Clear cases of people treating NJ different than Japanese for questionable reasons, or for no reason at all.
mytest
ピーター・バラカンさん襲われる 港区の教会
12月8日16時30分配信 産経新聞
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20071208-00000920-san-soci
８日午後１時１５分ごろ、東京都港区三田のキリスト教教会「東京キリスト教友会」で、英国人キャスターのピーター・バラカンさん（５６）ら男女５人に向け、男が催涙スプレーのようなものを吹きかけ車で逃走した。全員がのどや目に軽い痛みを訴えたが、すぐに治まった。警視庁三田署が傷害事件として男の行方を追っている。
調べでは、男は黒っぽい目出し帽で顔を隠していたという。５人は午後２時から始まるバラカンさんの講演会のために集まっていた。
現場は東京メトロ南北線白金高輪駅から東に約３００メートルの住宅地。
＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
追伸：１２月１０日のテレビアサヒの「スッキリ」で、逃走した車はレンタカーなので、かなり計画的だった。目立つ外国人だから襲われたか？まさか日本の右翼シフトの標じゃないよね。
mytest
Here’s the protest letter I sent by naiyou shoumei to Toyoko Inn’s boss Mr Shigeta, regarding their recent racial profiling of me at their Hirosaki outlet, and their history of treating the physically handicapped and NJ customers badly. Until we get a positive answer, I suggest we take our custom elsewhere. Arudou Debito
（アップデート：２００８年１月１２日現在：一ヶ月間が経過しても、東横インから返事は一切ございません。）
=========================
〒144-0054 東京都大田区新蒲田1-7-4
株式会社 東横イン
TEL.03-5703-1045 FAX.03-5703-1046
代表執行役社長 重田訓矩 殿
外見・人種・国籍を問わない顧客対応の改善を再び求めます
拝啓 益々お繁盛に賜りお喜び申し上げます。
私は[某]大学准教授 有道 出人（あるどう でびと）と申します。日本在住歴は２０年間少々、帰化した日本人です。数回、御社のホテルに宿泊したことがあり、誠に感謝します。しかし、本年も１１月３０日から２泊に渡り、東横イン弘前（弘前市大字駅前１−１−１、TEL 0172-31-2045）で弘前学院大学での講演のきっかけで予約していただき宿泊致しました。
当日、列車で札幌から直接弘前に入り、６時間かけてから夜１１時頃に到着しました。チェックインする際、フロントの方（石岡氏）からもらった氏名と住所を書く書類を記入する途中、「パスポートを見せて下さい」と言われました。「なぜですか」と聞いても、「当ホテルのルールと日本法律に基づいて、全ての外国人のパスポートを確認する義務付けがあります」と。該当法律を見せてもらい、「ここでは『日本住所を持たない外国人』に当てはまることでは？」と指示し、「私の国内住所の有無を先に確認すべきでは？記入される前にこうやって聞くことはまだ早いのでは？」と。
石岡氏は「でも、法律上で外国人の場合は…」と一点張りするところで、「私が外国人だと外見だけで判断しているのでは？」（ちなみに私は白人です。）「実は、私は日本人です。こうやって私のパスポートを要求することはありません」と述べても、石岡氏は「じゃ、証明として日本の運転免許証を見せて下さい。」私は「あのう、普通の日本人からこうやって身分証を要求するのですか」と聞き、石岡氏は「しません」と認め、「では、なぜ外見のみで不審者扱いになっていますか。ましてや、外国人だけで法律で義務付けられてないことも要求して、これはracial profiling （人種的人物分別）か『ガイジン・ハラスメント』になっていませんか。人種差別になっていませんか。」
マネジャーの呼び出しを頼んだものの、石岡氏は「不在です」と答え、私が再度「連絡して下さい」と言っても「いま忙しいです」と。「ならば私は本社にこのことを通告しますね」とと、ようやく副支配人の小原容子氏に取り次いでくれました。経緯を説明するとお詫びをいただきました。
次の夜、小原氏と直接お会いして、詳しく話し合い、これから応対を改善すると約束してもらい問題の解決となったと思います。残念ながら、これは東横インの応対にとって氷山の一角だと思います。
以前、東横イン札幌駅西口北大前支店で、２００５年１１月で永住権を有する北海道紋別市在住の外国人は予約する際、フロントの人は「外国人登録証を見せないと宿泊拒否となる」と説明しました。日本国内の住所があり確認する義務付けはないし、こうやって拒否は旅館業法第５条違反です。にもかかわらず、注意しても当ホテルは譲りませんでした。
それに、東横インはチェーン店として人権問題を起こした歴史があります。２００５年末から２００６年の初期まで、当局から「バリアフリー」認定をもらってから身体障害者の設備もなくした事件があり、かなりのマスコミの騒ぎ上ようやく前社長西田氏からの謝罪があったのも事実です。
よって、再び顧客対応の改善を求めます。以降の通りを願います。
１）現在の法律上、身分証は観光客（つまり日本に住所を持たない人のみ）には該当すると承知すること。
２）外国人に見える顧客の場合、法律の通り、日本国内の住所の有無を把握し、日本人客と同様にチェックインの待遇をすること（要は、身分証は不必要だと承知すること）。
３）全支店・全社員にこういう事実を啓発すること。
４）御社東横インはビジネスホテルチェーンとして、これからどうするか、特に、どうやって外国人に見える顧客の対応を改善するのかと、内容証明で文書上お知らせ下さい。
私はdebito.orgという多文化多民族社会になりつつある日本を図るウェブサイトを持っています。この事件は既に私のブログに載せてあり、直接御社からご連絡、ご改善の公約がない限り、読者と関心者に宿泊拒否を促進しております。海外のマスコミにこう報告致してあり、国内のマスコミにもこの手紙を送信致します。
ご返答をお待ちしております。宜しくお願い致します。敬具
２００７年１２月９日
[住所省略 某] 大学
准教授 有道 出人
以上
mytest
Hi Blog. Just sent to me by a friend. It’s important enough to deserve its own blog entry. Arudou Debito
==========================
Ah, human rights. I have just come from the Shinagawa Immigration office where I went to pre-register my fingerprints and photograph pending my upcoming Christmas trip to the US with my children. Here are my few observations with some venting, I fear, in between. Is the US this bad about this process?
1. Process is disorganized. A makeshift area has been set up at the counter where people apply for re-entry permits. The area is closed off by privacy screens, so it is impossible to find the machine where you are supposed to take a number. Many people, including me, mistakenly took number cards from the machine reserved for re-entry applicants. Eventually they stationed an immigration officer with a fistful of number cards in the vicinity, but they neglected to paste onto his forehead a sign that says “get your numbers here”, so there was confusion whenever someone stepped up to the area to start the process.
2. None of the officers in attendance can speak English, even though many people had questions.
3. The fingerprint machines were not working. Some people had to wait and then redo their fingerprints. They could not read my index fingers with the machines and eventually had to read my middle fingers. One woman standing next to me could not read any of her fingers despite repeated attempts with both hands. I have no idea how she will re-enter the country.
4. There was not an excessive wait.
5. The officers in attendance do not have any idea how the process will work for the exit from Japan or the re-entry. There were maps of the Narita immigration area pasted up on screens, but the attending officers did not seem to know what the maps meant and responded Shirimasen when asked questions in Japanese. And even more helpful, these maps were pasted on the INSIDE of the screens, not on the OUTSIDE where they could be examined by the hordes of gaijins who presumably need to know where to go when they get to Narita.
6. Most important, it seems that if parents residing in Japan wish to use the automated gate process when leaving Japan or when returning, they will have to be separated from their children. Children are not required to give finger prints, but at the same time, at the automated re-entry gates there will be no human beings to inspect the passports of the children. Thus, for re-entering families, it appears that the adults can go through the automated gates but the children, if they have re-entry permits, must stand in the line like we always did for returning Japanese and re-entry permit holders and will enter Japan separately. Except that, obviously, if the child is a baby or not experienced enough to do this alone, then they have to come in through the tourist line with a parent. So at the end of the day, if a family wishes to stay together, or has to stay together because of the age of the child, they must go through the tourist line (Yes, I know, it seems obvious that we need fingerprint taking capability at the re-entry permit line). This question was asked many times by parents who came to immigration to get their re-entry pre-registration, but none of the officers in attendance could answer the question clearly, and there is no information available in English to explain this. They could not even answer when asked in Japanese. I found out because while I was standing in line I asked my secretary to call the Ministry of Justice to find out the procedure. And of course, I let it be known to the gaijins around me what she had learned. Boy, let me tell you, there was a ton of frustration among these parents who had taken time to come all the way out to Shinagawa to pre-register themselves thinking to spare their family and tired children the agony of the tourist line only to find out that it was a complete waste of time.
7. Another confusing point in the process relates to the distinction between passports that are machine readable and those that are not. US, UK and other countries issue machine readable passports. Philippines, Pakistan and many other countries do not. For those countries, the immigration office has to put a bar code sticker onto the passport so that it can be read by the machines. This resulted in the creation of two separate application lines, one for the star belly sneetches and one for those who have none. Unfortunately, there was only one fellow holding a fist full of numbers. So the result was that he would call a number, determine whether the applicant was a star belly sneetch or one who has none, and then would allocate people to separate sub-lines. Then there was the comedy of calling out numbers in apparently random order to deal with the separate lines. Number 30, number 16, number 33, number 17. Very confusing, and they did not explain to people why they were treated differently, until I asked in Japanese and explained to a Philipino in the line, so that the information about the bar codes was thereafter passed down the plain belly sneetch line among the Philippinos and Pakistanis.
So, in conclusion, it appears that the much touted automatic gate line is useful only for returning businessmen, single residents of Japan and families with children over the age of 16. Otherwise, brace yourself.
Enough said? not sure what I will do when I come home from the states. Have a great day.
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Here’s something from John C, postmarked December 3, 2007. Plus what he did about the issue–successfully. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
==============================
Hey Debito.
