{"id":6233,"date":"2010-03-19T00:14:57","date_gmt":"2010-03-18T15:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=6233"},"modified":"2010-03-19T05:53:03","modified_gmt":"2010-03-18T20:53:03","slug":"rough-draft-text-of-my-speech-to-un-rep-bustamante-mar-23-in-tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=6233","title":{"rendered":"Rough draft text of my speech to UN Rep Bustamante Mar 23 in Tokyo"},"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>
\nUPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito
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Hi Blog. What follows is a rough draft of the text of the speech I’ll be giving on Tues, March 23, before a United Nations rep. I have twenty minutes tops. I read this at a normal pace aloud today and it came about sixteen minutes. Eight pages, 2500 words, written in a conversational style. FYI. Thanks for your support, and see you at the upcoming FRANCA meetings this Sunday and next Saturday<\/a>. Arudou Debito in Sapporo<\/p>\n

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

Statements to Mr Bustamante, Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, in Tokyo, March 23, 2010, by ARUDOU Debito, Chair, Foreign Residents and Naturalized Citizens Association (FRANCA, www.francajapan.org<\/a>), regarding racial discrimination in Japan.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This document may be downloaded at https:\/\/www.debito.org\/ArudouBustamantestatement032310.doc<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The powerpoint accompanying this presentation may be downloaded at https:\/\/www.debito.org\/FRANCABustamantepresentation032310.ppt<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n

Table of contents for the belowmentioned \u201cblue folder\u201d with links to sources at https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=6201<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n


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

First, let me thank Mr. Bustamante and the United Nations for their attention to the situation of minorities and disenfranchised peoples in Japan.\u00a0 There are very few effective forums in Japan for us to take our grievances, and we all very much appreciate the Special Rapporteur hearing as many sides of the story as possible.<\/p>\n

I wish to focus on the situation of peoples of \u201cforeign\u201d origin and appearance, such as White and non-Asian peoples like me, and how we tend to be treated in Japanese society.\u00a0 Put simply, we are not officially registered or even counted sometimes as genuine residents.\u00a0 We are not treated as taxpayers, not protected as consumers, not seen as ethnicities even in the national census.\u00a0 We not even regarded as deserving of the same human rights as Japanese, according to government-sponsored opinion polls and human rights surveys (blue folder items I-1, I-6 and III-6).\u00a0 This view of \u201cforeigner\u201d as \u201conly temporary in Japan\u201d is a blind spot even the United Nations seems to share, but I\u2019ll get that later.<\/p>\n

Here is a blue 500-page information folder I will give you after my talk, with primary source materials, articles, reference papers, and testimonials from other people in Japan who would like their voice heard.\u00a0 It will substantiate what I will be saying in summary below.<\/p>\n

To start off, here is an overview of our presence in Japan.\u00a0 According to official figures, the number of Non-Japanese on 3-month visas and up in Japan has grown since 1990 from about one million to over two million.\u00a0 The number of Permanent Residents has reached record numbers, of over one million.\u00a0 In other words, about half of all registered Non-Japanese in Japan can stay here permanently.\u00a0 I would like to point out here how difficult it is to receive Permanent Residency in Japan.\u00a0 It takes about five years if you are married to a Japanese, ten years if you are not.\u00a0 The point is, a million Non-Japanese Permanent Residents are not a \u201ctemporary\u201d segment of Japanese society.<\/p>\n

