{"id":16676,"date":"2021-05-17T00:24:47","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T07:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16676"},"modified":"2021-05-22T12:25:15","modified_gmt":"2021-05-22T19:25:15","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-may-17-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16676","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER MAY 17, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Books, eBooks, and more from Debito Arudou, Ph.D. (click on icon):
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DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER MAY 17, 2021<\/strong>
\nTable of Contents:<\/em><\/strong>
\n\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
\n1) Kyodo: \u201c300 people per day re-entering Japan breaking COVID self-quarantine\u201d. But NJ report government incompetence, which punishes them disproportionately.<\/strong>
\n2) Senaiho\u2019s final update on Yamanashi School Bullying Lawsuit: They basically lost, because bullying is an \u201cexpected and normal\u201d part of Japanese Education (UPDATED with full court decision text)<\/strong>
\n3) Problematically racialized Education Ministry-approved primary-school \u201cMorals\u201d textbook: \u201cSh\u014dgaku D\u014dtoku: Yutaka na Kokoro 1-nen\u201d (K\u014dbun Shoin, 2020)<\/strong>
\n4) Nagasaki Yorozuya-machi Steak House \u201cBronco\u201d sign: \u201cForeign people are forbidden to enter this restaurant to prevent infection.\u201d Exclusionary racism evolves with Covid. (UPDATED: Signs are down)<\/strong><\/p>\n

And finally…<\/strong><\/em>
\n5) SNA Visible Minorities 21: \u201cA Retrospective on 25 Years of Activism\u201d, April 19, 2021<\/strong>
\n\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

By Debito Arudou, Ph.D. (debito@debito.org, www.debito.org, Twitter @arudoudebito)
\nDebito.org Newsletters as always are freely forwardable.<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
\n1) Kyodo: \u201c300 people per day re-entering Japan breaking COVID self-quarantine\u201d. But NJ report government incompetence, which punishes them disproportionately.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Government incompetence is nothing new. There\u2019s not much you can do when the expectation is one-way: The Man demands a promise from you, with punishments if you don\u2019t comply, but if The Man doesn\u2019t keep his promises, too bad, since there\u2019s often no punishment for the Powers That Be. That\u2019s what\u2019s happening under Japan\u2019s new \u201cself-quarantine\u201d rules. Kyodo News reports that \u201cup to 300 people per day are breaking the self-quarantine\u201d. People, regardless of nationality. What is NOT evenly enforced regardless of nationality is the punishment. As Kyodo notes, \u2018The health ministry, which has asked for people to honor their pledge, has warned that penalties for noncompliance include publicly revealing names or, in the case of a foreign national, revocation of their status of residence and deportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s very different. Especially since people are reporting to Magdalena Osumi of the Japan Times (see below) that there has been no follow-up from the government when it comes to helping people keep their pledge (and some confusion about how the rules are supposed to work). So if the GOJ messes things up and you\u2019re a citizen, uh, your name gets made public. Big whoop. But if you\u2019re NJ, through no fault of your own, you get deported. Your life in Japan is over. As Debito.org has predicted might happen, this new Covid \u201cSelf-Quarantine\u201d regime has become yet another means to ethnically-cleanse Japan of its foreigners. As if revolving-door visas and insecure job statuses aren\u2019t enough. And of course, the Kyodo article neither questions the disproportionality of the punishment or reports on the incompetence of the government.<\/p>\n

What follows is the Kyodo article. After that, a request from Magdalena Osumi for information about the government incompetence for an upcoming article. Read on if you have something to share with her.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16647<\/a><\/p>\n

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

2) Senaiho\u2019s final update on Yamanashi School Bullying Lawsuit: They basically lost, because bullying is an \u201cexpected and normal\u201d part of Japanese Education (UPDATED with full court decision text)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Senaiho<\/strong>: We received a judgment from the Yamanashi Circuit Court in our case against the bullies of our daughter resulting in the school cutting her hair and her dropping out of school. In a Readers Digest version of the judgment, we lost. The court ruled that while recognizing the fact that bullying was present, it did not amount to enough abuse that would merit awarding any damages. A certain amount of teasing is expected and a normal part of the Japanese educational system, in the court\u2019s opinion, so zero amount is awarded.<\/em><\/p>\n

