Posts Tagged ‘Discrimination’

Helping small Japanese hotels welcome foreign tourists

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

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

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

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

[hat tip to Ponta]

Foreign nurses turned down because of gender

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

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

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

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

PropagandaBuster Blames Foreigners For ‘Japanese Only’ Signs

You’ve probably seen one of the video compilations of ‘Japanese Only’ sign photos floating around YouTube, perhaps even in a recent BoingBoing post. In almost all cases, such videos do not provide any context whatsoever to the photos, leaving viewers unfamiliar with Japan with the impression that such signs are commonplace and that Japan is a hugely racist country. In reality, foreigners who avoid shady sex businesses are unlikely to ever encounter discriminatory signs. There are, of course, exceptions, sometimes even extreme ones that require lawsuits to be remedied.

American vlogger PropagandaBuster, who has gained a following among Japanese blogs since he attacked Sea Shepherd/Greenpeace in a series of YouTube videos, has issued a response to the ‘No Foreigner’ sign video. Much like some of his other videos, he just runs his mouth off without doing much research. In this particular video, he rants against rude Americans, whom he completely blames for the existence of discriminatory signs. In his view, foreigners like to engage in “fisticuffs,” so we deserve to be banned from certain bars and restaurants:

[via 空]

Shizuoka Cop Charged With Beating Chinese Man

Just noticed this report from TBS news about a police officer in Shizuoka being charged with assault for hitting a Chinese man:

Few details are given, but apparently the incident took place in late December when the Chinese man was being held in a detention cell at a Shizuoka Prefectural police station. The report makes vague mention of the Chinese man being hit in the face by the officer, and that no serious injuries resulted.