{"id":17149,"date":"2022-08-21T10:51:07","date_gmt":"2022-08-21T17:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=17149"},"modified":"2022-08-21T10:51:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T17:51:07","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-august-22-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=17149","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER AUGUST 22, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

Books, eBooks, and more from Debito Arudou, Ph.D. (click on icon):
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Table of Contents<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

REVISIONISM AND RECIDIVISM<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) Asahi: Okayama public prosecutors drop co-worker violence claim by Vietnamese \u201cTrainee\u201d despite video evidence. No wonder Japan\u2019s violent bully culture thrives! (UPDATE: Out-of-court settlement was reached)<\/strong>
\n2) Japan Times on neighborhood sento bathhouse restoration activists: Omits history of how Japan\u2019s already-declining public bath industry hurt itself with \u201cJapanese Only\u201d signs<\/strong>
\n3) Migrant Integration Policy Index rates Japan as \u201cIntegration Denied\u201d, and \u201cCritically Unfavorable\u201d in terms of Anti-Discrimination measures. And this is for 2019, before Covid shut Japan\u2019s borders.<\/strong>
\n4) Ministry of Foreign Affairs sets up \u201cforeign media policing website\u201d where anyone can report to J govt any foreign info \u201cincompatible with our country\u2019s standpoint\u201d. Actually, quite within character.<\/strong><\/p>\n

… and finally …<\/strong><\/em>
\n5) My SNA Visible Minorities 36: \u201cAbe\u2019s Assassination and the Revenge of History\u201d (July 18, 2022), on how his historical revisionism created a blind spot that ultimately killed him<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

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REVISIONISM AND RECIDIVISM<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) Asahi: Okayama public prosecutors drop co-worker violence claim by Vietnamese \u201cTrainee\u201d despite video evidence. No wonder Japan\u2019s violent bully culture thrives! (UPDATE: Out-of-court settlement was reached)<\/strong><\/p>\n

GoEMON (from Asahi<\/strong>): Two years ago, a 41-year-old male Vietnamese technical trainee was abused by his four Japanese coworkers while working. The act was then discreetly recorded by another Vietnamese trainee, causing a buzz within the public at that time. The result of the case was recently disclosed by the Okayama Prefectural Public Prosecutors Office.<\/em><\/p>\n

The technical trainee filed a case to the Okayama Prefectural Public Prosecutors Office, claiming that he had been assaulted during the past two years working at the company, in which the four coworkers, all in their 30s, were referred to prosecution on suspicion of causing injuries and other charges. The Prosecutor\u2019s Office, however, announced that the four cannot be prosecuted, due to a lack of information. The indictments were dropped against two for injury, one for injury and violation of the Violent Acts Punishment Law, and one for violation of the Violent Acts Punishment Law.<\/em><\/p>\n

COMMENT<\/strong>: \u201cA lack of information\u201d!? [Well, in the original Japanese, it just says, \u201cFor reasons left unclear.\u201d] Anyway, watch the video above. Yet another example (see the McGowan Case for another) of how even when you have photographic or audio evidence of abusive behavior, the laws are only as good as the people enforcing them. If public prosecutors will not do their job and prosecute, the laws specifically against violent acts mean nothing. Even despite all the promises of reform of Japan\u2019s already abusive, exploitative, and deadly \u201cTrainee\u201d system. In a sense, this poor guy is lucky he didn\u2019t end up laid up in the hospital or worse!<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/strong>: Yahoo News: According to the labor union protecting the Trainee, there was an apology from the construction company and the administering agency, with restitution paid through private settlement.<\/p>\n

FURTHER COMMENT<\/strong>: Fine. But this case shows just how much, despite calls for reform for decades, things have NOT progressed. By now, things like this shouldn\u2019t still be happening, in this case violence towards a foreign co-worker for about two years! But official negligence is the norm here. Again, good thing the \u201cTrainee\u201d had the video of the savage treatment that resulted in broken ribs and untold mental damage. But he shouldn\u2019t have had to.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=17138<\/a><\/p>\n

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2) Japan Times on neighborhood sento bathhouse restoration activists: Omits history of how Japan\u2019s already-declining public bath industry hurt itself with \u201cJapanese Only\u201d signs<\/strong><\/p>\n

