www.debito.org

Chicago Tribune May 8, 2003
on one person's activism in Japan

Courtesy
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0305080196may08,1,5251990.story(Viewable after free registration)

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CRUSADER-CITIZEN TAKES ON JAPAN

American-born activist seeks some semblance of equality for non-natives in
tradition-bound society

By Michael A. Lev
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published May 8, 2003

CHITOSE, Japan -- There is nothing about American-born David Aldwinckle that
seems Japanese, right down to his self-deprecating description that he is
just a "loudmouth with an Internet connection." Being a loudmouth of any kind
isn't typical in polite, group-oriented Japan.

Yet Aldwinckle is Japanese. He speaks the language, has taken a Japanese name
and became a naturalized citizen in 2000 after living here more than a decade.

All this has given Arudou Debito, as he is now called, a unique perspective
as outsider-turned-insider in an island nation known for not welcoming
immigrants, refugees, foreign investors or anyone who aspires to be treated
as an equal by the natives.

Some of Aldwinckle's experiences have frustrated him, made him indignant and
yes, even turned him into a loudmouth. They also have transformed him into an
unusual activist for the rights of non-native Japanese and other foreigner
residents at a critical moment in this country's history.

Because of its falling birthrate and moribund economy, Japan is struggling to
accept the idea that it must become more hospitable to outsiders because
their numbers are growing and they represent an underutilized resource.

This transformation is not happening easily, as Aldwinckle has discovered.

The focal point of his mission is a legal case stemming from an incident of
racial discrimination at its most unfathomable.

A traditional Japanese bathhouse near Aldwinckle's northern Japan home that
had been troubled by rowdy Russian sailors put a sign on its door prohibiting
all foreigners. The ban went unchallenged for eight years, until a group that
included Aldwinckle, his Japanese wife and their two daughters tried to enter.

Aldwinckle was told by the management that he was not welcome, but his wife
was. Their older daughter--with dark hair and dark almond eyes--would be
allowed, the manager said. But not the younger daughter--the one with
light-colored hair and green eyes.

"As a parent," Aldwinckle said, "I could not allow this to stand. These
children are Japanese children."

He attempted to negotiate with the bathhouse owners, but they stood
firm--even after Aldwinckle proved his citizenship. He tried to motivate
local officials to act. They held several emergency meetings but never
invited Aldwinckle, or any foreigner, to attend. Eventually they decided
there was no law against what the bathhouse did, and they were not willing to
enact one.

CASE CONTINUES ON APPEAL

So Aldwinckle sued.

The bathhouse removed the sign as soon as it heard of Aldwinckle's
intentions, but his court case continues on appeal, with the initial verdict
late last year giving Aldwinckle less than a total victory. It also gave him
more to chew on about why Japan seems to find it so difficult to give equal
treatment to anyone not considered "Japanese."

The ruling, in effect, said that the bathhouse was wrong to discriminate
against foreigners but that the city was not required to pass
anti-discrimination laws. The decision meant that the next foreigner to be
excluded from a Japanese bathhouse also would have to sue to get in,
Aldwinckle said.

"This is why human rights here remain shallow: Because the mechanisms to
enforce it are toothless," he said. "There is no mechanism to enforce Article
14 of the constitution, which says equal protection for all citizens."

Being able to quote from Japan's constitution--in Japanese, as well as
English--is only the beginning of the 38-year-old Aldwinckle's lobbying
ability. He is passionate, meticulous and media savvy, and has just written a
book in Japanese that details his fight for justice on behalf of non-native
Japanese and other foreigners. He also maintains a jam-packed Web site of his
essays, court documents and campaigns against discrimination.

There is a lot to chronicle, though much of what Aldwinckle has come up
against is not the kind of prejudice that destroys lives. He has a successful
career as a university professor and lives contentedly with his family in a
house he built.

Most of the inequalities Aldwinckle faces are the type he could ignore but
refuses to because they offend his sense of justice and represent a parochial
mindset that he believes is not just outdated but harmful to Japan's future.

Through Internet-based publicity campaigns fueled by his endless
determination to speak, Aldwinckle can claim several victories, including
convincing the country's largest cellular phone company that it was wrong to
demand a $250 deposit from foreigners but not from citizens. They dropped the
requirement for credit card-holders.

He also persuaded several Tokyo banks to remove signs posted near 24-hour
cash machines that warned the Japanese to beware of bad foreigners who snatch
handbags. The Japanese commit crimes too, he argued, and in much greater
numbers than foreigners.

"PEOPLE TERRIFIED"

Aldwinckle does not argue that Japan is a racist society or outrageously
xenophobic. At its worst, he believes, Japan is a rigidly structured,
sheltered society that is poorly trained to address complex social questions
like, "What is a Japanese person?"

"People are terrified of the unpredictable and the unprecedented," he said. "They
are afraid of what foreigners might do if you let them in. If you make them
citizens, what would they become? They'd become weirdos who don't toe the
line, who raise the questions other people won't raise, who won't allow the
system to stand as it stands."

Japan, which was closed to foreigners for centuries until the 1850s, has a
long unresolved history of integrating outsiders. There remains a large
community of ethnic Koreans who have lived in Japan for generations since
being imported as slave laborers. Most are still not Japanese citizens.

There are about 1.8 million foreign residents--including the Koreans--in
Japan today, and there is a growing recognition that the country must change
its views. The trends toward more migrant workers, more international
marriages with biracial children and more foreign-owned corporations all are
intensifying.

That has made Aldwinckle's challenges a little bit easier, because even the
bureaucrats who stymie him don't view him simply as a lone angry white man.
Most people who come in contact with Aldwinckle accept the idea that he has
become Japanese and that his perspective is interesting, if not indispensable.

"This is not a personal crusade because it touches upon a lot of larger
issues," Aldwinckle said. "It's not just about my world. This must stop
because it's unfair and it's untenable in Japan in the 21st Century."

Copyright 2003, Chicago Tribune
ENDS
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(NB: Apologies to those out there who were not mentioned in the article yet
did as much or more than I when raising issues mentioned above: the Otaru
Lawsuit, Tokyo banks and NTT Docomo. Those are not "my victories". They
are ours. Debito)