Moreover, this does not count the estimated 300,000 to 500,000 naturalized Japanese citizens since the 1960\u2019s.\u00a0 I am one of those naturalized Japanese citizens.\u00a0 Nor does this count the international families from Non-Japanese marrying Japanese.\u00a0 We have about 40,000 international marriages every year, a significant increase from the 30,000 per year a decade ago.\u00a0 If each couple has two children over their lifetime, which is not an unreasonable assumption, eventually that means 80,000 ethnically-diverse Japanese children.\u00a0 Over ten years, that adds up to 800,000 \u2013 almost a million again.\u00a0 However, not all of these children will \u201clook Japanese\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sadly, we don\u2019t know how many children, or people, of diverse backgrounds with Japanese citizenship are out there, because the Japanese Census does not survey for ethnicity.\u00a0 The Japanese Census only surveys for nationality, despite our repeated requests for the census to reflect Japan\u2019s diversity.\u00a0 Meaning, when I fill out the Census, I write down \u201cJapanese\u201d for my nationality, but there is no way for me to indicate that I am a \u201cCaucasian Japanese\u201d, or an \u201cJapanese of American extraction\u201d (amerika kei nihonjin<\/em>).\u00a0 I believe this is by design, because the politics of identity in Japan are \u201cmonoculturality and monoethnicity\u201d.\u00a0 This is simply a fiction.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t true in the past, and with modern Japan\u2019s emerging immigration, assimilation, and ethnic diversity, it\u2019s even less true now.\u00a0 The official conflation of Japanese nationality and ethnicity is incorrect, and our government is willfully refusing to collect any data that would correct that.<\/p>\n

The point is, the lines have blurred to the point where we cannot tell who is \u201cJapanese\u201d any more just by looking at them.\u00a0 This means any time we have any distinctions made between \u201cforeigner\u201d and \u201cJapanese\u201d, be it police racial profiling or \u201cJapanese Only\u201d signs, it will also affect some Japanese citizens too.\u00a0 This is why we need a law against racial discrimination in Japan \u2013 not only because it will help non-citizens assimilate into Japan, but also it will protect Japanese against xenophobia, bigotry, and exclusionism.\u00a0 Discrimination that is \u201cdeep and profound\u201d, and \u201cpracticed undisturbed in Japan\u201d, according to UN Rapporteur Doudou Diene in 2005 and 2006[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At this point, I would like to show some differences in standpoint, between my esteemed colleagues and minorities being represented today, and the people I am trying to speak for.\u00a0 The minorities in Japan as defined under the CERD, including the Ainu, the Ry\u016bky\u016bans, the Zainichi Special Permanent Resident ethnic Koreans and Chinese, and the Burakumin, will be speaking to you this week and next as people who have been here for a long time, much longer than people like me, of course.\u00a0 They make their claims based upon time-honored and genuine grievances that have never been properly redressed.\u00a0 For ease of understanding, I will call some of them the \u201cOldcomers\u201d.\u00a0 I am here on behalf of what I will call the \u201cNewcomers\u201d, people who have come here from other countries relatively recently, to make a life in Japan.\u00a0 Both \u201cOldcomers\u201d and \u201cNewcomers\u201d contribute to Japanese society, including taxes, service, and culture.\u00a0 But it is we \u201cNewcomers\u201d who really need the protections of a Japanese law against racial discrimination, because we, the people who are seen<\/em> because of our skin color as \u201cforeigners\u201d in Japan, are often singled out and targeted for our own special variety of discriminatory treatment.<\/p>\n

Here are examples I will talk briefly about now:<\/p>\n

1) <\/strong>Discrimination in housing and accommodation<\/strong><\/p>\n

2) <\/strong>Racial Profiling by Japanese Police, through policies officially depicting Non-Japanese as criminals, terrorists, and carriers of infectious disease<\/strong><\/p>\n

3) <\/strong>Refusal to be registered or counted as residents by the Japanese Government<\/strong><\/p>\n

4) <\/strong>\u201cJapanese Only\u201d exclusions in businesses open to the public<\/strong><\/p>\n

5) <\/strong>Objects of unfettered hate speech<\/strong><\/p>\n

All of these examples are substantiated in the blue information folder, but again, words in brief about each item.<\/p>\n

