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Arudou Debito's Home Page: Issues of Life and Human Rights in Japan



Interview with Debito on TkyoSam’s Vlog: Shizzle! (Jan 6)
During my recent Tokyo trip I sat down with Sam (a prolific vlogger, or video blogger), who turned his passport-sized camera on me for a bit of the young lingo and beer and chicken basket. What you don't see is how afterwards we repaired with a group of friends for a lot more beers and some fascinating conversation with a drunk that Sam handled admirably. Sam grew up on manga and anime, and talks like those characters fluently (which is perfect for reducing any other pop-culture-immersed J-drunk into titters and tears). Yoyoyo, word! Feel the generation gap of the Bubble-Era-Older-Hand meets J-Pop Awsum Dude. Shizzle! And it's a fun interview too.


Japan Times on NJ workers: No money for food or return flight (Jan 5)
Japan Times: With the global economic downturn, many Japanese workers face a not very Merry Christmas or Happy New Year as they lose their jobs or see wages or hours cut. But the bad economy is hitting the country's foreign workers particularly hard, with nongovernmental organization volunteers warning that many who have been laid off face not only losing their homes and access to education in their mother tongue, but also that emergency food rations are now being distributed to the most desperate cases. "Of the nearly 300 people who attend my church, between 30 and 40 of them have already lost their jobs, and I expect more will soon be laid off as companies choose not to renew their contracts. Many of those who have lost their jobs have no place to live or get through the winter," said Laelso Santos, pastor at a church in Karia, Aichi Prefecture, and the head of Maos Amigas, an NGO assisting foreign workers and their families. "We're currently distributing about 300 kg of food ...


AP/Guardian on Japan’s steepest population fall yet, excludes NJ from tally (Jan 4)
Here's a bit of a sloppy article from the AP that the Guardian republished without much of a fact-checking (don't understand the relevance of the throwaway sentence at the end about J fathers and paternity). Worse yet, it seems the AP has just accepted the GOJ's assessment of "population" as "births minus deaths" without analysis. Meaning the population is just denoted as Japanese citizens (unless you include of course babies born to NJ-NJ couples, but they don't get juuminhyou anyway and aren't included in local govt. tallies of population either). Er, how about including net inflows of NJ from overseas (which have been positive for more than four decades)? Or of naturalized citizens, which the Yomiuri reported some months ago contributed to an actual rise in population? Sloppy, unreflective, and inaccurate assessments of the taxpayer base.


Excellent Japan Times roundup on debate on J Nationality Law and proposed dual citizenship (Jan 3)
Here's an excellent Japan Times roundup of the debate which came out of nowhere last year regarding Japan's loopy nationality laws, which were once based on what I would call a "culture of no", as in rather arbitrary ways to disqualify people (as in babies not getting J citizenship if the J father didn't recognize patrimony before birth). A Supreme Court decision last year called that unconstitutional, and forced rare legislation from the bench to rectify that late in 2008. Now the scope of inclusivity has widened as Dietmember Kouno Taro (drawing on the shock of a former Japanese citizen getting a Nobel Prize, and a confused Japanese media trying to claim him as ours) advocates allowing Japanese to hold more than one citizenship. Bravo. About time. The article below sets out the goalposts for this year regarding this proposal (and uses arguments that have appeared on Debito.org for years now). In a year when there will apparently be a record-number of candidates running in the ge...


Happy New Year: Retrospective: 10 things that made me think in 2008 (Jan 2)
To open 2009, here's my annual essay where I note ten things that caused me to think quite a bit last year. Some things I partook in (books and media and whatnot) might also be interesting for you to delve into as well. For what they're worth, and in no particular order: Iijima Ai's death, 2008 Cycletrek, FRANCA, Toyoko G8 Summit, California Trip 2008, ENRON and SICKO movies, two Francis Wheen books, my Japan Times column, Ken Burns THE WAR, and HANDBOOK for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants.


