{"id":16257,"date":"2020-09-29T15:35:01","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T22:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16257"},"modified":"2020-10-01T15:58:28","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T22:58:28","slug":"dejima-award-9-again-to-japan-football-rugby-union-for-classifying-naturalized-japanese-players-as-foreign-in-violation-of-japan-nationality-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16257","title":{"rendered":"Dejima Award #9: Again to Japan Rugby Football Union, for classifying naturalized Japanese players as “foreign”, in violation of Japan Nationality Law."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0Consider this litmus test of “Japaneseness”: \u00a0Are you “Japanese enough” to play for the national team? \u00a0Not if you naturalized. \u00a0Read on, then I’ll comment:<\/p>\n

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

Japan Rugby Football Union<\/strong>
\nJRFU rules certain Japan passport holders will be regarded as non-Japanese<\/strong>
\nSep. 26 2020 By Rich Freeman. Courtesy of lots of people.<\/strong>
\nhttps:\/\/japantoday.com\/category\/sports\/rugby-jrfu-rules-certain-japan-passport-holders-can’t-be-treated-as-locals<\/a>
\nAlso https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/sports\/2020\/09\/26\/rugby\/rugby-team-japanese-citizens-rights<\/a><\/p>\n

TOKYO (Kyodo) Three naturalized Japanese citizens found themselves on the wrong side of a decision that essentially restricts their ability to work as professional rugby players in their adopted homeland.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Japan Rugby Football Union on Friday confirmed that the three, including two who are eligible to play for Japan in the Olympics, will continue to be denied Japanese status within the Top League simply because they are not eligible to play for Japan’s national rugby 15s side, the Brave Blossoms<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The purpose of the rule passed in 2016 to restrict Japanese status to those eligible to play for the Brave Blossoms was, according to Top League Chairman Osamu Ota, to bolster the strength of the national team. The argument that it discriminates against Japanese citizens was not enough to sway the JRFU.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The ruling leaves former All Black Isaac Ross, ex-New Zealand sevens player Colin Bourke and former Australia sevens player Brackin Karauria-Henry to be treated in the Top-League as ‘non-Japanese.’<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Both Karauria-Henry and Bourke are being considered for Japan’s Olympics sevens team because the Olympic Charter defines a different set of eligibility conditions for naturalized citizens.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ota said that the ruling could not be changed immediately as “it was not possible for teams to change their budgets and contracts ahead of the new (Top League) season,” which is set to start in January 2021.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The only thing the union did agree to change, for now, was the names of the player categories to remove any discriminatory terms such as Japanese, foreigner and Asian, and replace them with Category A, B, C etc.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“This does not affect the eligibility of the players and is nothing more than a cosmetic change,” said a source who had knowledge of the meetings between the players and the union.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ota said the rule would be reviewed before Japan’s new league kicks off by early 2022, but that did not appease Ross. The 35-year-old became a citizen in 2017, having started the process in 2015 before the rule took effect.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The eight-time All Black was recently released by NTT Communications Shining Arcs after nine seasons, in part because his continued status as a non-Japanese means he only got limited playing time.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He is particularly upset that clubs are making use of the “eligible to play for Japan” status, even though many of those to whom it applies have no intention of playing for the national team.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

World Rugby regulations state that a previously uncapped player must reside in a country for at least three years before they can play for it. But the JRFU deems anyone who has not played for another test team eligible for Japan.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“We had a player at NTT who was in Japan for just two years. He kept a Japanese player out of the starting team even though he himself was never going to play for Japan,” said Ross. “And yet someone who has shown their commitment to Japan like me has shown loyalty and benefited the Japanese game is being punished.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hideki Niizuma, a lawmaker in the House of Councilors, said the ruling was wrong.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“It is unreasonable that a player with Japanese nationality due to naturalization must be registered as a foreign player just because he has a history of representing a foreign country,” he told Kyodo News by email.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The 50-year-old Komeito party member, who played rugby at the University of Tokyo, said he would be seeking the opinion of “specialized agencies and experts such as the Japan Sports Law Association and the Japan Sports Arbitration Agency.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

While Bourke and Karauria-Henry look set to carry on in a league run by a union that, as Bourke puts it, “sees me as a foreigner but at the same time Japanese enough” to play for the hosts at the next Olympics, Ross is forced to continue his career overseas.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“The JRFU’s motto of ‘One Team’ and the Top League’s ‘For All’ aren’t consistent with their actions,” he said.<\/em><\/strong>
\nENDS<\/p>\n

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

COMMENT<\/strong>: \u00a0All this hair-splitting aside, the line to draw is simple:<\/p>\n

Do you have legal Japanese citizenship or don’t you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If yes, then you are a Japanese, and you are to be treated as one like everyone else, regardless of whatever career path you take (or how many “real Japanese” get shut out of NTT).<\/p>\n

That’s what the Japanese Nationality Law<\/a> says. \u00a0And any further caveats or qualifiers render the status (and the entire point) of naturalization in Japan meaningless.<\/p>\n

