Japan Probe » Foreigners in Japan

Japanese Documentary About Sea Shepherd’s Protest Activities in Taiji (English Subtitles)

James — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:04:28 +0000

Somebody has translated an Japanese TV documentary about Sea Shepherd’s activities in Taiji and uploaded the video to youtube:

Part 1

Part 2

The documentary mentions how “The Cove” won the Academy Award for best documentary “last year,” so this probably aired on Japanese TV some time in 2011.

The network that created the documentary, Asahi TV, is considered politically liberal/left. However, even a liberal network has great difficulty feeling any sympathy for the SS members, who harass both fishermen and documentary filmmakers.

The fishermen are pleased to receive attention from legitimate journalists, and even tell the TV crew about a hill where they can film the dolphin hunt. In the early days of the filming, SS members were also willing to be interviewed, but they later decided to sop doing so. ( It’s probably not good PR to have your people make asses of themselves on Japanese TV by talking about how “fun” it is to harass fishermen. )

They also interview Peter Bethune, a former member of Sea Shepherd who resigned after he was arrested and jailed for illegally boarding a Japanese ship. Bethune thinks that Paul Watson and other leaders of Sea Shepherd are dishonest and do more harm than good. Examples of this dishonest include scuttling a ship and claiming that the Japanese whalers “sunk” it, as well as Watson’s infamous “I’ve been shot” episode.

We are also shown activists who oppose the dolphin hunt but do not support Sea Shepherd’s tactics. One is Ady Gil, a former donor to Sea Shepherd who thinks that people should help Taiji develop and eco tourism business. And there is a Japanese woman (formerly a member of the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling crew) and a group of foreign activists who are protesting without hatred towards the people of Taiji.

Here are a few links to additional information about this issue:

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Washington Times Freelancer Slams Former Employer, Fails to Ethically Disclose Relationship?

James — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:39:17 +0000

Former Tokyo-based freelance journalist Christopher Johnson has been sending Cease and Desist letters to JapanProbe. In these letters, he claimed that his journalism “been beyond reproach for 25 years,” and implies that my recent blog posts pointing out inconsistencies in his “gaijin gulag” article are tarnishing his reputation. This prompted me to look further into his past work.

Freelancer hired by JVA in 2010, but rejected in 2011

In late 2010 Japan hosted the Volleyball World Cup. The Japan Volleyball Association (JVA) paid Canadian freelance journalist Christopher Johnson to write articles about the event.

The 2011 Volleyball World Cup was also hosted in Japan. Although Johnson once again applied for a job with the JVA, he was rejected.

The exact reasons behind the JVA’s decision are unknown. However, we do know Johnson’s side of the story. In a blog post dated November 11 2011, Johnson viciously attacked Hiromi Suzuki of the JVA, claiming that she unfairly blocked his assignment after he received the endorsement of a press officer of the International Federation of Volleyball (FIVB):

“…she cancelled Johnson off the list. ((Last year, though he wrote lengthy, detailed semi-final and final reports, he insisted on also doing a story for a newspaper I never heard of (the New York Times.) That was weird. Even worse, he went home from Hamamatsu on his day off to take care of his dying dog. And when I made mistakes calculating his travel expenses of 14,800 yen, he asked me to do the math again. He’s a troublemaker.))

[...]

“Before Johnson could conclude a deal potentially worth about 1.2 million yen, however, Suzuki seized the chance to get revenge on Johnson for causing “meiwaku” (trouble) by going home on his day off to take care of his dying dog. Over the phone, she told Baker that Johnson threatened to take her to court, and he still owed the JVA 1820 yen (about $25) in transport costs from last year.”

Johnson, who is writing about himself in the third-person, was clearly unhappy about missing out on the deal. The article seems to characterize Suzuki as a lazy idiot who disliked foreigners (“sent by her parents to ESL programs in London, she learned to hate English and distrust foreigners”). Rick Martin, the freelancer who was hired for the position the Johnson had hoped to fill, is characterized as someone hired because he “didn’t ask ‘difficult’ journalistic questions at press conferences.” Other JVA employees are also characterized as anti-foreign, and Japanese journalists are described as showing up drunk to volleyball matches.

[Update(Feb. ]: Johnson has since deleted his original blog post and replaced it with a NYT article. Knowing Johnson’s history of such behavior, I set up a Version tracking page. The cached version of the article is also still up. ]

Rejected freelancer writes articles slamming the JVA (without disclosing past employment)

A few weeks later, Johnson found two media outlets that were willing to publish articles that were intensely critical of the JVA:

Japan Tobacco accused of marketing to girls at World Cup volleyball (Washington Times / November 24, 2011)
Is Japan’s 2020 Olympic bid going up in smoke? Rest of the world fuming over tobacco sponsorship of sports in Japan. (CNN GO / December 6, 2011)

Japan Tobacco(JT)’s sponsorship of the JVA had been mentioned in Johnson’s earlier anti-JVA blog post. These two articles take that complaint a step further, framing it as story about anti-smoking campaigners who disapprove of JT.

Both articles failed to disclose Johnson’s past relationship with the JVA/FIVB. It is unlikely that any readers knew that Johnson had once worked as a JVA writer, and had just recently blogged about his intense frustration over having not been re-hired for JVA’s 2011 writing gig. From an ethical standpoint, this seems like a pretty massive disclosure failure. Shouldn’t readers have a right to know that they’re reading something written by a person that could be characterized as a disgruntled former JVA writer?

It is not clear if Johnson had disclosed his past work for the JVA/FIVB when submitting the article to the editors of CNN Go and the Washington Times.

Were cigarettes really being marketed to children?

Near the end of the Washington Times article it is revealed that the products being advertised were beverages:

“JT is a multi-products company and they are our sponsor as the beverage category for this World Cup.”

Readers are informed that the company in question, Japan Tobacco, has a beverage division. They are not informed that JT sells many very popular beverages such as Roots Coffee, Tsujiri Tea, Hot Lemon, and bottled variations of Doutor coffee and hot chocolate.

The JT name and logo are often used in coffee commercials:

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It is possible that the articles mentioned in this post may be altered or deleted in the future. For the sake of posterity, here are some cached copies:

Megalodon.jp is an automated site that creates cached copies of web addresses. Keeping track of what Journalists write on public blogs is not abuse. I do not understand why Johnson has tried to remove all traces of his volleyball blog entry. Why does he not confidently stand behind his past work?

[A huge thanks goes out to several anonymous cyber sleuths, who were kind enough to inform me about these volleyball articles. And, most of all, thanks to Christopher Johnson. ]

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Does K-Pop Group KARA Have Ties to North Korea?

James — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:11:04 +0000

Some Japanese netizens have a theory about this man, who has often been seen accompanying the South Korean pop group KARA:

They think he’s the same person as this ruffian who clashed with police outside the offices of Chongryon (Chosen Soren), an organization of pro-DPRK Korean residents of Japan:

They both share some facial features:

Those that see the “Korean Wave” in Japan as a fabrication are claiming that this is yet another example of how Korean pop culture’s popularity in Japan is part of an anti-Japanese conspiracy. They are not at all surprised that KARA would be seen associating with North Korean agents.

According to an article on the Rakuten/Infoseek Woman news site, the entertainment company that handles KARA has stated that the man is a “schedule manager” for the music group. They are looking into the accusations that he is a member of Chongryon.

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Sara Errani Admits She Avoided Tennis Tournament in Tokyo: Feared Radiation

James — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:05:23 +0000

Italian tennis player Sara Errani has confessed that she skipped the September 2011 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo because she was afraid of radiation:

Sara Errani has admitted fears of a radiation leak after last year’s tsunami in Japan forced her to withdraw from a tournament in Tokyo.

Errani…..had previously cited only personal reasons for missing the event.

Had the tournament taken place in March or April, one might have been able to sympathize with her decision. Fearing a trip to Tokyo in September, however, was ridiculous.

Update: Christopher Johnson, the Canadian freelancer responsible for the infamous “Gaijin Gulag” article, has used his Twitter account to lash out at JapanProbe:

The sensational reports he filed after fleeing Tokyo in March 2011 were bad enough. Now he’s insisting that a short term visit to Tokyo in September would have been dangerous. And, just as he did back in March, he’s trying to insult those of us who stayed in Tokyo instead of fleeing. What an astounding display of stupidity.

It’s no surprise that event organizers asked reporters not to ask players about the radiation: the tennis tournament was not being held in a contaminated area and had nothing to do with Fukushima.

Update 2: Johnson has continued public tantrum about this post.

If you’re critical of a tennis player’s decision to avoid Tokyo because of radiation fears you are: a coward, a sexist, a dweeb, a geek, and a tool of the older male authorities.

VK has commented about this on Tepido.org:

Mr Johnson has been going off on one on Twitter about JapanProbe. They reported on an Italian tennis player who refused to play in Tokyo last September because of radiation fears.

Johnson retorted: extreme cowardice: blame healthy young female athletes for fearing nuclear radiation during meltdown.

“Nastiness” I could understand as a coherent comment, whether or not I agree with it. “Patronising wankiness” would pass the sense test. But “cowardice”? About people who didn’t flee, talking about someone too scared to come, said by someone who fled? Shaky grip on the language. And he’s quite clearly got a phenomenally loose grip on sciencey things. I’m surprised he’s got the courage to touch his computer.

Stay classy, Mr. Johnson.

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Chinese Workers Who Survived March 11th Tsunami Return to Tohoku

James — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:24:00 +0000

A Japanese news report about a group of 15 Chinese “trainee” workers who survived the March 11th tsunami, went back to China, and are now coming back to Tohoku to once again work in factories:

Among the group are five workers whose lives were saved by Sato Mitsuru, who was commissioner with the Sato Fisheries Corporation on March 11th. After leading Chinese trainee workers to safety, Sato went searching for his family and was swept away by the tsunami. The story of Sato’s death was major news in China, where he was hailed as a hero.

According to the Yomiuri, the number of Chinese trainee workers in Japan dropped dramatically after March 11th. Thousands fled the Tohoku and Kanto regions due to radiation fears. Although numbers are slowly increasing, some are apparently steering clear of Tohoku.

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Japan’s Inability to Make Decisions / Kevin Maher Strikes Back

James — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:24:33 +0000

Remember Kevin Maher, who lost his position in 2011 as director of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Japan Affairs after American students told the Japanese media that he had called Okinawans “masters of manipulation and extortion” who were “too lazy” to farm fruit?

Now that he’s no longer employed by the U.S. government, Maher has been strongly denying the accuracy of media reports about his remarks and criticizing both the Japanese government and the Obama administration. He’s released a book in Japanese, called “The Japan That Can’t Decide“(決断できない日本), and it’s supposedly been selling pretty well.

He’s also found an audience in America. Here is a video (1 hour 35 minutes) of Maher giving a speech about the main ideas of his book at the Heritage Foundation, one of America’s most influential right-wing think tanks:

At the beginning of the speech, Maher gives his side of the story about the students and his remarks about Okinawa. He states that the media reports were based on notes taken long after his actual speech and implies that the students had political motives. He also says that the State Department offered him a position in Australia after his dismissal from service in Japan, but he refused to accept “hush money” from them. He wanted the freedom to speak freely to the public.

A Heritage Foundation blog post has summarized his critical views of Japanese politics:

Japanese officials have become so fraught with indecision, he said, that Japan is mired in a perennial policy stalemate. Maher identified several reasons for this situation, including a consensus-building parliamentary system that empowers small minorities to block major decisions, a loss of confidence among politicians resulting from Japan’s lost decades of economic stagnation, and an aversion to taking risks and assuming responsibility.

Maher blamed Japan’s consensus-building approach and emphasis on domestic political concerns for the ongoing stalemate over the planned U.S. military realignment on Okinawa, particularly the Marine Corps Futenma Replacement Facility. Japan has passed the buck on implementing the previously agreed-upon plan of relocating Futenma’s air assets to Camp Schwab, transferring 8,000 Marines to Guam, and reducing the burden on the local population.

Maher emphasized that Japan’s populace and political leadership must take security issues more seriously—a weakness underscored by the meager 1 percent of GDP spent on defense. Maher condemned proposals to relocate Futenma’s helicopters off Okinawa, noting that Marine Corps units must constantly train with integrated air, ground, and logistics assets. In his words, “if they don’t train together, they die, and we will not sacrifice Marines’ lives for Japan’s domestic political concerns.” Japan must simply wake up to its security environment and understand why U.S. Marines on Okinawa are essential to peace and security in the Pacific.

The AFP also had a story about him, in which focus was placed on his view of the Kan Administration’s weak response to the Fukushima crisis:

Maher said that the US government was privately terrified over the unfolding crisis. He accused Japan’s then prime minister, Naoto Kan, of evading responsibility and trying to pass the problem over to the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Co.

“I remember sitting on a task force many a time thinking, ‘Who the hell is in control in Japan?’ The government’s not doing anything. Kan made one trip and flew up and got in the way and came back,” Maher said.

