{"id":5806,"date":"2010-01-29T00:00:04","date_gmt":"2010-01-28T15:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=5806"},"modified":"2010-01-29T00:01:17","modified_gmt":"2010-01-28T15:01:17","slug":"japan-today-article-on-jon-heese-naturalized-tsukuba-city-councillor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=5806","title":{"rendered":"Japan Today article on naturalized former-NJ politicians in Tsukuba, Inuyama, and Parliament"},"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>\"sourstrawberriesavatar\"<\/a>\"debitopodcastthumb\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hi Blog. \u00a0On a happier note for a change, here’s an article from Japan Today on naturalized former NJ who have been elected to Japanese political bodies. \u00a0Well done them, and it’s nice to have a kind word for them (as opposed to racists like Dietmember Hiranuma Takeo, dissing former-NJ Dietmember Ren Ho recently for her foreign roots<\/a>; I’ll be devoting my next Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE column to that nasty little incident, out next Tues Feb 2). \u00a0PS: \u00a0Jon Heese has commented to Debito.org before, twice<\/a>, as has Tsurunen Marutei<\/a>. \u00a0And of course, Anthony Bianchi has been prominently featured here<\/a> as well. \u00a0Arudou Debito in Sapporo<\/p>\n

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

Foreign-born politicians put new face on Japanese officialdom
\nBy Jesse Veverka
\nJapan Today, downloaded January 22, 2010<\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantoday.com\/category\/lifestyle\/view\/foreign-born-politicians-put-new-face-on-japanese-officialdom<\/a>
\nTOKYO \u2014
\n After spending an hour zipping through the outskirts of north Tokyo on the sleek Tsukuba Express, I find myself on the receiving end of a sales pitch from a local city councilor on the virtues of living in \u201cTsukuba Science City.\u201d We walk through a shopping mall as he enthusiastically explains how the municipality was laid out to enhance technical research and scientific innovation. He waves a quick hello to a constituent on the escalator.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s not so odd for a local politician to promote his turf, but what is unusual is that the guy I am talking to looks like he might be Bill Clinton\u2019s younger brother. It\u2019s clear he is a dedicated public official; it\u2019s also clear he isn\u2019t originally from Japan.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I have just met Jon Heese, a Saskatchewan native, Japanese citizen and Tsukuba city councilor. Heese is a member of a small but burgeoning group of foreign-born politicians whose experiences are a testament to Japan\u2019s internationalization \u2014 and the success that comes with integration into a difficult-to-penetrate local culture.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Like many foreigners, Heese, 46, got his start in Japan as an English instructor. \u201cI came in \u201991 in the good old days, when teaching salaries were 400,000 yen a month with an apartment included,\u201d he says, with a distinct note of nostalgia in his voice. He also tried his hand at acting, playing American presidents in independent Japanese flicks like \u201cNihon Igai Zenbu Chinbotsu\u201d and \u201cGirara no Gyakushu.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But Heese wanted to connect with Japan more deeply. \u201cAll day long I was speaking English. My Japanese just wasn\u2019t improving,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI wanted to put myself in a position where I had to speak Japanese, so I opened up a bar \u2014 it was pretty easy to get going, I was really surprised how cheap it was. The liquor companies basically gave me everything I needed on spec, so all I needed was the location. Getting the actual liquor license was unbelievably easy.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Heese\u2019s business initially met with overwhelming success, but as Japan\u2019s inflated bubble economy went flat, his customer base began to dry up. Then, in 2002, the Japanese government enacted new drunk driving laws \u2014 a death sentence for his pub.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAt least 30% of my business came from 10 kilometers away. The cops sat outside my bar five nights a week, catching everybody \u2014 even if they had only drunk half a glass of beer, they were busted. I had never seen anything like it anywhere, how hardcore these cops were. We lost 70% of our business overnight.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The venture soon collapsed under the weight of debt. Shell-shocked at how quickly decisions by national bureaucrats could affect his livelihood, Heese felt the need to act.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI am not advocating drunk driving in any way,\u201d he says. \u201cHowever, in Canada, when they did the same thing \u2014 setting up checkpoints and busting people \u2014 and the bars started to lose business, what did the bars do? They organized and went to the town or city council to say, \u2018Hey, we need help.\u2019 The city council would start doing public service announcements to advocate having a designated driver, so people could still go out.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Heese visited other bar owners and found out they were hurting, too. \u201cI explained that we should organize\u2014I even wanted to go demonstrate in front of the police station. People don\u2019t realize what an asset a good nightlife is for a city. It means that young people want to live there, and if you have young people, you have a future. If you only have old people, your city dies.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite getting sympathy from fellow pub owners, Heese realized that not many of them were willing to speak up.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like the one nail that sticks out \u2014 no one wanted to stand up and get knocked down. So I said, \u2018I\u2019m out of here,\u2019 and closed up and sold the bar \u2014 with a lot of debt that I am still paying off.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet this sour experience provided the impetus for Heese\u2019s new and novel vocation. \u201cWhen you get lemons, you make lemonade, and that was kind of my push. We had an election in 2004 and I thought, \u2018I\u2019ll give it a shot!\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Need Japanese citizenship first<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In order to become an elected official, foreign-born residents first have to apply for Japanese citizenship, a process that Heese recounts as tedious but not particularly difficult. In fact, just two years prior to Heese\u2019s election to city council, Marutei Tsurunen, a former Finn, became the first foreign-born politician to serve in Japan\u2019s national government.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A Lutheran missionary-turned-politician, Tsurunen made a name as the first naturalized citizen to serve on a town council, in Yugawara, Kanagawa, in 1992. Like many groundbreakers, however, success did not always come easy. In his bid for national office, Tsurunen, 69, suffered four defeats before making it into the House of Councilors \u2014 and then only when the elected Diet member decided to relinquish his seat and it automatically went to Tsurunen, his runner-up.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLuckily, he quit after just five and a half months, so I got five and a half years for my first term\u201d explains Tsurunen as I sip tea with him in his office in Nagatacho. Things went smoother in the next election, in 2007, when he was directly elected with 240,000 votes \u2014 more than enough to seal his legitimacy as Japan\u2019s first blue-eyed Diet member.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

