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This week’s Japan immigration headlines

A few noteworthy news links about immigration in Japan:

A new international school for Indian children will be opening in Yokohama. The city government hopes that the presence of the school will boost the local economy by attracting Indian businesses and IT workers.

A Chinese-born Japanese citizen was arrested in Yokohama because she had a foreign accent and was not carrying a passport or alien resident card. Press reports seem to indicate that she did not immediately identify herself as a Japanese citizen, and that police may have arrested her because of confusing statements she made about her Chinese passport. [hat tip to FG]

A Japanese baby born in India to a surrogate mother has finally been allowed to come to Japan and live with her biological father.

The New York Times has run an article today about Brazilian immigrants living in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture. (Be warned: It is written by Norimitsu Onishi.)

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11 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - November 2, 2008 at 11:04 am

Categories: Foreigners in Japan Tags: immigration in Japan

Lady Gaga

I know Toyotashi a bit …. And was also quite interested in Brazilians there … But actually i can’t see anything interesting about them now- just typical latinos, and often quite fat, it’s not like copacabana-ipanema crowd …. And one thing- journialist never write it but they seem to be quite hardcore evangelical christians …
http://sleepytako.blogspot.com sleepytako

I read a similar article to that the other day in the IHT. I like to see how he travels around by charting his NYT/IHT articles. (Googlemap anyone?) But anyhow, he’s got something going on that I can’t put my finger on. I know the black truck crowd and the 2chan people don’t dig him. I’ve not researched him myself besides reading his articles. I’m sure you all have opinions on him. He does write some decent stories for what they are. I recently put a fluff piece he did on downtown Osaka on JapanSOC, which I really enjoyed. So I guess I’m wondering is it worth warning people that Norimitsu Onishi wrote the article after linking to it? Why do it? I’m not saying it’s bad, I just want to hear your reasoning.

The BBC guy in Tokyo, who’s name I can’t remember, pops up on “From Our Own Correspondent” sometimes with a very unsophisticated romanticized (in the Edward Said way) story about Japan, which I can see as being good for ratings, but poor for really explaining the worlds second largest economic power to the English speaking world. That said, he’s done many good ones too. So, my second question, who should be the NYT or BBC correspondent in Tokyo?

I guess this whole point is mute. Sadly the market for truly in depth English language mass media news about Japan is limited by the lack of demand and a few sources control what does go out. And the articles the outlets want aren’t sophisticated enough for those of us who live here, but fulfill their overseas readers demands. Those of us who want to know more will learn Japanese, brave the blogs, or read the academic journals.

Thus concludes my mildly drunken and fatigued from work rant.

ponta

He does write some decent stories but he also does write some inaccurate and/or misleading articles, some of which, according to wikipedia, are protested by Japanese government.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8E%E3%83%AA%E3%83%9F%E3%83%84%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AA%E3%82%AA%E3%83%8B%E3%82%B7
And his misleading translation got infamous among blog-sphere.
http://son-of-gadfly-on-the-wall.blogspot.com/2007/03/intrepid-norimitsu-ohnishi-claims.html
I am not sure whether it should be warned or not, but it might be useful to be warned to read Onishi’s stories more critically than other story tellers such as…., say, Tobias Harris on Observing Japan.

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

That there is protest at the government level of a journalistic piece is something to be commented on.

ponta

True, but coupled with other　points and protests against misleading stories from citizens, I think it shows he is more controversial than other correspondents.

Kobeboy

I agree, why the warning. I’m pretty sure that warning us that the article is written by Onishi betrays some of your own personal bias. Of course any writer will have these and these can be conveyed even in the most objective piece of writing. That said, I think that the underlying sentiment that the bureau chief of the NYT/IHT expresses is correct; there is a sector of society for whom xenophobia and this revisionism is normal, and indeed is a patriotic duty. Finally, isn’t it the job of any journalist to draw the ire of individuals and the government, holding policy makers up to scrutiny and accountability? If Onishi is getting some flack for reporting just ever so slightly critically, sometimes, then he should be commended.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

I would have probably received more complaints if I had not included the warning, so I included it.

But since you want me to name a problem with this article, here is one:

Japan should open itself up to immigrants and give them full access to society, she said.

“They become sick and need health insurance just like Japanese,” she said. “If we do right by them, they won’t want to leave.”

Onishi ends the article with this quote, implying that foreigners in Japan are not given access to health insurance. I have Japanese national health insurance, and I’m pretty sure that foreigners who wish to sign up for national health insurance are not denied access. When I lived in a town with a large Brazilian population, I noticed my town hall’s national health insurance desk had pamphlets in Portuguese, and I imagine that the town mentioned in Onishi’s article also has information in Portuguese to help foreign residents sign up for health insurance.

The Overthinker

Good example. In fact if you have a one-year or longer visa you are not merely allowed to join, it is in fact compulsory. Now, if you are an illegal immigrant, this might be an issue, but if you are illegal you have bigger problems.

The Overthinker

“If Onishi is getting some flack for reporting just ever so slightly critically”

I think some of the concern is that many of his readers take him at his word, or at face value. When President Obama gets dissed (I’m future-proofing my post here…) American readers know enough context. When unusual stories about Japan come out, or a failure of the social order, or whatever, it’s all too easy for those that do not know much about the place to leap to the conclusion that what is a minor fad in reality is in fact a major paradigm shift.

Kobeboy

A response, and perhaps a little off-topic: While it is true that everyone staying in Japan for a year or more is entitled to National Health Insurance, the difference does come in the Employee’s Health Insurance. Usually foreigners, particularly Japanese Brazilians, are not offered Employee’s Insurance (or at least it become prohibitively expensive) as the employer is unwilling to pay the matching contribution. I realize that this could get quite nuanced, and probably quite involved (read boring) for a comment, and so for those interested check out the website of the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.

Anyway, it’s true – without proper context, people may get the wrong idea, but it doesn’t detract from the fact that there are fundamental inequalities in Japan, especially for foreigners and while they can be glossed over by favorable reporting they do exist. At the same time we shouldn’t forget to mention the kindness of the many Japanese people and NGOs that help us feel less isolated and more human

ponta

it doesn’t detract from the fact that there are fundamental inequalities in Japan, especially for foreigners and while they can be glossed over by favorable reporting they do exist

Just because there is inequality does not follow you can write misleading articles about Japan. I’d say because there is inequality, presenting an accurate picture is vital. By providing misleading articles, you are not taken seriously in Japan.
Onishi has a lot of records with misleading articles.

This week’s Japan immigration headlines

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