Maher said that he watched in horror as he saw television footage of a sole helicopter dropping water on the stricken plant.

“Is that the best Japan can do?” Maher said. “Frankly what happened is the US government called in the Japanese ambassador and said, look, you have to take this stuff seriously. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Maher said that the United States was even looking at whether it would have to evacuate some 100,000 Americans, although it soon became clear that Tokyo was not in harm’s way.

Maher thinks that in the early days of the crisis, there was nobody at the government level who wanted to take responsibility for the Fukushima crisis. The Kan Administration wanted it to be “Tepco’s problem” instead of the government’s problem. This was “irresponsible” behavior. After about March 16th, the crisis management increased greatly.

Some of the points he makes in the speech:

The scandal about his alleged remarks took place was top news the day before the earthquake/tsunami. After March 11th, newspapers on the mainland devoted their attention to the gigantic disaster. But the Okinawan press supposedly thought Maher’s scandal was more important, and gave it more attention than the disaster.
The Okinawa base issue is just like the issue of hold-out houses in the middle of Narita Airport: Japanese politicians try and fail at consensus-building, so a small minority can spoil policies that should help the entire country.
When Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed in 1985, Japanese SDF helicopters could not send down rescue crews because it was dark and they lacked night vision equipment. The American military offered assistance, but were rejected. As a result, injured survivors died while rescuers waited until sunrise. Maher thinks that bureaucrats turned down the American offer because they thought that it would take too long to build a consensus for its approval.
Because Japan’s crisis management system relies on consensus-building, it basically has no effective means to deal with a crisis. (He doesn’t know how one would translate the idea of OBE into Japanese.)
Japan needs to understand that “not deciding is deciding.”
The real problem is that politicians do not want to take responsibility for tough decisions. If you build consensus before making a decision, everyone is responsible for it. But if you have to decide something without consensus, you’ve got to take responsibility.
People in America who tell the Japanese to “put aside” the North Korea abductee issue are wrong. If American citizens were kidnapped by Cuba, America would probably go to war. How can you tell Japan to just ignore such a problem?
Japan and America should not ignore the fact that China is a “totalitarian dictatorship.” China is a “real threat” to Japan.
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force should aquire nuclear-powered submarines to counter China’s growing naval strength.
Japan needs to face security issues head-on and make the difficult decisions that need to be made. This involves explaining the necessity to the Japanese public.
The relocation of Futenma Air Station to Henoko is the best solution available. Unfortunately, it will probably not be implemented. (But the security relationship between America and Japan is still functioning well. )
Keeping Futenma’s helicopters near the other Marine bases on Okinawa is vital for their training. And adequate training is a matter of life and death to the marines. Unlike the Japanese, they face the realistic possibility of being sent to a war zone. (Unnamed Democrats criticized him after he said this to Hatoyama’s advisors in 2010.)
Noda has the potential to be a stronger leader than Hatoyama or Kan. But it is difficult to look forward and predict how things will turn out.
Japan needs to restart most of its nuclear reactors. Otherwise, electricity shortages will seriously damage the economy.
The population is declining because many people aren’t optimistic about the future of Japan.
He isn’t criticizing traditional Japanese culture. Japanese politicians in the 1950′s and 1960′s knew how to make decisions. Japan’s current problems are brought on by a lack of confidence, possibly due to economic stagnation.
“The Japanese people deserve better politics.”

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“Gaijin Gulag” Victim Christopher Johnson Discloses Visa Information ( Work Visa Application Paperwork, But No Approval? )

James — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:59:34 +0000

Part I: Visa status announced, then deleted

A quick update on the ongoing tale of Christopher Johnson, a freelance journalist whose Narita Airport “Gaijin Gulag” story has been picked up by several major news websites (The Economist, Boing Boing, Reddit).

In my last post, I noted that Johnson’s refusal to disclose his visa status had created considerable controversy about his account of detention and deportation.

Johnson’s article is an ever-evolving work. He has been constantly editing his blog post, changing the wording of old passages and adding new information. His latest edit may have answered the big question about his visa.

It now has a new passage (emphasis added):

Though I had work visas dating back to 1989, and papers saying the government had acknowledged the receipt of my application to renew my work visa, I was detained at Narita airport and expelled.

If this is correct, it seems to confirm what many people had suspected: Johnson did not have a valid work visa. Paperwork stating that the government had received an application does not grant permission to enter the country. Should immigration officers have assumed that the application would be accepted? [UPDATE: Less than two hours have passed since I made this post, and Johnson has DELETED the above-mentioned passage from his blog post! Just how are we supposed to explain that? ]

I have been in similar situation. I applied for a visa renewal but during the month that it took to process the paperwork, my previous visa expired. I was told that I could remain in the country until I received the results of the renewal application. The validity of the re-entry permit in my passport was tied to the date of the previous visa. So if I left the country during that week of “limbo” between visas, there was a high risk that I might not be allowed back in. I was also not supposed to engage in work during the period between visas. If Johnson’s case was the same, it is baffling that he left the country before the new visa had been approved.

Oddly enough, Johnson has not changed an older passage about the visa situation:

I first had a work visa for Japan in 1989, and my last renewal began in 2008. I have never overstayed, and never broken laws in Japan.

Did he apply for a renewal in 2008 and not receive a response until 2011? I might be safe to assume that one of the two passages is wrong. Maybe the most recent one? It sure is hard to fully understand a situation when the details keep changing…

Johnson also added a passage about a “similar” case (taken from a credible source – an anonymous internet comment):

In an account similar to my own, a Canadian using the pseudonym “mxlx3″ explained his ordeal in a comment to The Economist’s Banyan blog. After 11 years working legally and paying taxes in Japan, he lost his $125,000 per year job, all his possessions in his apartment, and his Japanese fiancee, because bureaucrats messed up his renewal for a work permit. After his sponsored work visa expired, immigration officers told him to leave Japan and come back on a tourist visa while his new employment visa was being processed. But upon returning from Guam in 2002, he was detained and expelled.

Johnson has stated today that his visa status “has been explained,” but questions remain: had the previous visa expired? Why had he left the country before the renewal was processed?

Part II: Johnson Changes His Story Again

Update [Jan. 26]: For the past several days, a user called “imcanjapn” had been leaving comments on the Economist’s website, closely mirroring Christopher Johnson’s statements on other sites. After several users claimed to have “outed” him as Johnson’s sockpuppet account, he disappeared.

Now, Johnson himself has appeared on that comment thread, making new claims about his visa status:

Those who accused me of doing “visa runs”, “over-staying” or “gaming the system” for 22 years have been proven false. I had work visas dating back to 1989, and documents from the immigration department regional office in Tokyo in 2011 that acknowledged they were processing my application to renew my visa to continue working legally in Japan as a freelance journalist. Under new regulations, I was allowed to keep my passport during this time. Immigration officers in Tokyo kindly told me several times I could leave and return to Japan during this process, thanks to new procedures. I had no problem returning to Japan, on this same basis, from trips to Canada and Germany in 2011.

Commenting on the older version of his article, which stated that he several beers on the short morning flight, Johnson claimed that he was “not drunk or high upon arrival at Narita.”

He continues to claim that officials did not tell him the reason why he was given an expulsion order. Once again, he has implied that the Japanese government was out to get him because of his heroic truth-telling. Supposedly, Johnson used to work for NHK World, but was “blacklisted” by them because he started spreading the word about how NHK was “squandering of millions of yen of taxpayers funds on cash-cow programs which can’t be seen in Japan.” (Isn’t that the whole point of NHK World – to make programs for an audience outside Japan?)

If his latest claim about visa status is true, one wonders why he has evaded answering questions about his visa. Why would he hide that information, and lash out at people who asked about it? Why in the world would he leave such critical details out of the original version of his story. It makes no sense at all. Few of his critics are likely to trust him now.

One user on the FG forums responded to Johnson’s new claims with the following:

“Maybe Chris Johnson was lucky on his earlier entries, maybe they were during the life of the previous visa, or maybe the decision not to allow his renewal was made coincidentally during his time in Korea. Maybe he misunderstood what Immigration were telling him, and looked at it all a bit too optimistically.

Or maybe it is a global world conspiracy by NHK, Serbians and the nuclear industry specifically targetting him. I wonder which is more likely.”

—

Extra: Unlike those other foreigners…..

Update: Reading over Johnson’s article, I noticed one interesting passage in his blog post (emphasis added):

But I didn’t flee Japan like thousands of foreigners after the March 11 disasters. I made personal sacrifices to tell the world about the plight of disaster victims, to generate sympathy for Japan. I earned income from sources outside Japan, and spent it inside Japan.

I thought this whole “flyjin” issue was behind most of us, but since Johnson wants to bring it up, let’s take a look at the record. Some quick Googling found that Johnson did indeed stay in Japan after the disaster. However, while millions of us stayed at our homes and workplaces in Tokyo, Johnson joined the panic-stricken and got the got on a bullet train.

On March 16th, Canada’s CTV network aired a telephone interview with Johnson, who has bravely decided to stay in the city of Hamamatsu..which he claims could still be in harm’s way. Johnson implies that the people who didn’t flee Tokyo were the ones who had given in to fear.

(In the video, CTV has erroneously included “On the line from: Tokyo” at the top of the screen.)

—-Begin Transcript——

News anchor asked him how close he is to the exposed areas.

CHRIS JOHNSON: “…I’m not sure if I’m in the exposed area or not…..[explains that Hamamatsu is "a little over a hundred kilometers" southwest of Tokyo]…I decided to come here so that I could still be close to Tokyo but…uh…I wanted to get out before there was any sort of mass attempt at an escape…[mentions strong winds near Hamamatsu]….But if…if there is a meltdown, I am going to try to get down to Osaka or anywhere south, if I can.”

News anchor asked him if he is personally concerned.

CHRIS JOHNSON: “I think everybody is…COUGH excuse me..I am one of the LAST people I know to leave Tokyo. All my friends left earlier. Basically anybody that had small children we-were leaving. When I took the bullet train, the high speed Shinkansen bullet train here, it was just full of Japanese mothers with their babies. While their husbands were still working in Tokyo today. But even…uh…Sony for example..uhm..normally has 6,000 people working at their headquarters. They only had about 120 today. Everybody else has left.”

News anchor asks where people are going.

CHRIS JOHNSON: “They try to go to where they have relatives in other parts of the country that are outside the disaster zone. Or a lot of them go to Osaka, stay in hotels. In fact, I am told the Austrian embassy has relocated to Osaka. A lot of foreign journalists have moved down there too. So everybody is just sort of waiting and watching…and uh..fearful about the situation. But there are a lot of people still in Tokyo and a lot of people are not able to leave. They don’t know where to go. They don’t have a lot of money and a lot of people are sort of paralyzed with with shock and fear…”

—-End Transcript——

Small Update: Johnson’s own Twitter posts have directly contradicted the claims he made on Canadian television:

So on TV in March he claimed that all his friends had fled. On Twitter in January 2011, he’s saying that a large number of his friends did stay. So, which is it? They can’t both be true.

There you have it: Christopher Johnson did not flee Japan like thousands of other foreigners. No way. He only contributed to the English language news reports that exaggerated the exodus from Tokyo and encouraged others to flee. For his heroic service, he apparently deserves special treatment at immigration checkpoints.

For the latest information, check out these discussion threads about Johnson’s article:

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27.8% Decrease in Foreign Tourists Visiting Japan in 2011

James — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:52:35 +0000

2011 saw a gigantic decrease in the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan:

The number of foreign visitors to Japan in 2011 totaled an estimated 6,219,000, down 27.8 percent from the existing record of some 8,611,000 in 2010.

There was also a drop in non-tourist foreign nationals entering the country:

According to government figures released Tuesday, the number of foreign nationals entering Japan dropped 24.4% from a record of 9.45 million in 2010 to 7.14 million in 2011.

New entries of foreign nationals – a figure that excludes working or studying expatriates that may have returned after home leave – made a similarly dismal showing. The Immigration Bureau of the Justice Ministry said new entrants fell from 7.92 million in 2010 to 5.45 million in 2010, slumping 31.2%.

The reasons are obvious: the March 11th disaster and the strength of the yen. People were worried about damage from the disaster and fearful of radiation from Fukushima. And the exchange rate makes vacationing in Japan far more expensive than it would have been several years ago.

NHK notes large drops in the number of tourists from neighboring countries that make up the majority of foreign visitors to Japan. There was a 32% decrease in Korean tourists, a 26.1% decrease in Chinese tourists, and a 21.6% decrease in tourists from Taiwan. Since November, the number of Chinese visitors has begun to recover to pre-disaster levels.