This is the first time I have written something like this to your site.
I went into The Rainforest Cafe in iksepiri Maihama, Chiba (the shopping centre next to Disneyland) today with my son.
http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyofooddrinks/388/tokyofooddrinksinc.htm
Rainforest Cafe (Jungle theme)
Ikspiari, 1-4 Maihama, Urayasu-shi, Chiba-ken (tel: 047-305-5656). Open 11am-11pm daily.
Nearest stn: Maihama http://www.rainforestcafe.com
I was utterly disgusted to find these Little Black Sambo dolls…
I spoke to one of the staff and asked her if she knew what it was and what it meant, she said “Yes” they knew and that they had told the manager that there may be problems. I asked to speak to the manager and was told that the Manager was off today but the asst mng was in, he came up and talked to me for a little bit.
I asked him if he knew what the problem was with these dolls, he said yes, but a month ago when they went on sale. A couple of Americans from Head office came over for a business trip, they saw the dolls on the shelf and said nothing about them. He also tried to win me over by saying that he had friends of African decent. I asked him to think of how he would feel if one of those friends called him “Nip” he said he wouldn’t like it much. I asked him how I should explain to my son (who is 1 part Japanese and 1 Part British) why mummy’s country can sell this crap. ( that was hard to put into Japanese!!)
I asked him to take them down and he mumbled something about he would talk to the mng. I told him that I had to leave but that I would be contacting head office in America to talk to them and that I would be sending the pictures to you.
I will be going back today or tomorrow to see what he has down, and with a better camera…
I would also like to say that the Maruzen bookshop in Nihonbashi sells the same book, I have asked them repeatedly to take it down, they always take it off the shelf while I am there but the next time I go in they have it back for sale. (I would like yours/writers permission to show them chibi kiroi nipu and ask if they would sell that.)
==============================
I OF COURSE GAVE HIM PERMISSION. SEE MY SITE ON JAPAN’S SELLING OF “CHIBI KURO SANBO”, AND MY PARODY BOOK, “CHIBI KIIRO JAPPU” (LITTLE YELLOW JAP), HERE.
Follow-up, full report, from the top:
==============================
My 4 year old son and I went into the rainforest cafe at about 2pm today, 3/Dec/2007 and while there found the L.B.S dolls on sale. (as you can see from the picture, “Tracy the Tree” is in the background, quality is low though cause taken on my mobile phone)
I asked the staff why the shop was selling these and if they knew the meaning and racial insult implied. One replied yes She knew and had previously thought and said they may cause problems.
I asked to speak to the manager, she went away to contact the manger, returned and said that it was the mangers day off, but the asst mng was there.
I asked to speak to him. To wit he arrived about 5 minutes later. I asked him what the dolls were and why they were on sale.
He said they had been on sale for over a month and during that time 2 Americans from Head office had come over to Japan and checked the merchandise etc and made no comments.
I told him that they were offensive and that I had many friends who were of African decent and would really hate to see them. He said that he too had friends who were from African decent.
I asked him how I should explain these to my son, who is British and Japanese… no reply…
I asked him how he would feel if one of his friends called him a “Nip” he replied that he would not like it at all. I told him that if someone called one of my kids that I would become extremely unpleasent ( I am not known for my loving personality)
Then I asked him to try calling one of his African decent friends a “nigaa” or “kuronbo” and see what they say.
I then had to take my son to his English class, so said “Please remove them from the shelf, look at this web site (gave Debito’s site) and that I would be back later or the next day to see if they were still on sale.
I went back at about 5:30 pm armed with a better camera, and found that the dolls were all off the shelves and no where to be found. I spoke to the asst mng again, and thanked him very much for taking such prompt action.
He said that the dolls would be returned to the supplier. I thanked him again and said that I would still be calling the US head office, and that I still planned to go in periodically to check. but that I would also be giving a good review of his prompt actions.
I got a call from Landry’s Restaurants America and they are checking on this incident now, they also said they were appalled by this, and that the Man who came over a month ago was African American and that they are sure he would have said something if he had seen them.
I sent them the pictures and said also that they were going to be posted on the net, but that they please commend the asst mng Mr. Yamamoto for his quick action.
I have now recieved a call from the Gentleman who came to Japan, he has heard about this very quickly and taken the time to call me and explain that his company in no way supports this type of thing. He said had already written to the Japanese partner to ask for pictures and an explanation of this product, but that he had not seen the dolls when he was here. ( so one lie was told by the shop…)
He did think that he may have missed this because he does not speak Japanese, but I told him that there is no way they could be missed, there was a box full of “gollywogs” next to “Tracy the Tree” (I hate these words, my arsehole father used stuff like this often when I was young (read: smaller than him))
I thanked him again and told him that I would like them all to commend Mr Yamamoto (asst mng) on his prompt actions.
He also asked me what website the pictures would be posted on, so I told him, and a little about Debito’s site.
I am still a bit wary that the dolls will return to the shelves, but deep down want to believe they won’t.
==============================
WELL DONE, JOHN.
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. An article in The Manitoban (Canada) using lots of information from Debito.org, dispersing what’s been going on in Japan vis-a-vis NJ in Japan legally, socially, and logistically over the past 50 years throughout the Canadian steppes. Mottainai. Best to also put it on Debito.org for a wider audience.
Article courtesy of the author, thanks. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
===============================
THE LAND OF THE RISING SHUN
THE MANITOBAN (Canada), November 14, 2007
By Trevor Bekolay
http://www.themanitoban.com/2007-2008/1114/127.The.Land.of.the.Rising.Shun.php
If you or anyone you know is planning to go to Japan, be advised that beginning Nov. 20, all non-Japanese people will be fingerprinted and photographed upon entering Japan.
Unlike other fingerprinting laws, such as the U.S.’s, Japan requires permanent residents (the equivalent of Green Card holders in the U.S.) to be fingerprinted and photographed every time they re-enter the country. Those fingerprints and photographs are kept on file for 70 years and can be made available to the police and other government agencies.
While one could argue that permanent residents should just apply for Japanese citizenship, obtaining citizenship is a long and arduous process, which requires residents to give up their current citizenship. Unless you are willing to make those sacrifices, you are a foreigner, and you must give up your biometric information every time you cross the Japanese border.
History of the fingerprinting law
This Japanese fingerprinting law is an updated version of a fingerprinting program implemented in 1952, after the American occupation of Japan following the Second World War. The original fingerprinting law met with firm opposition from foreign residents in Japan, especially the Zainichi. The Zainichi are ethnic Korean and Chinese people born and raised in Japan. Despite living most or all of their lives in Japan, and despite 90 per cent of Zainichi adopting Japanese names, the Zainichi must go through the same application process as other foreign residents to obtain citizenship.
The 1952 law was opposed on the grounds that it was an official expression of mistrust for all things foreign. It was an unnecessary humiliation and alienation of residents who had lived their whole lives alongside their Japanese peers — Zainichi children were often not aware that they were of a different ethnic background than their schoolmates until they were contacted at their school to have their fingerprints taken. Further, it associated all non-Japanese people with crime. By law, a Japanese person may only be fingerprinted if officially charged with a crime.
Eventually, people started refusing to submit to fingerprinting; first the Zainichi, then other foreign residents. Since this refusal meant jail for some, the number of legal battles skyrocketed — enough so that overseas media like Time Magazine and the New York Times picked up the story. In 1989, under heavy pressure, the government of Japan granted general amnesty, and by 1998 the law was completely abolished.
After the dust had settled, Immigration Bureau officials said that “the fingerprinting system appears to be ineffective in stopping or reducing the growing number of illegal immigrants and visa overstays in Japan.” The Ministry of Justice noted that “the practice could be construed as a violation of human rights.” Then why is this law being reinstated?
Fears of terrorism and foreign crime
Japan’s Ministry of Justice explains the motivation for reinstating the fingerprinting law: “By collecting personally identifying data, such as fingerprints and facial photos of visitors to Japan, we will be able to identify persons considered to pose security risks, such as terrorists, and persons travelling with passports that are not their own. This will help us prevent terrorist attacks.”
If Japan wishes to fight terrorism, then history tells us that it is the Japanese population that should be policed. The Sarin gas attack that took place on the Tokyo subway in 1995 was perpetrated by members of the Japanese religious group Aum Shinrikyo. In the 1970s, two Japan Airlines flights were hijacked by a terrorist group called the Japanese Red Army. There have been no terrorist attacks in Japan by non-Japanese in recent history.
The public support for the fingerprinting law could also be attributed to a fear of foreign crime among the Japanese. Since 2000, the National Police Agency (NPA) has been releasing updates on foreign crime every six months with detailed press releases. The media has been quick to report on these releases, and further support this with unbalanced reporting of foreign crime compared to Japanese crime. One study found that crimes by foreigners were 4.87 times more likely to be covered than crimes by Japanese. Even more frustrating is the way the NPA twists the statistics.
The semi-annual press releases note increases in foreign crime without a comparison to the state of Japanese crime. The increases in foreign crime do not take into account the increase in the foreign population; while the Japanese population has remained relatively static, the foreign population has been growing steadily over the past decade. Foreign crime is inflated by including visa overstays (a crime that a Japanese person cannot commit) with harder crimes. When proper statistical practices are used, foreign crime is rising in proportion to the rate of population increase, while Japanese crime has doubled within the past 10 years.
It is interesting to note that in 1999, before the first press release detailing foreign crime statistics, the NPA established the “Policy-making Committee Against Internationalization.” Would such a committee receive taxpayer money if foreign crime was on the decline?
If fears of terrorism and foreign crime are unfounded, then what is the main issue that surrounds the fingerprinting debate? It’s the same issue that has been the subject of many recent legal battles: racism and xenophobia.
