Japan Probe » Discrimination

Cameraman Visits Liancourt Rocks

James — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 01:40:17 +0000

NTV’s “Bankisha” recently paid a Korean journalist to take a tour boat to the Liancourt Rocks ( Takeshima / Dokdo ):

The issue has flaired up in recent months after Korean Air made a highly-publicized “test flight” over the disputed territory and the Japanese Foreign Ministry responded by asking its officials not to fly on Korean Air for one month (a meaningless action, because they never fly on Korean Air anyway). In response to the Korean anger of the “boycott,” a handful of Japanese lawmakers announced that they’d be taking a trip to South Korea’s Dokdo Museum, which exhibits evidence supporting Korea’s territorial claim. The lawmakers were denied entry to South Korea because authorities considered them a threat to public safety.

NTV’s trip to the rocks took place a few days after the lawmakers returned to Japan.

At Ulleungdo’s ferry port, the journalist filmed several Japanese language signs that had been put up. One sign tells Japanese politicians to come and apologize, and they’ll be given bananas (this is probably meant to be a racist insult, because Koreans have been known to mock “Japanese monkeys”). Another sign, written in very rude and direct Japanese, says something along the lines of, “You came? Take a look. What the hell do you bastards think belongs to you?”

As tourists board the ferry to the rocks, policemen are checking each passenger. Apparently they are there to enforce the recently-imposed ban on Japanese passengers. Korean police seem to be actively assisting the discriminatory policy of this ferry business. If NTV had sent a Japanese camera crew, they probably would have been turned away.

Inside the ferry, a concession stand sells snacks – many of which have nationalist slogans and images of the rocks on their packages. (The narrator reminds viewers are of recent actions by Koreans that have tried to escalate the tension between the countries, such as the Korean Air “test flight” and the purchasing of an advertisement in New York’s Times Square.)

The trip to the rocks takes about an hour. The passengers are allowed to disembark for 30 minutes, but their movements are restricted to a concrete observation platform. Policemen watch over them, making sure nobody does anything suspicious.

From the platform, one can observe the various buildings that South Korea has constructed on the rocks: a police station, a heliport, a radar tower, and several solar panels. The solar panels are a very recent addition. It seems that South Korea thinks that building more structures on the islands will help bolster its territorial claim.

They can also see the house of Kim Sung-Do and Kim Shin-yeol, a couple who are the only permanent residents of the rocks. Like some of the other structures on the island, Kim’s house has been upgraded in the last couple years. According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, the South Korean government paid for Kim’s house and also pays him a monthly stipend. When NTV calls up Kim’s government-subsidized phone line, he tells them that he has a very comfortable life, with access to plenty of electricity and fresh water.

The report closes with footage of tourists re-boarding the ferry. Two men scream about Korea’s ownership of the islands as a friend snaps a final photograph.

Look forward to more drama in the coming week: The Sound Korean National Assembly’s “Special Committee on Measures for the Safeguarding of Territory” plans to hold an official meeting at the rocks on August 12th.

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Japanese Commercial: White People Have Gigantic Noses

James — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:23:39 +0000

UPDATE: Choya has pulled the commercial after receiving complaints from readers of this blog post.

A commercial for Choya umeshu mocks the physical appearance of non-Japanese:

Those who don’t appreciate this kind of racial joke can send Choya a complaint via their online contact form (in English – For Japanese language complaints, use this contact form).

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Is Ramen Racist?

James — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 04:55:53 +0000

Over at the Huffington Post, Anneli Rufus writes that ramen is racist because it was once called shina soba (“It’s not racist in substance but in context — if you go back far enough.“):

As Japan’s most popular Chinese dish, shina soba symbolized the expanding Japanese empire, according to Katarzyna Joanna Cwiertka, author of Modern Japanese Cuisine: Food, Power, and National Identity. By the early 20th century, this empire included Korea, Taiwan, Manchuria, eastern Siberia, parts of China, and many South Pacific islands. Giddy totalitarianism spawned “a China boom” in Japan, Cwiertka asserts:

“Chinese-style decorations, costumes, and products were eagerly consumed by the Japanese public as they translated colonialism into a concrete experience. By physically interacting with China through the ingestion of Chinese food and drink, the Japanese masses were brought closer to the idea of empire.”

In other words, to eat shina soba in those years was to symbolically gobble up China itself. As China represented the empire’s biggest prize, a bowl of shina soba represented nothing less than world domination.

After Japan lost its empire in World War II, the word shina came under fire. Deplored by many as a symbol of imperialist aggression and Japanese wartime atrocities in China and beyond, shina was now seen as a horrific ethnic slur, embodying imperialist xenophobia: in other words, racist. Shina soba was briefly renamed chuka soba; chuka is a less politically incorrect Japanese term for “Chinese-style.” But in 1958, Nissin Foods introduced the first-ever packaged instant version of the dish. As its broth was chicken-flavored, the product was called Chikin Ramen.

As you can see from the photos at the top of this post, there are still quite a few ramen restaurants that use the term “shina soba” in their names or advertisements, and nobody seems to be lining up with protest signs to condemn them. Google Blog Search also shows plenty of blog posts about people who have enjoyed a bowl of shina soba. While it is true that using shina to refer to China or Chinese people has a pretty negative connotation in today’s Japan, it seems like a stretch to say that ramen’s old name is racist.

[hat tip to Steve]

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Japanese Soccer Fans Taunt Iranian-American Coach

James — Mon, 30 May 2011 04:50:05 +0000

Fans clashed at a J-League soccer match after somebody unveiled a banner meant to insult an Iranian-born head coach:

The incident took place during Saturday’s match between Shimizu S-Pulse & Júbilo Iwata. Supporters of Iwata made a banner that said “To Ghotbi: Stop Making Nuclear Weapons!” It was meant to mock Shimizu head coach Afshin Ghotbi, an Iranian-American who coached the Iran national team from 2009 to 2011.

The banner offended and angered Shimizu fans. Here’s a video that show some of them rushing towards the Itawa supporter section of the stadium:

Although there was a physical brawl between some fans, no injuries were reported.

After the match, both teams held an emergency press conference. The president of the Júbilo Iwata club apologized and said that fan-made banners would be checked in the future to prevent such an incident from occurring again.

The banner was created and unveiled by two teenaged Iwata fans. According to Jiji Press, they said didn’t really think much about it before creating the banner (“何の考えもなくやった”).

The incident has been formally reported to J-League authorities and an investigation is underway. The Júbilo Iwata club could face some form of formal punishment.

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Public Prosecutors Were Taught That Yakuza & Foreigners Have No Rights

James — Thu, 26 May 2011 07:26:23 +0000

Nico Nico News has posted an article about Hiroshi Ishikawa, a former public prosecutor who wants to spread the word about bad things that are going on behind the scenes in Japan’s justice system. Here is an English translation of the article, which was posted on Tepido.org by Level 3:

Stunning revelation from former prosecutor on the real situation of initial training, “We were taught that yakuza and foreigners have no rights”

The chief prosecutor in the Saga City Agricultural Co-op case, infamous for use of false charges, spoke at a symposium held in Tokyo on May 23, 2011. He gave a stunningly candid account of the reality of training for new employees. He disclosed that in his past experience, “We were taught that yakuza and foreigners have no rights.” and “Prosecutors are instructed to make up a confession on their own and then make the suspect sign it.” Further, he gave a chilling account of how under this warped training system, “While being trained in this way, I came to sort of agree that these kinds of things were only natural.”

The person bringing up accusations against his old training ground is former prosecutor Hiroshi Ishikawa. Ishiakwa was involved as the chief prosecutor in the Saga City Agricultre Co-op case that arose in 2000. In that case, during police questioning of the former union leader, a forced confession was obtained as police screamed, “We’ll fucking beat you to death, you bastard!” The union leader had been indicted on suspicion of breach of trust, but was found not guilty based on refusal to accept the confession was voluntary. As a result, Ishikawa received a harsh reprimand and resigned his post as public prosecutor.

Ishikawa spoke on that day as a panelist at a symposium on the theme “Prosecution, Public Opinion, and False Charges” held at the Graduate School of Communications at Meiji University. At first, he gave shocking testimony that, “I admit that public prosecutors, having committed errors unsuited to their position, must take the position of offering profuse apologies.” while also noting that, “I want to tell the whole truth, so we can know how many threat-spewing public prosecutors were created.”

Ishikawa was first appointed to the Yokohama District Public Prosecutor’s Office in 1993. In his first year there, he claims his superiors taught him that, ‘Yakuza and foreigners have no rights’ “That superior said on that point, ‘Foreigners don’t understand Japanese, so if you speak Japanese, you can heap as much verbal abuse as you want on them.’” Further, that superior said, “Once when we were interrogating a foreign suspect, we thrust an awl right in front of his eye and shouted abuses at him in Japanese. That’s how you get confessions!” as Ishikawa recounted his personal experiences.

In his third year, a superior instructed him on methods to take confessions. That being, the prosecutor rattling off a made-up confession and then thrusting the confession form at the suspect and making them sign it. If the suspect refused to sign, what should be done? “If the suspect resists, tell him, ‘This is not your confession form, it’s just [you acknowledging] what I’m saying.’” , Ishikawa recalled of that period.

“When being trained in such a manner, you come to sort of believe that these things are only natural. In my eighth year, even I verbally abused suspects, totally unsuitable for to my position. The case had a not guilty verdict, and it ended up with my resignation.”

In 2005, Ishikawa quit the prosecutor’s office altogether and is now practicing as a lawyer. On the day before the symposium (May 22), he appeared on the Asahi Broadcast Network news program “The Scoop – Special” to give a much talked-about televised apology to the family of the former labor leader he had once verbally abused. The Meiji Univ. symposium was live-streamed on NicoNico Douga where he gave his reason for making these statements in a public forum as, “To atone for my terrible mistakes, I thought, ‘Isn’t it my duty to tell what I have seen and what I have heard?’”

[via FG]

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Why I Turned On Debito.org

James — Mon, 23 May 2011 11:25:55 +0000

Earlier today, I came across a comment thread on Tepido.org, a site devoted to the criticism of blog posts and news articles written by activist Debito Arudou. Apparently there is a bit of an internet flame war going on between Debito.org and Tepido.org, with Debito alleging that his opponents are collecting personal information about people who leave comments on Debito.org.

One of Debito’s readers noted that there were naturalized Japanese citizens leaving comments on Tepido.org. He wondered (1) why there were naturalized Japanese participating in the site, and (2) why they were “attacking one of their own” by criticizing Debito.

In response, a naturalized Japanese citizen wrote a long and well-reasoned comment on why he “turned on” Debito.org. With his permission, I am re-posting it here, so that Japan Probe’s subscribers can read and discuss it.

[ - Note: All of the text beyond this point was written by a user of Tepido.org. - ]

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Let me answer the easier second part of your question before getting to the first question, which needs a much longer reply: Not everybody naturalizes for the same reason, thus there’s no guarantee that naturalized English speaking Japanese all have the same opinions and mindset. In fact, out of the fifteen or so naturalized westerners I know — either in person or because they are on the Internet — about half of them seem to be either nuts, angry or unhappy!