Moreover, it is extremely disrespectful towards the naturalized, who are compelled by the Nationality Law to give up any other citizenships. \u00a0What is the point of that sacrifice if naturalization performatively does not award equality?<\/p>\n

Sadly, this decision is not surprising for the Japan Rugby Football Union, given their long history of outright racism. \u00a0In 2011, they blamed a poor showing in the 2011 Rugby World Cup on “too many foreign-born players on the team”<\/a>and then ethnically-cleansed their ranks<\/a>. \u00a0Japan JFRU former president Mori Yoshiro<\/a>, an unreconstituted racist (and extremely unpopular<\/a> former Prime Minister) who considered the Reid Olympic figure-skating siblings to be “naturalized”<\/a> (despite having Japanese citizenship since birth) and therefore unworthy to represent Japan, just happens to also head up Japan’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic efforts<\/a>. \u00a0I have little doubt he had a hand in this. \u00a0Gotta protect the Kokutai<\/a> of the “Kami no Kuni<\/a>” (not to mention “bolster the strength of the national team”)\u00a0from foreign impurities, after all. \u00a0(As seen above, JRFU already had the Apartheid system of classifying athletes as “Japanese, foreigner and Asian”, performatively preserved as “Category A, B, C etc.” Phew, that’s much better!)<\/p>\n

So once again, we are in a position to award a rare “Debito.org Dejima Award<\/a>“, reserved only for the most head-spinningly obvious examples of racism in Japan, to the JRFU<\/strong>. \u00a0This is only our ninth awarded, but it’s\u00a0the second time the JRFU has received it<\/a>. \u00a0And four of the nine Dejimas have been for official racism within Japanese sports.<\/p>\n

Might it not be time for Japanese-Haitian-American tennis champ Osaka Naomi<\/a> (already quite vocal over BLM) to consider speaking up against discrimination against her fellow Visible Minorities in Japan’s athletics? \u00a0Would be nice<\/a>. \u00a0Debito Arudou, Ph.D.<\/p>\n

======================
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Kyodo: Three naturalized Japanese citizens found themselves on the wrong side of a decision that essentially restricts their ability to work as professional rugby players in their adopted homeland. The Japan Rugby Football Union on Friday confirmed that the three, including two who are eligible to play for Japan in the Olympics, will continue to be denied Japanese status within the Top League simply because they are not eligible to play for Japan’s national rugby 15s side, the Brave Blossoms.<\/p>\n

The purpose of the rule passed in 2016 to restrict Japanese status to those eligible to play for the Brave Blossoms was, according to Top League Chairman Osamu Ota, to bolster the strength of the national team. The argument that it discriminates against Japanese citizens was not enough to sway the JRFU. The ruling leaves former All Black Isaac Ross, ex-New Zealand sevens player Colin Bourke and former Australia sevens player Brackin Karauria-Henry to be treated in the Top-League as ‘non-Japanese.’ “The JRFU’s motto of ‘One Team’ and the Top League’s ‘For All’ aren’t consistent with their actions,” [ex-New Zealand sevens player Colin Bourke] said.<\/p>\n

COMMENT: \u00a0The line to draw is simple: Do you have legal Japanese citizenship or don’t you? If yes, then you are a Japanese, and you are to be treated as one like everyone else. That’s what the Japanese Nationality Law says. \u00a0And any further caveats or qualifiers render the status (and the entire point) of naturalization in Japan meaningless. Moreover, it is extremely disrespectful towards the naturalized, who are compelled by the Nationality Law to give up any other citizenships. \u00a0What is the point of that sacrifice if naturalization performatively does not award equality? \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sadly, this decision is not surprising for the Japan Rugby Football Union, given their long history of outright racism. \u00a0In 2011, they blamed a poor showing in the 2011 Rugby World Cup on “too many foreign-born players on the team”and then ethnically-cleansed their ranks. \u00a0Japan JFRU former president Mori Yoshiro, an unreconstituted racist (and extremely unpopular former Prime Minister) who considered the Reid figure-skating siblings to be “naturalized” (despite them having Japanese citizenship since birth) and therefore unworthy to represent Japan, just happens to also head up Japan’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic efforts. \u00a0I have little doubt he had a hand in this. So once again, we are in a position to award a rare “Debito.org Dejima Award”, reserved only for the most head-spinningly obvious examples of racism in Japan, to the JRFU. \u00a0This is only our ninth awarded, but it’s\u00a0the second time the JRFU has received it. \u00a0And four of the nine Dejimas have been for official racism within Japanese sports. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Might it not be time for Japanese-Haitian-American tennis champ Osaka Naomi (already quite vocal over BLM) to consider speaking up against discrimination against her fellow Visible Minorities in Japan’s athletics? \u00a0Would be nice. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,43,36,30,34,20,5,12,26,73,16,11,17,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-embedded-racism","category-bad-business-practices","category-bad-social-science","category-dejima-awards","category-exclusionism","category-history","category-human-rights","category-immigration-assimilation","category-ironies-hypocrisies","category-japans-blame-game","category-labor-issues","category-problematic-foreign-treatment","category-sport","category-unsustainable-japanese-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16257","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=16257"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16264,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16257\/revisions\/16264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}