{"id":16711,"date":"2021-06-21T00:51:55","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T07:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16711"},"modified":"2021-06-21T08:52:06","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T15:52:06","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-june-21-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16711","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JUNE 21, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

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DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JUNE 21, 2021<\/strong>
\nTable of Contents:<\/em><\/strong>
\n\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
\n1) Justice Ministry\u2019s new \u201cGaijin Card Reader App\u201d now unlawfully enables the general public to scan you. So much for GOJ promises of privacy.<\/strong>
\n2) NHK: Ibaraki Public Health Center targets foreigners as vectors of Coronavirus, then retracts discriminatory claims as \u201cmisleading\u201d and \u201cinappropriate\u201d<\/strong>
\n3) Mainichi Editorial: Foreign workers would also serve roles as consumers, taxpayers. Bravo. It needs to be said by somebody in the Wajin media<\/strong>
\n4) Celebrating 15 Years of the Debito.org Blog (June 17, 2006-2021)<\/strong><\/p>\n

…and finally…<\/em><\/strong>
\n5) My SNA Visible Minorities column 22: \u201cInterrogating the Discriminatory Covid Self-Quarantine Scandal\u201d, May 17, 2021<\/strong>
\n\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

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

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1) Justice Ministry\u2019s new \u201cGaijin Card Reader App\u201d now unlawfully enables the general public to scan you. So much for GOJ promises of privacy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Ministry of Justice has made a \u201cResidence Card Checker App\u201d, available from December 25, 2020, downloadable from their website (English, Japanese). It\u2019s available for Windows PC, Apple Mac App Store, Google Play, and iOS (with manuals!). It scans RFID Zairyuu Cards, aka \u201cGaijin Cards\u201d, which is personal ID required of foreign residents only, and must be carried 24\/7 on pain of criminal penalty. In their words, \u201cThis app reads and displays the information (such as the bearer\u2019s name) stored on the IC chips of residence cards and special permanent resident certificates, helping users to confirm that the card is not a forgery.\u201d<\/p>\n

How nice. Except that the only people allowed to demand, let alone scan, Gaijin Cards are people connected with the Ministry of Justice (Immigration, the police, etc.). This has now unlawfully put the ability to read private information within the general public\u2019s grasp. Such as people posing as fake cops (which does happen). It\u2019s not that far removed from the government \u201csnitch sites\u201d where anyone could anonymously report their local gaijin to the government and have them harassed, er, investigated by local authorities. (They\u2019ve since disappeared after nearly two decades in action, so this is a new form of potential harassment.)<\/p>\n

Debito.org will archive below the sites in English and Japanese for the record, with some screen captures. Especially enjoy reading the Privacy Policy, especially since one initial reason why the government advertised that the RFID card was a better system was due to privacy (and \u201cconvenience\u201d)\u2013random people wouldn\u2019t be able to read the embedded information. Now they can. Where is the outcry over \u201cprivacy concerns\u201d that Japanese citizens enjoy whenever the government makes personal ID policy affecting them?<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16688<\/a>
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2) NHK: Ibaraki Public Health Center targets foreigners as vectors of Coronavirus, then retracts discriminatory claims as \u201cmisleading\u201d and \u201cinappropriate\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tokyo Reporter<\/strong>: A health center in Itako City this week retracted an \u201cinappropriate\u201d advisory that stated foreigners are the source of an increase in novel coronavirus infections, reports NHK (May 22). On May 19 and 20, the Itako Health Center distributed the notice by email to agricultural cooperatives and city halls within its jurisdiction. The document stated, \u201cThere are many coronavirus patients likely infected by foreigners.\u201d It advised, \u201cIf you talk to a foreigner, wear a mask. As well, please do not eat with them.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On May 21, the health center and the Ibaraki Prefectural Infectious Disease Control Division retracted the document. \u201cThe document\u2019s content was inappropriate,\u201d they said. \u201cThough we had no intention of discriminating against foreigners,\u201d the Itako Health Center told NHK, \u201cwe are sorry if any of the expressions were misleading.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

COMMENT<\/strong>: \u201cMisleading\u201d?! \u201cInappropriate\u201d?! \u201cUnintentional\u201d?! How about unscientific and discriminatory, especially for an official bureau safeguarding public health that should know better. But given what we know at Debito.org about Japan\u2019s constant \u201cBlame Game\u201d, used to distract from official policy errors and scapegoat Non-Japanese for just about anything, we could see it coming. The bigger surprise is how quickly NHK jumped on this so quickly and got it retracted. Media watchdogs are supposed to look out for the general public, including Non-Japanese Residents. Please get ready to do more of the same in future.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16674<\/a><\/p>\n