I’ve noticed the following pattern: those that naturalized with some sort of angle, like a “means justify the ends” thing they wanted and thought that naturalization would give it to them, often seem to not be happy with their decision, even if they got what they wanted. The people I know who are happy with their naturalization seemed to naturalize for a much simpler reason: they’ve always liked life in Japan (which often includes a Japanese spouse and Japanese child living very domestically), and they are supremely confident they will continue to remain happy, for better or worse, richer or poorer, until death — probably because living in Japan is not the sole reason they’re happy. I’m sure there are exceptions to the pattern, but from my very limited personal observations, that’s what I’ve seen. I’ve also noticed that naturalized Japanese that have a healthy marriage and family tend to happy with their decision. This is not just because they’re always happy. Enjoying life when things are good is easy; anybody can do that. However, the strong marriages usually know how to deal with long term (think years, not months or weeks) adversity that always occurs. Perhaps this social skill is applicable not just to relationships, but also to the workplace and living in a foreign country. Challenges and hard times — short and long — always occur, no matter how good the marriage, the job, or the country.

Anyway, I enjoy spending time with the “well adjusted, happy” naturalized… be it westerners, or more commonly, non-westerners. Debito has never shown his “I hate Japan and almost everything about it except for the food” face to me in person, but it does come out obviously in his Internet persona.

As for the first part of your question:

First let me state this up front very quickly, then I’ll answer your question with a numbered list.

I know Debito. Personally. I attended a FRANCA meeting he had in Roppongi, I’ve bought his books (the Newcomer book was pretty good. The In Appropriate book was not in my opinion. And not just because I didn’t like the protagonist. I think Debito writes better non-fiction. Fiction is a very different writing skill). I’ve given his FRANCA organization money, and I used to be a frequent contributor to debito.org. I invited him to participate on my blog, and he’s featured my opinions both in his printed columns and his online posts. I enjoy spending time with Debito in person. I’ve had drinks with him on more than once in Tokyo, just the two of us and with others.

So why did I “turn on debito.org?” Four reasons, listed in order from least to most important:

I think he’s led a very tragic life, much of it due to bad life decisions. Regardless of whether his personal life is due to fate or his own choosing, I believe his tragic life has colored his judgement so severely that he is no longer able to be objective regarding anything related to Japan. It seems that every wrong he perceives in Japan he connects personally to himself and the life he lost or wish he had in Japan. This leaves the impression that his pain is too strong; he cannot separate his emotion and nor sense when it prejudices his judgement.
I think he’s good at his career, which is a professor of English (as a Foreign Language) at a university. I obviously have never seen him teach nor read reviews of his performance, but I believe they do not give tenure if they’re bad at their job.

However, I think he’s very bad at his second career he’s trying to develop, which is being an “activist.” I base this opinion on his public record over the years: almost no tangible results that affect our day-to-day life. What few victories he’s had he failed to leverage or lost on appeal. He takes on too much for a single person and can’t scope, making him less effective at everything. He can’t differentiate between human rights and political opinion. He can’t moderate or filter or judge, and can’t distinguish between “instigating debate” and “instigating quality, productive, non-red herring debate.” He has a history of being difficult to work with — you can point fingers at everybody else being at fault, but after the third or fourth or fifth time, you have to start wondering if it’s you who are at fault — which is why he hasn’t been able to leverage the strength of other groups, which cripples his efforts. He lacks the diplomacy, negotiation, and compromise skills that are necessary to get things done in a reasonable amount of time. This prevents him from delegating and leveraging others which is necessary to be truly effective — especially when you have a real career that occupies most of your time.

I now believe that if somebody else besides Debito, who had the above people skills, was the victim at the Otaru Onsen case, the case would’ve probably been solved in weeks, with the hot springs owner changing their policy and learning how to deal with and welcome foreign clientele. Now, Debito claimed he was diplomatic, but if you look at Debito’s recorded history on how he deals with problems, you’ll notice that “tact” has never been a tool in his social skill set.
I joined FRANCA and participated on debito.org because I’ve had a very good life in Japan and I wanted to give back and help the immigrant community be as happy living in Japan as I am. I originally thought debito.org and FRANCA were tools to help achieve this. I stopped participating on debito.org — FRANCA never really existed — near the end of last year after it became clear that many of the participants had no genuine interest in enjoying life in Japan or having anything positive to say or believe in regarding Japan. That, or they had an attitude of entitlement: Everything is a right. Nothing is a responsibility. I don’t have to change for Japan. Japan must change for me. It became clear that not a small number of debito.org’s contributors never or no longer lived in Japan and they never intended to go or return. For these commenters, debito.org for them serves as a venting outlet. It’s a affirmation vehicle for people looking others to share their similar bitterness. Sites like this on the Internet are everywhere. Debito.org is not unique.
THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT AND WHY I JOINED TEPIDO.ORG AGAINST DEBITO.ORG

3/11 was a defining moment for me regarding my attitudes towards the international press. Even before 3/11, I always knew that the international press:

• never properly hired enough people that have the credentials to properly translate Japanese in volume or in a timely manner

• never properly did investigative journalism in Japan

• rarely spoke or read or wrote proper fluent, native or near-native Japanese, which is required to be an effective reporter for Japan

• rarely properly socialized and developed relevant powerful Japanese connections (political and business), instead preferring to hang out in the “gaijin ghettos” and wait for the Japanese with an angle come to them

• rarely lived in Japan or had lived in Japan within the last five years — keeping their “street knowledge” remained relevant.

… but I never envisioned how bad this unprofessional behavior could become until the Kantō/Tōhoku Disaster really put the international media to the test with a demanding journalistic task.

Prior to 3/11, I thought the international press’ ineptitude was a harmless diversion. You could count on normally respectable papers like NYT to pander to its audience’s desire for the “strange and wacky and perverted” (it pays the bills) with stuff that normally would be embarrassing for even a minor paper to write: Japanese girls eyeing hostess careers (Tabuchi), people dressing up as vending machines (Fackler), and almost everything that CNN’s Kyung Lah writes (I did like that article on orphanages she did though). In many cases, I often find direct evidence where the international press used English blogs rather than Japanese as primary sources: for example, Fackler referenced a photo that existed nowhere except for JapanProbe (the Yamanote Halloween Party train) to make the case that right wingers were threatening innocent western Halloween “revelers” in public. These above examples are from one of the best international sources for Japan coverage! The rest of the international media is usually worse!

After 3/11, the stakes changed. It was no longer about silly ero manga on the trains being read in plain sight. It was about death and destruction and tens of millions of people’s lives hanging in balance and a threat to the macro economic health of the entire nation. During this time Debito.org attempted to gleefully feed the schadenfreude of its core audience and delivered the “kick em when they’re down!” performance that its readers craved, hiding under the guise of responsible, conversative criticism and skepticism.

The international press, having downsized whatever meager Japanese office they had during the recession, pathetically relied almost entirely on 4th or 5th level source English social media, English papers in Japan, and barely-able-to-speak interpreters — as they were caught unprepared to responsibly cover a national disaster affecting one of the most important countries in the world. Fortunately, they didn’t rely on debito.org at the time, because it was discredited during the peak of the crisis until the international mass media lost interest in Japan and moved on (not enough death and destruction anymore. Libya: new fresh death and destruction!)

I don’t think I can shame the press directly because I don’t think they or their foreign readers really care that much about accuracy/ethics vs dirt/sensationalism — especially when it comes to foreign (Japan) news. Besides, there are other good sites that are trying to do that (ex. jpquake.info) that do a better job than I ever could.

I want the international press to start hiring more professionals that will do their own homework, rather than distort information they got from an English blog in Japan, which distorted information about an English newspaper in Japan, which distorted a translation from an Japanese newspaper in Japan, whose editor distorted the notes from a Japanese press conference reporter, which distorted what a PR person said, who distorted the truth in the first place!

The international press is feeding from the wrong end of that chain. Debito.org is one (of many) blogs on the wrong end of that chain. And debito.org is one of the worst, in that it’s (perhaps unintentionally) based on hate and the presumption that everything in Japan is bad, and it has undeserved legitimacy attached to it because the blog author has a monthly column in a relatively minor niche English national paper in Japan — which is given too much weight by the international press because the paper is written in English and the international press can’t read Japanese well.

I believe one fix is to do as much as possible to take away these false crutches at the beginning of the chain-of-distortions — forcing the international press to improve their investigative legwork, follow-up, and verification skills. In other words, by discrediting (or, dare I dream, IMPROVE) the blogs and English-in-Japan sources that the international press uses too often as primary sources, I hope to force the overseas media to do their job better. It’s probably a unrealistic naive dream, but I think it’s more realistic than many other methods, and it’s one that I think benefits the world, including non-Japanese, in the long run.

As I believe a solution is to get rid of or reform the English nth-in-the-chain sources that the international press crib-sheet cheats from when they’re Japanese-challenged, that means debito.org and company must change or go away. If that means debito.org switches to writing in all Japanese, I’d be for that. If it meant debito.org became a legit news organization and its editors and publishers went to journalism school and did all of the things I listed above that the international press does not do, I’d be for that too. Ultimately, it’d be better for the activism, too… as screaming on a blog in English about non-Japanese is as productive as navel-gazing considering that almost all Japanese and foreign residents (Chinese and Korean) do not communicate in English.

If debito.org or “Just Be Cause” doesn’t or can’t be reformed, I’d be satisfied with discrediting them, so that no legit press, international or domestic, would dare attempt to use them as a source, lest they be caught and shamed and laughed at for using such a unreliable information.

Tepido.org helps serve this purpose. It’s not perfect: it’s crude, often immature, and too personal. I often wince when I read both the posts and comments (including my own). But it’s free (as in speech), and it seems to be effective based on how I’ve seen debito.org react to it.

That’s why I read and comment on Tepido.org.

Additionally, I now work with other native Japanese to work on making Japan a little friendlier towards true human rights issues in Japan. I work with them, rather than debito.org, because they’ve demonstrated they have to will and the diplomacy skills (language, judgement, and compromise) to fairly assess and fix (where possible) true unfair discrimination — quickly and effectively.

I hope that answers your question!

To make very clear: my problem is with the opinions expressed within debito.org and the auxiliary vehicles used to promote it. I do not consider criticizing debito.org blog content being the same as criticizing the person. Likewise, I do not consider criticizing his tweets/social media/JT column to be same as criticizing the person as these media tools are not solely being used to represent the individual — rather they’re being used as promotional tools for the content on the debito.org. In the parlance of the industry, they’re mere crude “traffic driver” ads, designed to boost page views and participants of the problematic blog.

When I criticize, I TRY to use the term “debito.org” to refer to the hate blog to make it clear that it’s not about the person. I also try to use the term “Mr. Arudou” to refer to non-Internet activities such as his JT column or his books. However, as I’m often typing on a mobile (or worse, experimental or development) device and have a hard enough time editing simple English on tiny keyboards, I may make a mistake and occasionally slip and break my own rules. Despite this, the appearance of me attacking Debito The Person is not intentional.

However, the man has intertwined his blog, his activist work, and his personal life together so deeply that it’s sometimes difficult to criticize the work without criticizing the man.

[- END OF COMMENT -]

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Century 21 Post-Earthquake Commercial

James — Thu, 05 May 2011 06:59:01 +0000

Century 21 has a new commercial airing on Japanese TV, in which real estate agents from around the world send messages of support to Japan:

It’s a very nice commercial. However, before people out there accuse me of providing Century 21 with free advertising, I feel I should bring up the fact that they don’t exactly have a great reputation for treating foreign customers with respect.

Here’s what one Japan Probe reader (sublight) had to say about them:

Century 21, however, gets special mention for their two-hour “we don’t want to help you, but we don’t want to say we don’t want to help you, so we’re going to be as unhelpful as possible until you leave” dance. They were friendly enough when my Japanese wife had called the day before to ask if an apartment was available to see, but the moment they saw me, the smiles dropped (this was at the Ikejiri-Ohashi branch in Tokyo). Suddenly, there was a ‘problem’ with the apartment and they couldn’t show it just yet. While we waited (for over an hour), they didn’t give us any other listings to look at, and instead spent all their time with other couples.