Racism and xenophobia
By most accounts, since the Second World War, Japan has a good international record as a modern industrialized nation. Japan has the third largest economy in the world, manufacturing and designing goods for a worldwide market. Despite claims of homogeneity, Japan is home to over 2.5 million residents of non-Japanese ethnic backgrounds. Japan is a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Yet walking through Tokyo, you can find buildings with “Japanese only” signs posted on the front door. “Japanese only” signs have been found at bathhouses, bars, stores, hotels, restaurants, karaoke parlors, and pachinko parlors. How is this legal?
The unfortunate answer is that Japan has no law against racial discrimination. It is unconstitutional — article 14 of the Japanese Constitution states that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of race. Further, Japan signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 1996. So, in theory, racial discrimination should not be tolerated; in practice, the lack of a law forbidding racial discrimination allows discriminatory behaviour, such as the “Japanese only” signs, to continue.
And these signs are unarguably discriminating on the basis of race. Social activist Arudou Debito became a naturalized citizen in 2000, after being denied entrance to a public hot springs in Hokkaido. Upon returning to the establishment a Japanese citizen, he was still refused entry to avoid confusion from the other customers. He sued the owner of the hot springs for racial discrimination and was met with moderate success. While he won some judgments, he lost an important decision when his appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed for “not involving any constitutional issues.” The story of the incident at the hot springs and the ensuing legal battle is chronicled in his book Japanese Only.
Debito is not the only person to take these matters to the courtroom. In 1997, Brazilian Ana Bortz was asked by a jewelry store’s owner to leave his store, which had a strict no-foreigners policy. The store owner accused Bortz of planning a robbery. Bortz sued the store owner for violating her human rights, using the security camera footage as evidence. The judge ruled in Bortz’s favour, sentencing the store owner to pay 1,500,000 yen (approximately C$12,300) in damages and legal fees. The judge cited two articles of the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, setting a good legal precedent for future discrimination cases.
Or did it? In 2004, Steven McGowan, a 41-year-old black man residing in Kyoto, was refused entry to an eyeglasses store in Osaka. Steve claims that the store owner said, “Go away. I hate black people.” Steve lost his case in a lower court because the judge did not believe that Steve’s Japanese language ability was good enough to accurately determine what the store owner said. Even after further investigation by McGowan’s Japanese spouse, the judge was not convinced that Steve was discriminated against because of his race, rather than his foreign status (the Japanese words for black person and foreigner are very similar). McGowan appealed to a higher court and was awarded 350,000 yen in damages; yet even at the high court, the judge remarked that the store owner’s remarks were “not enough to be considered racially discriminatory.” These decisions set the dangerous precedent that testimony by non-Japanese cannot be trusted if they are not completely fluent in Japanese. It also demonstrates the power one judge can have in Japan’s juryless court system.
A plea to Japan
In discussing these issues, it may seem that I have some disdain for Japanese culture. This can’t be farther from the truth — it is my fascination with and interest in Japanese culture that compels me to bring these issues to the forefront. It is only through open dialogue that conditions will improve for both Japanese and non-Japanese residents.
If Japan does not change its immigration policies, and birth rates continue at the current rate, Japan’s population will plummet from today’s 127 million to 100 million in 2050. It will become very difficult to maintain economic strength with such a reduced work force. Immigration is the easiest and most sustainable answer to Japan’s population crisis.
With increased immigration, there will have to be widespread changes in media and education. Though this seems prohibitively difficult at the moment, Japan’s rapid industrialization is proof that it is possible. By working together with its new generation of international citizens, I foresee Japan having a modernization of culture that will rival its rise to economic greatness.
—————————-
Trevor Bekolay studied Japanese language, history and culture at Tokyo’s Kokugakuin University in 2005.
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Quick reminder about the “For Taka and Mana” film documentary:
FOR TAKA AND MANA
Documentary on Japan Child Abduction after Divorces
Fundraiser Party Dec 11 Shibuya, RSVP by Dec 4 (i.e. tomorrow)
Quick reminder about the “For Taka and Mana” film documentary fundraiser coming up on December 11 at the Pink Cow, Shibuya. See movie poster and map to the venue below, in this blog entry.
RSVPs please by December 4.
This is the issue: Divorce in Japan is extremely problematic. As Japan has neither joint custody nor visitation rights guaranteed by law, after a break-up, generally one parent loses all access to the children. This is especially difficult in the case in an international marriage, where the venue may be intercontinental (and access denied due to visa problems), and where there is NO precedent of a non-Japanese plaintiff being awarded custody of a child in Japanese court (quite the opposite, as the Murray Wood Case, the subject of this documentary, indicates–Japanese courts even overruled a Canadian provincial supreme court awarding custody to Murray shortly before the mother abducted their children to Japan).
Due in part to the vagaries of the Family Registry (koseki) system, which non-citizens do not have in Japan, foreigners essentially have NO family rights in Japan in a Family-Court dispute. It’s complicated, but as simply as possible: NJ are not officially registered as a member of a Japanese family after (or even before) a divorce, and cannot “keep” their children registered under their own Japanese family unit as a single parent.
https://www.debito.org/ayakoseki.jpg
With the increase of international marriage in Japan (from 30,000 couples to 40,000 couples per year since this century began), this situation warrants attention. This documentary is one way. I have been quite closely associated with this project for more than a year now (I’m interviewed in the film–see a trailer from the link below), and have a personal stake in the subject–since I too have not seen my own children for years following my marital separation and divorce. I encourage you to join us next week for the fundraiser (I’m flying down specially to be there), help out in any way you can, and even perhaps suggest venues we could appear at to get the word out.
An update for the fundraiser from directors Matt Antell and Dave Hearn follows. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
===========================
We will have at least one more new clip in addition to the current trailer at our website http://www.fortakaandmana.com.
We have a wide array of speakers lined up to show the depth of the problem of parental abduction in Japan including the well traveled, Debito Arudou.
Schedule of events in Powerpoint format downloadable from here.
Some of the stories you will hear are just amazing. The food is fantastic and the first two drinks come with the ticket price of 10,000 yen.
There are still some seats left so please e-mail Dave at: dave@fortakaandmana.com or call 0905-313-9702 RSVP by Dec. 4th.
We very much hope to see you there.
Matt Antell and Dave Hearn
mytest
UPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito
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BRIEF
RACIAL PROFILING AT TOYOKO INN, HIROSAKI, AOMORI PREF: AGAIN
WHAT I DID ABOUT IT; BOYCOTT RECOMMENDED UNTIL THEY FOLLOW THE LAW
By Arudou Debito, Sapporo, Japan (debito@debito.org, https://www.debito.org)
December 2, 2007, freely forwardable
(UPDATE: As of January 12, 2008, more than a month later, no answer to my official letter of complaint (sent naiyou shoumei) from Toyoko Inn.)
=====================================
SUMMARY: Toyoko Inn (http://www.toyoko-inn.com), a high-profile nationwide chain of hotels in Japan, have a clear policy of racial profiling at their hotels. They illegally demanded a passport from the author on the basis of his race alone on November 30, 2007, reflecting their history of even illegally threatening to refuse accommodation to NJ residents unless they provide Gaijin Cards at check-in. This systematic harassment of NJ clientele is unnecessary and unlawful, especially in the face of hotels increasingly refusing all foreigners accommodation across “Yokoso” Japan. Toyoko Inn’s continuing refusal to abide by the laws, despite advisements from NJ customers in the past, forces this author to conclude that NJ residents and international Japanese citizens, not to mention supporters of human rights in Japan, should take their business to hotels other than Toyoko Inn–until the chain at the national level agrees in writing to improve their services.
=====================================
BACKGROUND
I went down to Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture last weekend for a December 1 speech at Hirosaki Gakuin University (sponsored by Professor Todd Jay Leonard) on racial discrimination in Japan (download Powerpoint presentation in Japanese at https://www.debito.org/arudounewpresentationj.ppt). After a six-hour train ride from Sapporo, I was met by my hosts at 11PM AT Hirosaki Station, who accompanied me to the neighboring Toyoko Inn (#164 O-aza Ekimae 1-1-1, Hirosaki-shi, Aomori-ken, Ph 0172-31-2045) where they had made my reservation.
At the counter, a clerk (a Ms. Ishi-oka) gave me a check-in slip. After filling out my name in Kanji, and just before I was to write out my Japanese address in Japanese, the clerk said, “May I see your passport?”
Todd and his friends looked to each other, sighed, and said to themselves, “Oh boy. Here we go…”
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
BEING GIVEN THE THIRD DEGREE, BEYOND THE PALE
The conversation between the clerk and me proceeded something like this:
ME: Why do you need my passport?
CLERK: It’s required by hotel policy and by Japanese law.
ME: Let me see the laws.
CLERK: (producing a countertop stand with the text of the hotel request for passports in English, Korean, and Chinese) Japanese law requires that all foreigners at check in–
(see the letter of the law yourself–and download it–at https://www.debito.org/whattodoif.html#refusedhotel)
ME: Is there a Japanese version? (She pointed to the Japanese she had been reading from on the back of the stand.) Right, so as you can see here, it requires passports from people “without addresses in Japan”. I have an address in Japan, but you asked me before I even had a chance to write it.
CLERK: We have a policy of asking all foreigners for identification at check-in.
ME: That’s illegal. You can only ask tourists for ID. Or can’t you read the law in Japanese here? Also, how do you even know I am a foreigner?
CLERK: Because you wrote your name in Katakana–
ME: (displaying the check-in slip) I wrote my name in Kanji. Can’t you see?
CLERK: (taking a closer look and uttering a demurrer)
ME: I am a Japanese citizen. I do not have to show you a passport or any other form of ID.
CLERK: Do you have a driver licence to prove that?
ME: Do you require driver licences from other Japanese at check-in?
CLERK: It’s just that we have a policy of asking for identification from foreigners.
ME: Clearly I am not getting through to you. Call your manager.
CLERK: Our manager is not here at the moment.
ME: Then get him or her on the phone. You are racially profiling me. This is racial discrimination and a violation of Japanese laws. Give me your full name, please, and the name of your manager.
CLERK: (running behind a partition) Please wait a minute.
