By Arudou Debito
Column 40 for the Japan Times Community Page
For Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Director's Cut, as submitted to the editor.

On August 25, 2007, the Japanese government released findings from a Cabinet poll conducted every four years.  Entitled "Public Survey on the Defense of Human Rights" ("jinken yougo ni kansuru yoron chousa", from www8.cao.go.jp/survey/h19/h19-jinken), it sparked media attention with some apparently good news.

When respondents were asked, "Should foreigners have the same human rights protections as Japanese?", 59.3% said yes.  This is a rebound from the steady decline from 1995 (68.3%), 1999 (65.5%), and 2003 (54%). 

Back then, the Justice Ministry's Human Rights Bureau publicly blamed the decline on "a sudden rise in foreign crime".  So I guess the news is foreigners now have a higher regard as humans.  Phew.

No thanks to the government, mind you.  Past columns have already covered the figment of the foreign crime wave, and how the police stoked public fear of it.  If anything, this poll charted the social damage wrought by anti-foreigner policy campaigns.

But that's all the poll is good for.  If the media had bothered to examine its methodology, they'd feel stupid for ever taking it seriously.  Its questions are skewed and grounded in bad science.

First, why is the government even asking whether non-Japanese deserve equal rights?  Are human rights optional, a matter of opinion polls?  And if a majority says foreigners deserve fewer rights, does that justify the current policy of no laws against racial discrimination?

Not according to the United Nations.  In 1998, the Committee of Civil and Political Rights slammed this census:  "The Committee stresses that protection of human rights and human rights standards are not determined by popularity polls.  It is concerned by the repeated use of popularity statistics to justify attitudes of [Japan] that may violate its obligations under the Covenant."  (CCPR/C/79/Add.102 Item C (7))

Undaunted, the Cabinet just keeps on polling, as they have an agenda to fill and a tax coffer to empty.

Now let's turn to the lousy science.  3000 people (1776 respondents) aged 20 and up were interviewed, "to poll the awareness of citizens ('kokumin') regarding human rights protections, applying them towards shaping future policy" (Survey, page one).

Well then, the sampling is already biased.  If you only survey "kokumin", you aren't surveying foreigners.  As taxpaying residents, shouldn't two million non-Japanese also have input into policy affecting them as profoundly as anti-discrimination measures?

The survey's 21 questions asked (in summary):  1) awareness of constitutional protections of human rights, 2) awareness of human rights violations in Japan, 3) what kinds of people had experienced them, 4) whether the respondents themselves had experienced them, and 5) what they think should be done about them.

Fine.  But now examine the questions and enter the Twilight Zone.

For example, in Q3 part 2, people who felt they had experienced discrimination were to choose from a conveniently-provided list of bad eggs:  "false rumors, bad-mouthing by neighbors", "insults or defamation", "bad treatment from police", "violence, extortion", "false accusations of crime", "foul odors, noise pollution", "discriminatory treatment by race, creed, gender, and social status", "being excluded by your neighbors", "bad treatment at work", "your domestic utilities, such as gas or water, getting switched off", "bad treatment at public welfare facilities", "invasion of privacy", "sexual harassment", "stalking", "something else", and finally, "not sure, but something" (nantonaku).

Uh, even with these questions leading the witness, many categories are not mutually exclusive ("gender discrimination" and "sexual harassment"? "rumors" and "defamation"?).  Some are too vague ("nantonaku"?).   And some are from outer space ("gas and water"?).

Some are not even clear examples of "human rights"--I would even call them "crybaby" categories:  "People speaking ill of me" and "rumors" are scientifically difficult to quantify, if not dismissible as perceived slights by the paranoid.  They invite people to say, "Hey, develop a thicker skin!"  

In fact, they don't even qualify under the UN Convention on Racial Discrimination--as it doesn't cover interactions between individuals.

And how about "foul odors"?  Under this rubric, one could argue a stinky public toilet or a humid fart in an elevator is a violation of human rights!

No wonder people have trouble taking human-rights activists seriously, when concepts even utilized by the government are so ill-defined.

But the survey's biggest blind spot is its approach towards issues of nationality and race.

Note how the abovementioned Q3 includes in one category, "discrimination by race, creed, gender, and social status."  That's painting the issue with an awfully big brush.   Not to diminish the severity of these problems, but you can hardly lump them together and get meaningful results.

Consequently, 13.9% indicated they had experienced this kind of discrimination (probably mostly by gender).  But what are the chances of Japanese claiming they are victims of racism?  If you exclude all foreigners from the survey, you guarantee an unrealistically low number.   Especially given the spread of "Japanese Only" signs and policies nationwide, and the longstanding practice of refusing apartments to foreign renters.

Even then, this is small beer compared to how the remaining questions are phrased against foreigners. 

For example, Q5 asked, "Which of the following human rights issues are you concerned about?" 

Discrimination against "foreigners" came in 14th at 12.5%, behind "handicapped", "elderly", "children", "Internet abuse victims", "North Korean kidnap victims", "women", "crime victims", "HIV sufferers", "leprosy victims", "homeless", "Burakumin", "ex-convicts", and "human trafficking". 

Worthy causes in themselves, of course.  But foreigners enjoying such low regard is unsurprising.  The next series of questions deliberately diminish their stature in society and their right to equal treatment.

Q6 through Q19 asked for comment about "human rights problems".  Each question covered specific sectors of society, with conveniently leading options to choose from:

Women (choices of "human rights violations" included porno and scantily-clad women in advertising), children (including adults being overopinionated about their children's activities), elderly (including lack of respect for their opinions), handicapped (including being stared at), Burakumin, HIV patients, crime victims, Internet victims, homeless, homosexuals, and Ainu.

Nice for the government to acknowledge (even overdo) several examples of discrimination.   But in its two questions about discrimination against foreigners, no conveniently leading options are provided.

Instead, Q12 says, "It is said [sic] that foreigners living in Japan face discrimination in their daily lives".  Then asks if they deserve the same rights as Japanese.

Er... is there doubt about the existence of discrimination against foreigners in Japan?  Even our courts have officially acknowledged it in several lawsuits--the Ana Bortz and the Otaru Onsens cases being but two famous examples.

And no similar question of doubt or qualification is raised towards any other group. 

Q13 even kindly proffers possible justifications for foreigners' "disadvantageous treatment".  Out of six choices, half say "nothing can be done" to improve things because a) "foreigners have trouble getting used to Japanese situations", b) "differences in customs, culture, and economic standing" (which got the most votes, 33.7%).  And--better sit down for this one--the tautological c) "because they are foreigners, they get disadvantageous treatment".

When a human rights survey from even the highest levels of government allows for the possibility of human rights being optional (or worse yet, justifiably deniable based on nationality), we have a deep and profound problem.
 
Nowhere in the survey is the possibility that people who look foreign might actually be Japanese.  Discrimination by race gets rendered as a subset under a larger umbrella?  Discrimination by nationality is uniquely undeserving of its own leading questions?

Stunning just how clueless even our government is about the promotion--even the portrayal--of human rights in Japan.  This survey is most enlightening when viewed from that angle. 

For it is worse than meaningless.  It is unprofessional.  And discriminatory.  Yet no matter how much criticism it draws from the United Nations, our dauntless Cabinet continues to survey as if non-Japanese residents don't count.

More information and full inclusion of original Japanese at http://www.debito.org/?p=556

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