At around the same time, another foreign-born political contender was making his debut. Brooklynite Anthony Bianchi had decided to make a go at life in Japan when a TV show he was working on in New York got cancelled. After starting off in the JET program, he got a job with the board of education in Inuyama City, outside of Nagoya, to develop a specialized English program using proprietary materials.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI felt a responsibility to find good teachers, so the students could get a good education,\u201d Bianchi, 51, says. \u201cAnd I also felt a responsibility to those teachers to make sure they were treated well in the schools.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It took years to get the program up and running and, like Heese, Bianchi became frustrated dealing with the Japanese bureaucracy. \u201cI felt like I was just complaining about stuff, and I got tired of complaining and decided I should do something more positive for the community,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s when I started thinking about getting citizenship and running for office.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bianchi admits that he knew \u201czero about running a campaign\u201d when he started out, but thanks to a platform based on greater transparency in government and empowering schools \u2014 not bureaucrats \u2014 to make decisions about education, his message resonated with voters. In 2003, he was elected as a city councilor in Inuyama with 3,300 votes \u2014 a record number.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Treated with fairness and respect<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite Japan\u2019s reputation as hostile to newcomers, all three foreign-born politicians say they\u2019ve been treated with respect and fairness \u2014 to a point. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to get here, but once you get in, there is a lot of acceptance,\u201d Bianchi says.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI am on a Japanese [right wingers\u2019] \u2018watch list\u2019 and there are these guys in black vans,\u201d Heese says. \u201cBut the Japanese are pretty open, and they have a long tradition of sending out people to bring back new ideas.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThey can welcome me as a politician, but not as a leader,\u201d says Tsurunen, who suggests that this may be the reason he has not been tapped for a ministerial post.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Indeed, most policy decisions in Japan are not made by politicians, but by the country\u2019s murky and obstinate bureaucracy, as Heese learned shortly after getting elected. \u201cI wanted to make one small change to the timing of a traffic light in the city, but I found out it\u2019s not the council that decided such things, it\u2019s the police, and they just said no,\u201d he recalls.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Kanryoshugi\u2019 \u2014 Japanese officialdom \u2014 is running everything, but it is really the politicians\u2019 fault,\u201d Bianchi adds. \u201cWe let them take that power, and we need to take it back. No one voted for those guys. We have elections, and the people who are elected should be making the policies.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On a municipal level, true administrative power lies not with the city councilors, but with the mayor \u2014 an office for which Bianchi ran unsuccessfully in 2008. Tsurunen says he would have been surprised if Bianchi had won. \u201cForeigners are welcome, but Japanese want to rule this country.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet despite the concentration of power in the bureaucracy, elected officials are able to bring about gradual change through concerted effort. Tsurunen talks excitedly about a push by his Democratic Party of Japan to enact a dual-citizenship bill \u2014 as it stands now, Japan is the only G8 country that does not allow it.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pledged to pursue policies important to constituents<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Like other politicians, these foreign-born officials have pledged to pursue policies that are of importance to their constituents. Bianchi has dedicated himself to reducing wasteful public spending, while Tsurunen and Heese support efforts to aid Japan\u2019s farmers and increase domestic food production.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn Tsukuba, we have 200,000 people and only 700 farmers, and only 200 of those farm full-time,\u201d says Heese. \u201cFarmers feed us all. We can pretend that there is enough food in China and the U.S. even if some big disaster happens, but that ain\u2019t the truth. It really is important to support local farmers.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tsurunen, meanwhile, champions the idea of reducing imports of animal feed and using under-utilized farmland to increase domestic production.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bianchi admits that farming is not his strong suit \u2014 \u201cI am from Brooklyn, and there is not much agriculture, except grass growing through the cracks in the concrete,\u201d he says, but he\u2019s focused on his own projects, particularly a push to make local government operate in a leaner fashion. \u201cI analyze the budget a lot and look for places where they are wasting money,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is a lot of stupid spending.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Heese points out that a politician\u2019s job is not all about trying to amend policies or pass legislation. He strives to be an inspirational representative of Japan\u2019s increasingly complex global community. \u201cMy dream is to see 30 to 40 of us foreign-born politicians out there,\u201d he says. \u201cI guarantee it will benefit Japan, because it will change people\u2019s image of the country.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He tells of a recent visit by American officials from Tsukuba\u2019s sister city of Irvine, California. \u201cThey walked into the room and started shaking hands with all the Japanese, and when it came to me and I was introduced as a city councilor, all of a sudden it was like, \u2018Wow!\u2019 Their whole image of Tsukuba changed.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The reaction has been much the same when delegations arrive from Tsukuba\u2019s sister cities in Korea and China. \u201cIt really does change people\u2019s perspective of what\u2019s possible in Japan.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jon Heese: aishiterutsukuba.jp<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Marutei Tsurunen: http:\/\/homepage2.nifty.com\/yugatsuru\/<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Anthony Bianchi: www.bianchi-inuyama.com<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Turning Japanese<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So you\u2019re thinking of becoming a naturalized Japanese citizen? Here\u2019s what to do.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Be serious. Changing your citizenship is, obviously, a big decision. Japan doesn\u2019t recognize dual citizenship, meaning by law you\u2019ll have to renounce the nationality of your homeland. You will have to give up your old passport, and you may no longer be able to live freely, work, or in some cases, own property in your former country.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Get a job. As wonderful as it is to freelance, Japanese bureaucracy puts a heavy emphasis on traditional full-time employment, and you\u2019ll need to show on your application how you make a living.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