======================
My friends and I then sat down in a connected anteroom for a glass of water and an animated discussion of the proceedings for about five minutes, before the clerk shouted down the hall that she had an answer for me.
CLERK: Our manager is too busy to come to the phone right now.
ME: Okay, then I’m not too busy to contact your headquarters (honsha), to tell them that your manager refused to discuss a serious issue of customer relations with a customer. Your full name please and your manager’s full name, please.
CLERK: (running behind a partition) Please wait a minute.
A few minutes later I was on the phone with a Ms. Obara, the assistant manager of this hotel. She opened with the standard apologies. I said she should hear me out before apologizing. The issues were: 1) deciding whether or not a customer was a foreigner or not solely based on face, therefore race, 2) enforcing a law, which applied only to tourists, upon all people deemed “foreign”, 3) enforcing a nonexistent law requiring proof of Japaneseness even after said customer says that he is Japanese. This was customer harassment on the basis of racial profiling, and done to an egregious and unprecedented degree in my experience at any hotel in Japan.
And given that Toyoko Inns in Sapporo have illegally required passport/Gaijin Card for reservations from NJ residents of Japan (in violation of the Hotel Management Law, Article 5, which does not permit refusals of customers on this basis), this chain’s systematic policy of targeting foreigners or foreign-looking people as suspicious is unnecessary and illegal.
Not to mention the fact, of course, that the clerk personally tried to shirk her duty of connecting a customer to the manager. This was irresponsibility that should not be allowed to pass without complaint.
Ms Obara indicated she understood the issue and apologized for the poor training of her employee. She said she’d like to see me face-to-face the next day for a personal apology. I said I would be out all day the next day, arriving late back from a house party at Todd’s after my speech, but would leave my meishi with keitai number at the counter should she wish to arrange a time for meeting. She said, no matter, she would wait until I got in. Then I went back to the anteroom for another hour of water and jawing with Todd and company over what had just happened.
Said they, “This has never happened to any of us before at a hotel in Japan. Why does this keep happening to you?” they said. “Never mind, we got to see Debito in action…”
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
DECEMBER 2, 2007, MIDNIGHT
ARRIVAL AT TOYOKO INN AFTER HOUSE PARTY
Todd gave a lovely house party, with booze galore plus some pretty crappy Iwate wine (which everyone got a least a half-hour’s mileage of jokes out of–especially for naffly putting a squirrel on the label). So lovely I tragically got a migraine at the very end. With head throbbing, I returned to the Toyoko, got my room key, and found the manager there waiting for me, even though it was past midnight. “You needn’t have waited up so long,” said I. “You said you’d be late, and I wanted to meet you and apologize properly,” said she.
And for the next hour, while I blinked my way through the mercury haze of migraine flashes, Ms Obara and I had a very good chat about what happened and why it shouldn’t happen again. Me: “I understand the laws, but until you have confirmed that a customer–any customer regardless of nationality–has no address in Japan, you legally cannot demand identification from them. Just confirm that, ask for ID from those who don’t, and we’ve got no issue here. But I don’t appreciate this interrogation, and demand for proof that I am even a Japanese, from an obstinate clerk late at night at check-in like this. It’s poor service.
Ms Obara was understanding, and tried to make an excuse that Aomori isn’t used to foreigners, but I pointed out that Aomori, with its Nebuta Matsuri, and Hirosaki in particular with its castle and Sakura Matsuri, is a magnet for international clientele. She conceded the point, and the conversation turned to why I was here speaking at Hirosaki Gakuin University. She even bought one of my books, thank you very much. In the end, the conversation went on too long for her to be ingenuine in her apologies (I’ve found that people who just want to apologize pro forma and be done with things exhaust a conversation after ten minutes), and I was satisfied that their hotel branch would do better in future.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
SUGGEST YOU TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE ANYWAY
I am not, however, so optimistic about the Toyoko Inn chain in general. More than two years ago, as James Eriksson and Olaf Karthaus reported to The Community mailing list, Toyoko Inn Sapporo refused James’s reservation if he did not present his Gaijin Card at check in (https://www.debito.org/olafongaijincarding.html). Even today, and after demands for improved service are now years old, the Toyoko Inn chain is still not treating NJ customers with the appropriate respect. Until we get a written guarantee from the chain that they are aware of the laws and will improve NJ customer treatment (and I will still be writing headquarters about this incident), I suggest that NJ customers, and their friends and supporters, take their business elsewhere.
This is part of a surge in activity in Japan these days regarding Japanese hotels–their refusal to even accept any foreign clientele whatsoever. They blame it on language barriers–the fact they can’t speak English!–so Japanese lodgers only. This is illegal. I finally have enough time and information to make a full report on this, so I’ll get to it within the month.
Thanks for reading this brief. Prelude to a much deeper and ever-growing problem of exclusionism in Japan.
Arudou Debito in Sapporo
December 2, 2007
ENDS
(UPDATE: As of January 12, 2007, more than a month later, no answer to my official letter of complaint (sent naiyou shoumei) from Toyoko Inn.)
mytest
Hi Blog. You’ve probably wondered why I’ve reverted back to my “one-a-day” blogging style, in the face of all this news. It’s because I’m doing this blog entirely by myself, and I don’t have the time and energy to work at the computer constantly for weeks (plus with speeches coming up just about every weekend these days, I haven’t had a full “day off” in several weeks); I even went to bed at 9PM last night and didn’t open my eyes until 7AM this morning. Guess I’m getting old.
Anyhoo, some good comments from The Community internet volunteer group this morning on the Fingerprinting policy and foreign crime in Japan:
Olaf wrote:
==============================
I just sent this out as a Letter to the Editor at the Japan Times:
The timing [of the Fingerprint Policy] couldn’t be more ironic. While Japan is ratifying and implementing laws to cut into the privacy of foreigners in Japan, forcing tax-paying, law-abiding, decade-long foreign residents to yield their fingerprints at immigration, Japanese gangsters are shooting and killing right and left. Hospital patients, city majors fall victims to Japanese criminals well known to the police. The police know their names, headquarters and that they own arsenals of deadly weapons. Instead of spying after innocent residents, the police should smoke out the gangster’s rat holes, arrest and persecute them. Only after that is done, I will consider giving my fingerprints.
==============================
Tony wrote:
==============================
It struck me this morning, watching the TOKUDANE programme coverage of the “accidental” hospital shooting, as one of the talking heads pointed out that ‘the police simply “designate” yakusa and members of “shitei bouryoku dan” and do nothing to actually round them up’; Organised crime syndicates get better treatment from the Japanese police than foreigners do! Maybe we should organise ourselves into a gang and then the police might leave us alone to get about our daily lives – no more “carding”, and we would get to ride our bicycles with impunity!
Debito, feel like changing your name again to “Don Debitone”??
Another comment in the same program that struck me as surreal – in the coverage of the disappearance of a Kikawa Ken grandmother and her two granddaughters, the neighbours have reported hearing a man shout “Hayou senka?” which is a local dialect phrase for “hurry up!” The reporter said in all seriousness that “since this was a little known west country dialect, it could be assumed that the perpetrators were probably not foreigners”.
I wondered to myself, has it really come to the stage that the default assumption in a serious crime is that foreigners are involved?
==============================
COMMENT: And I wondered to myself, the NPA still haven’t apprehended the prime suspect, Ichihashi Tatsuya (who last March reportedly fled barefoot from his apartment containing her body when 9 police visited) in the Lindsay Ann Hawker murder case. Yet the police will hold a person for a year without any physical evidence (no bail for foreigners, mind you) in the Idubor Case. And there’s still nobody arrested in the death last June of sumo wrestler Tokitaizan, who was savaged to death by his stablemates (and stablemaster Tokitsukaze, who even publicly admitted to bludgeoning him with a beer bottle the day before his death). Where’s the consistency? Why are criminal investigations drawn along nationality lines?
Funny old world out there. Pity it’s (increasingly incontrovertibly) stacked against the foreigner in Japan. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
mytest
Hi Blog. When things get busy (as they are right now, writing this from on-site at JALT), I’ll put up some backlogged articles that are still germane to Debito.org. Arudou Debito in Tokyo
================================
Japan scheme ‘abuses foreign workers’
By Chris Hogg
BBC News, Tokyo, Wednesday, 3 October 2007, 11:24 GMT 12:24 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7014960.stm
Over the past 17 years, thousands of foreign workers have travelled to Japan, taking part in an official scheme to learn skills they cannot pick up in their own countries.
But this year the Japanese government’s own experts have admitted that in many cases trainees are used as cheap labour.
The US state department has gone further. In its annual report on human trafficking, it said that “some migrant workers are reportedly subjected to conditions of forced labour through [its] foreign trainee programme”.
Wang Jun came to Japan on the trainee scheme “because Japan is the most advanced country in Asia, and so that I can learn skills here then go back to my own country and get a good job”.
Mr Wang works at a small factory in a suburb of Tokyo. He is one of four trainees in the workshop, toiling alongside 11 Japanese workers.
He sounds like he is getting the kind of experience he is supposed to on this scheme. It was set up in 1990, in order, the Japanese government says, to help poorer countries learn from Japan’s mastery of the manufacturing process.
Toshikazu Funakubo, the factory owner’s son, said it could be difficult to communicate with the Chinese workers. “But they are learning the Japanese culture and language. It’s a very good thing for all of us.”
The owner of the business, Toshiaki Funakubo, said he employed the Chinese workers because he wanted to help China. But he admitted that labour shortages in Japan were another important consideration.
“To tell the truth I want Japanese people to join my company, but at the moment we have no choice but to depend on good workers from abroad.”
Cultural ‘integrity’
The problem is that widespread public aversion in Japan to the idea of immigration has contributed to a shortage of labour.
In the United States, foreign workers make up 15% of the workforce. In Japan the figure is little more than 1%.
The job description, the working hours are the same. But the salary and treatment are so different. I cannot understand this
Chinese trainee
A recent government report into its own foreign workers scheme found that, in reality, trainees are used as cheap labour and their working conditions are not properly monitored.