JT: \u201cBathhouses are a space where I can ground myself,\u201d says Sam Holden, who first found solace in sent\u014d when he was a graduate student in Tokyo. Holden, who labels himself an urban activist, is a writer, translator and renovation specialist. He founded Sento & Neighborhood together with four associates in 2020 with the idea of \u201cchanging historic bathhouses as little as possible but finding a way for them to become sustainable,\u201d Holden explains, hinting at the financial difficulties that many sent\u014d face\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To Holden, visiting bathhouses means exploring the back alleys that embody a deeper layer of Japan\u2019s urban fabric tucked away from busy and anonymous main streets \u2014 and one that has been part of Japanese cities for centuries. \u201cAcross the street from the bathhouse you have the liquor shop where the grandpas gather, the vegetable grocer and tofu shop and all sorts of local eateries,\u201d Holden says. \u201cPreserving a bathhouse means not only preserving that building, but this neighborhood network.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

COMMENT<\/strong>: I applaud the efforts of these movements to keep neighborhood sento open. However, the writer of this article (and perhaps the activists themselves) neglected to mention an important part of history, where public\/private baths have refused entry to foreign and foreign-looking residents and customers. If offering this communal experience is \u201can important channel of communication between neighbors\u201d, then it\u2019s also important to recognize the fact that sometimes sento and onsen have undermined themselves by putting up \u201cJapanese Only\u201d signs, and not recognized \u201cforeigners\u201d as fellow neighbors. Openness to all members of the community should also be part of their slogans.<\/p>\n

Also problematic is that the Japan Times seems to be forgetful of this discriminatory history as an editorial policy, as their archive on recent articles regarding Sento demonstrates. The JT laments the decline of the industry (for example, here) without getting into how some of their decline is their own fault. That\u2019s particularly galling, considering I wrote for The Japan Times for two decades a regular column, in addition to other stringer articles, on this very subject.<\/p>\n

Seems the Japan Times doesn\u2019t prioritize this type of issue anymore. So much for reporting \u201cin the public interest\u201d. This is how history gets unlearned and eventually repeats itself. Just wait for the next moral panic blamed on \u201cforeigners\u201d, and communal doors to a public service will shut all over again. Even if it drives the excluder out of business. Talking about preservation without including this issue is in fact counterproductive for the industry.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=17132<\/a><\/p>\n

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3) Migrant Integration Policy Index rates Japan as \u201cIntegration Denied\u201d, and \u201cCritically Unfavorable\u201d in terms of Anti-Discrimination measures. And this is for 2019, before Covid shut Japan\u2019s borders.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Migrant Integration Policy Index<\/strong>: \u201cJapan scores 47\/100 [Rank: \u201cIntegration Denied\u201d], slightly below the average MIPEX country (49\/100) because Japanese policies still refuse to recognise that Japan is a country of immigration. This denial leads to contradictory policies that create as many obstacles as opportunities for foreign nationals. Japan\u2019s approach to integration is categorised as \u201cImmigration without Integration\u201d. While Japan is a leader far ahead of the other countries in this category, its policies still deny basic rights and equal opportunities to newcomers. Foreign nationals can find some ways to settle long-term in Japan. However, Japanese policies only go halfway to guarantee them equal opportunities, (e.g., on health and education), while also denying them several basic rights, most notably protections from discrimination.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cJapan needs to invest more on all the three dimensions, especially to guarantee immigrants with the same basic rights as Japanese citizens. The way that governments treat immigrants strongly influences how well immigrants and the public interact and think of each other. Japan\u2019s current policies encourage the public to see immigrants as subordinates and not their neighbours.\u201d [\u2026] Japan is one of the only MIPEX countries still without a dedicated anti-discrimination law and body. Japan is the among bottom three countries for anti-discrimination policies, together with other \u2018immigration without integration\u2019 countries. Japan\u2019s approach is slightly ahead of poorer Central European countries with equally small and new immigrant populations, but far behind other developed countries\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

COMMENT<\/strong>: It\u2019s as we\u2019ve been saying here on Debito.org for decades: This is what happens when you are the only developed country without a national law against racial discrimination. And this is the MIPEX report as of 2019. I look forward to seeing the next report, where it takes into account Japan\u2019s racist policy of closed borders (even to lawful and Permanent Residents, for a time) due to Covid. I strongly doubt Japan\u2019s numbers will improve.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=17123<\/a><\/p>\n

