"THE OTARU CITY RACIAL DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT
LEGAL TEAM"
(Otaru-Shi Jinshu Sabetsu Soshou Bengodan)
(NEWS FLASH Feb 5 and Mar 5, 2003:
WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO:
SUBMIT
YOUR EXPERIENCES OF REFUSALS ON THE BASIS OF RACE OR NATIONALITY TO THE SAPPORO HIGH
COURT in what is becoming Japan's first
class-action lawsuit on behalf of non-Japanese and racially-diverse Japanese. Please
help out if you can.)
REASONS FOR THE APPEAL AGAINST OTARU CITY
(full Japanese text, submitted to Sapporo High Court March 5, 2003)
JOIN OUR NEW LAWSUIT: TAKING THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT TO COURT FOR NEGLIGENCE UNDER UN
TREATY
(To be filed in late Winter 2005. Anyone who has been discriminated against in
Japan under the definition of "Racial Discrimination
" under UN Treaty can join. Information
site in Japanese here.)
By Arudou Debito (debito@debito.org)
Original version dated January 9, 2003, revised many times since.
"Bengodan", or "Legal Team", is a group of volunteer lawyers,
advisors, and supporters (very common for human rights cases in Japan) who work collectively
and pro bono to help clients or groups which need court representation.
Arudou Debito, the sole Plaintiff in the Court Appeal against Defendant Otaru City
(http://www.debito.org/otarulawsuit.html)
for refusing to take effective measures against racial discrimination within its
jurisdiction, is disputing the Sapporo District
Court's November 11, 2002 ruling that, inter alia, Otaru is "under no clear
and absolute obligation to prohibit or bring to an end concrete examples of racial
discrimination by establishing local laws". On January 7, 2003, three lawyers
joined to represent the case, expanding to more than twenty since.
A brief summary of the Bengodan's structure, goals, and membership follows. A list
of related information links comes near the bottom of this URL.
Anyone, anywhere, is welcome to lend their name in public support of the Bengodan
(there are no membership fees, although contributions are of course welcome from
anywhere in the world via details below). The more, the merrier. Contact Plaintiff
Arudou Debito at debito@debito.org.
Let me stress here that while financial contributions are of course very welcome,
the most important form of support you can give us is keeping people around you
informed of the issues and raising awareness. So if people speak ill of our efforts
in public using arguments running on fumes or misinformation, please speak up and
offer a correction or your opinion. That's fine. Really.
Final thanks: I am very grateful to the civic-minded lawyers who have stepped up
to the plate, and that so many people out there have made great financial contributions.
Thank you all very, very much.
Arudou Debito, Plaintiff
Sapporo, Japan
///////////////////////////////////////////////
"THE OTARU CITY RACIAL DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT LEGAL TEAM"
(Otaru-Shi Jinshu Sabetsu Soshou Bengodan)
OUTLINE:
1) Name: (in Japanese) 「小樽市人種差別訴訟弁護団」
2) Foundation: January 7, 2003
3) Office: Lawyer SHIBA-IKE Toshiaki
Hokkaido Goudou Houritsu Jimusho
Odori Nishi 12 Chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo
4) Plaintiff: Arudou Debito
5) Defendant: The City of Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan
6) Site of litigation: Sapporo High Court
7) Membership:
a) LAWYERS (those both offering in-court
representation and their name in support of this case)
Mr HIGASHIZAWA Yasushi, Tokyo
Mr NISHIMURA Takehiko, Sapporo
Mr SHIBA-IKE Toshiaki, Sapporo
Mr NIWA Masao, Osaka
Plus 21 other lawyers around Japan (as of Sept 9, 2003)
b) ADVISORS (those offering expertise,
but not in-court representation)
The Japan Civil Liberties Union. (http://www.jclu.org)
MATSUMOTO Shoji,
Professor, Faculty of Law, Sapporo Gakuin University
Jonathan Rankine, International Law (treaties), Miyazaki
Richard Ormsby, US Constitutional Law, Chicago, Illinois
Joshua Graubart, International Law, Duke University, North Carolina
More being invited.