1) <\/strong>Discrimination in housing and accommodation<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the first barriers many Newcomers face in Japan is the daunting prospect of finding an apartment.\u00a0 According to the Mainichi Shimbun (Jan 8 2010[2]<\/a>), on average in Tokyo it takes 15 visits to realtors for a Non-Japanese to find an apartment.\u00a0\u00a0 Common experience — and this is all we have because there is no government study of this problem — dictates that the agent generally phrases the issue to landlords as, \u201cThe renter is a foreigner, but is that okay?\u201d\u00a0 This overt discrimination happens with complete impunity in Japan.\u00a0 One Osaka realtor[3]<\/a> even advertises apartments as \u201cgaijin<\/em> allowed\u201d, thus an option at odds with the status quo.\u00a0 Again, there is no national government body collecting information on this problem, or hearing grievances.\u00a0 The people who face discriminatory landlords can only take them to court.\u00a0 This means years, money for lawyers and court fees, and an uncertain outcome, when all you need is a place to live, now.<\/p>\n

Another issue is hotels.\u00a0 They are expressly forbidden by the Hotel Management Law Article 5 to refuse customers unless rooms are full, there is a clear threat of contagious disease, or a clear threat to \u201cpublic morals\u201d (as in pornography).\u00a0 However, government surveys, according to CNN et.al, (Oct 9, 2008[4]<\/a>), indicate that 27% of all Japanese hotels don\u2019t want foreign guests.\u00a0 Not to be outdone, the Fukushima Prefecture Tourist Information website until last January advertised, as per their own preset options, that 318 of their member hotels were all refusing Non-Japanese[5]<\/a>, even though this is clearly illegal.\u00a0 Thus even when a law technically forbids exclusionism, it is not enforced.\u00a0 Excluders even get promoted by the authorities.<\/p>\n

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

2) <\/strong>Racial Profiling by Japanese Police<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another rude awakening happens when you walk down the street.\u00a0 Japanese police will stop you in public, sometimes rudely demand your ID card (which all foreigners \u2013 only — must carry at all times or face incarceration and criminal prosecution), and record your personal details.\u00a0 This can be for walking while White, cycling while foreign-looking, using public transportation while multiethnic, or standing waiting for arrivals at airports while colored.\u00a0 In one person\u2019s case, he has been \u201ccarded\u201d, sometimes through physical force, more than 50 times in one year, as of today exactly 125 times over ten years (blue folder item I-2).<\/p>\n

The police claim they are hunting for foreign criminals and visa overstayers, or there are special security measures or campaigns in place, etc.\u00a0 However, you can see in the blue folder, this is an extension of the depiction of Non-Japanese in official government policies as \u201cterrorists, criminals, and carriers of infectious diseases\u201d (items II-9 through 11).\u00a0 None of these things are contingent on nationality.\u00a0 Consequently, after 2007 all non-citizens must be fingerprinted every time they re-enter Japan.\u00a0 This includes the \u201cNewcomer\u201d Permanent Residents, which goes farther than its model, the US-VISIT program this, which does not refingerprint Green Card holders.\u00a0 The epitome of bad physical and social science must be the National Research Institute of Police Science, which has received years of government grants to research \u201cforeign DNA\u201d, for more effective racial profiling at crime scenes (see blue folder item II-2).<\/p>\n

In sum, thanks to national policy justifying racial profiling, the Japanese police are seeing non-Japanese as \u201cforeign agents\u201d in both senses of the word.\u00a0 They are systematically taking measures to deal with them as a social problem, not a fellow resident or immigrant.\u00a0 Furthermore, it goes without saying that enforcement depends upon personal appearance, as I too have been racially profiled on several occasions by police in public.<\/p>\n

3) <\/strong>Refusal to be counted as residents by the Japanese Government<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is too complicated to talk about fully here (see blue folder, item III-1), but Japan\u2019s registration system, meaning the current Koseki<\/em> Family Registry and the J\u016bminhy\u014d<\/em> Residency Certificate systems, refuse to list Non-Japanese as \u201cspouse\u201d — or even \u201cfamily member\u201d.\u00a0 Because they are not citizens.\u00a0 In sum, officially Non-Japanese residents are not \u201cresidents\u201d (j\u016bmin<\/em>), even though they pay Residency Taxes (j\u016bminzei<\/em>) like anyone else.\u00a0 Worse, some local governments (such as Tokyo Nerima Ward[6]<\/a>) do not even count Non-Japanese in their population tallies.\u00a0 This is the ultimate in invisibility, and it is government-sanctioned.<\/p>\n