After realizing we weren’t leaving (it had taken us an hour to get there, and we had all day), one agent said, “well, we can show the place, but we can’t go inside.” I said “fine, we’ll look at the outside.” “But it’s raining and we can’t use the office car.” “That’s fine, I have an umbrella. You’ll walk there with us.” So we walked over and stood in the pouring rain staring at the outside wall for about 15 minutes before heading back. When we got back to the realtor’s office, he positioned himself in the doorway and quickly said “well, sorry we couldn’t help you thanks for coming goodbye.”

[this was in 2000 and I'd been living in Japan for 5 years by then, so my Japanese was fairly solid. Also, I wasn't going with a friend but the person who'd be living in the apartment with me and paying half the rent.

As for a guarantor, I was working full-time with NEC as a project coordinator then, and they were guaranteeing me.]

Another foreign resident of Japan (Eric) was treated a bit worse:

The only problem I ever had with renting an apartment was with Century 21. Went inside, and they immediately crossed their arms and gave me the “batsu”. Wow…. such friendly folks.

If anyone else out there has had a particularly positive or negative experience with Century 21 in Japan, please let us know in the comments thread of this post!

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City Apologizes After Fukushima Evacuees Face Discrimination

James — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:08:12 +0000

The government of Tsukuba City in Ibaraki prefecture has apologized after it faced strong criticism for a “discriminatory” policy that asked evacuees from Fukushima to undergo radiation checks or provide certificates that they were free of radioactive substances:

This week Tsukuba officials including Mayor Kenichi Ichihara apologized for the measure, scrapped last week, saying it was intended solely as a safety precaution for the evacuees themselves. But a government minister described such steps as “heartless,” the issue of possible discrimination against victims of radiation carrying stark echoes of what happened for survivors of World War II’s atomic bombings, known as “hibakusha.”

Between March 17 and April 11, Tsukuba, population 200,000, city insurance and fire offices asked those relocating from towns close to the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to submit proof that they had been screened for potential radioactive substances clinging to their hair, clothes and body before given clearance to permanently move to Tsukuba. The measure was scrapped after Ibaraki Prefecture said it received complaints from a displaced survivor looking to move to the area.

“We feel very sorry,” said Koichi Iida, a city official. “We did not mean it as an act of discrimination.” Tsukuba Mayor Ichihara said the intention was misunderstood and apologized for the confusion at a news conference Tuesday. He said it was never an enforced rule and was applied out of consideration for the well being of the Fukushima evacuees to ensure they were safely free of radioactive substances. But he conceded it was also a means to assuage concerns among residents who worried unchecked residents could infect others with radiation — although such transfer is not possible.

The radiation checks may have been instituted to ensure the safety of evacuees, but such a policy could also reinforce public misconceptions about evacuees being able to spread radiation as if it were some kind of communicable disease.

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Tiger Woods Blackface Act on Japanese TV – ಠ_ಠ

James — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 23:13:24 +0000

On Monday night’s episode of “Sekai Maru Mie TV,” somebody thought it would be hilarious to put black paint on the face of a Japanese guy so he could apparently look like Tiger Woods:

The character called himself Taraiga Woods, a pun on the golfer’s name and the Japanese word for tub (tarai). Celebrity guests would be asked to predict what would happen next in funny home videos. If someone answered incorrectly, the blackface Taraiga would drop a tub on his/her head.

At other times when face paint is used for Japanese impersonations of Black celebrities, they actually make a serious effort to match the appearance of the celebrity. A lot of people don’t think it’s proper to categorize those acts as blackface acts.

However, this case, like the case of the Obama Onsen blackface, is so crude that I think it is totally appropriate to call it a blackface act.

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JAL Faces Lawsuit Over Firings

James — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:18:04 +0000

Japan Airlines is facing a lawsuit in Japan from former employees, many of whom feel they were unfairly fired because of their age:

The case, filed with the Tokyo District Court, claims JAL management did not do enough to avoid the layoffs. The company’s court-approved rehabilitation plan calls for cutting about 16,000 jobs.
The plaintiffs and their supporters marched to the court carrying a banner saying: “Japan Airlines must withdraw dismissals for the purposes of reorganization.”
“The company has discarded people, especially those who have long ensured the safety of its flight operations,” plaintiffs told local media, according to Kyodo News.
“Through court hearings, we want to question the company, which belittles operational safety and lacks concerns for the good of society.”

Related story: Back in December, JAL was fined by a Taiwanese court for violating age discrimination laws in that country.

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QB House Responds to Complaints About “Racist” Sign

James — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:24:06 +0000

A reader of this site has forwarded us a copy of an e-mail he received from QB House after sending them an e-mail tactlessly accusing them of “promoting racism and xenophobia” because one of their barber shops put up a sign informing customers that they might not be able to get a haircut if they can’t speak Japanese.

Original Inquiry (ridiculous lines bolded for emphasis):

From: Jeremy *********
Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2011 2:45 AM
To: infosg@qbnet.jp
Subject: Movie about racisim in Japan.

Hello,

My company is making a documentary movie about racism and right wing practices in Japan. We have seen these signs in your business. Could you please explain why your company is practicing racism? We would like to include your response in our movie. Please tell us why your company is making Japan a non-international country and promoting racism and xenophobia?

Regards,
Jeremy *******
****-Films
Director

Response from QB House:

On 2011/01/17, at 13:55, “F****” <********> wrote:

Dear Mr. *******,

I think you have misinterpret our signs. You might not be familiar or realized that in Japan, besides Japanese language most other foreign language including English are not commonly used and sadly most of our hair dressers are of no exception. Most of them know and understand only Japanese.

As our service depends a lot through communicating with customers on their specific requirements and in order to avoid any unsatisfied service by means of miscommunication, we decided to put up these sign. If you had read carefully, you would have notice that we actually did not mentioned non-Japanese speaking customers would be rejected right away – “Those who are not able to communicate with our staff in Japanese may be refused service”. As we do have a couple of hair dressers who are able to converse in English, we would gladly offer our service to the customers if they happen to be working on that day.

As an International Company with stores operating out of Singapore and Hong Kong, it definitely makes no sense for us to be racist not to mentioned that it had never even come across our mind.

I hope you now have a better understanding of our intention and wish you all the best in your movie making.

Regards,
F*********
Chief Operations Officer
QB Net International Pte Ltd

The response from QB House seems pretty adequate to me, and, as noted in the other post, the signs have already been taken down.

Is it racist to expect customers to speak Japanese?

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Japan Airlines Fined for Age Discrimination

James — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 18:46:15 +0000

Taipei City’s Department of Labor Affairs has fined Japan Airlines (JAL) 600,000 Taiwan dollars (20,000 USD) for age discrimination:

The fine stemmed from a layoff in July of 70 Taiwanese flight attendants, including 18 senior employees who were close to retirement — a move that violated the Employment Services Act (就業服務法), the department said.

“Japan Airlines fully realized that the employees were senior members with excellent performance records and higher salaries. The move to lay off senior workers was an act of age discrimination,” commissioner of the department Chen Yeh-shin (陳業鑫) said.

The employees who were laid off have protested against their dismissal and filed a complaint with the department in August, accusing the airline of workplace discrimination.

The employees said that while JAL had cited financial difficulties as the reason, the layoff targeted people who were Taiwanese or female, and the Taiwanese flight attendants were soon replaced by Japanese.

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Tokyo Tries to Ban “Harmful” Anime & Manga

James — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 07:55:45 +0000

Creators and publishers of anime and manga are uniting in opposition to a proposed bill that would the sale ban publications that authorities deem “harmful” to youth:

Ten comics publishers, including industry powerhouses Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan and Kadokawa, collectively announced on Friday that they are withdrawing from participation in the Tokyo Intl. Anime Fair, the biggest event of its kind in the toon biz.

Kadokawa earlier made an independent announcement that it was ankling the event, which is skedded for March 24-27, under the sponsorship of the Tokyo city government.

The publishers, which call themselves “Comic Ten Companies Association,” oppose a bill submitted to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on Nov. 29 that would tighten restrictions on so-called “excessive sexual depictions” in toons and comics sold to youths under the age of 18. Strongly supported by Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, the bill, opponents claim, threatens freedom of expression.

“We strongly distrust the position of Governor Ishihara and (Tokyo) municipal authorities, which lacks respect for comics and animation creators,” the group said in a statement.

Earlier this month, Ishihara made some remarks in favor of the ban, letting everyone know that he is disgusted by the idea of allowing homosexuals to appear on TV:

“Anyone who claims it’s not harmful to children to draw manga that features the sex life of married couples and the such are idiots. Tell them, ‘You need to go cool your heads.’” Ishihara responded to the Tokyo Parent Teacher Association’s December 3 petition in support of the bill by saying, “It’s not just about children. We’ve got homosexuals casually appearing even on television. Japan has become far too untamed. I’ll go forward with [this bill] with a sense of mission in heart.”

One of the top-viewed videos on YouTube Japan today shows Ishihara angrily reacting to a reporter’s question about Kadokawa Publishing Co.’s announcement that it would not participate in the fair:

Ishihara says he doesn’t care, but he probably should. If the bill passes assembly votes on Monday and Wednesday, the next Tokyo International Anime Fair is going to be like a ghost town.

To watch a lengthy Japanese discussion about the problems with Tokyo’s proposed bill, check out this video.

Update: The bill has passed the first round of voting. It still needs to pass a second round of voting on Wednesday, but it doesn’t look like there is much standing in the way of that.

A post by Brian Ashcraft has clarified some of the details about the bill:

But today in Tokyo, the second version of the bill went up for a vote and passed by the assembly with a final vote on Wednesday. As blogger Dan Kanemitsu points out, the ordinance is not national legislation, and is not a ban per se, but penalizes companies that produce material that is harmful to those under 18 years-old. Unlike in the U.S., companies that produce the material — and not retailers — come under fire.

The bill also does not target material that is 18-years-old and up as that material is already inaccessible to minors.

What’s also worth nothing is that the Tokyo government already has the power to dictate what, as Kanemitsu writes, is “too sexually stimulating for minors OR too sadistic for minors OR too likely to cause criminal acts among minors OR cause suicide among minors as ‘harmful material’, and force such material to be treated as adult only material.”

Regarding the new bill, the Tokyo government explains (via The Mainichi Daily News), “only manga and animation that glorifies or exaggerates illegal sexual acts will be subject to the regulations, and freedom of expression will not be violated.” This new bill attempts to define what is obscene — vaguely. Kanemitsu believes this is one way Tokyo is attempting to control what people read and view.

More importantly, the bill is directed at video games, anime and manga, but does not encompass novels, films, TV and photographs. Mediums that use real-life images are exempt.

So, it is not a literal ban, but by punishing companies that publish material that falls within its vague definition of harmfulness, it will try to force those companies to practice self-censorship. Tokyo is a very big market, and even if the bill doesn’t cover the whole country, many companies will only be able to produce one version of a comic book or video game, so the “censored for Tokyo” standard could become the national standard.