c) SUPPORTERS (open to anyone, anywhere,
who wishes to lend their name to the Appeal. Financial
contributions welcome but not mandatory for membership)
Olaf Karthaus, Sapporo; Ken Sutherland, Sapporo; Hatayama Masako, Otaru; Douglas
and Noriko Black, Yokohama; Lois Hashimoto, Canada; John Edward Philips, Aomori;
Steven van Dresser, Yokohama, Reverend James Mylet and Makishita Noriko, WELCOME
HOUSE, Sapporo; Ishimaru Shutaro, Sapporo; Colin Cummins, Sapporo; Gesa Oldehaver,
Sapporo; Bern Mulvey, United States; Simon Jackson, Sapporo; Nishimura Daisuke, Mito,
Dr Shawn Clankie, Sapporo; Kataoka Maiko, Kushiro; Jon Letman, Hawaii; Charles McLarty,
Sapporo; Miura Mami, Sapporo; Nueno Yuki, Tokyo; Yvan Chartrand, Sapporo; Daniel
Walsh, Osaka; Tim Greer, Sapporo; Kayano Shiro, Nibutani, Hokkaido; Dr Steve Emmet,
United States; Satou Shojin, Otaru; Mikasa Shuuji, Otaru; Gwen Gallagher, Asahikawa,
Hokkaido; Herb and Bernadine Aldwinckle, United States; Harry Sweeney, Hokkaido;
Michael H. Fox, Hyogo;Joseph Tomei , Kumamoto; Charles B. Wordell, Nagoya;, Brigitte
Moser-Hori, Sapporo; Chip Bozek, Iwamizawa, Hokkaido; Messrs Ivanova and Shvedkov,
Sapporo; Norman Diamond, Japan; Morgan C. Benton, United States, Yamazaki Shunji,
OASIS; Kashiwaki Yumiko and Miyamura Masanori; JEFP; Chris Pitts, Japan; Amanda Harlow,
Sapporo; Paul Creager, Sapporo; Wako, Irene and Lillian Ono, United Kingdom; Mr Kuwabara,
Sapporo; Kyonja Hwang, Sapporo; Mr Kishimoto, Sapporo; Joe Park, Japan; Ms Kuroki,
Sapporo; Dr Keiko Yamanaka, United States, Mary Sutherland, United States, ,宮村
正則 さん, 工藤 Miekoさん, 佐々木 亮さん, 佐藤神父さん, 山上順子さん, 大塚先生, 中和泉さん,
柏木 由美子さん, 鈴木Tomoさん, Alana Schneider, United States; Joy Sutherland, United
States; Lorena Fanti, United States; Marilynn Sutherland, United States; Kobayashi
Tomohiko, Japan; Kevin Dobbs, Tochigi, Japan; Richard Thieme, Tokyo; Edward Haig,
Nagoya; Paul Marshall, Aomori; Professor Mushakoji, Tokyo, Saitou Fumie, Tokyo; Ono
Mitsuaki, Tokyo; Nancy Earth, Kagoshima; Chris McHarg, Sapporo; Colin Restall, Tokyo;
Dr Christoph Neumann, Shinjuku, Tokyo: David Schneer, Hugues Richard, Germany; Scott
Hards, Tochigi; Dean Garfield, London; 武藤久資さん JCLU, Tokyo; 上野さとしさん JCLU,
Tokyo; 鈴木美愛子さん, Tokyo; 杉下奈央子さん, Kanagawa; 阿部浩己さん,Kanagawa; 弘中惇一郎さん,
Tokyo; 坂本孝夫さん JCLU, Tokyo; 旗手明さん、外国人研修生問題ネットワーク, Tokyo;
Lee Sunfun, whereabouts unknown; Kim Minjung, Tokyo; 天野 理 , 神奈川大学大学院法学研究科;
Rich Ormsby and Suzuki Yumiko, Chicago, USA; Vladimir Marinov, Bulgaria, Hiroshima;
Mark Schreiber, Tokyo; 旭川市の湯川界氏, Jools Collis, Osaka, (...plus many who chose
to remain anonymous). Wish to join? Contact Plaintiff Arudou Debito at debito@debito.org.
8) THE GOALS AND CORE IDEAS BEHIND THE BENGODAN:
================================================
Japan effected the United Nations Convention on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on January 14, 1996. As the treaty explicitly states
in Article 2: "1. States Parties... undertake to pursue... without delay a policy
of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms", (d): "Each State
Party shall prohibit and bring to an end, by all appropriate means, including legislation
as required by circumstances, racial discrimination by any persons, group or organization",
at all levels of government. Unfortunately, seven years later, Japan still has no
law against racial discrimination.
