homestays with the general public (because NJ might be ISIS terrorists or child molesters!). This new policy has a similar Embedded Racism, and it\u2019s unproblematized in the article above.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15089\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15089<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>8 ) TJ on \u201cDoing a Debito\u201d: Gaijin Carded at Nagoya Airport and Airport Comfort Inn<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Submitter TJ<\/strong>: <em>I\u2019m an American married to a Japanese, and we\u2019re on an adventure doing standby flights from Japan to overseas. However, unluckily we got bumped at Nagoya Airport. So we checked into a Comfort Inn at the airport in my (Japanese) spouse\u2019s name. He filled out the card for our twin room. But the receptionist looked at me and said that she needed to photocopy my passport. But I know from Debito.org that she doesn\u2019t have the legal obligation to photocopy my passport, or even see any ID, when I have a Japanese address as a Japanese resident, and I told her so. So she said she needed to copy my \u201cGaijin Card\u201d, or Zairyuu Residence Card.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I gave her a chotto matte kudasai\u2026 and dug out that nifty Japanese paper you posted on Debito.org years ago and I held it up to her to read, showing her the letter of the law that says that ID is only required for tourists, not for residents of Japan, including foreign residents. Another receptionist came over to investigate, and I repeated that I live in Japan permanently. Basically, the other woman\u2019s attitude was since my Japanese spouse was with me, I didn\u2019t have to hand any ID to be photocopied. Because I\u2019m \u201cone of the good ones\u201d. Not a win, but I don\u2019t think she expected me to stand my ground the way I did. Thanks to Debito.org. But then I got carded again by Nagoya Airport Security for sitting in the airport lobby while foreign\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15121\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15121<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>&#8230; and finally&#8230;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>9) My Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 112: \u201cWhat about we stop it with the \u2018whataboutism\u2019?\u201d (July 16, 2018)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>JBC 112: These are troubling times for human rights activists. For 27 years I\u2019ve been writing about civil, political and human rights for non-Japanese (NJ) and other minorities in Japan. And I\u2019ve never been more confused.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Not least because the United States, the putative paragon of human rights, has been flouting them. Remember, this is a country so cocksure about its own record that its State Department offers annual \u201cCountry Reports on Human Rights Practices\u201d for each United Nations member. Yet President Donald Trump has been undermining international norms of law, justice and society \u2014 and with the glee of a super-villain.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>In case you haven\u2019t been paying attention, recently we\u2019ve seen U.S. leadership abrogate numerous treaties, erode well-established security and trade regimes (such as NATO and the G7), cozy up to the world\u2019s most authoritarian regimes and mimic their tactics, invoke the language of white nationalism to dehumanize minorities, and foment a culture of fear, loathing and vindictive reprisal towards anyone not in their ideological camp.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Speaking of camps, who would have ever imagined that the U.S. would put foreign children in cages? Create \u201ctender-age\u201d internment centers for toddlers separated from their families at the border? Force 3-year-olds to represent themselves in American immigration courts? Trump\u2019s \u201czero tolerance\u201d policy for undocumented migration and asylum seekers is so cruel that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights denounced it as \u201cunconscionable\u201d and \u201cillegal\u201d under international law. Hours later, the U.S. petulantly withdrew from the Human Rights Council, of which it had been a charter member since 1947.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>In Just Be Cause\u2019s view, the worst thing about these rapid-fire shocks to the system is not the confusion but the distraction. Presidential historian Jon Meacham, author of \u201cThe Soul of America,\u201d pointed out how Trump \u201cowns our mind space\u201d in what he calls \u201cthe world\u2019s longest hostage siege.\u201d We are prisoners of a self-promoting celebrity so adept at managing news cycles that he sucks the oxygen from other issues.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>So this is where we arrive at the big question of this column: How can JBC focus on human rights in Japan given the distractions in America?\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15077\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15077<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s all for this month. Thanks for reading!<br \/>\n<strong>DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 23, 2018 ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>==================================<br \/>\n<em>Do you like what you read on Debito.org? \u00a0Want to help keep the archive active and support Debito.org&#8217;s activities? \u00a0Please consider donating a little something. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13748\">More details here<\/a>. Or even click on an ad below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ASSIMILATION AND ITS DUES<br \/>\n1) Naomi Osaka\u2019s US Open victory over Serena Williams: Congratulations, but I don\u2019t think you know what you\u2019re getting yourself into.<br \/>\n2) JT\/Kyodo: Immigration Bureau to be upgraded to Immigration Agency April 2019. Baby steps towards Immigration Ministry with actual immigration policy?<br \/>\n3) GOJ sets targets for importing even more NJ temp labor, Kyodo editorializes on how badly Japan needs NJ<\/p>\n<p>ASSIMILATION AND ITS MISINTERPRETATIONS<br \/>\n4) Farrah on Hamamatsu\u2019s city-sponsored \u201cGaijin Day\u201d event: Problematic wording and execution, esp. given the history of Hamamatsu, and who attended.<br \/>\n5) NYT: Dr. Sacko, Kyoto Seika University\u2019s African-Born President, claims no experience of racism in Japan. Just of \u201cbeing treated differently because he doesn\u2019t look Japanese\u201d. Huh?<br \/>\n6) Daily Show&#8217;s Trevor Noah controversy on French World Cup team: \u201cAfrica won the World Cup\u201d. Debito.org disagrees with French Ambassador\u2019s protest letter.<br \/>\n7) Kyodo\/Mainichi: Japan increases \u201cnuclear security\u201d before 2019 Rugby World Cup, 2020 Olympics (again, insinuating NJ are potential terrorists)<br \/>\n8 ) TJ on \u201cDoing a Debito\u201d: Gaijin Carded at Nagoya Airport and Airport Comfort Inn<\/p>\n<p>&#8230; and finally&#8230;<br \/>\n9) My Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 112: \u201cWhat about we stop it with the \u2018whataboutism\u2019?\u201d (July 16, 2018)<\/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-15158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15158","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=15158"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15161,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15158\/revisions\/15161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}