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No Complaints Received About “Hello Gaijin-San” Nose

James — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 01:54:09 +0000

If you’ve been to the novelty or party goods section of Japanese stores such as Tokyu Hands and Loft, you’ve probably seen this racist “Hello Gaijin-san” nose for sale:

This product has been around for years, and it is regularly a topic of complaint on English blogs about Japan. Arudou Debito blogged about this product back in 2008, implying that his FRANCA organization should take action against it. However, it appears that no action was taken and no complaints were filed.

The Japanese blogger behind the Sora blog called up the manufacturer of the product and told them about some of the complaints non-Japanese have made about the “Hello Gajin-san” set. The company representative said it was the first time the company had ever received a complaint about that product.

If you hate this product and want to see it go away, send the company a message in Japanese using the contact form on their website or their phone number (048-297-9215). Better to let them know directly, instead of just complaining about it in English on a blog or forum.

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DPJ Politician: Raise Men’s Salaries, Keep Women at Home

James — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 02:07:29 +0000

Japanese women’s groups are protesting after a senior DPJ politician told an international conference of female entrepreneurs that Japanese women like to :

Yoshikatsu Nakayama, vice minister of economy, trade and industry, made the remarks during the Women’s Entrepreneurship Summit on Oct. 1 in the central Japanese city of Gifu, which was jointly hosted by Japan and the United States.

“Japanese women find pleasure in working at home and that has been part of Japanese culture,” Nakayama said during the conference attended by around 300 businesswomen and other participants from the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

“That should be given more credit through (raising their husbands’) salaries, but it has become impossible as the situation surrounding men became severe,” he said.

The 65-year-old politician who holds the third-highest position at the industry ministry also said that Japanese women hold the power behind the throne, and repeated that it was part of Japanese culture for them to stay at home.

Nakayama must have not been very smart if he thought these kinds of statements would be well-received at a conference for female entrepreneurs.

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Japanese Prada Employee Fired For Being Too Ugly?

James — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:34:42 +0000

France24 reports about Rina Bovrisse, an employee of Prada Japan who was fired after complaining to the head office after being asked to change her physical appearance to fit the company’s approved image:

« On September 29 I was called into a meeting room by the senior human resources manager who warned me that I needed to change my hairstyle, lose weight — I just didn’t have that Prada look », Rina told France 24.

« There was silence for a little while, and then I asked him, don’t you think that this is an inappropriate thing for a human resources manager to say? And he replied saying he had already fired a Miu Miu store manager because she had bad teeth ».

In a related story, Prada is also coming under fire for giving employees “bonuses” and then forcing them to spend the money on Prada products.

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Japanese Tourists Asked to Pay Special Peter Rabbit “Tax”

James — Sat, 08 May 2010 00:27:01 +0000

The Lake District in England is popular among Japanese tourists because of its beautiful scenery, which many associate with Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit stories. The Times reports that Japanese tourists will now be targeted for a special “tax” to help fund conservation projects in the area:

Now Japanese visitors will be invited by tour operators to contribute £5, a charge already nicknamed the “Peter Rabbit tax”.

Atsuhito Oikawa, 35, an academic in medical research, said that £5 would not be prohibitive to most Japanese but they should not be the only ones to pay. “Everyone is equal in Japan,” he said. “If you distinguish between Japanese and others, you run the risk of appearing discrimininatory.”

The initiative, believed to be the first of its kind, was born when Japanese Travel Trade, effectively the Japanese tourist board, approached Japan Forum, run by Lakeland businesses.

Keira Holt, a marketing executive with Nurture Lakeland, which supports conservation in the Lakes, said that the Japanese were keen to promote ecotourism. She emphasised that the donation was voluntary and that Japanese people were not being discriminated against. They were, she said, simply leading the way. “Ecotourism is huge in Japan,” she said. “We are incredibly appreciative that their concern for the environment extends to our own country.

Do you think it is fair to only ask Japanese tourists to pay this fee?

[hat tip to Charlotte]

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Japan Sumo Association places new restrictions on foreign-born wrestlers

James — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:50:05 +0000

Since 2002, the Japan Sumo Association has had a rule in effect that limits “the number of foreign wrestlers [外国人枠] who can be recruited to one per stable.” However, a “loophole” has emerged, since foreign wrestlers who naturalize and become Japanese are no longer subject to the restriction.

The JSA decided yesterday that it would expand the restriction to include “foreign-born” wrestlers [外国出身力士枠], regardless of their nationality:

The existing restriction on foreigners will be in effect until newcomers for next month’s spring tournament undergo physicals, after which the new rule will be imposed.

“You get the impression it is a severe measure but if the brakes are not applied somewhere, there will be more and more stables overrun with foreign wrestlers, so it can’t be helped,” said one stablemaster.

In recent years, the number of foreign wrestlers has been on the rise, as the existing loophole leaves a vacancy once someone from a respective stable gains Japanese citizenship.

Four Mongolian-born wrestlers and two Chinese-born wrestlers have taken Japanese citizenship since April last year.

I understand the desire to build-up domestic talent, but I consider this new rule to be unfair. If a foreign-born person is willing to commit to renouncing their citizenship and becoming a citizen of Japan, they should be treated the same as any other Japanese.

Naturalized Japanese wrestlers who are subject to this rule might want to consider filing a discrimination lawsuit.

Do you agree with the JSA's decision to place restrictions on foreign-born Japanese wrestlers?

Update: As LB has brought up in the comments section, it could be argued that the JSA’s policy is a violation of the Japanese constitution:

Article 14

All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin. 2) Peers and peerage shall not be recognized. 3) No privilege shall accompany any award of honor, decoration or any distinction, nor shall any such award be valid beyond the lifetime of the individual who now holds or hereafter may receive it.

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Al Jazeera English reports on Japan’s Ainu community

James — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:04:00 +0000

A pretty interesting report from Al Jazeera English about Ainu activists who want compensation from the Japanese government:

101 East looks at Japan’s indigeneous people and their fight for cultural survival and acceptance. Over the last century, they have seen their traditions and their language stripped away, along with their ancestral lands. But after generations of oppression, racism and forced assimilation, change is in the air for the Ainu.

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North Korean school uploads video of protest to YouTube

James — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:02:56 +0000

A few weeks ago, I blogged about a video showing some angry Japanese right wingers protesting against a North Korean school’s unauthorized use of public park land in Kyoto. Those who watch the video may recall that one of the North Korean teachers was carrying a video camera and recording the incident. Well, it now seems that the footage from that camera has made it onto YouTube, with English subtitles provided by a somebody who wants to spread the word about how Japan is racist:

“In Japan, discrimination against the Korean minority who live in Japan since the colonial period is rampant. One can easily find abusive comments on Internet and some go as far as to threaten school children.

Kyoto Korean Primary School 1 does not have a school field and is using a park next to it for sports and assemblies.

The right wing activists accuse the school claimingly on behalf of the neigbourhood and make protests by removing the speaker/platform and giving strong verbal insults.”

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Nomura sued for sex and race discrimination

James — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:57:10 +0000

A few months back, I posted about an article that claimed former female employees of Lehman Brothers were being made to serve tea after their company was taken over by Nomura Holdings. The article implied that women used to the Lehman’s treatment of female employees found the conditions at Nomura to unfair and demeaning.

Now it seems two women in London are suing the Nomura for sex and race discrimination and unfair dismissal:

In legal papers, Miss Murphy claims that during a business meeting one male client said to her female colleague “Oh, you don’t have your honkers out today I see”.

The documents say: “Miss Murphy was initially not sure what he was referring to but [the colleague] clarified honkers referred to her breasts.

“She went on to say there was no point in standing up to him as he would smear your reputation in the entire market and that ultimately it was better just to accept it.”

Miss Murphy also claimed that when she was chatting to a trader about hiring a cleaner he allegedly said “Well, you’re a woman. That’s where you belong – at home cleaning the floors”.

At a team dinner, another male colleague allegedly said “Everyone knows the key to cheating on your wife is not getting caught”.

Miss Murphy says that she was excluded from clients and marginalised before being made redundant in March this year. She also claims that she was ridiculed for her American accent, with traders allegedly making remarks like “Go for it” in a mock accent.

She said that clients were also described in “unusual and unacceptable ways”, such as one Dutch trader, who was labelled a “weirdo Euro client”.

[...]

Miss Francis, who is originally from New Zealand but speaks fluent Japanese, said that during a conference call with up to 1,000 of her global peers, a male colleague humiliated her by saying “Don’t listen to her. She is just a Kiwi”.

She said that her new Japanese bosses showed “remarkable disregard” for her clients wishing to retain her as their primary sales contact.

“I believe that I would not have been treated in this way if I was a male employee and especially if I was a Japanese male employee,” Miss Francis said.

She was made redundant because she was “too outspoken and female”, her former boss allegedly told Miss Murphy.

He also allegedly said that “the Japanese hate women, especially if they are too loud”.

An official spokesman for Nomura has denied the charges of racism and sexism and has stated that the two were dismissed “by reason of redundancy as part of a wider reorganisation following the Lehman Brothers acquisition.”

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Japanese media reports on Louisiana interracial marriage case

James — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:51:33 +0000

The story of a couple in Louisiana that was denied a marriage license because an official disapproved of interracial marriage has been picked up by the Japanese media. Here’s how on ATV news program reported on the story:

NTV, CNN.co.jp, 47 News, the AFP, and MSN/Sankei have also reported on this case.

Over at 2channel, Japan’s largest online forum, hundreds of comments have been left in response to threads about this news story. Here are some translations of interesting comments from one such thread:

—
The Japanese, who sugarcoat international marriage by saying, “love has no boundaries,” should know the current situation in the United States.
It’s too late to realize that after they marry some American soldier and move to the states.
—
Louisiana’s that horrible state where a Japanese high school student was shot, but the shooter was sentenced not guilty, right? It’s the state where Caucasians are not guilty even if they shoot Asians.
—
I don’t think America has the qualifications to criticize racism in other countries.
—
Is it safe for Japanese people to visit the South?
Will stones be thrown at us?
—
That America’s pretty much a racist country. If you look at the bulletin boards, they repeatedly call us “JAPs.”
—
Response to the above comment: Oh, c’mon, there are tons of people who use terms like “Chon” (=discriminatory word for Chousen-jin, which means Koreans), “Chan” (=discriminatory word for the Chinese), and whatnot lol
It’s hard to bear it when a sweeping statement like “OO is a(n) XX country” is made, just because of certain lunatics online.
—
The racism in the deep south is hardcore.
This is where Golgo 13 (= Japanese anime character) comes back on the mound.
—
Caucasians are discriminated in Japan too, both in good ways and bad ways.
When I was a student, I’ve seen many half (mixed raced) kids around me and most of them were being bullied.
The ones who bully them again are nothing but the pathetic ones, though.
—
The golf superstar Tiger Woods married a beautiful Swedish Caucasian lady since he didn’t like black women, so doesn’t that make him guilty too?

The vast majority of the comments denounced the official in question and expressed shock and/or disgust at the news. A lot of 2channelers seemed to know that the southern part of the United States once had racist laws, but it was hard for them to believe that this could still take place in 2009.

Many other comments inquired about the legality of marriage to 2-D anime characters, a joke referencing some of the most extreme elements of Japanese otaku who use 2channel. One particular user expressed his disgust at the antiquated view of marriage held by the Louisiana official, quickly adding that he himself would like to marry a character from Lucky Star.

There were also quite a few comments discussing how races are viewed in the United States. Some weren’t sure how one would categorize mixed race children: would they be considered white or black? Others wondered how Japanese people were viewed, with at least one user erroneously claiming that Japanese were considered “white” in the United States.

[Hat tip to Rich Pav for coming up with the idea for this post.]