Consequently, Japan has public places and business establishments enforcing (often
with signs out front) "Japanese Only" policies, refusing entry and service
to all "foreigners" (judged by physical appearance). This behavior has
been called "discrimination" by Japanese administrative, legislative, and
judicial bodies, deemed unconstitutional under Japan's Constitution Article 14--yet
is not "illegal", which means that no governing body has the authority
to bring it to an end.
Japan remains the only OECD country without any law against racial discrimination.
In March 20, 2001, the UN CERD Committee issued a press release on Japan's inability
to follow the Treaty in its courts and in legislatures (excerpt):
*************
"The Committee was concerned that the only
provision in the legislation of Japan relevant to the Convention was article 14 of
the Constitution. Taking into account the fact that the Convention was not self-executory,
the Committee believed it necessary to adopt specific legislation to outlaw racial
discrimination.
"Regarding the prohibition of racial discrimination in general, the Committee
was further concerned that racial discrimination as such was not explicitly and adequately
penalised in criminal law."
*************
On February 1, 2001, three Plaintiffs (one German, one
American, one naturalized Japanese) launched the "Otaru Onsen Lawsuit",
suing a bathhouse (onsen) in Otaru, Japan, for refusing them entry in 1999 and 2000
solely on the basis of their race. They also sued the City of Otaru for taking ineffective
measures against discrimination in their jurisdiction since 1993. On November 11,
2002, The Sapporo District Court ruled against the bathhouse, calling their refusals
"racial discrimination", and "illegal" (as it went "beyond
permissable societal limits" into "unrational discrimination" (fugouri
na sabetsu)).
However, the Court also ruled against the Plaintiffs: "Defendant Otaru City,
as it is a regional public organization playing a part in public administration,
has the same duty as the national government to prohibit and bring an end to racial
discrimination. However, this duty is no more than a political one, and concerning
matters between individual citizens, this is interpreted to mean that the [city government]
is under no clear and absolute (ichigiteki) obligation to prohibit or bring to an
end concrete examples of racial discrimination by establishing local laws (jourei)."
This contradiction is the main basis of the Otaru City Appeal, and why we formed
and joined this Bengodan. We believe all levels of Japan's legislative, administrative,
and judicial branches have a responsibility to keep their public promises--both those
enshrined in the Japanese Constitution and affirmed under international treaty--in
order to create a society where everyone, regardless of race, nationality, or appearance,
can have their legal, civil, and human rights protected.
To create this society, we, the undersigned, express our support for the "THE
OTARU CITY RACIAL DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT LEGAL TEAM", in hopes that the case
that it pursues, the Otaru City Appeal, will help underscore and illustrate the need
for anti-discrimination laws in Japan.
=============================================
NOTE 1) This Bengodan has been formed to support Plaintiff Arudou Debito's
Appeal against Defendant Otaru City. The other appeal, Defendant Onsen Yunohana's
Appeal against Plaintiffs Karthaus, Sutherland, and Arudou, is unaffiliated with
this Bengodan, as it is being represented independently and for-profit by original
lawyer Itou Hideko.
NOTE 2) We ask that people assisting this Bengodan do so on a volunteer basis
(legal representation is all pro bono), due to the financial straits of the Plaintiff.
On November 11, 2002, the Sapporo District Court ordered Defendant Onsen Yunohana
to pay each Plaintiff one million yen in damages; however, Yunohana took out a court
order to avoid paying anything until the outcome of the abovementioned Yunohana Appeal.
Otaru's largest bathhouse (and growing; yet still refusing foreigners who do not
"understand Japanese"), Onsen Yunohana has thus frozen the legal fund indefinitely.
This is why we ask for support in any way possible (just moral support is fine) from
a public concerned about human rights and, more concretely, about Japan's future
as an accepting home for people of differing backgrounds.