South Korean tourist numbers have not shown as great a rebound. The commissioner of Japan Tourism Agency recently visited Seoul to speak to the media and convince people that it is safe to visit Japan. He ended the press conference by singing the Korean national anthem:

It was kind of weird, but it helped draw attention to his mission…

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Christopher Johnson Under Fire For “Gaijin Gulag” Article

James — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:50:16 +0000

On January 18th, the Economist’s Banyan column copy-pasted Christopher Johnson’s sensational account his detention and deportation from Narita Airport. According to Johnson, immigration authorities may have singled him out unjustly because he was a journalist that wrote articles critical of the Japanese establishment:

“As a freelance journalist in post-meltdown Japan…..I was taking risks more than most foreigners. I wondered if I was being blacklisted due to my critical coverage of TEPCO, Japan Tobacco, Olympus, JAL, the yakuza, fascists, and state neglect of tsunami survivors and nuclear refugees.”

Johnson never specifies his visa status in the article. The Economist states that “his lawyer advised him not to discuss it.” This has made Johnson a target of strong criticism on the internet. Why write such an article and leave out one of the most important pieces of information?

—————–

Update:

More details have emerged about the visa.

—————–

And all this just so happened to occur when he was about to release a novel – which is an “uncompromising look at the inner turmoil behind the stoic face of Japan.” Quite a profitable coincidence.

Several of Japan’s expat blogs have been commenting on the case. One of the best posts is “How Bad is Japanese Immigration?” by Hiko Saemon. I encourage you all to read the full post, but here is a very short excerpt about visas:

I do not believe that Mr. Johnson would have been pulled up and deported from Japan for writing articles critical of Japan. I also don’t believe that he would be deported for no reason. I don’t believe that Mr. Johnson spent a day in detention, speaking to numerous English speaking staff and never understood why he was being deported.

The fact Mr. Johnson is not sharing his visa status also speaks volumes to me. Again, the Economist doesn’t add anything to this, but it seems to me, his visa status was very likely the reason he was not allowed to reenter Japan. That is to say, it was most likely known that he was violating the terms of his visa and his entry was denied. This comes back to my earlier point – IF that is the case, and Mr. Johnson was “trying his luck” at getting in and out of Japan working without a proper visa, he was asking for trouble.

Mulboyne (at the FG forums) has also commented on the importance Johnson’s visa status:

What comes across in his account is a total disbelief that Immigration had any right to deny him entry. If he had a valid status of residence then that would be understandable. Even if he later exaggerates, we would know he’s writing his account from a position of genuine and justified outrage.

If he had no valid status of residence then his account is in a parallel universe. As onlookers, instead of justified outrage, we see an unjustified sense of entitlement. Anger, which should be partly directed towards himself for his predicament, is entirely directed elsewhere. When he blames everyone except himself, his overall credibility is in question.

Johnson has not been friendly towards people who have asked him about his visa status. His display of rude arrogance in a public Twitter conversation with Jake Adelstein and Tokyo Reporter has done little to inspire confidence in his story.

The article has changed considerably since Johnson first posted it online. The latest update has added some information about visa status:

I first had a work visa for Japan in 1989, and my last renewal began in 2008. I have never overstayed, and never broken laws in Japan.

But it is still not specific, and has failed to end speculation about whether Japanese immigration authorities had a valid reason to deny him entry. As some have pointed out, a 3 year work visa issued in 2008 could have expired while Johnson was out of the country.

There are also some highly unlikely and possibly wrong parts of the article. His most shocking claim – that security guards threatened him to sign papers at gunpoint – is extremely unlikely because gun control laws in Japan do not allow private security guards to carry firearms. The article seems full of exaggerations, like his complaint that he was forced “onto a flight to Canada without much winter clothing for minus 40 temperatures in Alberta” ( he had been visiting Seoul, where temperatures were much lower than those in Alberta). Johnson also states that he had a “few beers” on the 9:00AM flight from Seoul to Narita, a trip that typically takes about 90 minutes.

For the latest information, check out these discussion threads about Johnson’s article:

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American Man Missing After Trip to Mt. Fuji

James — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:02:14 +0000

A search is underway for Matt Johnson, an American man who disappeared after apparently going on a hiking/camping trip to Mt. Fuji:

Johnson has been an engineer in Eaton Corp.’s vehicle business unit in Galesburg since 2003, according to a company statement published on the website for television station WOOD-TV 8. He went to Japan on a business trip on Jan. 8.

Johnson’s car was found at the base of the mountain, the highest peak in Japan at 12,385 feet, but rescuers were unable to begin searching for him until 5 p.m. Tuesday, local time, because 16 inches of snow had fallen.

Friends and family have set up a “Please Pray for Matt Johnson” Facebook group. Over 900 people have joined the group.

Most travel guides warn against visiting Mt. Fuji in the winter months. There are also numerous warnings issued by Japanese authorities, such as this one on the Fuji-Yoshida city homepage:

Mt. Fuji is 3776m above sea level and has conditions that kill climbers every year. The official climbing season is limited to two months, July and August. It is considered very dangerous to climb during the off-season.

Winter conditions on the mountain are similar to those found on 8000m Himalayan peaks and are dangerous for even the most professional alpinists.

Three Deadly Reasons to Stay off Mt. Fuji in the off-season:
● Avalanche. Mt. Fuji is the perfect domain for avalanches due to its steep slope and lack of vegetation. When a slab of ice breaks free, hikers are pummeled against snow, ice, and trees and buried as if encased in wet concrete.
● Winds. Strong winds literally blow climbers off the slippery slopes. There have been several cases of tents flying off of the slopes with their occupants onboard.
● Hypothermia. Though not limited to the off-season, hyperthermia is a life-threatening condition that proves fatal if not diagnosed and treated properly. It is the result of a hiker’s core body temperature dropping and internal organs succumbing to the cold.

Those wishing to climb Mt. Fuji in the off-season face considerable danger and a lack of:
●Rescue Personnel
●Mountain Huts. Most mountain huts close at the end of season, but some stay open into September. After September, there is no lodging, food, or water on Mt. Fuji.
●Transportation. The road to the 5th Station is closed for most of the year. Buses, if running, are infrequent and thus climbers become stranded on the mountain over night.

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Korean Festival vs. Thai Festival (Fake Korean Wave?)

James — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:45:38 +0000

The following video is near the top of YouTube Japan’s most viewed ranking for today (with over 150,000 views):

The video compares footage from two events held in Tokyo: a Thai food festival and a Korean food festival. Apparently there were some press reports claiming that over 200,000 people attended the Korean food festival, but the video shows otherwise. The Thai festival, on the other hand, was packed with visitors.

The video is meant as evidence that the media is fabricating the “Korean Wave” in an effort to shove Korean culture down the throats of the Japanese people. The uploader also states that Koreans in Japan are more likely to commit crimes than Thais in Japan.

The 200,000 claim does seem to be an exaggeration. The media could have been deliberately distorting the truth, or could have just been lazy and accepted whatever the event organizers told them. But is it evidence that the whole “Korean Wave” has been manufactured by the media? I would argue that this video tells us very little about the popularity of Korean culture in Japan because:

The Thai festival was held in summer, when people like to visit outdoor food tents. The Korean festival was held in the freezing cold of January.
Thai food is less common in Japan, making it more exotic and special. I attended the Thai festival in 2010 because I don’t have many opportunities to eat Thai food. Korean restaurants, on the other hand, are almost as numerous as McDonald’s or Yoshinoya: they’re everywhere.
If one were to visit Shin Okubo, the center of the “Korean Wave” in Japan, one would find huge lines outside of its Korean restaurants. Even in winter.

The crime claim may also be exaggerated. Thai people in Japan commit less crimes than Koreans because there are far fewer Thais in Japan. The actual rate of crime, however, may be different from what the video uploader claims.

If the conspiracy theorists want to prove that Korean pop culture and food are not actually popular in Japan, they’re going to need better evidence than this video.

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Escaped Convict Remains At Large

James — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:55:41 +0000

A 40-year-old Chinese inmate escaped from a prison in Hiroshima on Wednesday:

Li Guolin was sentenced to 23 years in prison after firing a handgun at a police officer after breaking into a house during an attempted burglary in 2005.

Elementary and junior high schools around the prison were on high alert in the morning, with children walking to school accompanied by parents or other guardians.

The Hiroshima city board of education has instructed elementary and junior high schools, as well as kindergartens in the vicinity to organize children into groups when going to or leaving school.

“Children seem worried. I hope the case will be resolved without anyone getting hurt,” said Yukio Kubo, the principal of Yoshijima Elementary School, which is about 500 meters south of the prison.

According to the police, Li was only in his underwear when he made his escape by scaling a 5-meter-high outer wall.

Footholds were recently attached to the wall for construction work, and the sensors and alarms on the wall had been switched off, the police said.

A security guard said he saw a man jump off the wall at around 10 a.m. Wednesday. “He fell on his rear and turned over. Then he ran off at a steady trot,” he said.

As noted by the BBC, it is Japan’s first jail-break in over 20 years.

Many of the English language reports about the escape are emphasizing how the convict was wearing underwear. Some, such as the AFP, have used stock photos of underwear. However, as the images from the Japanese media show, this prisoner was not nearly nude. It was white-colored long underwear. If somebody saw him, they may not have realized that he was an escaped criminal.

Li is no longer believed to be wandering around in his undies. Through a DNA test on an empty beer can , police have confirmed that he broke into a house 1.5 kilometers from the prison, had a meal, and stole a North Face jacket and some Uniqlo clothing.

UPDATE: He has been captured.

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Amazing Glass Balancing – Richardo From Sweden

James — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:15:08 +0000

Glass balancing expert Richardo performs on Japanese TV:

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Taiwanese Murder Suspect Commits Suicide

James — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:43:42 +0000

Japanese police found the Taiwanese student who was apparently responsible for the brutal murder of two of his classmates:

Chang Chih-yang, a student at a Japanese language school in Tokyo, is suspected of having killed Julia Chu, 25, and Lin Chih-ying, 23, both of whom were also students at the school.

Chu and Lin were found covered in blood in the dormitory of the Intercultural Institute of Japan at around 10 a.m. Jan. 5. One of them died at the scene and the other died a short time later in hospital.

Police found Chang earlier today at the SKE48 theater in Nagoya. According to the latest press reports, when police were driving him to a station for questioning, he took out a knife and stabbed himself in the neck. He died before they could get him to a hospital. Police officers had supposedly searched him beforehand, but had failed to find the knife.

Chang is said to have confessed his guilt shortly before his suicide.

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Japanese Police Seek Taiwanese Student (Possible Suspect in Double Murder?)

James — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 07:48:12 +0000

Some new details have emerged regarding the murder of two Taiwanese women who were studying Japanese at the Intercultural Institute of Japan in Tokyo.

The Mainichi has provided some details on how the crime took place in the morning:

Lin last spoke on the phone with a male friend around 8 a.m. Thursday, but when another male friend called her about 9:20 a.m., she did not answer, the investigators said, leading them to believe the victims were murdered sometime during the time period.

Lin had promised to go on a trip that day with the male friends, who attend the same language school. They had been planning to meet at a subway station at 9:30 a.m. But when she did not show up, the friends contacted a school official, who then found the women inside the room, according to the investigators.

Lin was found lying in the hallway inside her room with a winter jacket and boots on. With her luggage found beside her, she was apparently attacked right before leaving her apartment, the investigators said. Chu was found bleeding on the bottom bunk bed, indicating she was possibly assaulted while in bed.

As noted in the previous post, their keys were also missing. The door to the room had been locked and all the windows were closed.

Focus Taiwan has reported that the father of one victim believes that the building’s security system and the timing of the crime could indicate that the murderer was somebody who knew the girls:

The father of Lin Chi-ying, a 22-year-old who was studying Japanese at a language school in Tokyo, said the dormitory is well-secured and requires an electronic security card for entry and exit.

The murder, which took place at around 10 a.m. Thursday (Taiwan time) was most likely committed by an acquaintance, he said

The latest Japanese news articles state that an acquaintance of the two girls has mysteriously disappeared. The person in question is a male student from Taiwan who was studying at the same school. Police are trying to locate him so that he can be questioned about the murder.

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Family Torn Apart By Irrational Fear of Radiation

James — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:12:45 +0000

The Asahi reports about a German citizen who made his family flee Tokyo after the Fukushima nuclear accident. It would seem that, despite the overwhelming evidence that a radioactive doomsday never occurred, some people who fled are still afraid of living in Tokyo:

While Sascha has since returned to Tokyo alone to continue his work as a radio disc jockey, his wife, Terumi, and their 4-year-old daughter, Leiya, remain in Germany.

Sascha, 35, who identifies himself only by his first name, was unconvinced that radiation levels in Japan would not have an adverse impact on the health of his family.

Nine months after leaving Japan, Terumi, 39, who can speak very little German, often struggles with basic day-to-day procedures. And she’s not the only one feeling the stress of living in a foreign land. Leiya, who attends kindergarten in Munich, showed apparent strains from a new environment, acting out on occasion, for some time.

After months of living in a country he believed to be too radioactive for his daughter, Sascha visited her in Germany. While there, he underwent some tests that confirmed what should have already been obvious:

In Japan, Sascha has been measuring radiation levels with a dosimeter. In October, he traveled to Germany to undergo an examination for radiation. Sascha said he wanted to confirm with his own body whether it was safe for his family to return to Japan.