There is no hiding our disappointment in this judgment, so I won\u2019t try to white-wash it. It sends the message that it is OK to bully others for whatever reason in Japanese education, as long as there are no serious physical effects, such as severe injury, death, or suicide. There was no mention whatsoever of anything related to racial motivations in our case.<\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16636<\/a><\/p>\n

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

3) Problematically racialized Education Ministry-approved primary-school \u201cMorals\u201d textbook: \u201cSh\u014dgaku D\u014dtoku: Yutaka na Kokoro 1-nen\u201d (K\u014dbun Shoin, 2020)<\/strong><\/p>\n

XY<\/strong>: In the textbook, I identified three major problematic points in total: 1st, gross gaijinization of a birthright Japanese just because of having a foreign father instead of doing the morally correct thing and teach that the so-called \u201ch\u0101fu\u201d are as Japanese as any \u201cpure\u201d Japanese; 2nd, the claim that Emma is bad at Japanese because of her \u201cforeignness\u201d, which can easily proliferate the stereotype that \u201cforeigners\u201d can\u2019t speak Japanese (properly), even if they have a Japanese parent (and therefore aren\u2019t gaikokujin (or gaikoku no hito, wording that is more about origin than legal status) in the first place); and 3rd, a strong focus on differences rather than similarities as human beings no matter what race someone belongs to. Overall an extraordinarily poor example of a grade-school textbook, sidelining mixed-race Japanese to gaikokujin status and planting this legally false and socially outdated idea into the minds of first graders. A G7 member should do away with the proliferation of such bs. It\u2019s 2021, not 1921.<\/em><\/p>\n

In conclusion, I think that these two texts sneak in stereotypes into the minds of Japanese first graders that are detrimental to foreigners and international (racially diverse) Japanese. The first one subtly conveys a \u201cforeigners can\u2019t be trusted\u201d kind of message, the second one treats legal Japanese with international heritage as genuine gaikokujin and overemphasizes differences over similarities, and also proliferates the obnoxious gaikokujin = blonde eigojin stereotype.<\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16621<\/a><\/p>\n

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

4) Nagasaki Yorozuya-machi Steak House \u201cBronco\u201d sign: \u201cForeign people are forbidden to enter this restaurant to prevent infection.\u201d Exclusionary racism evolves with Covid. (UPDATED: Signs are down)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Steak House \u201cBronco\u201d.<\/strong>
\nAddress 850-0852 Nagasaki, Yorozuya machi 5-4<\/strong>
\nPhone 095-825-9377<\/strong>
\nFacebook page: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/\u30b9\u30c6\u30fc\u30ad\u30cf\u30a6\u30b9-\u30d6\u30ed\u30f3\u30b3-206688849396493\/<\/a>
\nSign says: \u201cForeign people are forbidden to enter this restaurant to prevent infection.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\nThis is in Kanko dori, the main downtown shopping area in Nagasaki. Online photos of the interior show a Confederate flag on display.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

COMMENT<\/strong>: Another one to add to Debito.org\u2019s collection of \u201cJapanese Only\u201d signs. In addition to all of the other places archived both here on the Debito.org Blog and on the Rogues\u2019 Gallery of Exclusionary Establishments, it looks like the owner of Bronco is so much of a fan of America that he\u2019s adopting America\u2019s long history of racism, down to the Confederate Flag (supporters of which would historically no doubt have supported America\u2019s Asian exclusion laws, WWII internment camps for Japanese, and other measures that would exclude Non-Whites like him).<\/p>\n