Disclaimer: Comments left on the internet by anonymous netizens should not be interpreted as representative of an entire nation.

[The Japanese news article translations in this post were provided by myGengo's simple human translation system.]

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Century 21 Japan CM

James — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:08:17 +0000

A Japanese commercial for Century 21 real estate [submitted Quill]:

I saw this ad on TV this morning and thought you might want to do a post about it. Century 21 proves that if they can sell to foreigners, they can even sell to cats!

The commercial is aimed at a Japanese audience and presents Century 21 as a company that employs hard-working real estate agents that go through the trouble of learning foreign languages so that they can better serve customers who cannot speak Japanese.

Does this mean that Century 21 doesn’t discriminate against foreigners? Perhaps not when they are selling homes and apartments. However, when it comes to renting apartments, it would seem that Century 21, like many other real estate agencies in Japan, has been known to tell non-Japanese customers that certain apartments do not allow foreign tenants. Although I have not used Century 21, I have met a couple foreign residents of Japan who claim to have encountered housing discrimination from Century 21 agents (who are no doubt acting on behalf of landlords with “no foreigner” policies).

In a comment thread on a previous post about discrimination, Japan Probe reader sublight left the following comment about his frustrating experience with one Century 21 branch in Tokyo:

Century 21, however, gets special mention for their two-hour “we don’t want to help you, but we don’t want to say we don’t want to help you, so we’re going to be as unhelpful as possible until you leave” dance. They were friendly enough when my Japanese wife had called the day before to ask if an apartment was available to see, but the moment they saw me, the smiles dropped (this was at the Ikejiri-Ohashi branch in Tokyo). Suddenly, there was a ‘problem’ with the apartment and they couldn’t show it just yet. While we waited (for over an hour), they didn’t give us any other listings to look at, and instead spent all their time with other couples.

After realizing we weren’t leaving (it had taken us an hour to get there, and we had all day), one agent said, “well, we can show the place, but we can’t go inside.” I said “fine, we’ll look at the outside.” “But it’s raining and we can’t use the office car.” “That’s fine, I have an umbrella. You’ll walk there with us.” So we walked over and stood in the pouring rain staring at the outside wall for about 15 minutes before heading back. When we got back to the realtor’s office, he positioned himself in the doorway and quickly said “well, sorry we couldn’t help you thanks for coming goodbye.”

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Controversy after TV host calls Christel Takigawa a “gaijin”

James — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:56:41 +0000

Anger erupted among fans of TV announcer Christel Takigawa last week after Yutaka Hasegawa, host of a FTV cable program, talked about Takigawa being removed from the main line-up of newscasters on “News JAPAN“:

“This girl, uh, she is also by far more skillful than that foreigner (gaijin) who was doing it until recently, you know? Uh, he properly understands what is going on at the scene. She often goes to collect information, to study. This News JAPAN, I really think it may be good.”

The “foreigner” in this case is the resigned newscaster Christel Takigawa. This part of the remarks by Mr. Hasegawa was uploaded to the YouTube video sharing site and as 2-channel and other message boards viewed it as a problem, a dispute ensued. On October 1st, 2009, it became an uproar. Many fans that had from the start voiced opposition to the sacking of Ms. Takigawa who had appeared on News JAPAN billboards and chaos broke out on the Internet:

“Why is he using discriminatory language toward someone who was sacked?”

“We can’t forgive that guy for speaking ill of Christel.”

Videos of the statement have been popping up on YouTube, but at the moment all copies seem to have been removed by FTV.

Takigawa was born in France to a French father and a Japanese mother, but she a Japanese citizen who has spent almost all of her life in Japan. Her native language is Japanese. Her fans, who see her as a talented Japanese woman did not appreciate the crude criticism of her and the use of the term “gaijin.”

FTV later issued an apology:

“Gaijin” is improper language, and we should have immediately corrected the problem. The TV program production side is also humbly reflecting on this, and we truly want to apologize to the program’s audience and others who felt uncomfortable.

Over at J-Cast, nearly one hundred comments have been left in Japanese about this story. Some argue that “gaijin” is a bad term to use towards anyone, while others think this case was bad because “gaijin” was used to refer to a Japanese person. A few see no problem at all with calling her a “gaijin.”

[The Japanese news article translations in this post were provided by myGengo's simple human translation system.]

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No Koreans Allowed

James — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:43:29 +0000

A Japanese TV program visits the island of Tsushima to investigate the frictions between Korean tourists and locals. At one restaurant, they found a sign banning the entry of Korean customers. Here’s a subtitled video clip of them speaking to the restaurant owner:

The owner was fed up with the “bad manners” of Korean tourists, so he decided to reject everyone from their country.

Afterwards, they visit a restaurant that is happy to welcome Koreans. The owner used to be involved in the fishing industry and would frequently travel to South Korea, so he has some experience with Korean culture. He says that Koreans tend to act the same way at restaurants in their own country, so it’s not like they are deliberately being rude in Japan. Some Japanese without his experiences might not understand the differences in manners and customs between the two countries.

—
The next clip shows some behavior that is a deliberately rude:

At Tsushima’s Watatsumi shrine, they find a prayer tablet with Korean writing on it. Their interpreter tells them that it contains the message “Tsushima belongs to Korea” alongside a declaration of Korean sovereignty over the Liancourt Rocks.

The issue of Koreans trying to claim Tsushima as their own territory has been mentioned in previous posts about Korean visitors to Tsushima. The South Korean city Masan has passed an ordinance claiming ownership of the Japanese island, and nationalist groups have also held “Tsushima belongs to us” protests on Japanese soil.

Other Japanese news reports have included images of prayer tablets that had their original Japanese messages crossed out and replaced with nationalistic messages from Korean vandals.

—
Finally, here’s a clip about Korean garbage that litters the shores of Tsushima and the illegal fishing practices of some Korean tourists:

The marine garbage problem has been getting a lot of Japanese media attention, as Tsushima isn’t the only area being hit by a flood of junk with Korean writing on it. As has been mentioned in previous posts, South Korean volunteer organizations have been helping clean up the trash on Tsushima’s beaches.

The fishing issue involves the dumping of bait into the water to attract extra fish. To prevent overfishing, there is a law that bans non-citizens from engaging in this practice. Every time the Japanese media sends a camera crew to Tsushima, they seem to have little trouble finding Koreans who are violating this law. Some are unaware of the law, while others knowingly violate it. The South Korean media has even aired TV reports about the illegal fishing and bad manners of Korean tourists who visit Tsushima.

—

Over at the Marmot’s Hole, Robert has been posted a video clip of a small group of Japanese welcoming South Korean tourists to Tsushima with cries of “Go back to Korea!”　　They use the term “chosenjin” when referring to the Koreans, apparently because it is considered an offensive term in Korea:

The people in the clip are identified as members of the Tokyo citizen’s group Shuken Kaifuku wo Mezasu Kai (The Society to Seek Restoration of Sovereignty), which has also been active in pushing for changes to Japanese history textbooks that “give school children false information.” It would seem that they got so riled up about the actions of certain Korean tourists that they bought plane tickets from Tokyo and flew over for a protest.

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Mr. James & racial karma

James — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 04:55:57 +0000

Arudou Debito’s campaign to shame McDonald’s into dropping its “Mr. James” ad campaign by encouraging international attention has hit a stumbling block: Americans who apparently believe that that the emergence of the advertisements is an example of karma.

Over at the Huffington Post, a pair of Asian-American women who call themselves Disgrasian has written a short article about Mr. James. The authors seem offended by stereotypes of Asians they witness in American ad campaigns and they’ve also expressed disgust with stereotypes of Asians they believe were present in a recent Marie Claire article about Asian trophy wives. When they look at the Mr. James commercials they recognize the same kind of stereotyping, but don’t care because “Karma’s one wacky bitch, isn’t it?”

In the comment section of their post, user darintenb responded with the following:

So let me get this straight…

Something happened in America that was offensive to Asian people, thus something that happens to un-related white people in an Asian country is ‘Karma’, thus these new victims deserved it? Is that what you are saying?

All your sources about these disrespectful acts towards Asians in America are speaking out against them, correct? So if these acts of disrespect towards Asians in America are wrong, and you say this act of disrespect towards whites in Asia is the same thing, shouldn’t it also be wrong as well?

I can almost hear you chanting, ‘nah, nah na na naaa!!’ as you wrote this post. The appropriate way to go about this would be to try and use act in Japan as an example for Americans as to why this type of stereotyping is disrespectful, and thus try and gain further understanding and cooperations by both parties to put a stop to this type of stuff. But unfortunately, you are instead finding joy in other peoples suffering, which in fact contributes not to the greater good, but the greater evil.

One can make a number of good arguments to counter to the complaints being brought up by those who do no like the Mr. James advertisements. Gloating over the discomfort of a white minority in another country and claiming it is “karma” is not one of them.

A note to those coming here from Disgrasian’s response post:
I stand by everything in the above post. Your feeble attempt to backtrack and explain your karma comments doesn’t change the obvious message of your first post.

Don’t make assumptions about how foreign residents of Japan needed their eye’s opened to racial issues. Both your original post and your follow-up post continue to assume that white residents of Japan are ignorant about the existence of racial stereotyping in the countries they used to live in. Are you really so stupid?

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Meanwhile, the issue seems to be giving birth to even cruder crap. I noticed the following comic this morning on twitter:

Your thoughts on karma and Mr. James.

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Racism claim over use of Japanese three wise monkeys

James — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:52:40 +0000

Japan’s famous three wise monkeys (sanzaru) have become the subject of a racial discrimination accusation in Britain:

The row dates from an incident nearly two years ago, when supporters of the Socialist Party – a Marxist group well to the left of Labour – tried to get Unison’s annual conference to discuss proposals to cut links with the Labour Party, and reduce the pay of full-time union officials. Unison is one of the biggest donors to Labour, despite occasional friction.

The rebels were told by Unison’s standing orders committee, which determines what can be discussed at conference, that there were more important matters to be debated in the available time. Irritated by this, they distributed a hastily printed leaflet with a cartoon that compared the committee with the three wise monkeys.

The only member of the committee familiar to most Unison members is Clytus Williams, the chairman. He is a lay union activist and well liked by most delegates. He is also black. The idea the far left was trying to caricature him as a monkey infuriated delegates, many of whom are low-paid workers more familiar with bar room racism than Buddhist culture and proverbial monkeys.

Apparently the four people responsible for creating the leaflet have been barred from holding office in the union because they distributed “offensive” material.

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Japanese company makes Harvard graduates serve tea

James — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:08:29 +0000

How Nomura Holdings treats its female employees (from the Wall Street Journal, via Foreign Policy):

Japanese brokerage firm Nomura Holdings Inc. kicked off a training session for new hires in April by separating the men and women. The women, including Harvard graduates hired by Lehman Brothers before it collapsed, were taught how to wear their hair, serve tea and choose their wardrobes according to the season, say executives who fielded a complaint about the session.

[...]

Asked about the training sessions for new hires, a Nomura spokeswoman said that both sexes were taught business etiquette, and the men and women were trained separately for logistical reasons.

Some Nomura managers interpreted strictly the company’s dress code for women. They told women joining from Lehman to remove highlights from their hair, to wear sleeves no shorter than midbicep and to avoid brightly colored clothing, according to several people who joined from Lehman. Several women were sent home from the trading floor for dressing “inappropriately,” these people say.

“I was sent home for wearing a short-sleeve dress, even though I was wearing a jacket,” says one woman who says she plans to leave as soon as she receives her final guaranteed bonus payment.