When he reported on a blog that nothing abnormal was detected, many people who were also worried about the impact of radiation on their children’s health wrote that they felt reassured.

He apparently brushed the test results aside and continues to insist that Tokyo is still too dangerous for his wife and child. The article states that he spent the New Year’s holiday alone in Japan.

Instead of emphasizing the lack of a rational reason to be afraid of living in Tokyo, the author of the article repeats a line that has become popular among anti-nuclear activists. Many initially insisted that Fukushima would contaminate Tokyo with deadly amounts of radiation, but that never happened. So, lacking credible evidence of danger, they now insist that we must wait years to find out who was right:

Some frowned on the couple’s decision to flee, although they certainly weren’t the only ones to leave Japan after March 11. It will take time before they can tell whether it was the right or wrong decision. The couple said they will take responsibility for their decision either way.

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Koreans Plaster Tokyo With Comfort Women Posters

James — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:37:33 +0000

Last week, South Korean nationalists bought a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal:

Singer Kim Jang-hoon and Sungshin Women’s University professor Seo Kyoung-duk used ad space in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday (Dec 29), requesting compensation or a public apology from the Japanese government on former sex slaves.

Headlined “Do You Hear?” the ad shows a photo of Korean elderly women who were “comfort women” forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II and explains that they have been holding weekly meetings outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul since 1992. It adds that the number of attendants to the gatherings has grown to about 1,000.

The poster is highly misleading. It falsely claims that the Japanese government never paid compensation to the victims . It also incorrectly states that there have been no official apologies (“The Japanese government….has never expressed any intention of compensation or public apology for its atrocities”).

A few days later, the Korean media reported that Japanese translations of the advertisement had been printed as posters and placed throughout Tokyo. Searchina has translated some of the information from the reports into Japanese.

The two nationalists called on Korean residents of Japan to put up the posters. Some South Korean students in Japan were apparently inspired by her message, and about 1,500 posters were put up around Tokyo. The students targeted areas that received a lot of pedestrian traffic (such as Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Harajuku).

There are plans to do the same thing in the Kansai region of Japan.

Given the inflammatory content of the posters, it is highly unlikely that they found over a thousand places that would willingly display them. As angry 2channelers have pointed out, the Koreans are probably illegally putting up posters without the permission of property owners.

[ Since some people who come across this story may only be familiar with the Korean nationalist spin on the comfort women issue, here is a repost of some background information I wrote for a previous post.]

Background Information on Japan’s Official Response to the Comfort Women Issue

The issue of war reparations was addressed during the negotiations of the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea. The South Korean government accepted a huge sum of money from Japan, stating that it would take care of the distribution of reparations to individual Korean victims of Japanese imperialism. The South Korean government agreed that its citizens would no longer have the legal right to demand compensation payments from the Japanese government.

Unfortunately for the victims, the South Korean government hid the reparations agreement from its citizens and used the money for other purposes. For decades, South Koreans believed that Japan had not properly paid reparations to their country. The South Korean government eventually admitted the truth in 2005:

In January 2005, the South Korean government disclosed 1,200 pages of diplomatic documents that recorded the proceeding of the treaty. The documents, kept secret for 40 years, recorded that South Korea agreed to demand no compensations, either at the government or individual level, after receiving $800 million in grants and soft loans from Japan as compensation for its 1910–45 colonial rule in the treaty.
The documents also recorded that the Korean government demanded a total of 364 million dollars in compensation for the 1.03 million Koreans conscripted into the workforce and the military during the colonial period, at a rate of 200 dollars per survivor, 1,650 dollars per death and 2,000 dollars per injured person.However, the South Korean government used most of the grants for economic development, failing to provide adequate compensation to victims by paying only 300,000 won per death in compensating victims of forced labor between 1975 and 1977. Instead, the government spent most of the money establishing social infrastructures, founding POSCO, building Gyeongbu Expressway and the Soyang Dam with the technology transfer from Japanese companies.

The documents also reveal that the South Korean government claimed that it would handle individual compensation to its citizens who suffered during Japan’s colonial rule while rejecting Japan’s proposal to directly compensate individual victims and receiving the whole amount of grants on the behalf of victims.(emphasis added)

Despite this evidence, many Koreans insist to this day that Japan never paid any form of compensation to their country. They have also dismissed or ignored the Japanese government’s numerous apologies to victims of imperialism.

When the comfort women issue gained international attention in the 1990′s, the Japanese government decided that it was a special case. Despite the fact that the previous treaty had legally settled the reparations issue and despite the fact that South Korea had paid compensation to the women, measures were taken to provide additional aid to former comfort women. Directly paying reparations would violate the 1965 agreement, so the Japanese government instead established the Asian Women’s Fund to raise funds and deliver compensation payments.

As noted on the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s homepage, the official response to the issue included apologies and the distribution of billions of yen in reparations to surviving comfort women:

Recognizing that the issue known as “comfort women” was a grave affront to the honor and dignity of a large number of women, the Government of Japan, together with the people of Japan, seriously discussed what could be done for expressing their sincere apologies and remorse to the former “comfort women.” As a result, the Asian Women’s Fund (AWF) was established on July 19, 1995 in order to extend atonement from Japanese people to the former “comfort women.” Having decided to provide necessary assistance for the AWF by a Cabinet decision in August 1995, the Government of Japan, with a view to fulfilling its moral responsibility, had been providing all possible assistance for the AWF, including bearing the total operational costs of the AWF, assisting its fund-raising and providing the necessary funds to implement its activities (approximately 4.8 billion yen from the AWF’s founding through fiscal year of 2005), in order for the AWF to attain its goals.

The AWF closed its doors in 2006, after having spent a decade searching for surviving comfort women and delivering compensation and apologies to those willing to accept them. Sadly, many former comfort women rejected the apologies and compensation. This was because Korean nationalists had convinced them that a foundation established and funded by the Japanese government was “unofficial,” and thus the AWF’s work did not amount to a “sincere” effort by Japan. The civic group that erected the bronze statue is made up of people who hold such a view of the AWF.

And finally, here are two frequently mentioned points that should probably be addressed.

“Korea wasn’t a democratic country in 1965” – Apparently, some people think that the entire 1965 agreement should be scrapped because Park Chung-hee was not a democratically elected ruler. Unfortunately, that’s not how diplomacy works. Japan had no control over the form of government in South Korea, and it had to deal with the South Korea that existed at that time. Compensation payments were necessary to normalize relations, and Japan had to agree to pay that money to the South Korean government before the treaty could be signed. Waiting decades to see if South Korea would ever democratize was not a realistic option. And it isn’t fair to expect that Japan should repay that money because the South Korean government didn’t properly execute the domestic end of the agreement. [ It's also strange to think that Japan should be held accountable for the actions of its pre-1945 undemocratic regime, but that Korea should ignore the actions of its previous undemocratic regime.]
“Why doesn’t Japan just make a direct payment of compensation to the women?” – Since the end of World War II, Japan has used bilateral agreements to settle reparations issues with all of the countries that suffered due to Japanese imperialism. Billions of yen were paid to the national governments of countries. The agreements made individual compensation a legal matter between the people of those countries and the governments of those countries. These kinds of state level agreements are widely recognized throughout the world, and are far more common than agreements that leave open the possibility of compensation lawsuits from individuals. If Japan were to void its agreement with South Korea by paying direct individual compensation to the former comfort women, it would in effect void all the other postwar reparations agreements. Reparations that were already legally settled and already paid at the state level would have to be re-paid at the individual level. The Asian Women’s Fund allowed Japan to avoid the legal mess of voiding treaties, while still being able to satisfying a desire to pay special compensation to the surviving comfort women. (To learn more about Japan’s state level compensation policy, check out Japan’s Contested War Memories by Philip Seaton and flip to page 59.)

This summary of the apology/compensation issue is not meant to belittle or insult the former comfort women. Their suffering was great, and they deserved compensation and apologies. This summary was meant to provide a calm and rational look at how the postwar Japanese government has already taken very real actions in response to the situation – including very real apologies and very real monetary compensation.

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Taiwanese Students Murdered in Tokyo

James — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:50:26 +0000

The Japanese media is reporting that two Taiwanese women have been found stabbed to death at an apartment building in Tokyo.

The women, 22 and 24 years old, were students at the Intercultural Institute of Japan, a language school located in Tokyo’s Taito ward. The apartment building was being used as a dormitory for international students attending that school.

One woman was found dead in the entrance of the room, still wearing her boots. Another was found inside the room. The murder weapon was nowhere to be found in the room. The room had been locked, but there was no key inside the room.

Speculation: It appears that an intruder may have followed one woman home, attacked her when she was entering her room, and then killed the woman who was already in the apartment. Or the woman in boots may have been returning to a room where a murder was in progress. Or the murderer could have attacked as one woman was preparing to leave the room.

Update: The Yomiuri reports that police are looking for a male student who nobody has been able to contact since the incident. The nationality of the student has not been reported.

Photos of the victims and the police investigation can be found at the Epoch Times.

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Foreign Nurses Leave Japan: Literacy Requirement Made Japanese Nursing Exams Difficult

James — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:19:18 +0000

The Yomiuri is reporting that over half of the first group of Indonesian nurses who came to Japan in 2008 as trainees have returned to their country. Many of the nurses were overwhelmed with Japanese literacy requirements:

Only 15 of the first group of 104 nurses who came to Japan from Indonesia passed the national exam. Among the 89 who failed the exam, 27 were granted special permission to extend their stay if they wished to because they managed to score a certain number of points on the previous exam. These nurses will take the national exam again in February.

The remaining 62 returned to Indonesia by the end of August, though they were still eligible to take the national exam. Only four of them will return to Japan to take the February exam, meaning the remaining 58 have likely given up working in Japan.

At the beginning of the program, the percentage of nurses who failed the exam was even higher. Some blamed its use of complex medical terms, often written in kanji. Early last year, the nursing certification exam was revised to make it easier for foreigners: it now includes kana alongside difficult kanji to indicate their pronunciation. However, as the above-linked Yomiuri report indicates, the literacy problem extends beyond uncommon kanji.

As I wrote last year, changing the exam alone is not a good idea. If these nurses pass the test, they should technically have the exact same certification as the native Japanese nurses that pass the same exam. That means that foreign nurses and Japanese nurses should be treated as equals in the workplace. After all, they would have the exact same certification issued by the Japanese government.

However, if the exam contains simplified Japanese or English translations, it will make passing the test far less valuable for the foreign nurses. Nurses who passed the easier version of the test might not be able to perform basic tasks such as reading Japanese medicine labels or even reading and writing medical paperwork in Japanese. Regardless of their actual Japanese language ability, foreign nurses will suffer discrimination because employers will suspect that their language abilities were inferior.

These people, who are fully certified nurses in their countries, come to Japan as “trainee” nurses and basically work as poorly paid assistants to the “real” Japanese nurses. When they pass Japan’s certification exam, their status is supposed to be upgraded. That won’t really happen if the language problem is not properly addressed.

As it see it, this leaves four possibilities:

Make the test easier by easing Japanese language requirements. But also change the entire medical system in Japan by making paperwork and medicine labels bilingual. One might also need to improve the foreign language skills of Japanese medical workers, so they can communicate with the foreign nurses. And patients who only speak Japanese may need to get used to communication problems.
Do not change the test. Instead, ditch the 3-year limit on stays in Japan and give more government-funded support for language education. It will take longer for the nurses to pass the exam, but when they do, it will be because they’ve sufficiently mastered the Japanese language. (I strongly favor this option.)
Create an entirely new category of nurse for non-Japanese nurses who have not passed the Japan’s nursing exam. If they have certification from their home country, they can come to Japan and work indefinitely as assistant nurses, with lower pay and less responsibilities than Japan-certified nurses. And if they so wish, they can try to improve their Japanese language ability to a level that would allow them to sign up for the test and obtain full certification.
Leave everything as it is now. Foreign nurses may continue to come to Japan under the existing program, but the vast majority of them will fail to pass the exam and will have to leave the country after a few years. A small number of nurses will manage to pass the exam and continue working in Japan, but it won’t be enough to solve Japan’s shortage of nurses.

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Santa in Tokyo

James — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:24:09 +0000

Video of Santa Claus arriving at Tokyo’s Haneda airport:

The official Santa Claus of the Finland Santa Claus Foundation traveled from Finland to Japan to appear at the event area in Haneda’s Domestic Terminal 1. “I’ve come to deliver Christmas cheer to the survivors of the earthquake and everyone in Japan,” Santa declared as he greeted the gathered crowd. He then gave presents of original mini memo books to preschoolers who had sung Christmas carols in the airport as well as to traveling families.

The visit, which took place a couple weeks ago, was also meant to help promote Finland’s tourism industry. Santa took a train ride, showing Japanese people how it provides easy access to Haneda.