“The Japanese government and the ministries do not want Japan to become an immigration country,” said Martin Schulz, a research fellow at the Fujitsu Research Institute in Tokyo.
“They do not want to change the cultural and social integrity of Japan, so they have a rather hands-off approach.”
That hands-off approach can lead to abuses. When the government made unannounced inspections to firms employing foreign trainees last year it found that 80% of them were breaking the laws on pay and conditions.
Some of those who are treated badly on the scheme find their way to the offices of the Zentoitsu (All United) Workers Union, in the Akiharbara district of Tokyo.
‘Sexual harassment’
One Chinese trainee said he discovered a disparity between his pay and that of other workers, but when he complained he was told that if he did not like it he could go back to China.
He did not want to give his name as he is afraid of reprisals.
“Chinese workers here do the same work as Japanese workers,” he said. “The job description, the working hours are the same. But the salary and treatment are so different. I cannot understand this.”
Hiroshi Nakajima, the union official helping him with his case, said a foreign worker came to ask for help almost every week.
“Basically they have many complaints about their labour conditions. For example, non-payment and sometimes threat of dismissal, and not only these things but sometimes sexual harassment and sometimes the company keeps their passport or alien card and insurance card too,” he said.
Japan International Training Co-operation Organisation (Jitco), which runs the scheme for the government, said it was aware of media reports about trainees’ troubles.
But said its own research showed foreign workers were satisfied with the way they were treated.
In a statement, Jitco told the BBC that individual cases should not be used to generalise about the whole scheme.
And yet the Japanese government’s own panel of experts has decided there is a need for stiffer penalties for companies that mistreat workers.
These will not be introduced for at least two years, though. It is an acknowledgement that the system is not working, but it seems there is no rush to fix it.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7014960.stm
Published: 2007/10/03 11:24:33 GMT
© BBC MMVII
mytest
Hi Blog. No matter where you are in Japan, if you want to play ball and preregister your biometric data, go to Tokyo. More on the difficulties involving that procedure here, from somebody who made the trip from Kobe and had a pretty lousy time once there.
Never mind–even permanent residents are still gaijin and potential terrorists, so lump it. It’s for our safety–“our” especially meaning us “kokumin”. How many more hoops will Japan make its residents jump through before it realizes this will lead to an exodus of business and money? Text courtesy of Shaney. Arudou Debito
===========================
Please find the attached “Application Form for User Registration of the Automated Gates” and “User’s guide”. If you wish pre-registration, please complete the application form and bring in the application counter.
To: All foreign national employees,
We would like to advise you of an important change in immigration procedures for foreign nationals.
The change is intended to prevent terrorism and is due to a partial amendment of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act.
With effect from 20 November 2007, fingerprints and a facial photograph will be taken as mandatory requirement when foreign nationals enter Japan.
This will not only apply to tourists but also to holders of foreign registration card holders and/or re-entry permit.
If foreign nationals refuse to provide fingerprints and a facial photo, the entry will be denied and such person will be asked to leave Japan.
For details, please view the video “Landing Examination Procedures for Japan are Changing!” available in English, Chinese and Korean.
The video runs for approximately five and a half minutes.
For English http://nettv.gov-online.go.jp/prg/prg1203.html
For Chinese http://nettv.gov-online.go.jp/prg/prg1204.html
For Korean http://nettv.gov-online.go.jp/prg/prg1205.html
Also here is the link in English & Japanese.
English: http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/keiziban/happyou/video.html
Japanese: http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/keiziban/happyou/biometric.pdf
At the same time, from 20 November 2007, Narita airport will implement an automated gate system.
The system is designed to simplify and accelerate emigration and immigration procedures.
Foreign nationals who wish to go through the automated gate are required to pre-register by submitting their ID (face photograph & fingerprint).
The application for registration will be accepted at Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Shinagawa or Tokyo Immigration Bureau Narita Airport Branch.
You will be asked to submit your passport and the registration application form, and your face will be photographed and both index fingers be fingerprinted.
Please find attached the English translation of the official document by Ministry of Justice. 
ENDS
mytest
Vincent has uploaded the Nov 20 NHK 7pm Evening News segment about fingerprinting (2 min 52 sec, English dubbing) on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XZzPg9pk5U
Same with NHK Newswatch 9pm. Somewhat longer and more detailed than Evening News 7pm. Uploaded in Youtube (6 min 10 sec), and with a greater attempt at balance (but still far more airtime given to making the GOJ’s case). Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA9wYkwvaIQ
==============
As for the Nov 20 11PM News shows (10PM’s News Station put it on as a blurb at the very end).
I watched Chikushi Tetsuya’s News 23–they featured the FP story very prominently with an interview with critics (Amnesty’s Teranaka saying that FP has caught very few people, if any, and is in no way an effective measure) and even a rupo at the AI/SMJ demonstration at noon today. There were some interviews included with NJ who grumbled about the wait. Summary comments by anchors at the end questioned why Japan was even instituting the program at all.
Also Zero news gave it about five minutes early, with some more coverage of machines not behaving properly, and very annoyed tourists (one elderly Korean using some really impressive angry English). The point of both was that this whole thing was a mess.
NHK BS 10:50 didn’t even bother to have it in their headlines. As others have said, it makes one wonder why NJ would ever bother to pay any NHK fees. When something like this affects at least 1.5 million Japanese residents (millions more if you include their Japanese families), this is unignorable news. Whatever coverage there was basically toed the GOJ line and gave little, if any, coverage to the controversy. Very, very disappointing NHK.
Finally, CNN, courtesy of Olaf:
=====================================
Japan begins identifying foreigners
CNN, November 20, 2007
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/20/japan.foreigners.ap/index.html
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Diplomats, government workers, permanent residents exempt from practice
Japan is second country after U.S. to implement practices
Tokyo says move made to combat international terrorism
Critics say practice is discriminatory and violates privacy
NARITA, Japan (AP) — Japan started fingerprinting and photographing arriving foreigners Tuesday in a crackdown on terrorists, despite complaints that the measures unfairly target non-Japanese.
Nearly all foreigners age 16 or over, including longtime residents, will be scanned. The only exceptions are diplomats, government guests and permanent residents such as Koreans who have lived in Japan for generations.
Tokyo has staunchly backed the U.S.-led attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, raising fears Japan could be targeted by terrorists.
Officials said the new security measures, while inconvenient for visitors, were necessary.
“There are people who change their names, use wrongly obtained passports, and pretend to be other people,” said Toshihiro Higaki, an immigration official at Narita International Airport near Tokyo. “The measure also works as a deterrent.”
The fingerprints and photos will be checked for matches on terrorist watch lists and files on foreigners with criminal records in Japan. People matching the data will be denied entry and deported.
Japan is the second country after the United States to implement such a system, said Immigration Bureau official Takumi Sato.
He said there had been no reports of trouble since the checks began Tuesday morning.
Critics, however, said the measures discriminate against foreigners and violate their privacy. A group of nearly 70 civic groups from around the world delivered a letter of protest Monday to Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama.
“We believe that your plans … are a gross and disproportionate infringement upon civil liberties, copying the most ineffective, costly and risky practices on border management from around the world,” the letter said.
Immigration officials say the bureau plans to store the data for “a long time,” without saying how long. It is unclear how many people will be affected; Japan had 8.11 million foreign entries in 2006.
Concerns about extremists coming into Japan spiked when reports emerged in May 2004 that Lionel Dumont, a French citizen with suspected links to al Qaeda and a history of violent crime, repeatedly entered the country on a fake passport.
Dumont, who was later sentenced to 30 years in prison in France, was reportedly trying to set up a terror cell when he lived undisturbed in Japan in 2002 and 2003.
Last month, Justice Minister Hatoyama came under fire over his assertion that a friend of his had an acquaintance who was a member of the al Qaeda terrorist group.
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. I had an article come out in the Japan Times last Tuesday Nov 13 (Wednesday outside the metropolises), which you can read with notes and links to sources at https://www.debito.org/japantimes111307.html.
Excerpting from the conclusion of the article (in mufti–go to the whole article above if you want to see links):
===================================
You know, Japan needs more lawyers, or at least more lawyerly types. Anyone who reads the actual laws will in fact find a natural check and balance.
For example, even if the cops issue their classic demand for your Gaijin Card on the street, under the Foreign Registry Law (gaitouhou) (Article 13), you are not required to display unless the cop shows you his ID first. Ask for it. And write it down.
And believe it or not, under the Police Execution of Duties Law (keisatsukan shokumu shikkou hou) (Article 2), cops aren’t allowed to ask anyone for ID without probable cause for suspicion of a crime. Just being a foreigner doesn’t count. Point that out.
As for Gaijin Carding at hotels, all you have to do is say you have an address in Japan and you’re in the clear. Neither foreign residents nor Japanese are required to show any ID. The hotels cannot refuse you service, as legally they cannot deny anyone lodging under the Hotel Management Law (Article 5), without threat to public morals, possibility of contagion, or full rooms.
And as for Gaijin Carding by employers, under the new law (Article 28) you are under no obligation to say anything more than what your visa status is, and that it is valid. Say you’ll present visual proof in the form of the Gaijin Card, since nothing more is required.
If your main employer forces you to have your IDs photocopied, point out that the Personal Information Protection Law (Kojin Jouhou Hokan Hou) governs any situation when private information is demanded. Under Article 16, you must be told the purpose of gathering this information, and under Article 26 you may make requests to correct or delete data that are no longer necessary.
That means that once your visa status has been reported to Hello Work, your company no longer needs it, and you should request your info be returned for your disposal.
Those are the laws, and they exist for a reason: to protect everyone–including non-Japanese–from stretches of the law and abuses of power by state or society.
Even if the Foreign Registry Law has long made foreigners legally targetable in the eyes of the police, the rest of Japanese society still has to treat foreigners–be they laborer, customer, neighbor, or complete stranger–with appropriate respect and dignity.
