FISHY JOB POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF THE RYUUKYUUS

[all emphases are Dave Aldwinckle's]

Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 04:56:54 +0900
To: ehoshino@ll.u-ryukyu.ac.jp (Eiichi Hoshino)
From: ehoshino@ll.u-ryukyu.ac.jp (Eiichi Hoshino)
Subject: Teaching Position

TEACHING POSITION

University of the Ryukyus (Okinawa, Japan) International Relations / Japan Studies

Applications are invited from suitably qualified persons for a position as an assistant professor (in Japanese: "Ko-shi") or as an associate professor ("Jo-Kyojyu") for International Relations in the Department of Policy Science and International Relations, College of Law and Letters, University of the Ryukyus. The Department will decide to which position the applicant will be appointed.

QUALIFICATIONS:

1. Ph.D. or equivalent research experience, at least one published article in an academic journal in the field of International Relations or Japan Studies.

2. Applicants must be able to teach in English. Thus applicants should be a native speaker of English from one of the English speaking counties.

3. Courses taken care by the appointee will be taught in English. But the capability of Japanese language is highly welcomed.

EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS:

1. A successful applicant will be appointed as a Japanese national servant (Kokka Komuin) with the restriction of service period of three years according to the Japanese laws and the university regulations.

2. Salary will be paid according to the Japanese laws and regulations. Taxes and social security costs must be paid according to the Japanese laws and other regulations.

3. As a national servant the appointee is bound by the Japanese national servants law and other regulations.

4. This position is not a "Gaikokujin Kyoshi" position.

5. The appointee will be required to teach at least three courses per semester in the broad subject area of International Relations. The appointee is also expected to expand the students' English skills in the department.

6. The appointee will be expected to assume the administrative duties expected of all the department faculty.

7. Duties to be assumed on 1 October 1998.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS FOR THE APPLICATION:

1. a curriculum vitae with a photograph (3cm x 3cm)

a CV must include at least the following information

Name Date of birth Sex Nationality Place of Birth Family status Present Address Educational record Occupational experience record

Applicants who are able to write in Japanese must request an official standard CV-form from the dean's office.

2. a list of published books and articles

Applicants who are able to write in Japanese must request an official standard form from the dean's office.

3. copies of published books and articles, if none, a copy of Ph.D. thesis

4. two letters of recommendation, each by a professor or by an expert in the field in a sealed envelope.

5. a letter of medical certificate issued by a general practitioner

Applicants who reside in Japan must submit an medical certificate issued by a public hospital (Koritsu Byoin) or by a local health authority (Hokenjo).

6. a social status certificate (Mibun-shomei-sho: applicants who have Japanese nationality)

7. transcripts of the university record

8. transcripts of the academic degrees

9. a letter to the department (Free form, but applicants should explain why they are applying for this position in Okinawa, Japan, what kind of research plans they have in the near future, etc.)

The above documents are all required by the appointment regulations of the University of the Ryukyus. Any applications lacking any documents will not be further processed.

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS:

16th June 1997 (17:00 JST). Applications must be accepted by the Dean's office prior to this deadline.

POSTAL ADDRESS:

Dean of the College of Law and Letters, University of the Ryukyus, Senbaru 1, Nishihara, 903-0213 Okinawa, Japan

Please write on the envelope in red: "Kokusai-Kankei-Ron Kyokan Obo Shorui Zaichu".

Please send the application as a registered mail.

The documents from the applications will not be sent back to the applicants after the procedures.

Further official inquiry should be sent to the postal address. If in urgency, it might be made by phone (only in Japanese) or by fax. Tel.: 098-895-8184 Fax.: 098-895-8187

Informal inquiries might be made to the Department Chairperson, Professor Masaaki Gabe (E-mail: gabe@ll.u-ryukyu.ac.jp).