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K-Pop Group Arrested For Visa Violations

James — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:33:01 +0000

Japanese police have arrested the members of the Korean pop group “Great” – who were apparently working despite having only come to the country on tourist visas:

The group arrived in Japan in October on tourist visas. Despite being aware of the fact that their activities were an illegal violation of the visa terms, they’ve given about 70 concerts in Tokyo.

From the video clip, we can see that the police raid took place at Seichi Entertainment’s concert house in Shin-Okubo. Here are a description of the business from the Mainichi:

Groups of female fans are often seen waiting on a street in the Shinjuku Ward district for performances at the K-pop music hall Seichi, which has been offering three stages a day of young Korean musicians since it opened in April.

The hall, with a capacity of about 200 people and meaning “sacred place” in Japanese, hosts both South Korean and domestically formed K-pop acts.

It is located in the basement of a multiple-tenant building on a street lined with Korean restaurants in an area known as Korea town.

“I think this place is a culture base to sustain the Korean boom,” said Chu Kwang Ho, 56, manager of Seichi.

And here is a YouTube video of them, calling on fans to check out one of their illegal performances:

Judging from the lack of many pictures and videos of the group, it seems that they were relatively unknown and just getting their start in Japan. If they were hoping to cash in on the K-pop boom in Japan, they will have to give up that dream now. After this visa violation they’ll probably be barred from entering the country for at least a few years.

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Dante Carver Caught Driving Without License

James — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:04:45 +0000

American actor Dante Carver, best known for his role in Softbank mobile commercials, has been busted for driving in Japan without a legal driver’s license.

According to press reports, Carver was stopped by police after making an illegal u-turn in Shibuya on July 2nd. When they asked to see his license, he showed them an international driving permit. Such permits are only recognized as legal when drivers are tourists. Because Carver is a resident of Japan, he should have obtained a Japanese license.

Carver, who has lived in Japan since 2005, pleaded ignorance. He says he didn’t realize he needed to get a Japanese license.

An article in the Sankei Shimbun says that Carver was scheduled to appear on BS Fuji TV network kids’ program later this month, but the show’s producers have decided to cut his segment. Apparently they do not want their program associated with Carver’s lawbreaking. Carver had appeared regularly on the program since 2008. It is unclear whether he will be allowed to return to the show in the future.

One can tell that this is no small matter from the way that this news video has presented footage of Mr. Carver. They are using file footage of him at a promotional event, but the logos in the background have been censored. This is to prevent his lawbreaking from damaging the reputation of whatever company or product he was promoting at that event.

As some of you may remember, Carver got into some trouble in August when he caused a minor traffic accident in Shibuya.

At the time, he made no mention of the status of his license.

For reference, here is a very clear warning from the United States Embassy:

International Driving Permits (IDP)

“Residents” are expected to convert or obtain a Japanese drivers license. Persons using an international drivers license who are resident in Japan can be subject to fines or arrest. The exact boundary between “resident” and “not resident” is unclear. In practice it seems to involve more than simply visa status or length of stay in Japan and is determined by the police.

We have heard from several Americans who were told by the police that using an International Driver’s License for more than a year, or using one after exiting and then returning to Japan, or using one when you are residing in Japan, or after you have obtained an Alien Registration Card, or after 90 days in Japan, or using a license obtained by mail while you are in Japan, is illegal. In two instances, following accidents, Americans were charged with driving without a license, a serious offense. Driving without a license may also void your insurance coverage.

Read what the Japanese Police have to say about International Driving Permits.

American citizens who come to Japan often have one-year international driving permits issued in the United States by the American Automobile Association (AAA). Carver has been living in Japan for about 6 years, he probably would have needed to get his permits renewed one or more times.

Other nationalities can easily obtain legal Japanese licenses through some simple paperwork, but Americans are required to take a test. Rather than go through such a hassle, some American residents of Japan choose to illegally drive using international permits. And many of them get away with it – especially when they don’t get caught violating traffic rules and don’t cause traffic accidents.

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Japan Welcomes Skilled Thai Workers

James — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 04:08:36 +0000

A short news report about Thai workers who have traveled to Japan to work for Japanese manufacturers:

All of the workers are experienced employees who worked at Japanese factories in Thailand. Flooding has shut down work at those factories, so the Thai employees are coming to Japan on 6-month work visas to help step up production at Japanese factories. Over 2,000 Thai workers and 67 Japanese companies are participating in this special program.

In this video, we can see Thai workers arriving at a JVC factory in Yokosuka. The Mainichi was also there to report:

On Dec. 5, approximately 30 Thai employees went in for their first day at the factory of video equipment manufacturer JVC Kenwood Corp. in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. After exchanging greetings with their Japanese counterparts, they went to work on the production line for security cameras marketed to corporations.

The Thai JVC Kenwood employees who are now in Japan comprise quality auditors and production-line workers. The company had begun shifting production from its Yokosuka factory to Thailand about 15 years ago, and production of certain products had already been discontinued in Japan prior to the floods. Because of this, the company decided to ask their factory workers in Thailand to come to Japan to supervise the 1,600 Japanese temporary workers who were newly hired for backup production.

As you can see from the video, these Thai workers are not coming to Japan to provide cheap manual labor: they are highly skilled and experienced employees who are supervising unskilled Japanese workers. The Japanese laborers lack the efficiency of their Thai counterparts, but the supervisors hope that they can train them to speed up the pace of production.

Like many of the companies that shifted most of their production to Thailand, JVC does not have many employees in Japan who can perform this kind of task. It is very important that these Thai employees be given work until the Thai factories are back in business. JVC cannot afford to lose them.

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Japanese Police Arrest French TV Personality

James — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:16:00 +0000

Japanese police have arrested Yann Cleary, a French citizen who appeared in the following commercial:

Cleary….had worked as a TV personality, an English-language teacher, and a priest at a wedding chapel in Chiba Prefecture, all jobs of which were not coherent with his visa status, from July 2009 to November of this year.

According to the MPD, in order to obtain a visa, Cleary had registered himself as an employee at a fictitious interpreting company run by a 42-year-old Italian man. Investigators found that there are 74 foreigners from 15 different nationalities registered at the dummy company, all of whom had obtained their visas illegally by registering themselves as “employees.”

Every employee of the fake company supposedly paid a 100,000 registration fee and a 8,000 monthly fee to its Italian owner. As the police investigation proceeds, it looks like a bunch of other people will probably be arrested and deported for visa violations.

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KFC Commercial Uses Faux Foreigner

James — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 02:02:18 +0000

Haruka Ayase pretends to be a foreigner in this KFC commercial:

It’s a commercial announcing the Japan debut of KFC’s Brazer sandwich. The ads say the Brazer is from France, so they’ve given their celebrity spokeswoman blonde hair and have her speaking French-like gibberish. ( The result is probably about as authentically French as Kentucky Fried Chicken’s French cuisine. )

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Asashoryu Fined For Breaching Pachinko Promotion Contract

James — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:10:30 +0000

A Tokyo court has ordered former sumo grand champion Asashoryu to pay financial compensation to a pachinko parlor company:

Here are some details about the lawsuit, from an article filed before the court decision:

The Tokyo-based promotion company argues in the suit filed with the Tokyo District Court that Asashoryu did not appear at customer attraction events planned at two pachinko parlors in Saitama Prefecture in a tie-up with the other company, based in Sapporo.

The plaintiff claims the Sapporo company offered to hold the events last summer promising that Asashoryu would participate. But he failed to show up saying he had not been approached about any such appearances.

The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, finding that Asashoryu had agreed to the contract and had failed to carry out his end of the agreement. The company was seeking 15 million yen in damages, but the court decided on about 9.5 million yen ($124,000) instead.

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Dalai Lama Visits Tohoku

James — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:29:09 +0000

The Dalai Lama recently visited areas of Tohoku that had been heavily damaged by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami:

The 76-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader offered words of encouragement to survivors during the service at Saiko Temple in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture.

With about 1,000 people attending, the Dalai Lama said that as a human being he shares the pain of survivors who lost their loved ones, and that he hopes people will be able to overcome their sorrow and rebuild their lives.

After the visit, the Dalai Lama met reporters in Tokyo. When asked if he opposed nuclear energy, he said that he supported “using nuclear energy for peaceful means as a way to bridge the socioeconomic gap in developing countries in the absence of more efficient alternative energy sources.” He also met with Japanese government officials.

For those who are interested, here is a 16 minute long video from the Dalai Lama’s YouTube channel, which features his speech in English:

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Japan May Accept Thousands of Thai Workers

James — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 07:28:38 +0000

As floods continue in Thailand, the Japanese government is considering the idea of letting Thai employees of Japanese corporations come work in Japan:

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a news conference that the measure would remedy the supply chain disruptions caused by the floods.
Fujimura said the government was considering accepting several thousand Thai workers from some 30 companies for about six months.
Among the conditions Tokyo is to impose on the firms is to make sure that the Thai workers return to their home country after that period, the Kyodo News agency said.

It is a very interesting plan. If it is actually put into effect, it will be interesting to see how much the workers are paid, and how authorities will deal with people who want to stay in Japan after the 6 month period is over.

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Shady Business Scandal: Olympus Paid $687 Million to Mystery Adviser

James — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:44:11 +0000

Former Olympus CEO Michael Woodford has come forward with accusations about very shady dealings that took place at his previous employer:

He raised questions about the size of payments made by Olympus in four deals between 2006 and 2008.

Among them is the $1.92 billion acquisition of British medical-instruments company Gyrus Group and the $687 million paid to an adviser on the purchase.

The fee works out to more than a third of the total purchase price, much higher than the one or two percent normally charged.

Olympus has denied any wrongdoing and on Wednesday said its total payments to advisers included the redemption of preference shares when they became available.

It said it paid about $244 million in return for advisory work on the acquisition, including around $177 million in Gyrus preferred shares issued to the adviser. It did not release the name of the advisory firm.

But when Olympus later bought back the preferred shares, their value had risen to $620 million, the company said.

The total combined figure is almost double that quoted by chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa in Tuesday’s Nikkei newspaper in which he said Olympus “paid commissions of about 30 billion yen” to the advisers.

Woodford claims he was fired because he demanded that those involved with the deal explain why such a ridiculously large sum of money was paid to a mysterious fund in the Cayman Islands:

Of equal concern to Mr Woodford was the identity of the adviser, listed in the documents as Axes Americas, a US-based securities firm, and the related Axam Investments, a Cayman Islands-registered fund overseen by Axes that received the payments from Olympus.

“I felt very uncomfortable because the amount of monies paid to parties completely unknown were so huge,” said Mr Woodford in a video interview with the FT on Monday.

Neither Axes nor Axam were mentioned in public announcements related to the Gyrus deal. According to a review of the acquisition by PwC, Axam was struck from the Cayman Islands registry a few months after taking payment from Olympus, while Axes ceased operations and a man listed as its president effectively disappeared.

The FT called a telephone number for the company listed in an online business directory but found it had been disconnected.

Olympus insists that Woodford, a 30-year veteran of the company, was sacked because of a “clash of management styles.”

In a recent video interview with Bloomberg news, Woodford responded to speculation about a lawsuit from Olympus by saying that he would be “delighted” to see the issue go before a court.

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Burmese Refugees Face Difficulties

James — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:39:06 +0000

A group of 18 Burmese refugees recently arrived in Japan, where they will be resettled with the assistance of the Japanese government:

The newly arrived refugees — members of four ethnic Karen families — will take part in a 180-day support program, including Japanese language study and job training, before deciding where to work and live, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

A 33-year-old male refugee said he is happy to be in Japan and added, “I will do any work I can.”

Under Japan’s plan to accept 90 Myanmar refugees over three years starting in 2010, 27 refugees from five ethnic Karen families came to Japan last year as the first group, and now live in Chiba and Mie prefectures.

Unfortunately, the support being offered by the government does not seem to be enough. The refugees are only given 6 months of Japanese lessons before being dispatched to the new homes and work locations. As you can see from the video, both workers and employers feel that the language education has been adequate. Without proficiency in the Japanese language, it will be incredibly hard for these refugees to ever feel comfortable living in Japan.

And the work being offered to the refugees isn’t exactly attractive either. Two families that were sent to Chiba prefecture are refusing to work:

The families, who settled in the prefecture in March, are looking for jobs in Tokyo after complaining about the long work hours and low wages paid by the agricultural corporation that is running the farm during the training period, Shogo Watanabe of the Japan Lawyers Network for Refugees said at a news conference Monday.

They have refused to take the farming jobs as labor conditions have not improved despite a work boycott in July, Watanabe added.

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Fake Book Cover: Why Do Japanese People Stare At Foreigners?

James — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:51:34 +0000

Arni Kristjansson, an Icelandic musician/music scholar who resides in Tokyo, has come up with an interesting tool that helps foreigners who don’t like being stared at by Japanese people. It’s a fake cover for a book entitled Why Do Japanese People Stare at Foreigners?:

“The idea is simple, print out this cover and wrap it around a book in Japanese. Then, as soon as you get stared at on the train or in a public place (to the point where it becomes uncomfortable) take out the book and pretend to start reading it while giving the starer ample view of the cover. The starer is then made aware of the situation in the most Japanese of ways, through non-confrontation.”