Sure, Japan’s policymakers are treating non-Japanese residents as criminals, terrorists, and filth columnists of disease and disorder–through fingerprinting at the border, gaijin-apartment ID Checkpoints, anonymous police Internet “snitch sites” (ZG Mar 30 2004), “foreign DNA crime databases” (ZG Jan 13 2004), IC Chips in Gaijin Cards (ZG Nov 22 2005), and now gaijin dragnets through hotels and paychecks.
But there are still some vestiges of civil liberties guaranteed by law in this country. Know about them, and have them enforced. Or else non-Japanese will never be acknowledged or respected as real residents of Japan, almost always governed by the same laws as everyone else.
More information on what to do in these situations, plus the letter of the law, at https://www.debito.org/whattodoif.html
===================================
To this end, Erich Meatleg has provided a very valuable service–wallet-sized copies of the original text (plus hiragana and English translations) of pertinent sections of the laws for you to download and carry around. For the next time you get racially-profiled on the street and Gaijin Carded by cops:
Download plain version of text of laws regarding Gaijin Card Checks here (pdf format).
Download color-coded version of text of laws regarding Gaijin Card Checks here (pdf format).
—————————————–
Other laws that you can use (such as for Gaijin Card Checkpoints at hotels and in the workplace) are also up linked from the whattodoif.html article, but Erich hasn’t gotten to them yet! 🙂
Great thanks to Erich for his assistance! I’m sure the cops will be nonplussed from now on re how legalistic their gaijin patsies have become. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
mytest
Hi Blog. Pursuant to my post this morning on how an Osaka realtor has clear “foreigners OK” labels in its apartment catalog (meaning default mode is refusing them), here is an article in the Japan Times with some more evidence on just how systematic discrimination by nationality is in the housing market. Unfortunately, this is not really “news”… except to say that some people are finally trying to help. Debito in Sapporo
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
BIAS, BUSINESS BEST SERVED BY UNDERSTANDING
Foreigners still dogged by housing barriers
By AKEMI NAKAMURA
The Japan Times: Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007
Courtesy http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071110f1.html
Courtesy of Japan Probe
Having arrived in Tokyo from Seoul about a year ago, Il Yeong Eun, like many foreigners who come to Japan, soon encountered a major difficulty — housing discrimination.
Il, 25, together with two South Korean friends who also came to Japan around that time, visited three real estate agencies to rent an apartment in Shinjuku Ward. But the agencies turned them away because they were foreigners.
“I never expected to be refused,” said Il, who goes to a Japanese language school in the ward. “I felt like I was treated like a criminal.”
Fortunately, she found a one-bedroom flat through a real estate agency that one of her friends introduced her to. The firm’s South Korean employee takes care of foreign customers by teaching them Japanese customs related to living in rental apartments.
Japan’s foreign population is steadily increasing. Government data show the number of registered foreign residents stood at 2.08 million in 2006, up from 1.48 million a decade ago. Nonetheless, housing discrimination against foreigners is surprisingly strong even in Tokyo.
According to a 2006 survey conducted by Tokyo-based nonprofit organization Information Center for Foreigners in Japan, 94 percent, or 220 respondents, out of 234 foreigners in Tokyo who visited real estate agents said they were refused by at least one agent.
To ease the discrimination, the public and private sectors have gradually come to offer various services to help foreigners find properties.
The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry launched the Web site Anshin Chintai (safe rental housing) in June to provide rental housing information and lists of real estate agents and NPOs that can support foreign apartment-seekers.
“We hear that some foreign residents have been refused (by landlords or rental agents),” said Eiji Tanaka, a ministry official in charge of the project. “The system is to network local governments, rental agents and nonprofit organizations” to effectively help such foreigners as well as the aged and the disabled.
So far, Tokyo, Fukuoka, Osaka and Miyagi prefectures and Kawasaki have joined the project. For example, 237 real estate agents in Tokyo are listed as supportive firms.
The site — www.anshin-chintai.jp — is available in Japanese only, but foreigners who have difficulties with the language can ask local governments to explain the information on the site to them, according to the ministry.
The ministry is trying to have other local governments join the system and is considering offering the content in other languages as well, the official said.
The Japan Property Management Association, involving about 1,000 real estate agencies, also launched the Web site Welcome Chintai — www.jpm.jp/welcome/ — in September to introduce rental properties in six languages — Chinese, English, Korean, Mongolian, Spanish and Russian.
Information about properties and procedures and customs to rent rooms are put up by rental agents on the site’s six blogs — one blog in each of the six languages.
“The Web site is a tool for us to smoothly accept foreign customers,” said Masao Ogino, chairman of the association’s international exchange committee that runs Ichii Co., the real estate agent in Shinjuku Ward.
As real estate agents that registered with the site write about their experiences of dealing with foreign customers, other member companies can gain knowhow, he said.
But opening such Web sites is not enough to help foreigners, said Toshinori Kawada, a Meiji University student who set up The-You Inc., a rental housing consulting firm, in Shinjuku Ward last year.
“(Foreigners) often find apartments through word of mouth. Distributing fliers at places where they gather is more effective” than offering information online, he said, noting his company’s site showing properties for foreigners, launched in July, has failed to draw many viewers.
A key to solving the housing problem faced by foreigners is to ease landlords’ anxieties about accepting them as tenants, Kawada said.
Landlords and rental agents often say they are concerned that foreign tenants might not have proper guarantors and might cause trouble with neighbors.
To ease such anxieties, his firm gives rental agents and landlords consultations on foreign tenant management, such as teaching them rules of everyday life here and collecting rents, by utilizing the expertise he gained by working at a foreign customers-only real estate agency for a year.
These private-sector moves have come as real estate companies and landlords think the rental housing market targeting foreigners has potential as Japan struggles with a declining birthrate.
“An oversupply (of rental apartments) makes it difficult (for landlords) to manage their properties. So they reluctantly turn to foreign customers,” Kawada said.
Ogino of the association said more and more real estate agents would enter the market as the association is trying to enlighten them and pass along knowhow to handle foreign customers through its new site.
“Our industry is finally moving toward internationalization as some agents now hire foreign employees,” Ogino said. “If real estate agencies can obtain knowhow to deal with foreign customers, they could gain more benefits and make foreign residents happy.”
The Japan Times: Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Martin Oickle was kind enough to send me one page of a housing/apartment catalog from “Heartful Fukushima Ten”–an Osaka realtor (Fukushima 7-5-1, Fukushima-ku, Osaka-shi, KK Kansai Kensetsu Fukushima Ten, Ph 06-6455-7101).
It has a system for refusing foreigners that is so clear it’s even got a special snappy logo:
very kindly abbreviated to “‘gaijin’ are allowed” for your handy-dandy reference. Cute.
Here’s the original page in its entirety, from page nine of its catalog:
(click on the image to see a very detailed 300 dpi scan close up)
You’ll notice the very clever logos at the bottom, for “Auto Lock”, “Satellite TV”, “Students Allowed”, “Pianos Allowed”, “Children Allowed”, “Sink for Shampooing”, “Pets Allowed”, “Toilet and Bath Unit Separate”, “Shower Included”, “Flooring”, “Piped in Radio”, “Specially for Women”, “Hot Water Pot Included”, “Staff Constantly On Duty”, “Cable TV”, “Parking Allowed”, “Handicapped Access”, “Contract with Legal Entity”, “Air Conditioning”, “Elevator”, “Rentable in Portions”, “Furnished”, “Phone Included”, “Refrigerator Included”, and finally… “Foreigners Allowed”.
(click below to see whole image in your browser)
Thanks for making it so clear, I guess. Very Heartful. You’ll also notice that there is only one apartment of the twelve on this page which will deign to take “gaijin”:
And it’s nearly the cheapest and quite possibly the crappiest one on the entire page–only a one-room (1R). Now what a coincidence…
==========================
Now some quick counterarguments for the pedants, for what they’re worth:
Yes, there are restrictions on other things, such as pianos, but pianos and other material effects are not people. Same with pets, of course.
Yes, there are restrictions on students and children. But one does not remain a student or a child all their life, so it’s not the same as discrimination by nationality. (And for the record, I do not support “Women Only” apartments by the same logic. In any case, the default mode for apartments is accepting women, whereas the default for “gaijin” is rejection.)
What a lovely way to welcome newcomers who have enough hurdles to jump over in this society, without having the most fundamental thing they need in their life–a place to rest their head every day–denied them when they first arrive or need to move. Moreover relegate them to lousy housing regardless of income.
And the fact that this company is bold enough to make exclusionism so explicit (the realtor will no doubt counterargue that this is done by the landlord’s wishes; they’re just following orders) makes them an accessory to the discrimination in black and white.
Debito.org wishes to discourage this type of systematic discrimination in any way possible. I have put this company on the “Rogues’ Gallery of Exclusionary Establishments”.
Suggest you take your business elsewhere if you’re looking for apartments in Fukushima-ku, Osaka. Someplace less tolerant of intolerance.
Like some of these places, mentioned in a Japan Times article of November 10, 2007, blogged here.
Pertinent references from the article:
The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry launched the Web site Anshin Chintai (safe rental housing) in June to provide rental housing information and lists of real estate agents and NPOs that can support foreign apartment-seekers. So far, Tokyo, Fukuoka, Osaka and Miyagi prefectures and Kawasaki have joined the project. For example, 237 real estate agents in Tokyo are listed as supportive firms.
The site — www.anshin-chintai.jp — is available in Japanese only, but foreigners who have difficulties with the language can ask local governments to explain the information on the site to them, according to the ministry.
The Japan Property Management Association, involving about 1,000 real estate agencies, also launched the Web site Welcome Chintai — www.jpm.jp/welcome/ — in September to introduce rental properties in six languages — Chinese, English, Korean, Mongolian, Spanish and Russian.