Eiichi HOSHINO, Associate Professor of International Relations College of Law & Letters, Univ. of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, 903-0213 JAPAN Fax: +81-98-895-8857 http://trekkers.ll.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/www/EH/index.html

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 11:41:11 +0000
From: David Aldwinckle
To: fukuzawa@ucsd.edu
CC: H-Japan Editor <j-edit@mail.h-net.msu.edu>
Subject: Teaching Postition--Be wary of Ryuukyuu Dai (ACADEMIC APARTHEID)

As this is a public post, posted to at least three public networks (The Dead Fukuzawa Society, H-Japan, and H-Asia--please crosspost again, if possible), it is open to vetting.

I would suggest that anyone considering the position at the University of the Ryuukyuus be very wary as to the nature of the job. It is not a permanent position, and this University in particular has a history of firing its foreign employees for what may be construed as personal reasons (not through objective means of evaluation), without sufficient consideration or channels for feedback from the foreign employee.

Example: Timothy J Korst, a gaikokujin kyoushi fired April, 1998 from a different department but the same university, is currently suing the school for reinstatement of his position (he even had to form his own union to get his case heard). His case is pending in court (decision due late May 1998) because the university is claiming that as a foreigner, he is neither a typical (ippan) nor special (tokubetsu) civil servant, therefore Japanese employment laws do not protect him. Legal lines of reasoning like these question the good faith of the university's employment practices--for if trouble arises, will this department claim the same thing, making foreigners exceptions to the law and thus firable? (click here for more information on his case)

For evidence of these charges, including court documents and the full lowdown on Korst's failed attempt to negotiate as far up as the University President (who allegedly washed his hands of the affair), please refer to JALT's Journal of Professionalism, Administration, and Leadership in Education N-SIG, of which I am the editor. It is due out in a couple of weeks, and data will be up on my web page shortly after publication (I will announce when on this network).

But the general employment practices of the University of the Ryuukyuus are something which should be noted clearly here and now. Although the school is claiming that the position is not a "gaikokujin kyoushi", but a "koushi" or "jokyouju", this is misleading. The fact of the matter is (see below) that there is still a three-year limit to the contract. This is still a term limitation that Japanese full-timers do not have to deal with--and a hurdle hardly worthy of a person with the qualifications they seek (a PhD). Moreover, as written below, there is no "up-or-out" system of review (where you are able to receive tenure after, say, six to seven years) like there is in the West, even for foreigners. At Ryuudai, you will always be on contract, NEVER on tenure, dismissible after any three-year period. Particularly (as history has shown in other Japanese universities, via Monbushou fiat) after you get too expensive from too many renewals, you will be eased out for somebody younger and "fresher". This is employment discrimination on the basis of nationality.

And although the school is claiming that the law limits them to hiring non-nationals to three years, this is, quite simply, a lie. The Sentaku Ninkisei Hou, passed late 1997, says that hiring practices are up to each individual school to determine. Monbushou will claim as such (and has done on several occasions--see Ivan Hall, CARTELS OF THE MIND) if anyone brings employment problems to them. The point is that the University of the Ryuukyuus is perfectly able to hire foreigners as regular full-time koushi etc. Their claim otherwise, hiding behind a "letter of the law" which does not exist, again shows bad faith.

Practices like these must be pointed out where they happen until they stop. Until Japanese educational institutions like the University of the Ryuukyuus changes its employment practices, to hire non-nationals with the same status as nationals, I urge all potential applicants to realize that if hired, you will always technically be part-time staff, with no permanent position, and thus unable to enjoy the financial and professional stability of your colleagues. Don't plan on settling down in Okinawa, buying a house, or qualifying for Permanent Residence if you are employed at the University of the Ryuukyuus. Believe me, as a technical part-timer, it's that much harder.