There are no plans to sell it as a product, so anyone who wants to use this idea will have to design and print their own fake book covers.

[via CNN Go]

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Danish Otaku vs. Japanese Female Announcer

James — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 05:24:33 +0000

One of the most viewed clips on YouTube Japan today shows a Japanese announcer interviewing a Danish guy on the street in Akihabara:

He tells her that he is studying Japanese so he can better understand anime and manga. His favorite anime is “Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai” (My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute). She asks him what would give him a “moe” feeling, so he asks her to please call him “onii-chan” (big brother).

She does it, and he gives an appropriate “moe” reaction. He says it warms his heart.

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Bruce Willis’ Funny Japanese Car Commercial (Daihatsu Mira e:S)

James — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 00:36:47 +0000

Bruce Willis has been appearing in a couple new commercials for Daihatsu’s Mira e:S. One commercial pokes some fun at the fact that so many Japanese commercials feature foreign celebrities who horribly mispronounce product names:

In the first of the two commercials, the man in charge is explaining that the new Mira e:S is so great it can stand alone in its own commercial. It gets 30.0km/L (about 70.5mpg) and it’s cheap – they don’t need a celebrity spokesman for that!

He is informed that they’ve already hired a celebrity. It’s Bruce Willis, who is on his way to Japan. As Bruce sits in a first class airplane seat, he practices saying, “the new Daihatsu e:S.”

In part two of the series, the boss is informing his crew that the automobile should have the leading role in the commercial. Bruce Willis should only be a supporting actor! Bruce gets on camera and butchers the pronunciation of the company and car name (“Daimatsu Miro uusu“). The boss is highly annoyed. Goddammit Bruce, get it right!

Bruce is obviously in on the joke, because he does a far better job of pronouncing the name of the car in the first commercial.

This is Bruce’s first commercial for Daihatsu (a Toyota company). Because he has been starring in Subaru advertisements since the 1990′s, this represents a major shift in his brand loyalty.

Here are a few examples of his old Subaru commercials:

And here are some of his old commercials for Ginza Jewelry Maki and Eneos Gas Stations:

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Drug Smugglers Used Curry: Couldn’t Fool X-Ray Machine

James — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 11:03:29 +0000

Sherif Narin, a 41-year-old Turkish resident of Tokyo, has been arrested after authorities discovered that he was having illegal drugs shipped to his motorbike shop:

The drugs, hidden in the double-bottomed box, were detected during X-ray examinations conducted by customs, the police said, adding that curry had been spread on the bags containing the drugs in an attempt to deceive sniffer dogs.

The police suspect the man, whose business has been struggling, may have been asked by an Israeli acquaintance who has left Japan to receive the drugs for a reward of 750,000 yen.

According to the Yomiuri, Narin told police that he thought that the box would contain marijuana. It actually contained 2 kilograms of methamphetamines, which have a street value of about 165 million yen ($2.1 million).

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Video: Right Wingers Cheer as Cops Arrest Anti-Nuclear Protester

James — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 03:33:17 +0000

A video clip of an anti-nuclear protester being arrested by Japanese police has received many views on YouTube. Here is a high quality version of the clip [turn on captions for English subtitles]

The clip was apparently filmed during a demonstration that took place in Tokyo on September 11th. As anti-nuclear people marched, a small group of Zaitokukai right wingers held a protest against the anti-nuclear protest. (In other video clips, we can see that police erected a barrier between the two opposing sides, and officers were trying to prevent any physical contact between them.)

We are shown the aftermath of a confrontation between the two sides. Police are restraining and then arresting two protesters in faux radiation suits. All the while, the Zaitokukai members are shouting encouragement, even telling the police to “shoot the criminals.” According to the video uploader (a member of the anti-nuclear camp), it is an “unlawful arrest” of “innocent nonviolent protestors.”

It is alleged that the two protesters were physically attacked:

The French protestor and his Japanese wife were reportedly kicked in the stomach by the hate-group while they were being restrained by the police, yet the police did nothing.

Unfortunately, the video only shows what happened after the alleged kicking, so we can’t be sure if it actually happened. Nor is is possible to confirm that police saw the kicking and decided to do nothing about it.

Instead, we have footage of the two protesters physically resisting as police try to make them move away from the Zaitokukai extremists. The taller protester, who is presumably the Frenchman, is trying to push his way through the police. He wants to force his way towards the Zaitokukai group, and police are trying to make him to rejoin the other anti-nuclear demonstrators.

After some pushing and shoving, they finally seem to give up and begin to walk away. A few pedestrians obscure the camera shot, and when we can see the protesters again, they are being forced to the ground and the Frenchman is arrested. He is taken away, but his wife stays in the street, being physically restrained by police officers while she shouts questions about why they arrested an anti-nuclear protester.

The uploader of the video believes that the police should be arresting the people who were shouting threatening words:

They are shouting abusive language with megaphones at a nonviolent French anti-nuclear protestor and his Japanese wife, and encouraging the police to “shoot and kill” them. These two nonviolent protestors actually get arrested by the Japanese police, while this abusive, extremist hate-group shouting abusive and threatening language with megaphones in a threatening manner is not even as much touched by the police. They walk free, while the innocent nonviolent protestors are arrested by the police.

The uploader believes that the rightists’ shouts encouraging the police to “shoot the criminals” or “throw the criminals into the nuclear reactor” should be considered illegal threats:

Threats and intimidation are illegal under the Japanese law, Article 222.

第222条

1. 生命、身体、自由、名誉又は財産に対し害を加える旨を告知して人を脅迫した者は、2年以下の懲役又は30万円以下の罰金に処する。
2. 親族の生命、身体、自由、名誉又は財産に対し害を加える旨を告知して人を脅迫した者も、前項と同様とする。

A person announcing or threatening to kill a person could be fined for under 2 years in prison time or under 300,000 yen in fines. Yet there is no news that the people who were threatening to kill the protestors have been arrested by the police.

The uploader claims that the police don’t arrest the Zaitokukai members because they are corrupt and sympathize with their extreme fascist views:

CORRUPTION IN JAPAN is very real and the ultranationalist-friendly Japanese police tend to side with such extremists and ultranationalists. Innocent people are arrested for seemingly no reason other than for ideological biases, while the real violent hate-criminals are let go and ignored by the police.

FOREIGNERS THINKING OF VISITING JAPAN should be vigilant, lest they receive violent threats, harrassments and treatments from violent hate-groups such as this group that are not targeted by the police and possibly get arrested for no reason by the corrupt Japanese police.

WE HAVE THE RIGHT to peacefully protest and peacefully co-exist whereever we live without being harrased and violently threatened by extremist hate-groups, especially in democratic, developed nations such as Japan.

As far as I am aware, the only cases of Zaitokukai or right-winger violence against foreigners have taken place when foreigners have tried to confront and argue with the rightists. There have been no attacks on tourists. Although complaints about police treatment of foreigners tend to come up from time to time, random unjustified arrests of tourists have not taken place.

As is always the case with Zaitokukai demonstrations, they are shouting really disgusting and ugly things. They are indeed a hate group, and their speech is hateful. But should they be arrested for expressing their views?

In some countries, there are strictly-enforced laws against hate speech, incitement to violence, and threatening language. Japan, like the United States, seems to have gone down a different road, one that places greater importance on free speech and free expression. This means that fascists, racists, history-deniers, and religious extremists are allowed to say extremely ugly things in public.

If the Zaitokukai demonstrators had kicked the woman, I think she should definitely demand that assault charges be filed against the attackers. However, as someone who believes in American-style protections of freedom of speech, I don’t think that anyone should be arrested for shouting the ugly phrases that were recorded in this YouTube video.

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Tokyo’s Foreign Population Drops After March 11th Disaster

James — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:01:42 +0000

An article in the English edition of the Asahi Shimbun has noted that the March 11th disaster caused the overall population of Tokyo has decreased by several thousand people. One segment of Tokyo’s population suffered a rather large decrease: foreigners. The number of registered foreign residents has “plummeted by about 10,000″ since March.

Electricity shortages, which forced many companies to reduce the size of Tokyo branches, are offered as one major explanation for the population drop. Among foreigners, irrational fear about Tokyo being “not safe” seems to also be a big factor. The article focuses on language schools, which are suffering because students from other parts of Asia are afraid to study in Tokyo:

Among the non-Japanese who left Japan from April to July, about 4,500 of them were South Koreans.

The Seoul and Shanghai offices of Akamonkai Japanese Language School based in Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward has tried to convince people wanting to study in Japan that “Tokyo is safe.” Nearly 100 of its students returned to their home countries from April to June.

The number of new students who plan to enroll in the language school in October is down 5 percent from the same month last year.

“Some students said they plan to go to other countries to study. Next year is the crucial year for our school’s survival,” said Tokiyoshi Arai, the school’s managing director.

According to Kannichi Fudousan, a real estate company in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward that mainly handles rental accommodations for South Koreans and Chinese, the number of canceled contracts nearly doubled from March 11 to May.

Since June, the number of contracts has been increasing again. But a company official said: “The number of contracts is 70 to 80 percent of that in conventional years. The business situation for us is still harsh.”

Of course, the majority of Tokyo’s 400,000+ foreign residents decided not to move out of the city. Yet, while a decrease of 10,000 is not huge, it can’t be written off as insignificant.

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Yoshihiko Noda Received Illegal Political Campaign Contributions From Foreign Citizens

James — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 13:48:36 +0000

After only a few days in office, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is facing a unpleasant scandal. Somebody has discovered that Noda’s political funds management organization received at least 158,000 yen in illegal donations from a South Korean citizen:

The man acknowledged during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun he was a South Korean resident in Japan and made donations to Noda.

He said he has been serving as an executive of a chapter of the Korean Residents Union in Japan since before he made the donations.

“Mr. Noda should’ve known I was a foreign national,” he said. “But maybe he didn’t notice I made the donations.” The man made the donations under a Japanese name.

The donations took place between 2001 and 2003. There is only a 3 year statute of limitations on the law banning political donations from foreign nationals, so no legal action can be taken against Noda.

It is very similar to the scandal that forced Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara to resign back in March. Maehara had been considered a front-runner to become PM, but his problems with foreign donors probably contributed to his election failure.

Update: More recent news reports now state that there were donations of about 300,000 yen from at least two South Korean citizens.

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Typhoon Delays Taiji Dolphin Hunt

James — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 07:42:23 +0000

On September 1st, the town of Taiji in Wakayama prefecture was scheduled to begin its annual dolphin hunt. A group of animal rights activists came to protest, but found that the hunt had been delayed because of the approach of Typhoon Talas:

A bus brought in 23 foreign protesters, led by Ric O’Barry. Because no hunt was in progress, there wasn’t much for them to do other than stand around on the beach and say a prayer for the dolphins.

Because past protests have involved illegal activities such as net-cutting, police will be reinforcing their presence in Taiji during this year’s dolphin hunting season.

Although the typhoon prevented them from filming something that might help them produce some anger about hunting dolphins, Ric O’Barry managed to find a few dolphins in a sea pen, which were apparently would soon be killed by the typhoon:

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Vogue Japan Uses Tape to Make “Asian” Eyes

James — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 07:08:31 +0000

Anna Dello Russo, stylist and editor for Vogue Japan, has attracted a lot of negative attention over her use of tape to give an American model slanted “Asian” eyes:

Among blogs, Jezebel seems to be the most offended, quoting Julie Kang (Geisha School Dropout) as their example of an Asian person who was also not amused:

“First of all, the taping was done unevenly, so she looks odd. But most importantly, she doesn’t look more Asian at all because obviously, the rest of her face isn’t Asian, and for the millionth time in my life, not all of us Asian people have “chink eyes”!!! Argh! If you knew Asian people at all, you’d know that 1. Dolce & Gabbana doesn’t have to resort to racist editorial spreads to garner attention…Asia LOOOOOOVES them already and 2. If anything, we actually prefer BIG eyes.”

It’s completely offensive that Anna Dello Russo (and makeup artist Jessica Nezda) decided to tape Renn’s eyes, but it’s compounded by the fact that asian models — or any models of color — are so rarely hired in the fashion industry. As our own Jenna Sauers mentioned yesterday, there’s an option easier and less racist than trying to change a white model into an Asian model: Booking an Asian model.

Do you think the Vogue photo shoot was racially insensitive?

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Bizarre Bold Commercials in Japan: TOUCH DE PON!

James — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:37:25 +0000

Procter & Gamble’s Japanese commercials for Bold use a foreign woman who speaks atrociously bad Japanese:

Her accent is so terrible that it barely even sounds like Japanese. Either she has no understanding of the Japanese language, or she is intentionally trying to butcher her pronunciation. I think this is supposed to be cute…or funny?

