{"id":1970,"date":"2008-10-30T07:57:10","date_gmt":"2008-10-29T22:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=1970"},"modified":"2008-10-30T15:53:34","modified_gmt":"2008-10-30T06:53:34","slug":"mx-on-gaijin-harassment-in-nishi-tokyo-city-elementary-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=1970","title":{"rendered":"MX on “Gaijin” harassment in Tokyo elementary school"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Handbook<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"Foreign<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"\u300c\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30cb\u30fc\u30ba\u30fb\u30aa\u30f3\u30ea\u30fc\u3000\u5c0f\u6a3d\u5165\u6d74\u62d2\u5426\u554f\u984c\u3068\u4eba\u7a2e\u5dee\u5225\u300d\uff08\u660e\u77f3\u66f8\u5e97\uff09\"<\/a>\"JAPANESE<\/a><\/p>\n

Hi Blog. \u00a0Pursuant to yesterday’s Asahi article mentioning kids bullying a child with international roots<\/a>, here’s a letter from a father who felt the diversity-stripping effects of the word “gaijin” firsthand<\/a>, when his Japanese daughter first entered a Tokyo grade school. \u00a0Arudou Debito in Sapporo<\/p>\n

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

From: <\/strong> <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0MX<\/p>\n

<\/span>Subject: <\/strong> <\/span>my 6-year-old (Japanese) daughter called “gaijin”<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span>Date: <\/strong> <\/span>October 24, 2008<\/p>\n

Hello Debito,<\/em><\/p>\n

You probably don’t remember, but I wrote you several years ago to ask about the complicated issue of children’s names in the case of “international couples” here in Japan, and you kindly answered that query.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, it is about 6 years later and my daughter XXXXXX is getting ready to enter elementary school next April. We happen to live right between two schools in Tokyo, and my wife took XXXXXX to visit both of them yesterday.\u00a0XXXXXX\u00a0is quite excited to be an ichi nen sei next year and was looking forward to the visit, but it turned out to be a bit of a nightmare.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In one of the classes they were visiting, a boy pointed at XXXXXX and shouted \u5916\u4eba\u3060\uff01\u5916\u4eba\u304c\u3044\u308b\uff01 The teacher went on “teaching” as if nothing was happening, while the shouts grew louder and soon the entire class was pointing and staring at poor XXXXXX, who was in complete shock. Ultimately, my wife had no choice but to leave the classroom and try to console\u00a0XXXXXX.<\/em><\/p>\n

I can’t say this came as a complete surprise, as\u00a0XXXXXX\u00a0does indeed look quite “European,” but it was depressing that the teacher saw no reason to intervene in some way to make the experience less mortifying for my daughter. If this had occurred on the street it would have been\u00a0 bad enough, but it is even more disheartening that it happened at a school, a place that\u00a0should\u00a0be at the forefront of efforts to curb stupid racial discrimination.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Anyway, the reason that I am bothering you with this sad little tale is that I was wondering if you happened to know anything about the Ministry of Education’s “policy” towards racial discrimination and what (if anything) the schools are doing to explain the simple fact that Japanese people now come in all shapes, sizes and faces. I suspect there is no effort being made whatsoever to counter the ignorance of students and teachers, but I thought if anyone was up to date on this subject it would be you.<\/em><\/p>\n

So far, my wife and I have sent a letter to the Principal of the school and depending on the response (if any!) we receive I may pursue the matter further, whether writing to\u00a0The Japan Times\u00a0or to the Ministry of Education itself. Do you have any other suggestions on how to raise a bit of a stink about this (assuming, of course, you think that the incident is as stinky as it seemed to me and my wife).<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m sorry to take up so much of your time with this, but any advice you might have would be much appreciated.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Best regards, MX<\/em><\/p>\n

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

DEBITO REPLIED:<\/strong><\/p>\n

2008\/10\/25 Arudou Debito\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><<\/strong><\/em>debito@debito.org<\/strong><\/em><\/a>> replied:<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Hello Michael. \u00a0Thanks for sharing this. \u00a0May I post this up on my blog? \u00a0I’ll anonymize it if you like. \u00a0It’s an important tale. \u00a0If you’d like to add anything more, please do. \u00a0Meanwhile, consider what I did in this situation here.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/em>https:\/\/www.debito.org\/youchien.html<\/strong><\/em><\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/em>https:\/\/www.debito.org\/kateihoumon.html<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/em>Do take it up with your school. \u00a0Schedule an appointment and meet with the people in charge with the school face to face. \u00a0Get in writing what the school intends to do about this. \u00a0The teacher was completely irresponsible. \u00a0Debito<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

=================================<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

MX REPLIED:<\/strong><\/div>\n
Hi again,<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n
Thanks for writing back. Please feel free to post it on your blog, but I would prefer the anonymizing (?). It’s been a couple days and no news back from the principal yet. I suspect they are having some endless (and probably fruitless) meeting about this, or it has been brushed off completely. Anyway, I will follow up on it.<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n
It seems to tie in to <\/em>the debate over the g-word in the Japan Times<\/em><\/a>. I must admit to being somewhat on the fence about the word when it comes to myself, as it is at least factual accurate, but there isn’t much justification when it is directed against a “fellow citizen.” I thought the incident showed, though, that the word is less important the ugly sentiment that is often behind it, that is basically: We’re over here, and you (strange people) are over there. In fact, the kid in that class could have just pointed and said nothing and the effect would have been similar. I suppose my point is that the problem is not so much this or that word, but racial discrimation itself (not to mention the nonsensical concept of “race” itself). In that sense, the word g-word and the n-word do have more than a little in common, although to argue which is worse is sort of like saying that one atrocity is not as bad as this one.<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n
I’ll stop rambling, though, and just thank you again for taking the time to write me.\u00a0Take care, MX<\/em><\/div>\n
ENDS<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a letter from a father who felt the diversity-stripping effects of the word “gaijin” firsthand, when his Japanese daughter first entered a Tokyo grade school:<\/p>\n

“My daughter XXXXXX is quite excited to be an ichi nen sei next year and was looking forward to [her first visit to grade school], but it turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. <\/p>\n

“In one of the classes they were visiting, a boy pointed at XXXXXX and shouted \u5916\u4eba\u3060\uff01\u5916\u4eba\u304c\u3044\u308b\uff01 The teacher went on “teaching” as if nothing was happening, while the shouts grew louder and soon the entire class was pointing and staring at poor XXXXXX, who was in complete shock. Ultimately, my wife had no choice but to leave the classroom and try to console XXXXXX.<\/p>\n

“I can’t say this came as a complete surprise, as XXXXXX does indeed look quite “European,” but it was depressing that the teacher saw no reason to intervene in some way to make the experience less mortifying for my daughter. If this had occurred on the street it would have been bad enough, but it is even more disheartening that it happened at a school, a place that should be at the forefront of efforts to curb stupid racial discrimination…”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,22,19,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anti-discrimination-templates","category-cultural-issue","category-education","category-practical-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1970","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=1970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}