Dave Aldwinckle
Sapporo

Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 15:44:29 +0900
To: fukuzawa@ucsd.edu
From: ehoshino@ll.u-ryukyu.ac.jp (Eiichi Hoshino)
Subject: Re: Teaching Postition--Be wary of Ryuukyuu Dai (ACADEMIC APARTHEID)
Cc: SEASIA-L@msu.edu, peace@csf.colorado.edu, isafp@csf.colorado.edu, H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU, war-term@columbia.edu, ipe@csf.colorado.edu, H-Japan Editor <j-edit@mail.h-net.msu.edu>

Please note a following correction in "Teaching Position" that I posted:

>>CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 16th June 1997 (17:00 JST).

Correct due date for applications is 15th June 1998.

David Aldwinckle wrote:
>Example: Timothy J Korst, a gaikokujin kyoushi fired April, 1998 from a >different department but the same university, is currently suing the school for reinstatement of his position (he even had to form his own >union to get his case heard). His case is pending in court (decision due late May 1998) because the university is claiming that as a foreigner, he is neither a typical (ippan) nor special (tokubetsu) civil servant, therefore Japanese employment laws do not protect him. Legal

I am not familiar with Mr. Korst's case, but his position (Gaikokujin Kyoshi) is different from the one I posted (Gaikokujin Kyoin). This is a position of a typical civil servant (Ippan Kokka Komuin), who is naturally protected by Japanese employment laws.

>contract. This is still a term limitation that Japanese full-timers do not have to deal with--and a hurdle hardly worthy of a person with the qualifications they seek (a PhD). Moreover, as written below, there is

I know that in the U.S. a fresh PhD from graduate school usually does not have a published article. The first sentence of qualifications in our post should be read as "Ph.D." OR "equivalent research experience, at least one published article in an academic journal in the field of International Relations or Japan Studies." So, a PhD WITHOUT a published article and a graduate student WITH at least one published article are welcome to apply.

Under the rules of the Faculty of Law and Letters applied to this appointment procedure, we have to appoint an applicant without a PhD nor a published article as "Joshu" (lecturer) who is not allowed to teach courses. We are seeking someone who is eligible to teach at University of the Ryukyus.

For some applicants, this position is hardly worthy for their qualification. I am also aware that in the U.S. some fresh PhD who applied for a non-tenure position with a term limitation. Thus, we assumed that there would be applicants who are interested in teaching in English and conducting research for a few years in a part of the world they are interested in.

>And although the school is claiming that the law limits them to hiring non-nationals to three years, this is, quite simply, a lie. The Sentaku

>anyone brings employment problems to them. The point is that the University of the Ryuukyuus is perfectly able to hire foreigners as regular full-time koushi etc. Their claim otherwise, hiding behind a "letter of the law" which does not exist, again shows bad faith.

Our post does not claim that the law limits us to hiring non-nationals to three years, and this is not "hiding behind a 'letter of the law' which does not exist." In the first sentence of employment conditions, we wrote "according to the Japanese laws and the university regulations." Article 2 of the Gaikokujin Kyoin Tokubetsu Sochiho (1982.09.01, revised 1992) allows universities to decide the term of employment of non- nationals at national or prefectural universities, and the University of the Ryukyus chose to set the 3 year term.

You can argue that this is employment discrimination. For Department of Policy Science and International Relations (Faculty of Law and Letters), we are not allowed to appoint non-nationals for this position without "the restriction of service period of three years." Our options were (1) not to invite applications from non-nationals for this position until the University changes this decision, or (2) to try to make conditions and requirements as explicit as possible and to hope to receive applications from ones who agreed upon them. We chose the second.

>realize that if hired, you will always technically be part-time staff, with no permanent position, and thus unable to enjoy the financial and professional stability of your colleagues. Don't plan on settling down in Okinawa, buying a house, or qualifying for Permanent Residence if you are employed at the University of the Ryuukyuus. Believe me, as a

I believe that our post is clear about this. The position is with "the restriction of service period of three years." It is not a permanent position. We do not recommend a successful applicant to purchase a house in Okinawa, but we try to find an inexpensive apartment (Komuin Shukusha) for him/her, even if it might look like a "rabbit hut" for some.