In one of the older commercials in the series, she plays the role of Mrs. Yamada, introducing herself to her new neighbors. When she hugs them, they comment on how nice she smells. It’s apparently because Bold makes clothing smell really great. If you tap your clothing (“pon!”), the fragrance is noticeable.

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Uyoku Are Actually Korean? (Protest March Against Fuji TV)

James — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:32:33 +0000

On August 21st, a few thousand people participated in the second big street protest against Fuji TV, marching around the network’s Odaiba headquarters with placards denouncing the network’s alleged anti-Japanese bias.

This protest was definitely larger than the August 7th event. It also attracted uyoku sound trucks, which had not been present in the first protest:

As you can see from the video clip, the uyoku are annoying everyone, including the protesters. As the right-wingers drive by, protesters shout out, demanding that they go away. The participants in the street protest clearly do not want to be associated with uyoku.

Several YouTube videos of the street protest direct international viewers to an English language explanation of the event. One section emphasizes the fact that most protesters did not approve of the uyoku audio spammers, and even suggests that they could actually be Koreans:

The truth about so-called “ultra right-wing”

There were three groups at the site of demonstration: non-political public demonstrators, conservative political demonstrators, and the “ultra right-wingers.” There are real differences among these groups.

First is the group of ordinary people who gathered to protest. They were by far the majority on that day. Many of these people never protested before. Second is the conservative group who shares conservative political views. Their argument is more comprehensive than non-political demonstrators, ranging from protest against Korean occupation of Japanese island Takeshima to claim for increased defense spending. The difference of non-political group and politically motivated group forced the two groups to hold separate demonstrations on that day, which both turned out to be successful.

Third is the so-called “ultra right-wing.” They appeared toward the end of demonstrations, driving in with a few cars with loud speakers. These “ultra right-wingers” typically uses black painted buses and vans equipped with loud speakers, playing Japanese national anthem, praising the Emperor, and giving hate speech. The truth of these organizations is now revealed that at least 30% of these right wingers are actually Koreans or of Korean descend. If fact, these right-wingers are usually very pro-Korea.

The behavior of these “ultra right-wingers” is malicious and is threatening to the general public. The goal of their behavior is to plant bad image of conservatism and to tarnish the image of national anthem and Japanese flag. This is one of the major reasons why Japanese today feel guilty about singing national anthem or showing Japanese flag. Some demonstrators even suspected that Fuji hired these “ultra right-wingers” to disrupt the demonstration and tarnish the image of demonstrators.

The idea of “fake uyoku” is not exactly new, and may have some truth to it. However, there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that Zainichi Koreans were driving the uyoku sound trucks that appeared near Fuji TV on August 21st.

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Japanese Comedians Beat Up Korean Woman?

James — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 05:03:25 +0000

Some Korean netizens are angry about a Japanese TV show that had famous female athletes compete against Japanese male comedians and entertainers. For the martial arts portion of the program, a South Korean fighter agreed to face off against 3 comedians, and was apparently surprised to find out that the comedians had enough skills to defeat her:

Lim Su-jeong, 27, a Korean female mixed martial artist nicknamed “beautiful fighter” in Korea, was set to face in a match three Japanese comedians: Toshiaki Kasuga, 31, Hiroshi Shinagawa, 39, and Koji Imada, 45.

In the three-minute, three-round match, the three comedians fought Lim one by one in turn. Because Lim is a professional fighter despite being female, she was asked to wear just gloves in the match without other protective gear. The comedians wore head gear and knee protectors when fighting Lim, however.

The situation took an unexpected turn from the very beginning, however. Though they were supposedly comedians, they performed kicks as skillfully as pros. Lim was pushed up by a single kick by Kasuga, who was the first to face her, and fell to the ring’s floor.

Another description of the events, from the Odd Balls sports blog:

Toshiaki Kasuga, Hiroshi Shinagawa and Koji Imada are said to have backgrounds in martial arts as they kicked Lim down “as skillfully as pros.”

Lim and her management team are reported to have demanded an apology from the show’s producers while some have speculated that the comedians failed to hold back due to ongoing tension between Korea and Japan.

All three of the men who were “supposedly comedians” were actually comedians. Although they had trained in some fighting techniques, they are not skilled enough to seriously compete as professional fighters (although Kasuga did make a real effort to become a K-1 fighter in 2007).

Although the article state that she lost to the Japanese comedians, some comments from users on the MixedMartialArts.com forums watched the videos and thought otherwise:

“I didn’t think it was that bad. The chick did just fine. Yeah it was a cheap set up but I think she’s the one who embarrassed them. It took 3 of them, all of whom had fighting experience and training, and she still held her own.” – angryinch

“She held her own and was tough, against fresh, bigger, and headgearing wearing opponents.” -DanTheWolfman

“That was pretty weak to go all out on her. But to be fair, i saw another episode where they fight a jap female kickboxer “Rena” and they go just as hard but she KO’s all of them.” – Family Jules

“second guy (yellow) throw almost nothing and just moves around. third guy is a bit of a spaz and obviously the least skilled of all three, and lands almost nothing. only the first guy went hard. and I bet most women kickboxers get hit harder in training all the time.” -Jambo888

“The announcers were saying stuff like “she’s not used to this kind of power” and stuff like that. At the end, they are impressed, saying “it was just like a real fight”. I have to admit, at first I was shocked by this but in retrospect she is a professional Muay Thai fighter, and those guys are middle-aged “comedians” (the term is broader in Japan) with some training. So, visually it is a little repugnant but there’s no reason she shouldn’t be able to beat those guys….” – mestregruber

“ok lets get some facts straight. This was not some set up propanda problem out to embarrass South Korea. It was just a regular bunch of comedians doing what they always do; set up a bunch of challenges in which they generally get beaten and embarrassed badly in….The 3 comedians are not trained fighters. They are 3 men in their 30′s and 40′s who are well known for portraying sissies on TV…The idea of the show was probably just to have the 3 comedians get beaten down just like they always do. The problem being that the professional fighter turned out not to be as good as they hoped and was unable to make up for the size/strength deficit.” – Dogmeat 1

Via Google, I found a clip of the match between Japanese comedians and a Japanese female fighter. Here are Hidetsugu Shibata, Yu Shinagawa, and Koji Imada fighting against kickboxer Rena Kubota:

Were they holding back in the fight against Rena, and letting her beat them because she was Japanese? Were they deliberately putting more effort into the fight against the Korean woman, because of her nationality? Was Lim Su-jeong mislead about the the opponents she would be facing?

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Jenny Talks About Life in Japan

James — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:35:55 +0000

A commercial for Seiyu (Walmart Japan) that has been airing a lot on Japanese TV recently:

Jenny, a resident of Japan, is visiting her family back in her unspecified country of origin. Dad asks her how she’s enjoying her life in Japan, and she breaks down, complaining about how she cannot shop at Japanese supermarkets whenever she likes. Meat, eggs, frozen food, and other items are cheap on separate days of the week! (But she’s wrong: it’s not like that at Seiyu, where prices are low all the time.)

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DNA Evidence Suggests Nepalese Man Was Falsely Convicted of 1997 Murder

James — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:02:47 +0000

In 1997, Govinda Prasad Mainali, a illegal immigrant from Nepal, was arrested for allegedly strangling and robbing a 39-year-old Japanese woman:

Govinda, who has maintained his innocence, was acquitted by the Tokyo District Court in April 2000, only to be found guilty by the high court after prosecutors appealed, even though the only physical evidence linking him to the victim and the vacant Shibuya Ward apartment where her body was found was circumstantial.

[...]

Govinda came to Japan in 1994 and worked at Indian restaurants with the dream of building a home for his wife and children back home. He was arrested after the victim was found dead on March 19, 1997, in an empty apartment near where he had lived.

Although acquitted, Govinda was never set free.

While still in detention awaiting deportation, the Tokyo High Court, in a surprise move, approved a request by prosecutors to keep him in custody as they sought to overturn his acquittal.

The state offered no new evidence, but the high court nevertheless found Govinda guilty and sentenced him to life in prison.

While he has been serving jail time, people have been fighting to have his case re-examined. They finally were able to conduct a DNA test on some of the evidence, and it has raised very serious questions about Govinda’s conviction:

DNA analysis shows that semen taken from the victim’s body did not match that of a Nepalese man who has been convicted of killing her and sentenced to life imprisonment. He is seeking a retrial.

According to results of the new tests, the semen’s DNA type matched that of a body hair found at the scene of the crime, an unoccupied apartment.

This fact shows that someone other than the convicted man might have been with the victim at the murder scene.

It raises serious doubts about the ruling of the Tokyo High Court that overturned a decision by the Tokyo District Court acquitting the defendant. The high court said it was hard to believe the victim entered the apartment with a person other than the defendant.

According to an article in the Mainichi, if the case is re-tried, prosecutors might argue that his is nonetheless guilty because “DNA test results do not immediately prove that the other man, whose DNA matched that found on the victim’s body, murdered her.”

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Kevin Maher Disputes Media Reports About His Views on Okinawans

James — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 03:50:35 +0000

Kevin Maher lost his position as director of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Japan Affairs after the the media reported some disparaging remarks he made about Okinawans during a speech to American students. Now that his diplomatic career is over, he’s back in Japan to promote his new book and repeat his denials about the accuracy of the quotes:

The disparaging remarks Maher allegedly made about Okinawa residents were based on notes students made during the meeting that were subsequently obtained by Japanese media.

As news of Maher’s alleged comments made headlines, the State Department scrambled to limit the fallout, saying the remarks did not represent the U.S. government’s views.

Maher was removed from his post March 10, the day before the Great East Japan Earthquake, but was immediately called in to help lead the State Department’s disaster-relief task force.

Maher called for the facts behind the article to be reinvestigated, saying the American University students who gave Ishiyama the notes were on close terms with the reporter, and even stayed at his Tokyo home when they visited Japan in late December.

He also noted that a followup Kyodo article claimed the students gave Ishiyama the notes in mid-February — about 2½ months after Maher’s controversial briefing.

“The main point is, for a journalist to host someone like that and then have them write something and claim that it’s an objective record of something that was said almost three months earlier just doesn’t have credibility, it violates journalistic standards,” Maher told The Japan Times after the news conference.

Shortly after the March 11th earthquake, the ROK Drop blog reported about Maher’s service during the disaster relief efforts. In the comment thread of the post, somebody claiming to be a relative of Kevin Maher wrote that the whole episode was part of a scheme David Vine of American University, an “activist” professor who opposes the existence of overseas American military bases:

His 30 career of service to Japanese-American relations was trashed because an anti-base professor convinced his students to compile “notes” weeks after the actual speech, then take those “notes” to the Japanese press. There is one particularly idiot kid named Tory Miyagi who became the spokesman for the group to get his 15 minutes of fame. The professor from American University has said that all American military bases not on American soil should be shut down. A real moron.

[...]

…the day of the earthquake he had his retirement papers to turn in.His immediate boss defended him, but the next level went into defense mode, not allowing him to defend himself publicly. He could have retired 6 years ago and gotten a much better paying job in the private sector. I doubt that the State Department will let him deal with Japan again in an official capacity. It’s ironic that the Japanese called him racist and his wife is Japanese. He has worked closely with the military on the Okinawa issue and he had to put up with tons of abuse when he was Consul General there.

[...]

Kevin had his reputation trashed by an activist professor, who manipulated his students, and who stayed at the home of the editor of the newspaper who originally published the “transcripts” of Kevin’s speech. That “transcript” was prepared by 4 of the 14 students with the assistance of the Japanese editor and the professor. Kevin has recently resigned and will now be free to defend himself publicly, something he wasn’t allowed to do by the state department, which caved to one editor, one professor, and some students who thought it would be cool to be in the media. I believe Kevin will be in Japan in a couple of weeks to help with the earthquake recovery as a private citizen.

And the same person left this comment on an article by Vine in the Eurasia Review:

David Vine is an anti-base activist and peacenik who used his students to generate press for himself. He is a master of self promotion who appalling used his students to compile a “memo” which he presented to the Japanese press as facts. He has no recording of the speech, yet he continues to claim he can remember verbatim everything that was said based on his “notes” which just amazingly coincide with his opinions about base issues in Okinawa. His agenda and his motives are obvious as are his lack of respect for basic rules of evidence, proof, and attribution. I could attend one of his lectures, create a document containing anything that suited my beliefs, and release it to the press as facts and call his denials “unbelievable” and have just as much credibility as he does in this situation. He and his “memo” are a joke.

As these are just comments on the internet, it’s hard to tell if the comments were really written by a member of Maher’s family. Whoever it is, he/she is taking a very active role in trying to defend Maher’s reputation.

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Taiwanese Politician Faces Charges Over Yasukuni Protest

James — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:17:12 +0000

Taiwanese Legislator Kao Chin Su-mei (May Chin) is apparently facing criminal charges in Japan because she led a group of protesters who trespassed onto the grounds of the Yasukuni Shrine:

In its charges laid out in a letter to a Tokyo district prosecutors office, the Metropolitan Police Department said Kao Chin led a group of aborigines from Taiwan who entered the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo Aug. 11, 2009 without permission.