The interesting thing about this bigot is that his racism has evolved with the times. No longer is it a matter of excluding people because they don\u2019t \u201clook Japanese\u201d or \u201cdon\u2019t understand Japanese culture\u201d etc., etc. Now it\u2019s a matter of infection. That\u2019s funny, actually. Given Japan\u2019s abysmally-low vaccination rate, vaccinated foreign tourists are probably less contagious than his regular Wajin clientele. But no matter. He\u2019s just reflecting Japan\u2019s incredibly unscientific border controls and the narrative that Covid is exogenous. Given the new Eek variant possibly incubated from Japan\u2019s former honor-system quarantines for Japanese only, it\u2019s not anymore. But any excuse for a bigot.
\nUPDATE: EXCLUSIONARY SIGNS ARE TAKEN DOWN<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16606<\/a><\/p>\n

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

And finally…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

5) SNA Visible Minorities 21: \u201cA Retrospective on 25 Years of Activism\u201d, April 19, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

SNA<\/strong> \u2014 I\u2019ve been involved in activism in Japan for many years. Indeed so many that my online archive of work, Debito.org, just turned 25 years old last week. With that in mind, I\u2019d like to devote this column to a retrospective of the past quarter century: What, if anything, has Debito.org contributed to help make conditions for Non-Japanese residents and Visible Minorities better?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Debito.org first went live on April 15, 1996, during the earlier days of the World Wide Web, as a means to respond to online bulletin board critics. When topics came up over and again, I\u2019d just archive a previous essay on Debito.org and send a link. After a couple hundred essays were organized into general information sites, Debito.org became a platform for issues involving foreign residents of Japan.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The first major issue I took up was \u201cAcademic Apartheid\u201d in Japan\u2019s universities. This is where all Japanese full-time faculty were granted contract-free tenure from day one of employment, while all foreign academics, despite many being better qualified than their Japanese counterparts, got perpetual ninkisei contracts (some of them term-limited) without the opportunity for tenure.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I discovered a \u201csmoking gun\u201d one day in my university mailbox: A paper directive from the Ministry of Education encouraging national and public universities to fire their older foreign professors by not renewing their contracts. I scanned it, archived it, and sent a link to prominent advocates like Ivan P. Hall (author of Cartels of the Mind) for further exposure. It turns out that a government demanding their universities axe all their foreigners over forty is state-sponsored discrimination, and it blew up into an international issue that even then-US Ambassador Walter Mondale took up.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

All of that information is still up on Debito.org today, and it turns out that a permanent archive that is searchable, citable, with context and without paywall, is a valuable resource, especially as many unscrupulous people would rather have a history of their actions and policies disappear into the ether. Once archived on Debito.org, it didn\u2019t. Soon other issues on Debito.org garnered national and international attention, even generating public policy movements\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rest is at http:\/\/shingetsunewsagency.com\/2021\/04\/19\/visible-minorities-retrospective-on-25-years-of-activism\/<\/a>
\nAnchor site for comments at https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16598<\/a><\/p>\n

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

That’s all for this month. Thanks for reading!<\/p>\n

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER MAY 17, 2021 ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

======================
\nDo you like what you read on Debito.org? \u00a0Want to help keep the archive active and support Debito.org’s activities? \u00a0Please consider donating a little something. \u00a0More details here<\/a>. Or if you prefer something less complicated, just click on an advertisement below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Table of Contents:
\n1) Kyodo: \u201c300 people per day re-entering Japan breaking COVID self-quarantine\u201d. But NJ report government incompetence, which punishes them disproportionately.
\n2) Senaiho\u2019s final update on Yamanashi School Bullying Lawsuit: They basically lost, because bullying is an \u201cexpected and normal\u201d part of Japanese Education (UPDATED with full court decision text)
\n3) Problematically racialized Education Ministry-approved primary-school \u201cMorals\u201d textbook: \u201cSh\u014dgaku D\u014dtoku: Yutaka na Kokoro 1-nen\u201d (K\u014dbun Shoin, 2020)
\n4) Nagasaki Yorozuya-machi Steak House \u201cBronco\u201d sign: \u201cForeign people are forbidden to enter this restaurant to prevent infection.\u201d Exclusionary racism evolves with Covid. (UPDATED: Signs are down)
\nAnd finally…
\n5) SNA Visible Minorities 21: \u201cA Retrospective on 25 Years of Activism\u201d, April 19, 2021<\/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-16676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16676","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=16676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16677,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16676\/revisions\/16677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}