========================================
Otaru Soshou Enjoukai bank info
("Otaru Lawsuit Support Group" bank info)
FROM WITHIN JAPAN:
otarusoshouenjokai arudou debito daihyou
(will all appear in the ATM in katakana at time of transfer:)
Tenbangou 151, Hokkaido Ginkou Sapporo Ekimae Shiten
Futsuu Kouza 1489924
FROM OVERSEAS:
The Hokkaido Bank LTD
Sapporo Ekimae Branch
Account name: (just found out that this, not the English, has to be used, sorry)
otaru soshou enjokai arudou debito daihyou
Account Particulars: 0116-151-90-1489924
Swiftcode: HKDBJPJT
ABA # 0116
========================================
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Background to the case, including media and legal documentation:
http://www.debito.org/otarulawsuit.html
More on legal costs and account details for contributions:
http://www.debito.org/lawsuitcontributions.html
The Sapporo District Court Decision (Japanese text)
http://www.debito.org/otarulawsuithanketsu.html
The UN Convention on Racial Discrimination (CERD)
http://www.debito.org/intlconvention.html
UN CERD Committee Recommendations for Japan, March 2001
http://www.debito.org/finalargumentspage.html#5
(March 20, 2001 UN press release)
http://193.194.138.190/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01
DEE30E727A90CAA9C1256A160033255E?opendocument
More on Plaintiff Arudou Debito:
http://www.debito.org
WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO:
SUBMIT
YOUR EXPERIENCES OF REFUSALS ON THE BASIS OF RACE OR NATIONALITY TO THE SAPPORO HIGH
COURT in what is becoming Japan's first class-action
lawsuit on behalf of non-Japanese and racially-diverse Japanese. Please help out
if you can.
NEWS FLASH
(Sept 4, 2003)
SECOND HEARING FOR OTARU APPEALS
STATEMENTS READ ALOUD IN AND SUBMITTED TO COURT
INFORMATION SITE WITH TEXT OF STATEMENTS HERE
ENDS
(REFERENCE MATERIAL)
For the record:
How this Bengodan came about:
(Made public as part of a larger Update on January 6, 2003)
OTARU CITY APPEAL: "BENGODAN"
December was a real rotten month. One reason was because the Otaru Lawsuit, which
has effectively split into two lawsuits, found itself with only half the representation.
First, about the split:
Suit 1) Defendant Onsen Yunohana, feeling misunderstood by the Sapporo District
Court for having their policy of refusing entry to all "foreigners" (including
Japanese who look foreign) judged as "illegal" and "racial discrimination",
appealed against us three Plaintiffs.
Suit 2) is My Appeal (alone) against Otaru City (reasons why outlined at http://www.debito.org/appealwriteup.html,
but essentially because if left unappealed, the ruling sets a bad legal precedent).
For Appeal One above, our lawyer, Itou Hideko, agreed to represent us, and charged
us each 100,000 yen for the job.
However, for Appeal Two above, due to workload (and despite encouraging me to appeal
against the City), Lawyer Itou declined to represent me. "File the case yourself
as an individual," she told me on December 20, days after I received communication
from the Sapporo High Court that my first legal arguments were due in court on January
13. Fat chance of me getting things in properly when I am neither a native speaker
nor a lawyer.
In one of those moments of clarity brought on by extreme duress, I wrote an emergency
letter to my email list of human rights organizations asking for help finding legal
representation. Within hours, an important organization wrote back with advice on
how to take a route used by many human rights litigants in Japan: Form a "Lawyers'
Group" (Bengodan), with a "core" group of representatives, legal advisors,
and supporters--all working pro bono.
(Interesting in lending your name to it? It costs nothing, and you don't need to
be a lawyer. The more "Supporters", the merrier. I'll give you more information
as it firms up.)
Meanwhile, I've got a week to get a response to the court. I feel like I'm in the
middle of a John Grisham novel, albeit a character that hasn't even passed the bar.
Nothing like flying by the seat of your pants, huh?
//////////////////////////////////
One last, very important thing: HELP!
I mentioned this before, but the million yen awarded us by the Sapporo District Court
has been frozen indefinitely, thanks to Defendant Onsen Yunohana (which has made
enough money out of the free publicity from this case to open a second franchise
in Asari, at a time when many bathhouses up here are closing) appealing the case
and taking out a court order. Hence we Plaintiffs (especially this one) are in dire
financial straits, facing a rich and powerful business (which still refuses entry
to foreigners who do not "understand Japanese") for who knows how long.
THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO HELP OUT FINANCIALLY can do so by seeing bank account
details and court costs at:
http://www.debito.org/lawsuitcontributions.html
Thanks. Sorry to keep canvassing.
Arudou Debito
Sapporo
January 6, 2003