Arudou Debito in Sapporo
mytest
Hi Blog. Nov 20 promises to be a busy day. If you’re not attending the Amnesty/SMJ Protest against Fingerprinting, then consider attending this event–in fact you can probably squeeze both of them in, since they’re both in Kasumigaseki.
About a person allegedly brutalized by the police, but undoubtedly denied medical treatment while incarcerated, and crippled in the event. Yet could not receive any compensation in court for his suffering or medical bills due in part to, according to the Lower Court decision, his (and his witnesses’) untrustworthy foreignness. I wrote about this in the Japan Times last August 14:
THE ZEIT GIST
Abuse, racism, lost evidence deny justice in Valentine Case
Nigerian’s ordeal shows that different standards apply for foreigners in court
https://www.debito.org/japantimes081407.html
Here are the details from the Support Group. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
SUPPORTERS WANTED FOR MR. VALENTINE’S TRIAL
== Please participate in his upcoming hearing ==
In Japan, when a witness is a foreigner, he can’t be trusted. And when an accused is a foreigner, he can’t have justice. At least, that is what is going on with his case…
Mr. Valentine, a Nigerian national, is defending himself against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government after a police beating incident which took place in Shinjuku almost 4 years ago. At the last trial, the judge did not close the case. Many thanks to the audience (more than 25 people sat in the public seats) who watched the trial so close. And now the date for the 3rd trial has been set. We are asking for your support, especially your participation in this upcoming hearing at Tokyo high court. Please help him to get justice.
The 3rd Appeal Tribunal Trial schedule:
Court opens at 11 am on November 20th. Tuesday, 2007
At Tokyo High Court 8th floor
Court Room Number 808
Court appellant : Mr. Valentine U.C.
< case number " (NE) 2429th of 2007" >
An application is not necessary to attend the hearing. Anyone can participate. Please come to the court before 11 am. You can enter the hearing room without any application or notification, but there will be a property check at the door. If you come earlier, please wait in the waiting room. Other supporters will meet you there. For more info: http://www.courts.go.jp/kengaku/
Access : “Kasumigaseki station” on Tokyo Metro Marunouchi line, Hibiya line or Chiyoda line. A1 exit, 1 minute walk. Or “Sakuradamon station” on Tokyo Metro Yuurakuchou line, No. 5 exit, 3 minute walk.
Mr. Valentine was arrested by Fuueihou violation in a back alley in Shinjuku Kabuki-cho on December 9th in 2003. Though he was handcuffed and did not resist during the arrest, he was brutally beaten by undercover police officers and it cost him a broken knee head bone. At the Tokyo police hospital, Mr. Valentine did not receive proper treatment. As a result, Mr. Valentine became a certified disabled person.
He brought a lawsuit against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government back in August, 2005, but lost the case. One of the reasons for the decision was based on the unaccountability of the eyewitness. The witness was also an African man. It stated anyone from the Kabuki-cho black people community can’t be taken as an accountable witness. And the Tokyo police hospital has not released his medical record, insisting it has been lost.
Read more:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070814zg.html
Contact: Valentine Trial Support Group (Japanese or English)
E-MAIL: rakuritsu.green@hotmail.co.jp
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Fingerprinting of NJ issue aptly summarized in animation. Spread it around.
Download it from here and use as you like:
https://www.debito.org/WelcometoJapan.gif
Courtesy of UTU’s Nick Wood. Thanks very much, and well done. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
mytest
Blog: News on the NOVA aftermath from the employee union’s point of view; watch Fuji TV tonight (Sunday Nov 11) for coverage of their Osaka negotiations. Arudou Debito
================================
From: carlet@jca.apc.org
Subject: [Nambu FWC] Nova and G
Date: November 11, 2007 10:16:04 AM JST
To: action@nambufwc.org
Members,
Much happened yesterday regarding the Nova case.
At 10am and 2pm at locations throughout the country, Nova’s trustee held information sessions explaining various aspects of the coming Nova bankruptcy and explaining G Education’s offer to hire all Nova teachers who want to be hired at the same working conditions they had before.
We leafletted the meeting in Tokyo, calling on teachers to join GUTS (G Union of Teachers and Staff, which doesn’t yet exist). Tony D. reports that 500 leaflets were passed out quickly with no problems.
We also last night joined forces with General Union to tell the trustee, Noriaki Takahashi, that former conditions are not enough. Both unions (Nambu and G.U.) submitted to him several demands, including full enrollment of all teachers in shakai hoken and open-ended employment. Other demands included a fund to protect student tuition advances. The trustee said he agreed with all the demands.
He explained that of all the 12 corporate “sponsors,” G had the best offer in terms of protecting staff and teachers — hire them all initially at same conditions — and in terms of offering something to students — can use remaining points by paying 25% of their cost on top of what they already paid to Nova. He said he agreed with the shakai hoken and open-ended employment demands and called on the unions to fight hard, to make his job easier.
Other details will be explained at our next Nova meeting — Nov. 18 at 7pm at the Nambu union office. Some details are very important concerning resignation versus dismissal. In short, if you want to work for G you must resign from Nova the day before you are hired by G. If you don’t resign from Nova, the trustee will fire you with a month’s notice. This will meet that your unpaid wages will continue to accrue even a month after you are fired. If you work for G, even if your school is not open and you are told to stand by at home, you will be paid full wages.
More to come later… Watch the Fuji TV news at 10pm tonight, which covers the Nova Union’s trip to Osaka to meet with the trustee.
In Solidarity,
Louis Carlet
NUGW Tokyo Nambu
http://www.nugw.org
mytest
Hi Blog. One more before the blog server goes down for maintenance all day tomorrow:
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Will entry checks cross the line?
Fingerprinting foreigners won’t stop terrorists, critics say
The Japan Times: Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007
By JUN HONGO, Staff writer
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071108f1.html
Despite government claims it is necessary to counter terrorism, a new immigration procedure obliging most foreigners to be fingerprinted and photographed upon entry to Japan has come under fire as an unwarranted invasion of privacy.
Critics also contend the new policy, which takes effect Nov. 20, will result in even longer waits at immigration control gates.
More to the point, experts doubt whether it will even stop potential terrorists from entering the country.
Under the procedure, visitors whose biometric data match those on confidential terrorist watch lists will be denied entry to Japan. The lists are believed to include one compiled by the U.S. government and contain the names of about 750,000 “terror suspects.”
Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama has said Japan will cooperate with U.S. authorities in exchanging immigration data.
But Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Program on Technology and Liberty, said the U.S. watch list is “bloated and full of inaccuracy.”
“The U.S. immigration policy is a total failure,” Steinhardt warned, expressing concern that Japan’s version of biometric verification will likely be built on a flawed foundation.
Exempt from the new measure are “special permanent residents” of Korean and Taiwanese descent who had Japanese nationality before the end of the war and their descendants. Also exempt are diplomats, children under age 16 and those visiting at the invitation of the government. Foreigners with permanent residency status will be obliged to submit to fingerprinting every time they enter the country.
Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo last month, Steinhardt alleged that not only will the immigration system put all visitors to Japan into an antiterrorist database, it will also fail to provide the defenses against terrorism that it promises.
He questioned the credibility of the U.S. terrorist list, noting it remains unclear how it is compiled — and how people get onto or off of it.
Steinhardt pointed out that pop singer Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, was denied entry to the U.S. in 2004 apparently after being mistaken for another person with the same name (though spelled differently) on the watch list.
“It’s full of mistakes. That is the reality in the U.S. and it’s likely to become reality in Japan,” Steinhardt said. “Whether or not the loss of liberty is worth the security gained is not a question — because no security is gained.”
According to the Justice Ministry’s Immigration Bureau, all foreigners ineligible for exemption will be directed to special equipment — similar in appearance to a small computer display — for taking fingerprints and photos upon arrival in Japan.
Questioning by an immigration inspector will follow. Those who refuse will be automatically deported.
Naoto Nikai, an Immigration Bureau official, said passengers who preregister their biometric data can use an automated gate system. But of all Japan’s international airports, such gates are scheduled to be installed only at Narita International Airport, while preregistration can only be accepted at an immigration office in Shinagawa Ward or at Narita’s departure area beginning on Nov. 20.
“This is an important tool against international terrorist activity,” Nikai repeated to reporters during a briefing last month.
Asked whether the new process will cause longer lines at immigration, Nikai only said the bureau will try to maintain its current goal of getting each passenger through immigration within 20 minutes.
He wouldn’t answer whether foreign mothers traveling with Japanese infants would be separated at immigration gates. “The immigration officer at the airport will (make the judgment),” Nikai said.
Japan has also not decided how long biometric information collected under the new procedure will be stored in the system.
Although Nikai gave assurances that only the minimum number of personnel would have access to the data, Makoto Teranaka, secretary general of Amnesty International Japan, called the procedure a “violation of human rights to privacy.”
During a recent news conference, Teranaka pointed out that the database will likely be shared by police and other government agencies — and possibly their counterparts in other countries as well.
“We can’t see any justification for introducing this system,” he said, adding that the group will ask the government to reconsider.
Stressing the need to fingerprint and photograph even Japan’s longtime foreign residents, however, Justice Minister Hatoyama claimed to know about a disguised al-Qaida member who repeatedly entered the country on fake passports.
“A friend of a friend of mine is a member of al-Qaida,” the minister said in a speech at the FCCJ last month — a remark that stirred up controversy for which Hatoyama was rebuked by his fellow Cabinet members. He also said he had been told that terrorists were sneaking across borders using fake IDs.
“I realize this is arduous, but (biometric verifications) must be carried out (even on permanent residents) to fight terrorism,” Hatoyama said.
Daisuke Arikado, a representative of Tokyo-based nonprofit group Foreign Criminal Expulsion Movement, welcomes the strict procedure in hopes that it will make Japan safer “not only for Japanese, but for foreigners living here as well.”
While acknowledging cases of human rights abuses overseas resulting from strict immigration procedures, Arikado argues that as a country that hosts many U.S. military bases, Japan is obliged to ensure that terrorists are stopped at its borders.