Debito.org Poll on most important human rights advancement in 2008 (Dec 31)
What do you think is the most significant human rights advancement in Japan in 2008? (all issues on this blog): The coveted Akutagawa Book Prize going to a non-native author. The U Hoden Case awarding damages to a bullied Chinese-Japanese schoolgirl. The successful Zainichi student complaint lodged against exclusionary Nihon U debate club. The successful lawsuit against Tochigi strawberry farms who underpaid and fired Chinese trainees. The GOJ declaring the Ainu an official indigenous people. The 12,000 yen "economic stimulus" bribe opened to all NJ taxpayers. The increasing international awareness of Japan as a haven for child abductions after divorce. The Supreme Court declaring unconstitutional the patrimony acknowledgment requirement for citizenship. Something else / None of the above. Can't say / Don't know etc. Vote early, vote often! Check out my next Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE column due out January 6 (Jan 7 outside the metropolises) when I rank them in order of ...


Bloggers Gathering Jan 17 Tokyo (RSVP by Jan 8) (Dec 30)
A gathering for bloggers and blog enthusiasts is being planned in Tokyo for the evening of January 17, and we would like to extend the invitation to any and all visitors who may wish to come. Bloggers from Observing Japan, Shisaku, Global Talk 21, Mutant Frog, Coming Anarchy, Trans-Pacific Radio and more will be amongst the crowd. (Debito.org won't be in town, sadly.)


Japan Times on future J housing markets, tax regimes, and why J houses are built so crappily (Dec 29)
Here's another excellent article from Philip Brasor of the Japan Times, regarding future Japan housing markets and taxation laws (and why houses in Japan aren't built to last, or be resaleable). Should cause a twinge or two in the homeowners out there, myself included.


Japan Times Zeit Gist on Chinese/Japanese bilingual education in Japan (Dec 28)
Further festive good news: A rupo in the Japan Times Community Page from a member of the Chinese Diaspora in Japan, on the Chinese Diaspora in Japan. And how some are being educated to believe that they are bicultural, bilingual, and binational. Good.


History tangent: Japan Times FYI on Hokkaido development (Dec 26)
I'm on the road for a couple of days (we've been whalloped with snow, and I anticipate a long drive to the Okhotsk Sea Coast tomorrow), so let me send you a little something interesting. A nice concise history of Hokkaido from the Japan Times. Fills in quite a few blanks about how and why we up in Japan's Great White North got here in the first place.


Xmas List: Ten things Japan does best (Dec 24)
Here's my Christmas Present to readers: The top ten things I think Japan does better than just about everyone else. I include Toilet Culture, Calligraphy Goods, Packaging, Anime, Public Transportation, and several others I'm not going to list up here 'cos I think you might enjoy reading the essay straight through (yes, I've put in a couple of rather surprising topics). This is an antidote to those people convinced I don't like Japan.


German movie SOUR STRAWBERRIES preview, with Debito interview (Dec 23)
SOUR STRAWBERRIES, a German-Japanese documentary about Japan's labor migration and human rights, came out in Germany in September. I'm thrilled to report that segments they filmed of me exposing Kabukichou JAPANESE ONLY signs (and in the full movie, the oddities of one of the exclusionary business owners) made the coming-attractions reel. You can see it via link from this blog entry. The movie will be coming to Japan in March, more later on Debito.org.


Humor: Cracked Mag Online on unappetizing restaurants (Dec 23)
More humor for a national holiday: Some restaurants (according to Cracked Magazine, which I thought was a poor second cousin to Mad Magazine, until I started reading the cutting online version) that defeat their purpose by offering food in very unappetizing ways. Now I don't believe for a second that there is a place in Roppongi that allows you to diddle your meal before you eat it (in fact, I found this site due to a trackback to Debito.org exposing the source as the deep-sixed Mainichi Waiwai). But it's still a good read, and I love the (what seems to be verified) idea of airborne meals even if it's a hoax.