4) <\/strong>\u201cJapanese Only\u201d exclusions in businesses open to the public<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since Japan has no law against racial discrimination, there have been signs up nationwide at places open to the general public, saying \u201cJapanese Only\u201d, \u201cNo Foreigners allowed\u201d, etc. (blue folder item III-1).\u00a0 Places enforcing exclusionary rules include stores, restaurants, hotels, family public bathhouses, bars, discos, an eyeglass outlet, a ballet school, an internet caf\u00e9, a billiards hall, a women’s boutique, and a newspaper subscription service.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the government has said repeatedly to the UN that we don\u2019t a racial discrimination law because we have an effective judicial system.\u00a0 That is untrue.\u00a0 In the Otaru Onsens Case (1999-2005, blue folder items III-1 and III-7), where two Non-Japanese and one naturalized Japanese were excluded from a public bathhouse, judges refused to rule that this activity was illegal due to racial discrimination.\u00a0 They called it \u201cunrational discrimination\u201d.\u00a0 Moreover, they refused to enforce the CERD as law, or sanction the negligent Otaru City government for not taking effective measures against racial discrimination.\u00a0 The Supreme Court even refused to hear the case.\u00a0 Furthermore, in 2006, an African-American was refused entry into an eyeglass store by an openly racist owner, yet the Osaka District Court ruled in favor of the owner!\u00a0\u00a0 We need a criminal law, with enforceable punishments, because the present judicial system will not fix this.<\/p>\n

5) <\/strong>Objects of unfettered hate speech<\/strong><\/p>\n

The blue folder talks more about cyberbullying of minorities and prejudiced statements made by our politicians over the years.\u00a0 Other NGOs will talk more about the anti-Korean and anti-Chinese hate speech during the current debate about granting local suffrage rights to Permanent Residents.\u00a0 I would instead like to briefly mention some media, such as magazine \u201cUnderground Files of Crimes by Gaijin [sic]\u201d (Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu<\/em> (2007), blue folder item III-2), or \u201cPR Suffrage will make Japan Disappear\u201d (Gaikokujin Sanseiken de Nihon ga Nakunaru Hi<\/em>) (2010[7]<\/a>).\u00a0 Both of these books stretch their case to talk about an innate criminality or deviousness in the foreign element, and \u201cUnderground Files of\u00a0 Crimes\u201d even includes things that are not crimes, such as dating Japanese women.\u00a0 It even includes epithets like \u201cnigger\u201d, racist caricatures, and ponderings on whether Korean pudenda smell like kimchi.\u00a0 This is hate speech.\u00a0 And it is not illegal in Japan.<\/p>\n

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

To summarize, the Japanese government\u2019s stance towards the CERD is simple (blue folder item VI-1).\u00a0 The Ainu, Ry\u016bk\u016bans, and Burakumin are citizens, therefore they don\u2019t need CERD protection because they are protected by the Japanese Constitution.\u00a0 However, the Zainichis and \u201cNewcomers\u201d are not citizens, therefore they don\u2019t get protection from the CERD.\u00a0 Therefore, our government effectively argues, the CERD does not cover anyone in Japan.<\/p>\n

Yeah, well what about me?\u00a0 Or our children?\u00a0 Are there really no ethnic minorities with Japanese citizenship in Japan?<\/p>\n

In conclusion, I would like to thank the United Nations and their Rapporteurs for investigating our cases.\u00a0 The CERD Committee on March 16, 2010 (CERD\/C\/JPN\/CO\/3-6), issued some very welcome recommendations.\u00a0 However, and I would like to go back to something I said in the beginning, that the UN has a blind spot in these negotiations.<\/p>\n