Nomura’s human-resources department changed some women’s email addresses to their married names, from their maiden names, without asking which names they used professionally, according to the people who joined from Lehman.

The article does not specify whether or not male employees were given instructions on how to wear their hair and how to serve tea.

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Italian authorities shut down restaurant that tried to rip-off Japanese tourists

James — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:30:03 +0000

Italian authorities have taken action after a Japanese couple was told to pay an outrageous 700 euros for a seafood lunch at a restaurant in Rome:

The tourists filed a fraud complaint with police after being surprised with a bill for 579.50 euros plus 115.50 euros in tip for downing pasta and lobster with wine and gelato at the Il Passetto restaurant just off the popular Piazza Navona square.

Health inspectors arrived within days to shut down the 149-year old restaurant — which has served stars ranging from Charlie Chaplin to Grace Kelly — citing hygiene reasons.

Restaurants in Rome’s center have long been notorious for overcharging or serving overcooked pasta to the millions of tourists that flock here each year, and news of the pricey lunch sparked sharp criticism from consumer groups and city officials.

“As far as I’m concerned, this restaurant should never reopen again and operating licenses should be revoked for things of this nature,” Mayor Gianni Alemanno said, adding that he had ordered police to make surprise checks to uncover such fraud.

This has not escaped the attention of people in Japan: The Japanese language version of this Reuters story was one of the most popular stories on Yahoo! News Japan yesterday.

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Japanese-born kid (“whale muncher”) nearly beaten to death by bullies in New Zealand

James — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:29:47 +0000

The above photo shows the injuries sustained by Ryotaro Wright, a Japanese-born New Zealander who was nearly beaten to death by bullies:

The teen, Japanese-born Ryotaro Wright, needed emergency brain surgery in Waikato Hospital after the attack at Forest View High School in Tokoroa this week. Doctors say he was close to death.

Four students have been suspended and police are investigating.

Ryotaro’s father Llewellyn said yesterday his son had been racially abused by four students over the past few weeks, including being called “whale muncher“.

Hopefully those that committed this violent crime will be arrested and thrown in jail.

[via 空]

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Erotic computer game maker blocks foreign website visitors

James — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:19:59 +0000

Danny Choo reports that the website of Minori, a Japanese company that produces erotic computer games (“eroge”), has blocked foreign access to its website with the following message:

The decision is probably influenced in no small part by the fact that international outrage recently made the Japanese media discover the existence of certain pornographic games, leading Japanese software makers to ban the creation of rape games. There may also be a slight connection to the case of an American man being arrested and convicted of possessing child pornography because he owned seven sexually explicit Japanese comic books.

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How not to protest against discrimination

James — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:19:26 +0000

Some screen captures from a YouTube video apparently taken at a counter-protest held in Kyoto on Saturday in response to a march by groups opposed to giving voting rights to non-citizens:

As you can see, the red sun in the middle of the Japanese flag has been replaced with a steaming pile of shit. The narrator of the video doesn’t seem to have an unfavorable view of the flags, featuring them alongside more thoughtful anti-discrimination banners. While the poop flags will clearly annoy some of those who participated in the other march, I doubt this kind of counter-protest will do much for furthering the idea of giving non-citizens voting rights.

Here’s the full video clip:

As one might expect, the flags have drawn angry responses from more than a few Japanese internet users. One YouTuber has copied and re-uploaded the video, adding subtitles explaining that Zainichi Koreans are criminals and that Japanese women must be protected from Zainichi rapists. It has surged up the YouTube Japan rankings for today, and has received more views than the original clip.

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Burakumin groups angry at Google Earth

James — Sat, 02 May 2009 23:58:26 +0000

The AP reports that certain groups representing burakumin in Japan are angry because Google included Edo period maps of Japan in its map collection available on Google Earth, allowing users to identify areas associated with burakumin:

Google Earth’s maps pinpointed several such areas. One village in Tokyo was clearly labeled “eta,” a now strongly derogatory word for burakumin that literally means “filthy mass.” A single click showed the streets and buildings that are currently in the same area.

Google posted the maps as one of many “layers” available via its mapping software, each of which can be easily matched up with modern satellite imagery. The company provided no explanation or historical context, as is common practice in Japan. Its basic stance is that its actions are acceptable because they are legal, one that has angered burakumin leaders.

“If there is an incident because of these maps, and Google is just going to say ‘it’s not our fault’ or ‘it’s down to the user,’ then we have no choice but to conclude that Google’s system itself is a form of prejudice,” said Toru Matsuoka, a member of Japan’s upper house of parliament.

Asked about its stance on the issue, Google responded with a formal statement that “we deeply care about human rights and have no intention to violate them.”

Google spokesman Yoshito Funabashi points out that the company doesn’t own the maps in question, it simply provides them to users. Critics argue they come packaged in its software, and the distinction is not immediately clear.

Google is breaking no laws in its display of old maps.

I spent about an hour exploring some of the Edo period maps available on Google Earth [which are, by the way, incredibly awesome]. Unfortunately, since I know about as much about burakumin as the average Japanese person, I didn’t have much luck in finding one of the Eta-mura described, so here’s the screenshot the AP used:

Update: I discovered why I couldn’t find the buraku villages. Google has already censored the 1806 map of Osaka:

It’s right near the present day location of Ashiharabashi Station. I have no issues informing the world of this fact because it is not a secret: the Wikipedia article about that part of Osaka (Naniwa-ku), is quite open in reporting that the area has a large burakumin community. The Osaka Human Rights Museum (mostly dedicated to the history of discrimination against burakumin) is located in Naniwa-ku.

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Asahi Shimbun employee posted anti-Buraku comments on 2-channel

James — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:13:57 +0000

The Asahi Shimbun has admitted that one of its employees posted anti-burakumin messages on 2-channel:

According to the company, the employee, from the editorial bureau’s proofreading department, repeatedly posted messages seen as encouraging discrimination against marginalized communities and people with mental disorders on the popular online bulletin board “2 channel.” All of his messages were composed and posted using a company computer during working hours.

A spokesperson for the company said the man had admitted to writing the messages after his postings had drawn attention from readers of the bulletin board.

“[The tone of the postings] intensified during an exchange with another person. I’ve done something bad,” the man was quoted as saying during an internal investigation.

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Indian restaurant in Hiroshima refused to give student discount to foreign students?

James — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:22:43 +0000

Darlo, a British student studying at Konan University in Kobe, blogged about an Indian restaurant in Hiroshima that apparently refused to give him its advertised student discount because he was a foreigner:

We flicked through the menu, as is customary despite knowing already what we were going to order, when a member of staff came over. We then (in Japanese) ordered the student deal for each of us, when he asked if we had student cards [issued by a Japanese University] which we then brandished. He then asked us to wait a moment for another staff member, at the time I thought it might have been because he wasn’t confident in using Japanese.

When his friend came over we did the same again, same order, same language, to which we were told that the student offer was only for Japanese students (as oppose to foreign students). Urm … what? Yes that’s right folks. Here is our first real receiving of racial discrimination in Japan … and it came from an Indian restaurant. Even if this were the actual case (something I didn’t buy for a second), how did he know that we weren’t in fact Japanese? Believe it or not there are people who are of non-Japanese origin that are born in Japan, or even people who have been naturalised as Japanese. But it seems not in the eyes of Ganesh, where only 100% pure-blood seems to count.

Darlo left the restaurant, preferring to spend his money at an udon place that didn’t have special “Japanese only” prices.

The reported reaction by the restaurant staff is quite odd, considering that the restaurant in question is owned by a foreigner has its menu written in both English and Japanese.

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Mixi bans users from dating

James — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:33:09 +0000

J-Cast/Asiajin reports that Mixi, Japan’s largest social networking site, has banned its users from dating:

Mixi changed their terms of policy on December 1st, in accordance with the “Dating site regulation act”. They are now prohibiting users from “using Mixi mainly to meet with strangers of the other sex”.

Recently, Mixi has deleted many groups which hold group dating or offline meetings.

Mixi issued the ban because not doing so could have prompted authorities to take action against it as a “dangerous” place where predators can pick up minors (users as young as 15-years-old can register profiles on the site).

As Joe has pointed out over at JapanSoc, the ban only applies to meeting members of the opposite sex, so same-sex relationships seem to be okay. Maybe somebody should set up a gay dating group to see how Mixi’s admins will react?

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Japanese police officer verbally abuses veil-wearing teenager

James — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 11:50:40 +0000

A teenager in Tottori Prefecture who wears a veil (see above picture) due to a skin condition was stopped and questioned by a police officer who accused him of being a member of the Taliban:

The officer from Yonago Police Station stopped the boy as he was riding double on a bicycle near JR Yonago Station on Oct. 28 last year, accusing him of being “strangely-dressed” and asking him, “Are you a Taliban member?”

The chief of the prefectural police headquarters later admitted that he was stopped because the veil looked suspicious, not because he was riding double.

The police have apologized and are taking measures to educate all their officers about the existence of such skin conditions so that this kind of thing will not happen again.

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White guy creates “banned Japanese commercial”

James — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:57:23 +0000

This is what happens when idiots discover the existence of blackface in Japan:

[hat tip to Claytonian]

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Ex-director accuses Mitsui of discriminating against non-Asian employees

James — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:33:49 +0000

A group led by a former American employee of Mitsui is seeking to file a class action lawsuit on behalf of non-Asian employees of the company that feel they are victims of discrimination:

Andrew Van Etten, a former senior director at Mitsui USA, claims widespread discrimination at the Tokyo-based company, according to a complaint filed Feb. 5 in federal court in Manhattan. Van Etten said in the complaint that he was fired because of issues related to his expenses that “no Japanese/Asian” employee at the U.S. unit “has ever been reprimanded for.”

Mitsui’s “violations are systemic in nature,” Van Etten, 46, said in his complaint. They’re done “with the purpose of denying promotional and management opportunities, equal compensation, and equal terms and conditions of employment to qualified non-Japanese/non-Asians,” he said.

Mitsui, like other Japanese companies, regularly sends employees from Japan to work a few years at its overseas offices. Van Etten is claiming that the company unfairly favors its “rotational staff” of Japanese workers. The lawsuit will also contain an accusation about Mitsui reserving its top posts for Japanese and Asian employees.

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Blood type discrimination in Japan

James — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 22:15:06 +0000

The AP has an article up about the popularity of Blood type pseudoscience in Japan. Included is a section on how people can face discrimination because of their blood type:

Matchmaking agencies provide blood-type compatibility tests, and some companies make decisions about assignments based on employees’ blood types.

Children at some kindergartens are divided up by blood type, and the women’s softball team that won gold at the Beijing Olympics used the theory to customize each player’s training.

Not all see the craze as harmless fun, and the Japanese now have a term, “bura-hara,” meaning blood-type harassment.

And, despite repeated warnings, many employers continue to ask blood types at job interviews, said Junichi Wadayama, an official at the Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry.

“It’s so widespread that most people, even company officials, are not aware that asking blood types could lead to discrimination,” Wadayama said.

Blood types, determined by the proteins in the blood, have nothing to do with personality, said Satoru Kikuchi, associate professor of psychology at Shinshu University.

“It’s simply sham science,” he said. “The idea encourages people to judge others by the blood types, without trying to understand them as human beings. It’s like racism.”

What do you think of the belief that blood type is predictive of personality?