Humor: Robin Williams stand-up comedy on Obama’s election (Dec 22)
More festivities for the end of days. Here's a very funny stand-up piece by Robin Williams (introduced by an oddly wheelchair-bound former Minister of Silly Walks) regarding Obama's election and the outgoing Bush Administration. Courtesy again of Dave Spector. Enjoy.


All registered NJ will in fact now get the 12,000 “economic stimulus” bribe (Dec 21)
After dallying with thoughts of excluding NJ taxpayers, then allowing only those NJ with Permanent Residency and Japanese spouses, the GOJ has just announced that all registered NJ will get the 12,000 yen-plus economic stimulus bribe. Seasons Greetings. This is probably the first time NJ have ever been treated equally positively with citizens (save for, perhaps, access to Hello Work unemployment agency) with a voter stimulus package. See, it pays to complain.


Humor: “Beware of the Doghouse”: For you men with thoughtless gifts (Dec 20)
First off-topic festive humor entry, particularly for hetero men readers out there: What follows is a link to the "Beware of the Doghouse" website, something well worth looking at because it's a smart, funny, and well-produced five-minute mini-movie about men who don't think deeply enough about what sorts of gifts to give their wife/female partner.


Start of Holiday Season: blog becomes less frequent and more festive (Dec 20)
Morning Blog. With the holidays coming up (I bet many people are taking Monday off too and getting ready to travel), I'm sure you have better things to do than read socially-conscious stuff on a blog. Eat, drink, and be merry, and I'll do the same (in more moderation; I'm already fat). I'll try not to do daily updates, and will put up more amusing, off-topic, stuff between Xmas and New Years. Enjoy yourselves and we'll get back to business in January. Happy holidays, everyone! Arudou Debito (stuck in Sapporo; Hokkaido economics don't help one get out for Xmas)


Kyodo: NJ to be registered as family members (residents?) by 2012 (Dec 19)
Good news if this actually comes to fruition: The ludicrous system of registering NJ separately from J in residency certificates (juuminhyou) may be coming to an end. According a Kyodo article (that is too deficient in detail -- Japan Times, do another article in depth, please!), we'll start seeing NJ registered with their families in three years. And hopefully as real, bonafide residents too (even though this is still not clear thanks to Kyodo blurbing). At least we'll see the end of the ridiculous gaikokujin touroku zumi shoumeisho and the invisible NJ husbands and wives. More on why the current registry situation is problematic here, including NJ being left out for tax-rebates, and not being included in official local government tallies of population.


Mainichi: USA to require visitors to register online before boarding planes (Dec 18)
This is only tangentally related to Debito.org (it's about traffic going from Japan to the US), but as the Americans do policywise, so often does the Japanese Government. Here we have the last gasps of the Bush Administration trying to stick it to foreign visitors (fingerprinting and photography weren't enough; the GOJ then copied it and went even farther), what with requiring people now to register online before they visit, or even get a boarding pass. As Japanese officials mildly protesteth (see Japan Times article below), the USG didn't even bother with much of a publicity campaign for their program, leaving the burden on the airlines and the airports to deal with it. Let's hope 1) this really puts off people travelling to the US, and 2) the GOJ doesn't feel the itch to copy. Three articles follow -- the Mainichi in English and Japanese, then the Japan Times with even better information.


Tokyo High Court overrules lower court regarding murder of Lucie Blackman: Obara Joji now guilty of “dismemberment and abandonment of a body” (Dec 17)
Serial rapist and sexual predator Obara Joji yesterday had his "innocent on the grounds of lack of evidence" lower court decision overturned by the Tokyo High Court, with Lucie Blackman's rape and murder now added to his long list of crimes against women. A hair was split between actual murder and just doing nasty things to her corpse, but for people outraged about the rather odd consideration of evidence in this case (which I in the past have indicated might have something to do with a J crime against a NJ, as opposed to the opposite), this is a victory of sorts. Given that Obara got away with a heckuva lot before he was finally nailed (including some pretty hapless police investigation), I wonder if the outcome of his cases will be much of a deterrent to other sociopathic predators out there. Anyway, this verdict is better than upholding the previous one, of course. Two articles follow.


DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 16, 2008 (Dec 16)
//////////////////////////////////////////////////// THINK OF THE CHILDREN... 1) Terrie's Take on how NJ workers are the first to go in adverse economic conditions 2) Mainichi: Brazilian ethnic school closing due to NJ job cuts 3) Jason's blog on next employment steps in Japan for NJ 4) Japan Times: Eric Johnston on Gunma NGO stopping ijime towards NJ students 5) AP: US court rules Japan has jurisdiction in child joint custody case 6) Sydney Morning Herald: Little Hope for Japan's Abandoned Fathers OTHER THINKS: 7) Grauniad: Japan comes down hard on Greenpeace whaling activists 8) Thoughts on seeing the Dalai Lama at the FCCJ Nov 3, 2008 9) Economist.com: Bilateral agreements to give US servicemen immunity from Japanese criminal procedure ... and finally... 10) Travelling around Japan in New Years' and March. Want me to come speak? Join me for Tokyo beers in January? ////////////////////////////////////////////////////


Sydney Morning Herald: Little hope for Japan’s Abandoned Fathers (Dec 15)
The story about Japan as a safe haven for internationally abducted kids spreads from Canada to the US to Australia, this time in the Sydney Morning Herald. And this time, the crank lawyer, a Mr Onuki, who claimed that "90 per cent of cases in which the Japanese women return to Japan, the man is at fault, such as with domestic violence and child abuse", finally gets a response (the Mainichi printed it without counter, the rotters). Meanwhile, the GOJ just keeps on dithering on the Hague Convention. It's one of Japan's worst-kept secrets. But not for long at this rate. Keep on exposing.


Oyako-Net Candlelight vigil for abducted children to Japan after divorce Dec 18 7PM Shinjuku (Dec 15)
Oyako-Net’s World Wide Candle Light Vigil in Tokyo Let’s get together and send our love to our estranged children! When: Dec 18, 2008 7:00pm to 8:00pm Where: In front of Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/ENGLISH/TMG/map..htm (If you have a trouble in finding us, please contact Mashito-san 090-6139-8609.) Please bring a search light and a picture of your child.. The police [...]


Pet peeve: How media casting choices based upon ethnicity contribute to cultural ignorance. (Dec 15)
A little tangent today about how a Discovery Channel show this weekend on Japan irked me due to its content and casting choices. A show called "Japan Revealed" actually revealed very little, not only due to promoting the same old hackneyed stereotypes, but also by hiring people who aren't culturally fluent to talk about cultural issues. This blog entry / rant makes my case for how this sort of thing is a blind spot for the culturally-relativistic, who believe that somehow ethnicity is a substitute for a skill set or language ability, and how they further add to the world's general ignorance about Japan.


Japan Times: Eric Johnston on Gunma NGO stopping ijime towards NJ students (Dec 14)
Japan Times on bullying of NJ schoolchildren and an NGO's effort to stop it: Nationwide, there are more than 25,000 foreign children in schools. The majority are believed to be Brazilians, followed by Chinese. Truancy among foreign children, who are often bullied because they are different or don't speak Japanese, has become a concern in recent years, especially in prefectures like Gunma and in the Chubu region where large numbers of foreigners reside. Local governments and the central government both say more needs to be done to integrate foreign children into Japanese schools. But they are often at odds over what exactly should be done and who should take the lead. The central government has long urged local governments to do more, while cash-strapped local governments say there is little more they can do unless Tokyo formulates a national policy and provides funds for assistance. Human rights activists note a fundamental reason for truancy among foreign children is that they a...