{"id":16463,"date":"2021-03-03T11:18:50","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T19:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16463"},"modified":"2021-03-03T11:24:42","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T19:24:42","slug":"link-to-full-text-of-my-sna-vm-column-4-the-xeno-scapegoating-of-japanese-halloween-nov-18-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16463","title":{"rendered":"Link to full text of my SNA VM column 4: “The Xeno-Scapegoating of Japanese Halloween”, Nov 18, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0A year after publication, Debito.org is archiving the full text of my Shingetsu News Agency<\/a> columns with permission. \u00a0Column 4, published back in November 2019, was a variation on the Gaijin Blame Game that goes on in Japan whenever Japanese authorities want to tighten their control over society further. \u00a0The opening follows.<\/p>\n

Do you like this kind of journalism and want to support it? \u00a0Get a subscription to the \u00a0Shingetsu News Agency<\/a>. \u00a0It’s all of $5 a month minimum, a buck and change per week, or one can from your favorite drink vending machine every Monday morning. \u00a0Practically a gnat-bite to your budget, but collectively it means a lot towards investing in progressive journalism. \u00a0 Debito Arudou, Ph.D.<\/p>\n

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Visible Minorities: The Xeno-Scapegoating of Japanese Halloween<\/strong>
\nColumn 4, Shingetsu News Agency, Nov 18, 2019, by Debito Arudou<\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/shingetsunewsagency.com\/2019\/11\/18\/visible-minorities-the-xeno-scapegoating-of-japanese-halloween\/<\/a>
\nFull text now at https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15841<\/a><\/p>\n

SNA (Tokyo) \u2014 \u201cMadness.\u201d \u201cMayhem.\u201d \u201cChaos unfolded.\u201d \u201cAnarchic behavior.\u201d \u201cPolice try to subdue massive crowds running amok.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That was how one single article in the Japan Times<\/a> depicted the big party at Shibuya Crossing last Halloween Night. Other media echoed similarly riotous language, noting the heavy police presence and suspended alcohol sales. Sheer anarchy!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Reading all that, you could be forgiven for thinking Shibuya was set aflame and Hachiko knocked off his plinth. But drop by sometime; everything is still there just fine.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Why the alarmist attitude towards Halloween? We don\u2019t see it for the revelry at, say, Japanese sporting events, where Hanshin Tigers fans take over Shinkansens and leap into Osaka rivers; or for annual Seijinshiki Coming of Age Days<\/a>, where binge drinking and youthful hijinks disrupt boring official ceremonies; or any time of the year in entertainment districts nationwide, with public urination, people passed out on sidewalks or subways, and drunk chinpira picking fights.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Why not? Because those things are normalized. After all, it\u2019s often hard for adults in Japan to have fun without alcohol, and excesses are tolerated as anzen-ben, a \u201csafety valve\u201d for letting off steam given the stresses of life.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Why isn\u2019t Halloween treated the same? Because…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Full text now at https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15841<\/a><\/p>\n

======================
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A year after publication, Debito.org is archiving the full text of my Shingetsu News Agency columns with permission. \u00a0Column 4, published back in November 2019, was a variation on the Gaijin Blame Game that goes on in Japan whenever Japanese authorities want to tighten their control over society further. \u00a0The opening follows: <\/p>\n

SNA (Tokyo) \u2014 \u201cMadness.\u201d \u201cMayhem.\u201d \u201cChaos unfolded.\u201d \u201cAnarchic behavior.\u201d \u201cPolice try to subdue massive crowds running amok.\u201d That was how one single article in the Japan Times depicted the big party at Shibuya Crossing last Halloween Night. Other media echoed similarly riotous language, noting the heavy police presence and suspended alcohol sales. Sheer anarchy! Reading all that, you could be forgiven for thinking Shibuya was set aflame and Hachiko knocked off his plinth. But drop by sometime; everything is still there just fine. <\/p>\n

Why the alarmist attitude towards Halloween? We don\u2019t see it for the revelry at, say, Japanese sporting events, where Hanshin Tigers fans take over Shinkansens and leap into Osaka rivers; or for annual Seijinshiki Coming of Age Days, where binge drinking and youthful hijinks disrupt boring official ceremonies; or any time of the year in entertainment districts nationwide, with public urination, people passed out on sidewalks or subways, and drunk chinpira picking fights.<\/p>\n

Why not? Because those things are normalized. After all, it\u2019s often hard for adults in Japan to have fun without alcohol, and excesses are tolerated as anzen-ben, a \u201csafety valve\u201d for letting off steam given the stresses of life. Why isn\u2019t Halloween treated the same? Because…
\nFull text now at https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15841<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archived-reprints"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16463","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=16463"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16469,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16463\/revisions\/16469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}