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3) Mainichi Editorial: Foreign workers would also serve roles as consumers, taxpayers. Bravo. It needs to be said by somebody in the Wajin media<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mainichi Editorial in 2018: Important viewpoints are apparently lacking in discussions on accepting more foreign workers to Japan. The discourse treats foreigners only as a \u201cworkforce\u201d to alleviate labor shortages, and fails to shed light on a variety of other roles they can play. Boosting the workforce is a vital challenge for the Japanese economy. Seeking people from overseas when labor-saving measures alone are not enough is a natural response to the reality. But foreigners working in Japan can contribute more than labor to Japanese society. This point should not be overlooked.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

First of all, they are also consumers [in a depopulating workforce]. Foreign workers will push up housing and educational spending, like Japanese households do, when they live in Japan with their family members for longer periods of time. Moreover, their wide-ranging needs can be expected to create new products and services and even lead to new jobs.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Another important role that foreigners can play is paying taxes. They pay income tax when they work, and they shoulder the consumption tax as Japanese do in the course of their daily lives\u2026 [If we choose to invite] long-term settlers with family members to increase their income and spending\u2026 we need to make necessary preparations, and make corresponding commitments. This means exploring ways to benefit both foreign workers and the Japanese economy.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15206<\/a><\/p>\n

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4) Celebrating 15 Years of the Debito.org Blog (June 17, 2006-2021)<\/strong><\/p>\n

June 17, 2021 celebrates 15 years since the Debito.org Blog went live. (The Debito.org Website as a whole, however, went live in 1996, and we celebrated that quarter-century of online activism earlier this year in a separate post.) The Debito.org Blog was created in addition after a friend named Jim suggested that a WordPress template would make things a lot easier for me to respond to and archive daily events in real time. He was right.<\/p>\n

As of today, in addition to the Debito.org original Website (which is still up, of course; artery site here), as of this morning the Blog alone has 2,935 individual posts by me (amounting to 16,703 pages) and 34,737 individual comments (of which only 862, or less than 2.5%, are mine). That\u2019s about one post every two days on average, and about 12 comments per post.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an active blog by many definitions, and still going strong. And materials archived here been cited in various newspapers, journals, and books. People take it seriously. Long may it continue. While I\u2019m limiting myself to posting here about once a week (I\u2019ve got other writing projects), I don\u2019t see myself giving up the Debito.org Project anytime, ever. By now, it\u2019s just what I do.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16703<\/a><\/p>\n

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

…and finally…<\/em><\/strong>
\n5) My SNA Visible Minorities column 22: \u201cInterrogating the Discriminatory Covid Self-Quarantine Scandal\u201d, May 17, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

SNA (Tokyo) \u2014<\/strong> Sometimes government-designed policies lack sense. Or, in places where the government is as unaccountable as Japan\u2019s, policymakers ignore cautions\u2014-or don\u2019t get cautioned at all because a docile mass media is mobilized behind a national goal. So when things go wrong, very bad things can happen, especially when punishments for noncompliance only go one way and hurt innocent people.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That is what\u2019s in the cards yet again with Japan\u2019s Covid border controls. The current policy is that if you are a resident of Japan returning from overseas, you face a mandatory self-quarantine system. Everyone, regardless of nationality, signs must notify the authorities of their current location each day. If not, authorities will contact them via Skype, WhatsApp video call, or by voice cell phone number.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are found to be breaking quarantine as a Japanese, you get your name exposed to the public. However, foreign residents will lose everything\u2014their lives, livelihoods, and anything they ever invested in Japan\u2014by getting deported. So with punishments this disproportionate, the government had better make sure nothing goes wrong. Guess what? Things are going wrong, and it\u2019s the government\u2019s fault\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rest is at http:\/\/shingetsunewsagency.com\/2021\/05\/17\/visible-minorities-interrogating-the-discriminatory-quarantine-scandal\/ <\/a>
\nAnchor site for comments at https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16656<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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That’s all for this month! We have relatively few posts this month because I’ve been working on a big writing project over the past four months. More on that soon. Thanks for reading!<\/p>\n

Debito Arudou, Ph.D.
\nDEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JUNE 21, 2021 ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

======================
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Table of Contents:
\n1) Justice Ministry\u2019s new \u201cGaijin Card Reader App\u201d now unlawfully enables the general public to scan you. So much for GOJ promises of privacy.
\n2) NHK: Ibaraki Public Health Center targets foreigners as vectors of Coronavirus, then retracts discriminatory claims as \u201cmisleading\u201d and \u201cinappropriate\u201d
\n3) Mainichi Editorial: Foreign workers would also serve roles as consumers, taxpayers. Bravo. It needs to be said by somebody in the Wajin media
\n4) Celebrating 15 Years of the Debito.org Blog (June 17, 2006-2021)
\n…and finally…
\n5) My SNA Visible Minorities column 22: \u201cInterrogating the Discriminatory Covid Self-Quarantine Scandal\u201d, May 17, 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-16711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16711","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=16711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16712,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16711\/revisions\/16712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}