THE NEXT STEP: HOW TO FIGHT CITY HALL
CREATING A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT
THE
OTARU ONSEN LAWSUIT
THE NEXT STEP: HOW TO FIGHT CITY HALL
CREATING A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT
UPDATE: 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
Made public February 5, 2003
(freely forwardable; please translate if necessary)
Contents of this mailing:
/////////////////////////////////////////////
1) REQUEST UP FRONT:
PLS TELL US YOUR CASES OF BEING EXCLUDED
2) WHY? THE APPEALS PROCESS IN JAPANESE COURTS
3) THE ETHOS OF THE APPEAL AGAINST OTARU CITY
/////////////////////////////////////////////
Clarification: This post concerns the Appeal against Otaru City, in which I am the
sole Plaintiff (see http://www.debito.org/bengodanenglish.html).
It does not concern the Yunohana Onsen Appeal (against us three original Plaintiffs,
see http://www.debito.org/otarulawsuit.html).
I would like to request assistance from the general public:
/////////////////////////////////////////////
1) PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR CASES OF BEING EXCLUDED
We (the lawyers and myself) are looking for concrete examples of exclusion from Japanese
business/services due to race or nationality. This can include:
a) refusals of service at public-access facilities (bathhouses,
restaurants, bars, taxis, shops, hotels, etc.)
b) denials of rental apartments, public or private housing
c) you name it... submit it and see
to debito@debito.org, or to my lawyer, Mr
Shiba-ike (shibaike@hg-law.jp)
This is a chance for people out there to make their voice heard about discrimination
here--the closest thing to a class-action lawsuit we are probably going to get in
Japan. So submit your experience detailing to the best of your memory:
====================================
1) What kind of place refused you, its location in Japan,
and when?
2) What were the reasons they gave for refusing you?
3) CONCISELY (Please! I will be translating this if not submitted in Japanese), in
what manner did they refuse you? (The human equation matters to the judge.)
====================================
Total one page A4 single space max, please? You can submit and be kept anonymous
if you want, but testimonials with names attached will make this case much stronger.
Please submit anyway and see.
(NB: Sorry, we are not interested in refusals of the prurient variety,
i.e. soaplands, fuuzokuten, etc, as they blur the message. We are more interested
in establishments that anyone, particularly families, should be able to enter and
enjoy--since denial of these services has an immediate and negative impact on the
standard of living of non-Japanese here.)
(Mata NB: We wish we could take up cases of credit and financial refusals,
but the Herman vs Asahi Bank Case of 1999-2002 (http://www.debito.org/TheCommunity/hermancase.html)
demonstrated that Japanese courts view a loan refusal as "rational discrimination"--i.e.
refusals justifiable due to the allegedly higher risk of foreign default because
"they can leave the country" (as if Japanese cannot...?). Anyway, credit
cases blur the issue too.)
/////////////////////////////////////////////
2) WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?
BECAUSE OF THE APPEALS PROCESS IN JAPANESE COURTS
Yesterday, my lawyers gave me chilling details about the Appeals process in Japan.
I had been previously informed that one is more likely to get a fair shake in the
High Courts (kousai), since the District Courts (chisai) have judges, seeking promotion
to higher courts, who disavow judicial activism and invariably rule in favor of the
government; therefore, the logic runs, High Court judges have reached their peaks
and are more likely to overturn bad judgments.
Unfortunately, my lawyers say, those were the good old days. Current judges want
to speed things up (which sounds like a good thing, but wait...) by asking if there
is anything new to add to the case. They do not judge the old case on its merits
or countermand the slipshod judicial logic of a previous ruling. If there is nothing
new, they summarily reaffirm the previous decision and shoo the case out.
This means we have to approach the case from a new angle: How widespread is discrimination
in Japan against people who are or look foreign?
Think about it--it's not all that hard to do. Just about everyone I know has had
trouble renting an apartment. So tell us about it. Others have been turfed out of
stores, discos, or restaurants. Tell us about it. We have plenty of evidence of the
Japanese police's clear and present racial profiling (in the police's own words--see
http://www.debito.org/TheCommunity/communityissues.html#police),
and I will raise it in court. But now's your chance to raise the other stuff. Please
focus on your treatment in the public and private sectors (not police harassment--since
issues of criminality may call into question the speaker's credibility or innocence)
and make it part of the public record.
The point is we must show the judges (and the Japanese press in general) that the
discrimination is not limited to just three onsens or three people. It is a nationwide
trend, and with clear "Japanese Only" etc. signposting, becoming more overt.
Otaru City, which had signs excluding foreigners from 1993, did not help matters
by essentially ignoring their situation for nearly ten years. Even if you feel Otaru
is not a direct cause of this trend (though there is incontrovertible evidence that
other places--Wakkanai and Misawa, for example--used Otaru as a template; see http://www.debito.org/photosubstantiation.html),
look at the big picture: We must demonstrate that Japan needs an anti-racial-discrimination
law to protect people--for without one things just will get (and have gotten) worse.
Otaru's clear unwillingness to even draft a local anti-discrimination ordinance forbidding
this practice in their jurisdiction (despite constitutional and UN treaty obligations)
is something they must be held accountable for.
But to do that, we need input from outside. Please, give us a page on what happened
to you.
Due date? AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Our first submission
of court documents was Wednesday, March 5, 2003. So the sooner you can get it to
us the better. Thanks.
/////////////////////////////////////////////
3) THE ETHOS OF THE APPEAL AGAINST OTARU CITY
We mentioned them before in context at http://www.debito.org/bengodanenglish.html,
but again:
====================================
"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."
====================================
This is the tack my lawyers and I want to take. We have been witnessing unfavorable
treatment by race and nationality in Japanese society for years. Despite it becoming
more clear, present, and systematic over the past decade, responses from the authorities
have been ineffective. Now it is time to see how the courts respond, in Japan's first
class-action suit on behalf of non-Japanese and racially-diverse Japanese.
Please, help us make our case.
Arudou Debito, Plaintiff
The Otaru City Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Appeal
debito@debito.org
http://www.debito.org
http://www.debito.org/otarulawsuit.html
ENDS
UPDATE: 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.)