Using a megaphone, Kao Chin shouted “No to Yasukuni” repeatedly, while her group member carried protest banners and chanted slogans, demanding Japan return the name tablets of Taiwanese aborigines who died in the service of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II, according to the charges.

Kao Chin and her group also “physically assaulted” the shrine’s security guards when they tried to stop them, according to the charges.

According to Wikipedia, Kao Chin is known for her “anti-Japan and China-friendly standpoints,” and has been denouncing the Yasukuni Shrine for years. She objects to the fact that the shrine honors the souls of Taiwanese who died while serving in the Japanese Imperial armed forces.

The shrine refuses all such demands, whether they come from Japanese, Taiwanese, Koreans or people from other nationalities. As a private religious entity, it can belief whatever it wants about intangible human spirits and souls. Japan’s constitution protects freedom of religion, so lawsuits demanding that the shrine alter its practices have been thrown out. The grounds of the shrine are also private property, so unauthorized protesters can be charged with trespassing (and assault – if protesters really did assault security guards).

Kao Chin is apparently undisturbed by the charges:

“Even if I am indicted, no-one can sway me from my resolve to have the names of those Taiwanese aboriginal ancestors removed from the Yasukuni Shrine,” she said.

Kao Chin said she felt sorry for Japan, which she described as “a so-called democracy and free country,” for pressing the charges. “The whole world is watching,” she said.

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Dante Carver Apologizes For Car Accident

James — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 02:47:22 +0000

The Japanese media is reporting that Dante Carver, the American actor who plays the big brother in Softbank’s “White Family” commercials, caused a minor car accident a few days ago in Shibuya:

Carver was driving and apparently collided with another car because he was trying to avoid a collision with a nearby motor bike. It was a minor accident that only damaged the bumpers of both cars, and nobody was injured.

Carver’s talent agency issued an apology on his behalf. A Japanese apology statement has also been posted on his official blog.

He also mentioned the accident in a tweet today:

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Brazilian Soccer Team Uses “Slanty-Eyes” Photo to Advertise Japan Match

James — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:47:36 +0000

This is how Brazil’s Santos FC is advertising its upcoming appearance at the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan:

Some information from Hypervocal, who thinks it “might be a wee bit insulting” to Japan:

“…the Marca reporter in the clip above never even discusses the casual racism contained within the ad. He simply says the four guys in the picture are getting psychologically prepared for the tournament in Japan, calls Neymar the face of the club (some face!) and talks about Real Madrid’s efforts in trying to woo the Brazilian striker. “

[hat tip to TomoAkiyama]

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Drunk Foreigner vs. Japanese Cops

James — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 00:13:18 +0000

Japanese cops are called to deal with a disturbance at Yuigahama Beach. It’s a big drunk foreign dude, who is making a lot of noise:

He’s drunk, loud, and very angry. The cops ask for some ID, and he’s initially reluctant to show them. After a bit of shouting at the cops, he complies. (No use of tasers or pepper spray is required.)

The foreigner thinks that somebody intentionally knocked over his girl, but it’s all a misunderstanding. The cops seem to want him to apologize, and he suddenly breaks down into tears.

He’s really drunk. He wants the cops to understand that he’s not a bad drinker. As the cops help escort him off the beach, he is smiling and shaking hands with them.

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Tsukiji Re-Opens Tuna Auctions to Tour Groups

James — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 01:12:13 +0000

The tuna auctions at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market have re-opened to tourists:

They apparently closed the auctions to tourists on March 14th because of safety concerns raised by frequent aftershocks. Now that there are far fewer aftershocks, they’ve decided it is safer.

About 80 tourists came to see the 5:30 AM auction. There were no reports of trouble, and the foreign tourists interviewed seemed to have enjoyed the experience.

The second half of the video reports that seafood prices are rising because Tohoku’s fishing industry was heavily damaged by the March 11th tsunami.

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Miyagi Fishermen Thank U.S. Military For Disaster Relief (Operation Tomodachi)

James — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:31:12 +0000

A fisherman’s association in Miyagi prefecture has created a tairyo-bata as an expression of gratitude to the thousands of U.S. troops who participated in disaster relief work:

Many of the places where U.S. personnel worked were fishing towns whose major industry was left in ruins.

Housewife Masako Matsuda, whose idea it was to present the tairyo-bata that was donated by a local fisherman’s association, said many residents from Oshima Island and her hometown of Sendai — two tsunami-ravaged areas where U.S. forces worked — wrote messages on the flag to express their gratitude.

“During the worst times of the disaster your servicemembers came quickly,” she told the U.S. leaders. “People appreciated the U.S. servicemembers swift and appropriate response.”

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Choya Pulls Giant Gaijin Nose Commercial After Receiving Complaints

James — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 08:46:02 +0000

A couple days ago, I blogged about a Choya Umeshu commercial that put a giant fake nose on a Japanese woman (similar the Hello Gaijin-san nose). Some readers of this site followed the links to Choya’s homepage and used their contact form to complain about the commercial, and the company has read those comments. The commercial is now dead!

Here is a copy of the reply that Choya sent to people who contacted them in English:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you very much for sharing your views with us. We sincerely apologize
for any discomfort about our television commercial that you had.

Please allow us to explain in more detail the scene in question.

The product in the commercial is Kokuto Umeshu, a major characteristic of
which is its smooth and velvety texture, or “torori” in Japanese. To
communicate this to the public, we had the idea of making a play on words of
calling someone who likes this “torori” a “tororisuki (torori lover)”, and
suggesting that you will gain like-minded “tororisuki no hito” (friends) by
drinking the product.

Because of the sound of the word “tororisuki”, we introduced the word as a
foreign character, and thought up the story of three female Japanese friends
drinking Kokuto Umeshu and becoming “tororisuki friends”, and therefore
foreigners, themselves.

The first two characters do transform into “tororisuki”, but in the
performance of the commercial, the third character failed to turn into a
tororisuki. Instead, her theatrically oversized “blue eyes” and “eminent
nose” illustrate that she has not been able to become a tororisuki.

In other words, the theatrical “blue eyes” and “eminent nose” represent that
she has failed to turn into a tororisuki and are not an attempt to portray
an actual foreigner. It is certainly not a case of making fun of any
particular country, race or person.

However, we do take your comment very seriously, and after internal
deliberations the company has decided to change the commercial. We ask for
your kind understanding.

Choya Umeshu strives to delight our customers with our products, and we are
making every effort to ensure our advertising and marketing delight as well.

Best regards,

Masa Kondo
CHOYA

And here is their Japanese message, which says something similar:

こんにちは、チョーヤ梅酒ホームページです。

この度のメールとご指摘、有難うございました。

ブログ拝見させていただきました。

ＣＭの演出上の表現でございまして、決して海外の方や特定の国、

人種を揶揄したり差別するものでは無いのですが、ご意見、ご指摘を
真摯に受け止め、社内で検討の上、ＣＭの作り変えも考えたいと思って
おります。

この度のご指摘本当に有難うございました。
弊社と致しましてもこれからも皆様に喜んでいただける製品造りはもちろんのこと、
広告制作におきましてもより喜んでいただけるよう努力する所在でございます。
今後ともご指導ご鞭撻の程賜りますよう宜しくお願い申し上げます。

A quick check of the CM archive section of Choya’s site shows that the commercial is question [とろける黒糖梅酒トロリスキー友達篇] has been completed deleted. The same product now has a new “tororisuki” commercial that does not use rubber noses.

[hat tip to Joseph Tame and odriew]

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Japanese Court Interpreters Lack Necessary Language Skills

James — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:53:14 +0000

When Japanese courts hear testimony from a defendant or witness who does not speak Japanese, the law requires the use of an interpreter with the language ability to accurately translate what is being said. In other fields, translation errors may not amount to much, but in the criminal justice system, errors could seriously impact the result of trials. Having a skilled interpreter is crucial.

Unfortunately, it seems that there are serious problems with Japanese court interpreters. Today’s Japan Times has an article that examines the accuracy of English-to-Japanese translations in the Lindsay Hawker murder trial. They’ve found some pretty embarrassing errors:

When questioned about the impact of her death on the family, the mother said she blamed herself for allowing her daughter to come to Japan. “I couldn’t take a bath for two years,” she said, apparently because of how her daughter was found.

But the court interpreter translated the phrase into Japanese as “I cannot take back the two years.”

A few moments later another misinterpretation was observed. When a prosecutor asked Julia Hawker how the heavy coverage of the case influenced the British people’s perception of Japan, she testified that it had a negative impact and many now feel “Japan was a less safe place to come.”

But the nuance of her testimony was changed when it was interpreted into Japanese: “Japan was the most unsafe place to come.”

When asked whether she knew that Ichihashi wrote a letter of apology to the family, she said that “we didn’t think he would apologize to us. We thought he was sorry for being caught.” But her testimony was interpreted as saying Ichihashi wrote the letter “as a preparation for his trial.”

These errors are not big enough to have a serious impact on the outcome of the trial, but they do show that the court interpreter is not providing accurate translations. Foreign language testimony was not particularly crucial in the Ichihashi trial, but it could be in other trials. I pity all the foreign defendants whose testimony could only be translated into Japanese through a court interpreter who lacks the English proficiency to understand the difference between “back” and “bath.”

The Japan Times also interviewed Professor Makiko Mizuno of Kinjo Gakuin University, a specialist on the issue of court interpreters:

The courts are naive in believing that unless there is a dispute of guilt or innocence, a loose interpretation of testimony won’t pose a major problem, Mizuno said.

According to her mock trial experiments, the buildup of errors such as differences in nuance can influence the decisions of lay judges. “The interpretation can result in a difference of two to three years in the prison term,” she said.

Edit: Richard Lloyd Parry of the London Times thinks the Japan Times was unfair in its criticism of the interpreter:

[hat tip to Japanjin]

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New Japan Tourism Promotion Campaign

James — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:26:52 +0000

Japan has launched a new tourism promotion campaign in which the pop group Arashi calls on foreigners to come visit:

A film entitled “Message from Japan” featuring the five-member pop idol group began airing simultaneously across the globe in more than 133 countries and regions including the outdoor screen at New York City’s Times Square.

The video footage was also broadcast in places such as Seoul and London, and will also be shown at airports and Japanese embassies worldwide in the coming weeks.

“We would like to again issue an appeal through this film that it is safe to travel to Japan,” Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Hiroshi Mizohata told a Tokyo news conference launching the broadcast of short messages by Arashi, who were appointed last year to be the agency’s ambassadors and are popular at home and abroad, particularly in Asia.

Since they’re apparently popular in Asia, it’s probably a good idea to use them in an advertisement aimed at Asian tourists. This ad campaign might have some success in Asia.

Unfortunately, it seems poorly matched for the American and European markets. Arashi is unknown outside of Asia, so it’s almost pointless to have them star in a commercial aimed at Americans. Moreover, they seem to be speaking in Japanese the whole time. Paying to run an unknown foreign pop group’s subtitled foreign language advertisement on the big screen in Times Square is the equivalent of flushing money down the toilet.

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Takanoyama – Czech Sumo Wrestler

James — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 01:53:45 +0000

The Asahi Shimbun has an article today about Takanoyama Shuntaro (Pavel Bojar), the first man from the Czech Republic to become a professional sumo wrestler in Japan.

Since his debut in 2001, Takanoyama had been stuck in the lower ranked divisions of the sport, not rising above the makushita level. His situation improved after the recent match-fixing scandal. A bunch of higher-ranked wrestlers were banned because of their involvement in the scandal, opening up promotion opportunities to wrestlers who had not been caught cheating. Takanoyama was promoted to the second-highest division:

Recently promoted to the rank of juryo after 10 years in Japan, Takanoyama tips the scales at 107 kilograms, finally breaking the 100-kg barrier, and stands 187 centimeters. While that hardly makes him a lightweight compared with most people, in the sumo world, which is rife with guys carrying 180 kg or more, he stands out for his lack of girth. One wrestler, Georgia’s Gagamaru, weighs nearly twice as much as Takanoyama.

“I also think of myself as too slim for a rikishi,” said Takanoyama, who relies on his quickness and superb throwing techniques in the dohyo. “I was able to become a sekitori thanks to the stablemaster (former yokozuna Takanosato) and okami-san (the stablemaster’s wife) who have offered me special dishes and special snacks at night. You should be faster and more springy, and need more muscles as an athlete. If you don’t bring out your maximum strength right off the initial faceoff, you cannot win in sumo.”

Takanoyama looks big by himself, but when he faces off against other sumo wrestlers, he looks way too small to defeat his opponents. He really has to work hard to beat the bigger guys. Here’s a clip from 2008 that shows him taking down a wrestler who weighed more than 200 kilograms:

Other examples can be found here and here.

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