Kyodo Tsushin on
Friendship between Otaru Onsen Excluder
and Excluded Former Foreigner
(Japanese jpg of this article with color photo here)

Dateline: OTARU, Japan, Jan. 11
By: Ken Sasaki

(EDS: THIS IS THE FIRST OF A JAPAN TODAY SERIES OF NEWS FOCUS STORIES ON RELATIONS BETWEEN JAPANESE AND FOREIGNERS IN JAPAN)

Otaru Onsen O-spa received a considerable amount of media attention three years ago when its management barred an American from taking a bath, claiming it was for "Japanese only."

An employee of the bathing facility turned away Debito Arudou, formerly David Aldwinckle, a 37-year-old California-born man, due to his ethnicity.

The incident, which became an international issue of racial discrimination, occurred in September 1999 when the English teacher at a Japanese university was on a fact-finding tour of Otaru city as a member of a group opposed to discrimination against foreigners by Japanese.

Yunohana, another spa in the city, let his wife Ayako Sugawara, 43, and their two daughters in, but denied him entrance. It maintained its ban even after Arudou obtained Japanese nationality in October 2000.

Otaru, a port city in the western part of Hokkaido frequented by Russians, is not the only Japanese city where foreigners encounter discrimination.

About half of 200 eating and drinking establishments that belong to the association of restaurants and bars in the city of Monbetsu in Hokkaido post signs that say "exclusive to Japanese" in Russian.

A bathhouse in the city of Wakkanai, also in Hokkaido, operates one for Japanese charging 370 yen per person and another with saunas for foreigners with entrance fees of 2,500 yen.

Some coffee shops, bars, shops and hotels in the entertainment Kabukicho area in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, in the city of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture where many foreigners work, and in Okinawa Island where the majority of U.S. military bases are located have refused to deal with non-Japanese nationals.

A Brazilian woman who was refused entry into a jewelry store in Hamamatsu filed a suit with the local branch of the Shizuoka District Court. The court ordered the store in 1999 to pay her 1.5 million yen in violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Arudou was shocked after learning from his wife that his daughter, who was five at the time of the Otaru incident, had asked whether her father was "a bad person because he is a foreigner."

He said he decided to publicize the case because he thought racial discrimination would become "pollution" for his daughter.

But his move to publicize the incident came as a surprise to Hidekatsu Okoshi, the manager of Otaru Onsen O-spa who barred Arudo, as the spa has been banning foreigners since 1994, the year after it opened.

The number of Russian ships making port calls has rapidly increased following the collapse of the Soviet Union and reports of Russians drinking alcohol and making noises at bathhouses increased.

Okoshi distributed questionnaires to about 800 people and found that 51% of them said "no" to foreigners and 35% said "yes."

Many Japanese forced off Sakhalin Island following Japan's defeat in World War II live in Otaru. Some of those who responded to the questionnaire said they remembered the former Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan shortly before Japan's surrender and its detention of Japanese prisoners of war after the end of the war. They said they could not approve of Russians utilizing bathing facilities in the city.

Okoshi, bearing the brunt of criticism, was part of a forum in January 2000 and explained the sentiment of Otaru citizens toward foreigners.

He was the only spa manager to attend the meeting sponsored by Otaru University of Commerce. Arudou was the only person to thank him for coming to the forum.

After the meeting, some foreigners surrounded Okoshi and criticized for the methodology of his survey, which they claimed was flawed. Okoshi said he heard that when Arudou learned about the incident later, Arudou became angry, saying that was not the way to treat Okoshi.

The two met at a sushi bar about half a month later for their first dialogue and talked for about three hours over glasses of beer. Arudou took out a photograph of his two daughters and asked Okoshi whether they would be able to take a bath at the spa.

Okoshi said the question pierced his heart, since he also has a daughter, who spent two weeks at the home of a Canadian family when she was in middle school. He told Arudou that his daughter wanted to go abroad and that he did not want her to have an unpleasant experience.

Arudou told Okoshi the discrimination against foreigners was not the matter of one or two spas in Otaru, but was a problem that concerned all Japanese and administrative officials.

Okoshi decided to adopt a membership system for Otaru Onsen O-spa in March of 2000, effectively accepting foreigners. Some Japanese protested and the facility saw a 20% reduction in the number of bathers. He posted a notice on bathing etiquette in five languages, including Russian and English.

Yunohana spa, however, still refused Arudou entry even after he became a Japanese citizen, and a group of people including Arudou sued the spa and the city office in February last year for failing to take effective measures.

In the suit filed with the Sapporo District Court, Arudou said 30, 000 foreign and Japanese couples marry annually in Japan and the number of biracial children is on the increase. He also appealed to the court to protect the human rights of Japanese, like his daughters, who look different from other Japanese.

Arudou and Okoshi met at Otaru Onsen O-spa last October, and sat on the tatami mat floor of the lounge and chatted over glasses of beer. They are now friends who enjoy bathing together at the facility.

Okoshi said he did not know Japan had ratified the treaty banning racial discrimination three years ago when his spa became the focus of media attention. Japan was the 146th nation in the world to ratify it.

Arudou believes the low level of Japanese awareness of the ratification of the treaty is due to administrative neglect.

The Otaru municipality earlier promised to hold a dialogue between residents and foreigners, but it has not taken place as the official in charge has died.

Arudou proposed that at Otaru Onsen O-spa a forum be held for spa bathers and foreigners. Okoshi has high expectations for such a gathering since the elderly do not have many opportunities to interact with foreigners.

Kyodo World News Service, 01-11-2002.
ENDS