We tried to spell out conditions and requirements as explicitly as possible in order to avoid any misunderstandings. If there are any, questions are welcome to the Department Chair, Masaaki Gabe (E-mail: gabe@ll.u-ryukyu.ac.jp).

(ALTHOUGH THIS INFORATION IS REPEATED ELSEWHERE, FOR THE RECORD, THIS IS THE EMAIL THAT INAUGURATED THE BLACKLIST)

Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 17:35:45 +0900 (JST)
To: fukuzawa@ucsd.edu
From: Dave Aldwinckle)
Subject: Finalized Proposal: BLACKLIST for discriminating universities

Fellow Fukuzawans:

Hello Parties concerned about employment discrimination towards non-citizens in Japanese universities (please feel free to forward):

After reading several recent job position announcements placed by national and public universities, I have come to realize that many, if not most, Japanese universities are refusing to treat non-citizens the same as native staff. The reason? Up until last year, National and Public universities (the Privates make their own rules) had the law on their side: foreigners could not be hired for non-contractual full-time positions (meaning not given tenure) because they were classified as "civil servants".

However, this is no longer the case. As of late 1997, the laws have changed to allow all educational institutions of higher learning to offer jobs on terms they themselves decide. This includes granting tenure to non-citizens in National and Public Universities.

Still, bad habits die hard. The job announcement which set me off was from the Department of Policy Science and International Relations, College of Law and Letters, The University of the Ryuukyuus, Okinawa) offered a Trojan Horse: after taking pains to say that it wasn't a dead-end "gaikokujin kyoushi" position, they stated that the position was an "assistant professor (in Japanese: "Ko-shi") or as an associate professor ("Jo-Kyojyu") " position"; "A successful applicant will be appointed as a Japanese national servant (Kokka Komuin)"--making it sound like a regular Japanese "koushi" position.

Misleading, when later backtracking made explicit that it was merely a "Gaikokujin Kyoin" position, never previously stated. Same horse, different name--and by definition not equivalent to a Japanese being hired--with a 3-year term-limit. This is essentially the same as a GK position, only three times as long, with no word about possible limitations on renewal. This is, as noted, a stipulation that the university, not the government, is making. But this can be, and should be, construed as discriminatory, and a good example of a university trying to find a unwitting overseas pigeon to pluck.

But back to the reason for this post: A modest proposal. The reason why we need to start pushing matters now is this: For the first time ever, Japanese universities are able to decide for themselves their terms of employment, no excuses. If they decide to continue the discriminatory practice of not even considering foreigners for tenure, then they should be known about. Conversely, if they treat foreigners the same as Japanese staff, likewise.

We need a list of those universities, both good and bad, and I need your help to make it. My proposal is below:

Thank you for reading this,

Dave Aldwinckle Sapporo, Japan

/////////////////////////////////////////////

BLACKLIST (AND GREENLIST) PROPOSAL

I suggest we start making up a blacklist of Japanese universities, to be put up on my web page, to encourage them to reform.

We need a concrete base for claiming why certain universities are discriminating (refusal to grant tenure to foreigners, history of employment abuses, etc. with names, dates, and figures). Anonymity is not preferred (to weed out hearsay), and we will need a means to check up on allegations so as to not give claimants a free rein to bad-mouth the university if they were unprofessional themselves.

My envisioned format is like this (for example, the most famous case now in court: Gwen Gallagher of Asahikawa University):

=====================================================
NAME OF UNIVERSITY: Asahikawa University (Private)
LOCATION: Nagayama 3-23, Asahikawa City, Hokkaido

EMPLOYMENT ABUSE (STATE WHETHER ALLEGED OR RECORDED): RECORDED: Contract nonrenewal after 11 years of service for nonprofessional reasons (stated by university in court but later denied in public: the need for "fresh gaijin"). Refusal to grant or consider tenure for non-Japanese now or in future. Despite court ruling that job dismissal was illegal and ordered by judge to reinstate plaintiff's position, ignoring ruling and refiring plaintiff again. Internal teachers' union that has been ineffectual and conspiratory against plaintiff.

