Otaru Lawsuit and Kunibengodan Lawsuit--Contributions Welcome

THE OTARU LAWSUIT COSTS
THE KUNIBENGODAN LAWSUIT COSTS
HOW YOU CAN HELP
(Last updated November 2005)
(Information in Japanese: 送金・寄付金の口座案内はここです）

QUICK ROUNDUP: As you may have read on various articles on www.debito.org , friends and I file lawsuits against the government (both National and Local) for not passing laws to prohibit racial discrimination. Even though most of our lawyers work pro bono, this of course takes oodles of time and energy, and even money. (About how much money? See the bottom half of this site to see filing fees and sunk costs with one of our lawyers who refused to work pro bono, and has still not paid one of the plaintiffs in the Otaru Lawsuit his court-awarded compensation over a year after the case finished in September 2004! ... but I digress.) And even if a lawyer works "pro bono", it is still assumed the plaintiffs and supporters will foot their travel and occasional beer-powwow expenses... So trust me, we're getting a lot of help and favors, but it's no free lunch.

Want to help out in our efforts? We would be very grateful! How? Well, two ways come to mind: moral and financial support.

By "moral support", we mean things like piping up in support of our efforts when critics appear on various fora. Believe it or not, that's very helpful. There are lots of people out there who don't agree with what we're doing, and we can't answer everybody. Really, that's plenty.

For those who wish to contribute financially (which of course is welcome too) to offset the court costs, there are two ways:

One is by Paypal. Details follow. Click the following button:

(NB: I have been having some trouble with donations these days--shipping costs for my book keep getting added onto simple money transfers. Paypal, although contacted, has not been very helpful. So until I can fix this problem, if you get a "shipping cost" added on, back up on your browser, and deduct the cost from the total (i.e. if you want to contribute, say, 10,000 yen, you may get "charged" 2400 yen for the privilege. So back up, contribute 8600 yen (10,000 yen minus 2400 yen), and let the "shipping cost" make up the difference). Do that for any extraneous amount you get "charged". Sorry for the bother. Wish I knew what the problem is.)

The second way is the old-fashioned way--through bank transfer: We have opened a bank account at the following location:

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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

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(NB: This is the old account for the Otaru Lawsuit. However, this will be pooled with the Kunibengodan funds, so not to worry.)

An example of how much it costs to file suit in Japan:

COURT COSTS OF THE 2002 APPEAL FYI

So far, Arudou Debito is out of pocket for 18,540 yen, for filing an appeal in the Sapporo High Court on Nov 19, 2002. This is how the figure came up:

I sought the minimum compensation (the court clerks advised me to choose this figure, since I wasn't sure) of 950,000 yen. According to court clerks, that means costs are:
12,300 yen for tax stamps (shuu nyuu inshi) affixed to the application forms
6,240 yen (double the first-filing of 3120 yen, since this appeal is the second filing) for regular postage stamps, also affixed to the application forms. Why postage stamps? That's just the way it's done.
Total 18,540 yen. NOTE THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE LAWYER'S FEES. For an estimate of that, here is the bill for the 2002 Yunohana Appeal. You can also see the costs below for our 2001 filing, which paid for one lawyer, Itou Hideko. She has again made it clear she is on board again for the appeal, but wants more lawyers' help this time. Costs will go up, and since Defendant Onsen Yunohana has escaped paying the court's award of damages, this time around it's really gonna hurt. This is why if you are willing to help, we/I would really appreciate it.

Receipts as proof of costs:
TOTAL FILING COSTS
(detail from Appeal Form filed Nov 19, 2002)

(Click excerpt above to see the whole form in Japanese)
TAX STAMP COSTS

RECEIPT FOR TOTAL AMOUNT FROM SAPPORO COURT CLERK

BILL FROM LAWYER ITOU HIDEKO TO REPRESENT ONE PLAINTIFF (ARUDOU DEBITO)

To repeat, this is for one Plaintiff (Arudou) for the defense against Defendant Onsen Yunohana's appeal against us. Not included are either a) the legal fees to represent Plaintiffs Karthaus and Sutherland, or b) legal fees connected with Plaintiff Arudou's appeal against Defendant Otaru City (which Lawyer Itou declined to assist with due to her work schedule). (NB: The appeal against Otaru City will hopefully be covered by a "bengodan", a group of volunteer lawyers working pro bono, currently under construction--more information about the bengodan available in Japanese for now here.)

Total legal fees for the Yunohana Appeal alone, not including filing costs: 100,000 x 3 people = 300,000 yen. Then we had to pay our lawyer afterwards, and she charged us an enormous fee we had not agreed upon... It's a rough business, and nobody really profits (except maybe the discriminators; Otaru Onsen Lawsuit Defendant Onsen Yunohana has expanded its business to three branches!) This is why we are asking for financial support possible (every little bit helps--a student even gave me 250 yen from his pocket!). But not to worry-- moral support, again, is just fine, and is, if anything, priceless!

Thanks very much for your support. Email me and ask to join our Kunibengodan Supporters' List! (click for more information) if you like! Thanks for reading.

Arudou Debito
Sapporo