In the CERD Committee\u2019s discussions with the Japanese government in Geneva on February 24 and 25, 2010, very little mention was made of the CERD\u2019s non-enforcement in Japan\u2019s judiciary and criminal code.\u00a0\u00a0 Almost no mention was made of Japan\u2019s \u201cJapanese Only\u201d signs.\u00a0 These are the most indefensible violation of the CERD.<\/p>\n

The problem is, both sides, both Japan and the UN, have a blind spot in how they perceive Japan\u2019s \u201cminorities\u201d.\u00a0 Non-Japanese were never couched as residents of or immigrants to Japan, but rather as \u201cforeign migrants\u201d.\u00a0 The unconscious assumption seems to be that 1) \u201cforeign migrants\u201d have a \u201ctemporary status\u201d in Japan (particularly when Japan\u2019s reps portrayed ethnic schools for Non-Japanese as for \u201cforeign children in Japan only for the short stay\u201d), and 2) Japan has few \u201cethnically diverse Japanese citizens\u201d.<\/p>\n

Look, it\u2019s time for an update.\u00a0 Look at me.\u00a0 I am a Japanese.\u00a0 Like any other.\u00a0 Because the government put me through a very rigorous and arbitrary test for naturalization and I passed it.\u00a0 People like me are part of Japan\u2019s future.\u00a0 Please, when you make your recommendations, have them reflect how Japan has changed, and how Japan must face up to its multicultural society already in place.\u00a0 Please, recognize us \u201cNewcomers\u201d as a permanent part of the debate.\u00a0 The Japanese government still will not.\u00a0 They say little that is positive about us.\u00a0 And they allow very nasty things to be said by our politicians, policymakers, and police.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about time we all recognized the good things that we \u201cNewcomers\u201d too are doing for our home, Japan.\u00a0 Please help us.<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> www.debito.org\/rapporteur.html<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> www.debito.org\/?p=5703<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> www.debito.org\/?p=723<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> www.debito.org\/?p=1940<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> www.debito.org\/?p=5619<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> www.debito.org\/?p=1972<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> www.debito.org\/?p=6182<\/p>\n

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

Excerpt: I wish to focus on the situation of peoples of \u201cforeign\u201d origin and appearance, such as White and non-Asian peoples like me, and how we tend to be treated in Japanese society. Put simply, we are not officially registered or even counted sometimes as genuine residents. We are not treated as taxpayers, not protected as consumers, not seen as ethnicities even in the national census. We not even regarded as deserving of the same human rights as Japanese, according to government-sponsored opinion polls and human rights surveys (blue folder items I-1, I-6 and III-6). This view of \u201cforeigner\u201d as \u201conly temporary in Japan\u201d is a blind spot even the United Nations seems to share, but I\u2019ll get that later.<\/p>\n

Here is a blue 500-page information folder I will give you after my talk, with primary source materials, articles, reference papers, and testimonials from other people in Japan who would like their voice heard. It will substantiate what I will be saying in summary below.<\/p>\n

[…] [I]t is we \u201cNewcomers\u201d who really need the protections of a Japanese law against racial discrimination, because we, the people who are seen because of our skin color as \u201cforeigners\u201d in Japan, are often singled out and targeted for our own special variety of discriminatory treatment.<\/p>\n

Here are examples I will talk briefly about now:
\n1) Discrimination in housing and accommodation
\n2) Racial Profiling by Japanese Police, through policies officially depicting Non-Japanese as criminals, terrorists, and carriers of infectious disease
\n3) Refusal to be registered or counted as residents by the Japanese Government
\n4) \u201cJapanese Only\u201d exclusions in businesses open to the public
\n5) Objects of unfettered hate speech…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,33,51,27,52,5,12,4,10,2,6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anti-discrimination-templates","category-fingerprinting-nj","category-franca","category-gaijin-hanzai-mag","category-hate-speech","category-human-rights","category-immigration-assimilation","category-japanese-government","category-japanese-policeforeign-crime","category-otaru-onsen-lawsuit","category-speech-materials","category-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6233","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=6233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}