SOURCE OF INFORMATION (DATED: 1995-98): Gwendolyn Gallagher, plaintiff, gaikokujin kyoushi (see records at http://www.voicenet.co.jp/~davald/essays.html#ninkiseigallagher) =====================================================

At the top of the BLACKLIST html, we can give advice to readers, such as:

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////
BLACKLIST OF JAPANESE UNIVERSITIES

The reader of this list is hearby advised that these institutions have a history of unfair and discriminatory practices towards their educators/staff on the basis of extranationality or other reasons unrelated to those professional. In other words, said employer does not look at a foreign applicant in terms of qualification, but instead citizenship, and has refused to change their employment practices to reflect the letter of the law (1997's Sentaku Ninkisei Hou).

Despite claims of many schools (particularly the National and Public Universities (kokkou ritsu dai)), ALL Japanese institutions of higher learning have recently been empowered to hire whom they like (qualifications pending Ministry of Education approval), at whatever status they like. That includes foreigners as full-time, tenured educational civil servants. Any school which claims otherwise (i.e. "foreign nationals may not be employed permanently in Japan as national servants--only on contracts") is lying and thus acting in bad faith.

We encourage readers not to apply to these universities for reasons stated until further notice. If you do, that is your decision, but be warned: we are reasonably sure that if accepted, you will wind up in a dead-end job, meaning one with no financial or professional stability, one which recycles its foreigners when they become uneconomical, and one which does not lend itself to a long-term lifestyle in Japan.

We have checked/recorded these allegations to the best of our ability, and have a good reason for listing them here. We hope that these institutions will change their employment practices and treat non-Japanese as institutional equals--the same way that Japanese nationals enjoy tenure or the right of tenure review as foreign instructors in OECD universities.

Only if people vote with their feet and apply solely to those universities which offer the best opportunities will things change. Those good universities are in a GREENLIST (click here). Be advised.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////

=====================================================
BLACKLIST (click on the university to scroll down to the reasons for blacklisting)

Asahikawa University (Private) Gifu University (National) Hokkaido University (National) Sapporo Gakuin University (Private) Ryuukyuus, University of the (National) etc. =====================================================

=====================================================
GREENLIST (click on the university to scroll down to the reasons for greenlisting)

Hirosaki University etc.
=====================================================

This will go up on my webpage as soon as I can find time.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Please fill out the form(s) using the paradigm below:

=====================================================
BLACKLIST APPLICATION

NAME OF UNIVERSITY: (please state whether National, Public or Private)
LOCATION: (street, city, prefecture, please)
EMPLOYMENT ABUSE: (please state whether alleged or recorded in press, school catalog, or court record, with reference if possible, and be as detailed as you like. The more detail, the better, but response may be condensed):

SOURCE OF INFORMATION: (Please provide an email address or contact details so that the reader knows I'm not making this up. If you prefer anonymity, all right, but please give a specific reason why, and some sort of moniker or position name to establish to the readership that you know what you are talking about.) =====================================================

Do your best not to go on hearsay. Rumor is toxic to trust. And I don't want to get sued, so I need you to substantiate your case as best you can (page numbers of documents, etc.).

Forwarding me emails of university job announcements with fishy or clear discriminatory guidelines would be perfect, as they are public and effectively official documents, quotable as sources.

=====================================================
GREENLIST APPLICATION

NAME OF UNIVERSITY: (please state whether National, Public or Private)
LOCATION: (street, city, prefecture, please)
GOOD EMPLOYMENT PRACTICE: (for example, number of non-Japanese tenured, out of how many foreign staff, and when (to ensure that it's not just a matter of tokenism); if there is tenure review for non-Japanese, after how many years of service, and is it a standardized evaluation system--not just one given after patronage, etc):

That's all. Thanks for your assistance. With your help we can get the law to do what it is supposed to do: help the participants in this society live better lives.

Dave Aldwinckle
Sapporo