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4) Ministry of Foreign Affairs sets up \u201cforeign media policing website\u201d where anyone can report to J govt any foreign info \u201cincompatible with our country\u2019s standpoint\u201d. Actually, quite within character.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has put up a website that enables anyone to submit to the government \u201cinformation about any accounts in overseas [media] relating to our country that is based on misunderstandings of the truth\/facts (jijitsu), or is incompatible with our country\u2019s standpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actually, what MOFA is doing is very much within the Japanese Government (GOJ)\u2019s character. The GOJ is very sensitive to how they are perceived abroad, historically stepping in many times to \u201ccorrect misperceptions\u201d in foreign media. See here, here, here, here, here, and here, for example. (And it\u2019s a stark contrast to, for example, the Americans, who ignore outright disinformation even when it affects their own citizens abroad.)<\/p>\n

Granted, compared to the US\u2019s negligence (even making outright threats against their US citizens for not ignoring racial discrimination in Japan), I\u2019d rather that a government step in to correct public misperceptions when their citizens abroad stand to get hurt. But I\u2019m also suspicious of the GOJ\u2019s motives, as evidenced by the links above, as their \u201cstandpoint\u201d towards historical and factual interpretation is riddled with ahistorical revisionism.<\/p>\n

Moreover, asking for the public\u2019s participation like this is redolent of the \u201cSnitch Sites\u201d the Immigration Bureau deployed in 2004, so that anyone could anonymously sicc the GOJ on any foreigner they thought could be an \u201cillegal\u201d \u2014 much to the delight of all the Zainichi Korean haters out there.<\/p>\n

In sum, this \u201cMOFA foreign media policing site\u201d is yet another politically-motivated government-sponsored website that is encouraging online abuse and feeding the trolls.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=17115<\/a><\/p>\n

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… and finally …<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

5) My SNA Visible Minorities 36: \u201cAbe\u2019s Assassination and the Revenge of History\u201d (July 18, 2022), on how his historical revisionism created a blind spot that ultimately killed him<\/strong><\/p>\n

SNA: The assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has occasioned a lot of valuable, eye-opening discussions in the media, but few if any have focused upon how Abe\u2019s death could be seen as a form of karmic payback\u2013what happens when you ignore the lessons of history in the pursuit of raw political power.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The discussions have instead focused on the veneer of Japan\u2019s \u201csafe\u201d society being blown away by a homemade gun; or about how the world\u2019s democracies have been deprived of a Japanese leader comfortable on the international stage (while egregiously overlooking all the damage he did to Japan\u2019s democracy).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A few intrepid journalists (starting with the SNA) have explored the swamp of Abe\u2019s political connections with the \u201cMoonies\u201d religious cult, and how that probably gave motive to the killer.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To me the most absurd debate has been whether Abe\u2019s death was an \u201cassassination\u201d at all \u2013- the Japanese media have uniformly refused to use the corresponding word ansatsu, portraying it as merely a \u201cshooting event\u201d (jugeki jiken).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

These important topics have been covered elsewhere by people with more expertise, so this column will take a different tack. It will discuss the role of national narratives in a society, how dishonest national narratives stunt the maturity of societies, and how a willful ignorance of history due to these national narratives circled back to kill Abe\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the rest at https:\/\/shingetsunewsagency.com\/2022\/07\/18\/visible-minorities-abes-assassination-and-the-revenge-of-history\/<\/a>
\nAnchor site for commentary at https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=17107<\/a><\/p>\n

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That’s all for this month. Thanks for reading!
\nDEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER AUGUST 22, 2022 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:
\nREVISIONISM AND RECIDIVISM
\n1) Asahi: Okayama public prosecutors drop co-worker violence claim by Vietnamese \u201cTrainee\u201d despite video evidence. No wonder Japan\u2019s violent bully culture thrives! (UPDATE: Out-of-court settlement was reached)
\n2) Japan Times on neighborhood sento bathhouse restoration activists: Omits history of how Japan\u2019s already-declining public bath industry hurt itself with \u201cJapanese Only\u201d signs
\n3) Migrant Integration Policy Index rates Japan as \u201cIntegration Denied\u201d, and \u201cCritically Unfavorable\u201d in terms of Anti-Discrimination measures. And this is for 2019, before Covid shut Japan\u2019s borders.
\n4) Ministry of Foreign Affairs sets up \u201cforeign media policing website\u201d where anyone can report to J govt any foreign info \u201cincompatible with our country\u2019s standpoint\u201d. Actually, quite within character.
\n… and finally …
\n5) My SNA Visible Minorities 36: \u201cAbe\u2019s Assassination and the Revenge of History\u201d (July 18, 2022), on how his historical revisionism created a blind spot that ultimately killed him<\/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-17149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17149","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=17149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17150,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17149\/revisions\/17150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}