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“Antiforeigner discrimination is a right for Japanese people”

James — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:38:02 +0000

Gregory Clark, vice-president of Akita International University, has written a column in the Japan Times responding to previous articles about the Otaru onsen case by stating that Japanese businesses should be allowed to discriminate against foreign customers:

The antidiscrimination activists say bathhouse managers can solve all problems by barring drunken sailors. But how do you apply a drunk test? And how do you throw out a drunk who has his foot in the door? Besides, drunken behavior is not the only bathhouse problem with these Otaru sailors. I can understand well why regular Japanese customers seeking the quiet Japanese-style camaraderie of the traditional Japanese bathhouse would want to flee an invasion of noisy, bathhouse-ignorant foreigners. And since it is not possible to bar only Russians, barring all foreigners is the only answer.

The antidiscrimination people point to Japan’s acceptance of a U.N. edict banning discrimination on the basis of race. But that edict is broken every time any U.S. organization obeys the affirmative action law demanding preference for blacks and other minorities. Without it, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama would probably not be where he is today.

Malaysia has also ignored it, with its Bumiputra policy of favoring Malays over Chinese and other minorities. There are dozens more examples of societies deciding to favor one group of people over others in order to preserve solidarity or prevent injustices. A large chain of barbershops in Japan has signs saying service is denied to those who do not speak Japanese. Non-Japanese speakers probably cause much less harm to a business than delinquent Russians. But we do not see our activists in action there.

The activists say there should be action to educate Russian sailors in bathhouse behavior. But do we see any of the activists in the friendship societies where worthy Japanese citizens try to ease problems for foreigners living here? Not as far as I know. Presumably close contact with these citizens would also upset their Japan-girai feelings.

Clark goes on to say that police should be allowed to speak freely about the “real problem of clever Chinese and Korean criminals taking advantage of Japan’s lack of theft awareness,” and that discriminating against some foreigners is the only way Japan can avoid becoming like the “padlocked, mutually suspicious” societies found in Western countries.

[via Debito.org]

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My 20 Cents…

anton — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 09:05:37 +0000

Today as I was going to pay for my lunch, the register looked at my money and with a sour face told me:

“今度そいうのはやめてね”

“Kondou soiunowa yametene”

Which in English means:

“Please refrain from doing this in the future” (in the nicest English possible)

The lunch at my dormitory cafeteria cost JPY300,- (around USD3,-) and I was paying him with one 100 Yen coin, one 50 Yen coin, one 10 Yen coin, and twenty eight 5 Yen coins.

After that exchange, the register took my money as if he is doing me a big favour and then gave me a meal ticket.

I sat down with my plate in front of me and was quite saddened by the discrimination my 5 Yen coins have to face.

After a while, the same old register man came to me, this time with a rather apologetic face and handed me a newspaper with an article about a law on “the limit of using coins”. He became very polite and friendly as he explained the use of such a “small change” cause inconveniences as hardly anyone would accept it, and by law actually any vendor has the right to refuse payment of more than twenty coins of the same kind, in accordance to the Seventh Paragraph of The unit of currency issuance and other laws of money.

Is this a common sense? Or am I the only one left out?

What about your country? Do they have similar Law(s)?

I would appreciate your thoughts on this, and any of your kind comments and argument.

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Japan drops in global gender gap rankings: now 98th

James — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:32:37 +0000

The World Economic Forum released its annual gender gap ranking of 130 countries, and Japan placed 98th overall, down from the 91st place ranking it held in last year’s report. The long life expectancy of Japanese women and the availability of education were Japan’s strong points:

In health and survival, Japan ranked a relatively high 38th, but it did poorly in other categories. The country came 107th in political empowerment, 102nd in economic participation and opportunity and 82nd in educational attainment.

Japan was the lowest ranked of the G8 nations, and it was also outranked by Asian countries such as the Philippines (6), Thailand (52), China (61), Vietnam (68), Indonesia (93) and Cambodia (94). But at least it managed to outrank South Korea (108) and most of the Middle East!

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Korean teacher sues over rules restricting promotion of non-citizens

James — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:40:23 +0000

Just found this Hankyoreh article from October 28th about a public school teacher in Kobe who was stripped of a promotion because he was not a Japanese citizen:

…..the city’s educational commission has told him that a Korean who is not a Japanese citizen may not hold the position of “associate head teacher.” The school has also removed him from its school affairs committee and from his position as the vice chairperson of seven other school committees.

Kobe education officials and Han’s school are quoting 1991 Japanese Education Ministry guidelines that say a foreigner in Japan may only be promoted as high as a “full-time lecturer without time limit on appointment” who is entrusted only with “assisting” a Japanese teacher.

Han calls the ministry’s guidelines “ethnic discrimination and a violation of civil rights that has no legal basis.” The Association for Human Rights for Foreigners in Japan and local civic groups have lodged a formal protest with city education officials, claiming that the Education Ministry guidelines not only go against the spirit of the Korea-Japan Memorandum, they also go against the “fair treatment” clause regarding Japanese and non-citizens in Japan’s version of the Labor Standards Law.

If the situation is as the article depicts it, Mr. Han is facing some pretty unfair restrictions. While I happen to believe that members of the Zainichi Korean community in Japan who seek privileges of citizenship such as voting rights should naturalize and become Japanese (almost all who apply are accepted), I don’t think that qualified teachers should be denied promotions just because of their nationality.

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Daily Yomiuri on the “gaijin” debate

James — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:00:09 +0000

Miyazaki University English professor Mike Guest has weighed in on the “gaijin” issue in today’s Daily Yomiuri. He makes a very intelligent case about how the redundant use of the word “gaijin” is the problem, not the word itself.

Here’s an excerpt of a couple anecdotes he mentions:

I was about to board a train recently and a few young people, who were getting on before me, had not noticed that I was boarding behind them. As a result they didn’t enter quickly, leaving me stuck in the doorway, until one turned around, saw me, and said, “Oh I didn’t realize there is a gaijin behind us. Let’s go.” This “Let’s go” was actually intended as an act of courtesy–to move along because I was trying to get on. But why the use of “gaijin” here? It was absolutely superfluous to the situation.

Another true story: I was at an electronic goods shop after experiencing a rather difficult problem with my new computer. After I explained the problem (in Japanese) to a polite staff member, he thought it best that I speak to a specialist and so called for one. When the specialist arrived, the initial salesman said, “Can you help this foreign customer [gaikoku no okyaku-sama] with his problem?” This, unfortunately led the specialist to believe that I couldn’t speak (or hadn’t spoken) Japanese, followed by the awkwardness you’d expect. Why had the first salesman used “foreign customer” in this case? It was superfluous.

Now, I was not offended in either situation. I cannot pretend to be a victim and claim that I was dehumanized. But they did make me curious. After all, when we use redundancies we are usually trying to “mark” the language with what linguists call implicatures.

What are implicatures? Imagine someone introducing a coworker by saying, “This is my black [or white] colleague, Bob.” In such a case, Bob and the person addressed would naturally try to interpret what the speaker meant over and above the words alone because the speaker had marked the language, in this case by using a redundancy. Because of the implicature, Bob would have a linguistically sound reason for reading something suspicious in the speaker’s statement.

His point? Such marked uses of the word “gaijin” make an issue out of race/nationality when there shouldn’t be one, leading to misunderstandings and awkwardness for both foreigners and Japanese people.

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Helping small Japanese hotels welcome foreign tourists

James — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:34:25 +0000

To follow up on last week’s post about Japanese hotels that don’t want foreign guests, here’s an N-H-K news report about an organization that is educating the owners of small Japanese hotels and ryokans about how to welcome foreign tourists:

The man in the video is Shuichiro Ono, the CEO of Jissen! Inbound, an organization that helps market small hotels to foreign tourists and educate the hotel staff on how to best serve international visitors. Ono is helping to teach hotel owners and staff that they need not fear their lack of English ability – speaking Japanese, using gestures, and being friendly is enough to please foreign guests. In fact, some foreign tourists actually prefer the experience of staying at a hotel with staff that only speaks Japanese, since it gives them an opportunity to really feel like they are experiencing Japanese culture and learning some Japanese words and phrases.

One example of the success of Ono’s organization is an ryokan shown in the second half of the clip. The elderly couple that own and operate the ryokan enrolled in Ono’s advice and marketing program, and they have been receiving foreign tourists as guests since last year. Although they speak no English and only use Japanese and gestures to serve their foreign guests, a French/Colombian couple interviewed are enjoying their stay. Ono helps the owners check online reviews of their ryokan, and foreign guests have given it very high marks in all review categories.

Ono and his organization are doing wonderful work to make Japan a friendlier and more accessible place for foreign tourists.

[hat tip to Ponta]

More impersonations of black women on Japanese TV

James — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:07:55 +0000

FTV has shown me that Yajima Beauty Salon, the comedy group that impersonates black women from Nevada, can do more than just sing. A clip from last night:

Things that they did inside the FTV building:

Spoke in stupid fake broken Japanese with random Engrish words thrown in.
Tried to steal a digital television.
Pulled out a gun and shot a Japanese comedian.

Update: A lot of the comments on this thread have shown offense at this comedy act. I suggest that you make your voices heard by sending complaints to the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization (BPO). Use the online form on this page.

1. Click the check box next to

○　BPO 「視聴者意見送付に関するお願い、注意事項」に同意する

2. Go the the complaint form by hitting the grey button that says:

送信フォームへ

3. Fill out the information about the channel, time of broadcast, and program name as follows:

番組名 – とんねるずのみなさんのおかげでした
放送局名 – フジテレビ
放送日 -　　2008/10/9
放送時間帯 – 21:00-21:54

4. Enter your complaint inside the ご意見(入力必須) Box. Here is an example complaint:

DJオズマととんねるずが演じる矢島美容室は黒人女性に対する偏見を形成・助長する点で極めて不愉快であり、人種差別的でさえある。

5. Fill out the information on your age, sex, and location. This is a translation of the form:

氏名 (Name – optional)

性別(入力必須) (Gender) 男性(male)　女性 (female)← check one of these boxes

年代(入力必須) [age] 歳代
※半角英数で入力してください　例）40

郵便番号 (zip-code – optional)

都道府県(入力必須) ← select a prefecture from the list

住所 (address – optional)

電話 (Phone number – optional)

メールアドレス (e-mail address – optional)

6. Hit the 送信する　button at the bottom to send the complaint.

-Thanks to Ponta for providing the information on how to send a complaint!

Some small hotels don’t want foreign guests

James — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:44:18 +0000

The Associated Press has reported the following survey result:

The survey carried out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs shows that 72 percent of establishments that didn’t have foreign customers in the past year don’t want any, and the majority are ryokans and hotels with fewer than 30 rooms. Such businesses said they are unable to support foreign languages and that their facilities are not suited to foreigners.

While more than 60 percent of the country’s inns and hotels hosted foreign guests last year, the results indicate it may be hard to expand this number.

The survey results indicate a fear of the unknown. Small ryokans that have never had foreign guests simply do not know what to expect, and their owners are very nervous about the communication and service problems that will occur with foreign guests that do not speak Japanese. The number of foreign tourists coming to Japan is increasing every year, and these hotels will have to overcome their fears if they want to cash in on the opportunity.

Asahi cartoon about discrimination in Japan

James — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:18:12 +0000

Debito has posted a scan of an Asahi article about the discrimination foreigners face in Japan. It includes the following cartoon to explain the kinds of discrimination foreigners most often suffer:

Included in the comic are: real estate agents that discriminate against foreigners, employers making foreigners do only hard physical labor/simple tasks, passengers on buses and trains that avoid sitting next to foreigners, foreign children who suffer bullying and name-calling (“gaijin”) at school, Japanese people who are afraid of encountering foreigners on the street at night, and police who repeatedly ask foreigners for identification.