3. Establish residency. You must have been a resident of Japan for at least five years, as reckoned from the date of landing on your gaijin card. And don\u2019t forget to get a re-entry permit if you leave; otherwise the counter will be reset.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

4. Get married. The easiest way to expedite the process is to marry a Japanese national. You will have a much harder time becoming a Japanese citizen if you don\u2019t.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

5. Learn the language. You should anyway, but because you will be dealing with your immigration officer in Japanese and writing an essay about why you want to naturalize, you\u2019ll need to have your speaking and (at least some) reading and writing in order.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

6. Pay your taxes. You\u2019ll need to prove that you have made your contribution to society.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

7. Behave. Don\u2019t get into any legal entanglements.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

8. Get your papers in order. Among other documents, you\u2019ll need copies of your tax and financial records, birth certificate, parents\u2019 birth certificates, parents\u2019 marriage license and your marriage license.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

9. Pick a name. If you\u2019ve always wanted a cool kanji name, this is your chance. In the old days, you had to pick from a limited group of standardized names, but now you can choose your own characters. You can even write your name with katakana if you prefer.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

10. Prepare yourself for the long haul. Applying for citizenship is a trying process, designed to weed out applicants through attrition. You will need to meet multiple times with the immigration officer, so be ready to accommodate any extra requests.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a happier note for a change, here’s an article from Japan Today on naturalized former NJ who have been elected to Japanese political bodies. Well done them, and it’s nice to have a kind word for them (as opposed to racists like Dietmember Hiranuma Takeo, dissing former-NJ Dietmember Ren Ho recently for her foreign roots; I’ll be devoting my next Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE column to that nasty little incident, out next Tues Feb 2). PS: Jon Heese has commented to Debito.org before, twice, as has Tsurunen Marutei. And of course, Anthony Bianchi has been prominently featured here as well. Links enclosed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,12,4,14,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-good-news","category-immigration-assimilation","category-japanese-government","category-japanese-politics","category-practical-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5806","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=5806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}