Readers who have lived in Japan: Did you experience anything like the examples shown in the comic? Please answer the following poll.

Have you ever experienced the kind of discrimination shown in the cartoon?

[hat tip to FG]

DJ Ozma and Tunnels dress up as black women

James — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:40:41 +0000

The image above is taken from the official site of Lotte’s new Splash gum. It shows comedy group Tunnels (the guys behind “human tetris”) and musician DJ Ozma (the “bounce with me” dude) dressed up as Yajima Beauty Salon, a new comedic musical group. Yajima Beauty Salon consists of a three “American” characters, the mother Margaret and her two daughters Strawberry and Naomi. According to the backstory on the group’s homepage on Avex, the Margaret character is a former nude dancer from Las Vegas, and she has brought her daughters to Japan to search for their father, a Japanese beautician named Yajima. The mother apparently has the dancing nickname “black bolt.”

I’ve only seen them in the Lotte commercial so far, so I’m not entirely sure how far they take the fake American comedy act. I did, however, find this YouTube video of them performing:

The song begins with an announcement that they came from Nevada, and the lyrics include phrases such as, “Is Kaminarimon nearby?” (a popular tourist site) and “Where can I meet a samurai?” and “There are no Kabuki theaters in Kabukicho” (Tokyo’s entertainment/red light district). It seems like they are attempting to entertain audiences from a cute faux foreigner’s perspective.

They may not be covering their faces with dark black shoe polish, but some foreigners seeing this will no doubt be reminded of blackface minstrel shows. Its members are likely totally unaware of the fact that their act could offend anyone, and there doesn’t seem to have malicious intent. However, seeing entertainers put on make-up and afro wigs to look like a different race for comedic reasons always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. DJ Ozma and Tunnels have made some really funny stuff in the past, but this act is quite lame.

[via TokyoGraph]

Land minister retracts statements about a “homogeneous” Japan

James — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:35:06 +0000

Land minister Nariaki Nakayama made a few remarks to the media yesterday, but after realizing that some of the things he said could be offensive, he retracted his statements. Included among them was a statement about the “homogeneous” nature of Japan:

In referring to the government’s policy to attract foreign tourists to Japan, Nakayama, 65, called Japan “ethnically homogeneous,” a description that drew protests in 1986 from the Ainu indigenous people, who live mainly in Japan, when then Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone made a similar remark.

“Japan is very introverted, or what may be called ethnically homogenous, or rather it tends to be inward-looking because it seldom has (exchanges) with the world,” Nakayama said.

Update: He has resigned! Offending the Ainu may have been a contributing factor, but his call for the abolition of the left-wing Japan Teachers’ Union probably did the most damage.

Japanese government says it has taken “every conceivable measure to fight against racial discrimination”

James — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:31:20 +0000

The Japan Times has an article up about a report on racial discrimination Japan has submitted to the United Nations. According to the article, Japan responds to previous criticism by stating it has made “every conceivable” effort to deal with problems of discrimination:

Human rights groups and Doudou Diene, the U.N. special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, have called for the passage of a law clearly against racism and xenophobia, as well as the establishment of an independent national human rights monitoring body.

The government has long held that Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality under the law, makes any antidiscrimination legislation superfluous, a point reiterated in the report.

“Japan has taken every conceivable measure to fight against racial discrimination,” the report’s introduction says, later adding that apartheid is unknown in Japan.

Do you feel that the Japanese government has taken every conceivable measure to fight against racial discrimination?

Japanese-Latin Americans seek redress for internment

James — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:49:08 +0000

The Canadian Press reports on the how Japanese-Latin Americans who were interned in the United States during World War II are now seeking redress from the U.S. government.

The article focuses on Augusto Kague, who was 12 when his family was forced out of their home in Peru in 1942 and imprisoned in America. Kague is seeking a settlement equal to what the United States paid former Japanese-American internees in 1988:

Kague’s father, a Japanese immigrant in Peru, was whisked away by security agents, one of 2,264 men, women and children of Japanese ancestry arrested in Latin America and shipped off to U.S. camps. They were interned under the guise of securing Western Hemisphere interests, including the Panama Canal. About 800 were used in prisoner swaps with Japan, turned over to a country that some – as Latin American-born descendants of Japanese immigrants – had never seen.

Now, 20 years after Japanese-Americans won redress for their imprisonment, a small community of Peruvians continues to seek justice with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union and a grassroots activist effort based in Northern California.

The group thought it had a breakthrough when a U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee set a July 31 hearing on a bill that would mandate an investigation into the internment of Japanese-Latin Americans and propose remedies.

But the hearing has been cancelled, and a spokesman for U.S. Representative Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), the bill’s sponsor, said it’s unclear when it would be rescheduled.

“This was a big violation of human rights and they don’t want to recognize that,” said Kague, now 78. “We just have to keep waiting. I’ve been waiting a long time already.”

The hearing would have been just one step in a decades-long battle. The U.S. government didn’t include Japanese-Latin Americans when agreeing in 1988 to apologize and pay $20,000 to interned Japanese-Americans. The government offered $5,000 and an apology 10 years ago as part of a settlement agreement for a lawsuit filed on behalf of Japanese-Latin Americans.

While some took the settlement, Kague was one of hundreds who refused it as unfair. His youngest brother, who was born in a Texas internment camp, got $20,000 as an American citizen.

Is Debito Still Relevant?

Eric — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:19:49 +0000

In his August 6 article for the Japan Times, David Aldwinckle, a.k.a. Debito Arudou, compared the G-word to the N-word, saying, “For gaijin is essentially ‘n–ger’ and should likewise be obsoleted.” And he further recommended that everyone follow a policy of “I won’t use it, I won’t let it be used.”

One problem here is that comparing any word or epithet to the N-word is the semantic equivalent of comparing something, whatever it might be, to Hitler and the Nazis.

In a May 15 speech in Jerusalem, George Bush implied that Barack Obama’s stated willingness to open a diplomatic dialog with such countries as Iran to Neville Chamberlain’s attempt to appease Hitler by, for one thing, ceding him a large chunk of Czechoslovakian territory. So, let’s consider for a moment whether the two things are the same…of course they aren’t. “Appeasement” and a willingness to talk are two completely different things.

On the 4 of August, Taro Aso, in a bizarre non sequitur about the Weimar Republic letting Hitler gain power, seemed to imply that the DPJ were analogous to the Nazis. So, are the DPJ the same as the Nazis? Of course not.

And, is calling someone a “gaijin” the same as calling them a “n–ger”? Of course not. I would think that any African American who heard that comparison would find it ludicrous. “Gaijin” doesn’t have anywhere near the historical baggage that the N-word does: when was the last time you saw a gaijin hanging from a lamppost on the Omote Sando? Come to think of it though, some of the posers who hang out at the sidewalk cafes there are pretty annoying.

Another problem is that Debito seems to be stuck in the past; he’s at risk of becoming like an old war veteran who can’t stop talking about the privations he suffered in a war that nobody else remembers. Societies and language are always evolving and words can sometimes go through dramatic shifts in meaning—look at the word “gay” for example.

“Gaijin” used to refer primarily to Caucasian Americans. Especially during, and for a number years following, the Occupation because the majority of non-Asia foreigners in Japan at that time were white Americans. “Gaijin” could also refer to white people in general, and while it was xenophobic, it was never a racist word. I would call it “racialized” because it did usually refer to a particular racial group. I don’t think the word was ever used with pejorative intent, but it did pick up negative connotations because of the many stereotypes of “gaijin” that developed in postwar Japan.

There were definitely a lot of stereotypes when I came to Japan, at the tail end of the bubble. In particular, there were a lot of self-stereotypes about Japan and the Japanese people. After a year in Japan, my nickname for the country was the “land of myth”. There were the big myths about Japan having a unique culture and climate—and for some reason that was considered unique, rather being the normal state of affairs in any country. There was the myth that “Japanese is the most difficult language in the world”; I remember constantly hearing that, apropos of nothing, when I went to bars in order to meet the locals and practice my Japanese. There were also a lot of small myths. One of my colleagues in that era was particularly irked by the belief that the ability to do arithmetical calculations in one’s head was beyond gaijin. He would sometimes demonstrate, with clenched teeth, that he was perfectly able to do arithmetic in his head. I once saw a dialog in a junior high school English textbook with two characters, “Emily” and “Yukiko”, in which Yumiko does a very simple calculation in her head, and then Emily says with a gasp:

“Yukiko, you can calculate in your head!”

The myth that really got up my nose for some reason was this one: “Americans need contracts when they do business together, but we don’t need contracts because Japanese people can trust each other.”

And beyond stereotypes, there were many cases of non-Japanese being denied services specifically because they were foreigners. I used to live in a “Gaijin house”, which is an institution I haven’t seen the equivalent of in any other country. And besides the difficulty of finding a landlord who would rent to a foreigner, I met people who had, for example, been denied membership at video shops, or told by a barber that he didn’t know how to cut foreign hair. I have endless examples actually, but suffice it to say that when I first came to Japan I find it to be a very xenophobic country: I had never before been to a country where the people considered themselves to be fundamentally different from people born “over there”, as in any other country outside their own.

But Japan has changed. I don’t feel now that I’m treated any better or worse than Japanese people are. The only thing that I do sometimes still encounter is people who answer my wife (who is Japanese) when I have spoken. There are some people who seem to think that my wife is a master ventriloquist who can throw her voice and make it seem that it is me who is saying something in Japanese; but they won’t be taken in, ohh no, they know it’s just a trick and that I am actually a life-size wooden dummy, so when I speak, they answer her. But even that is quite rare these days. These days 99% of the Japanese I encounter acknowledge me without surprise, awkwardness or resentment. And the meaning of “gaijin” has changed. Now it’s basically equivalent to the English word “foreigner” which, because Japan doesn’t have a monopoly on xenophobia, also has negative connotations. I think it’s best to avoid both words if possible. In Japanese, “gaikokujin” sounds more respectful, and in English “non-Japanese” is perhaps best. Having said that, neither “gaijin” nor “foreigner” are inherently derogatory words, there’s no reason to call out the word police (Debito gotten up in Spanish clerical vestments?) or tear off on a diatribe just because someone happens to use either of them in conversation.

There still are problems. Japan hasn’t suddenly become an Arcadian paradise of racial harmony. There are still issues for Debito to tilt at—the government’s foreign trainee program comes to mind—but if he insists on equating the G-word with the N-word, nobody is going to take him seriously. 　

Foreign nurses turned down because of gender

James — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:12:55 +0000

A deal to allow Indonesian nurses to work in Japan has fallen short of its target because many male nurses who applied were turned down, reports the Yomiuri:

Under an EPA signed in August 2007, Japan is scheduled to accept 1,000 Indonesian nurses and care workers over a two-year period. In the first year, Japan was supposed to accept 500 Indonesian nurses. However, only about 40 percent of the scheduled number will arrive on Aug. 7.

One reason the number fell short of 500 was that the number of applicants itself was lower than expected because the Indonesian government had little time to publicize the opportunity to work in Japan. This has been compounded by the fact that many Japanese medical and welfare facilities refused to accept male nurses, who accounted for more than half of the candidates.

Many Indonesian male nurses who were refused work in Japan have expressed disappointment at being turned down as a result, and this issue is sure to become an item on the agenda of future talks between the nations looking at how to deal with the mismatch between the Indonesian nurses and the Japanese facilities.