Arikado also says the system will help keep previous deportees from re-entering the country, which he claims will reduce the crime rate by foreigners in Japan.
“It wouldn’t bother me to provide fingerprints and photographs upon arriving in the U.S.,” Arikado said. “When visiting a foreign country, it’s obvious that one should abide by its rules.”
The United States has fingerprinted and photographed visitors since 2004. Japan will become only the second country in the world to introduce such a system.
Longtime permanent foreign residents in Japan have protested the new procedure.
Louis Carlet, deputy general secretary of the National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu, whose members include many foreign workers, claimed that the system would be ineffective because any determined terrorist would likely find a way through the biometric verifications.
“The union is against the system,” said Carlet, 41, who has lived in Japan for 12 years and holds a permanent resident visa. “Fingerprinting blameless foreigners and treating them as criminals is counterproductive, and a violation of their human rights. If Japan wants to fight terrorism, it should stop cooperating in a war that is itself an act of terror.”
The Japan Times: Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007
ENDS
///////////////////////////////////////////////////
RELATED STORY
Arriving outside Narita will be worse, By Eric Johnston. Japan Times same day.
mytest
Hi Blog. Here’s the public appeal I was asked to translate for sponsoring groups Amnesty International/Solidarity with Migrants Japan. This is their upcoming November 20 Public Action in front of the Justice Ministry against Fingerprinting NJ. Attend if you like. Details in the appeal below. More on the event also here. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
///////////////////////////////////////////////////
PROTEST JAPAN’S VERSION OF THE “US-VISIT PROGRAM”!
STOP FINGERPRINTING NON-JAPANESE!
TOKYO PUBLIC ACTION OUTSIDE THE JUSTICE MINISTRY, NOON, NOVEMBER 20!
(translated by Arudou Debito)
From November 20, 2007, the Japanese government will put into effect the Japan version of the US-VISIT Program, where all non-Japanese entering Japan (with the exception of children under age 16, Diplomats, and “Special Permanent Residents” (i.e. ethnic Koreans, Chinese, etc.) will have their fingerprints and facial photographs taken every time they cross the border.
This is none other than a system to track and tighten controls on foreigners, including residents. The government and the Justice Ministry loudly claim that this is an “anti-terror measure”, but consider the US-VISIT Program, inaugurated four years ago in the United States, that this policy is modeled upon: “It has been completely ineffective at uncovering terrorists. Rather, it has been used as a way for the government to create a blacklist and stop human rights activists from entering the country.” (Barry Steinhardt, American Civil Liberties Union, Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan October 29, 2007). We see Japan heading down the same path as the US.
Japan’s version of the US-VISIT Program is so laden with problems, and passed without adequate deliberation by the Diet, that we call for the government and the Justice Ministry to immediately suspend it. To his end, we will assemble before the Justice Ministry on the day of its promulgation, November 20, 2007, for a public action and protest. We call on the public to join us at noon that day and lend your support and participation.
=========================
DATE: Tuesday, November 20, 2007
TIME: Noon (public action will take 30 minutes to an hour)
PLACE: Ministry of Justice, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo (Goudou Chousha #6)
(Subway Marunouchi Line to Kasumigaseki Station, Bengoshi Kaikan exit)
ACTIVITIES: Sound truck with speeches
Placards, Message boards (NO TO FINGERPRINTING, FINGERPRINTING NON-JAPANESE IS DISCRIMINATION, “NON-JAPANESE” DOES NOT MEAN “TERRORIST” etc.–create your own slogan and bring your own sign!)
=========================
CONTACT:
Amnesty International Japan (Tel 03-3518-6777)
http://www.amnesty.or.jp/
Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ) (Tel：03-5802-6033)
http://www.jca.apc.org/migrant-net/
See you there!
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Important information from Japan’s non-US Western business leaders. Courtesy of Martin Issott.
Both the European Business Council in Japan and the Australian and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan have agreed that Immigration’s new NJ Fingerprint Laws “impose unacceptable costs” on businesses, and finds regrettable the “grouping [of] long-term residents and taxpayers in Japan with occasional visitors”.
“WE BELIEVE THAT THE INTRODUCTION OF MANDATORY FINGERPRINTING AND PHOTOGRAPHING OF FOREIGNERS ENTERING AND RE-ENTERING JAPAN MUST BE CONDUCTED IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT DOES NOT ADVERSELY AFFECT FOREIGN RESIDENTS, BUSINESSMEN AND COMPANIES IN JAPAN.” [emphasis added]
So says a protest letter to the MOJ Immigration Bureau (cced to MOFA) in PDF format signed by Richard Colasse, Chairman of the EBC, and Tim Lester, Chairman of the ANZCCJ. Click here to see it:
https://www.debito.org/EBCANZCCJletterOct262007.pdf
Jpeg thumbnails of the letters in English and Japanese here (click to expand in browser):
What follows is the text from an email from Jacob Edberg, Policy Director of the EBC, which indicates that the protesting is in some way paying off–with some changes in the procedures. At Narita, anyway. Underlinings in the email added. Brief comment follows.
====================================
From: ebc@gol.com [mailto:ebc@gol.com]
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 11:42 AM
To: edberg@ebc-jp.com
Subject: Revised Immigration Law
TO: EBC Committee Members EBC EOB Members European National Chamber Presidents European National Chamber Executive Directors Delegation of the European Commission to Japan National European Embassies
FROM: Jakob Edberg
DATE: November 2, 2007
SUBJECT: Revised Immigration Law
***********************************************
Dear Colleagues,
This is to inform you about the implementation of the revised immigration law, scheduled for November 20. In short, the revised law says that all foreigners have to leave their fingerprints and take a photo when entering Japan. The EBC has over the past year strongly insisted that the implementation of the law should not complicate or delay the re-entry procedure of foreign residents in Japan. We have especially objected to forcing re-entry permit holders to line up in long queues with all other foreigners (tourists e.g.) to take fingerprints each time re-entering Japan.
After long discussions with the Ministry of Justice, it is now clear that re-entry permit holders will be able to pre-register fingerprints and photo at either Shinagawa or at Narita on the way out. Undergoing this procedure once should grant swift re-entry at Narita (not other international airports) as long as the passport/ re-entry permit is valid. Information about this system is not yet available in English but can since October 26 be found in Japanese on the MOJ website:
http://www.moj.go.jp/NYUKAN/nyukan63-2.pdf
The Ministry of Justice has also said that for those re-entry permit holders who have not yet pre-registered their fingerprints and photos, there should be a line separate from other foreigners (e.g. tourists) at the immigration counter. However, the MOJ not yet made this commitment in writing – because they may not be able to staff the extra lines at all times of the day.
EBC Chairman Richard Collasse sent a letter on October 26 (please see attached) jointly signed with the Australia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce to demand that information about the new system is made available in English ASAP and that the commitment to set up separate lines at immigration counter for re-entry permit holder are not pre-registered is made also in writing. At this time, the semi automatic gate system will not be available at Kansai and Nagoya International airports. The solution for Kanto residents appear to be to go to Narita airport early and preregister (you only have to do this once).
We will continue to ask for more clarity on the new procedures from MOJ and will be sure to get back to all of you as soon as we have more information on this urgent issue.
Yours sincerely,
Jakob Edberg
Policy Director
European Business Council in Japan
==============================
COMMENT: What incredible incompetence by the Ministry of Justice! Did they think that inconveniencing people to this degree (under a discriminatory and xenophobic rubric, to boot) would occasion no protest or comment from the world around them? Are they still convinced that Japan is immune to the forces of globalization?!
Arudou Debito in Sapporo
ENDS
mytest
Hello Blog. Witness the further tightening of the dragnet around NJ residents.
First, we got the justification for fingerprinting all NJ at the border as potential Osama Juniors and Typhoid Maries. Now once inside, the “Gaijin Card” (gaikokujin touroku shoumeisho), designed in 1952 as a tracking device for all the Zainichi who wouldn’t leave postwar Japan like good little Sankokujin, is now being steadily voided. Even though by law it serves as a proxy for the passport (since it contains the same information, including visa status, so that NJ residents don’t have to schlep around their unloseable international paperwork 24/7). If you have your Gaijin Card, you needn’t show your passport. And according to the Foreign Registry Law you needn’t even show your Gaijin Card anyway to anyone except a member of Japan’s police forces (especially when other forms of ID, such as a drivers’ licence or health insurance booklet, will also do). Yet increasingly in some places, no show, no service.
Two prominent examples: Debito.org has received a reliable report from a Kansai-based foreign reader that Softbank not only requires alien registration cards but now passports. Shinsei Bank, formerly known as one of the more gaijin-friendly institutions in a banking system which treats NJ as potential money launderers, now requires the Gaijin Card even from established customers when other forms of ID will do for regular, obviously more trustworthy Japanese. The two reports follow, the first anonymized at the author’s request. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
–Debito,
Earlier today (October 29, 2007), I attempted to purchase a SIM card for my cell phone at an Osaka-based branch of Softbank, and was immediately told they needed to see my alien registration card and my passport. I said that was a strange policy and possible illegal, but definately a violation of common sense. I pointed out that both my passport number and my visa type were written on my gaijin card. But the young woman behind the counter showed her me her Softbank manual for granting contracts to foreigners and it did, indeed, say that both a gajin card and a passport were necessary in order to get a contract. Unfortunately, my cell phone is a Nokia type that locks me into purchasing a Softbank SIM card, or I would certainly take my business elsewhere.
As the young, part-time worker was in no position to do anything, I placed a call to Softbank’s Tokyo headquarters and asked to speak to somebody in their public affairs office. The guy who came on the phone said that, no, no passport was necessary. A gaijin card alone was sufficient. I said, “Oh really?” and passed the phone over to the young woman in the Osaka Softbank store, who told him that her manual specifically said a passport was needed as well. When she passed the phone back to me, he said that, yes, both were needed.
I told him I had heard there were legal questions about a business demanding to see a passport and that, besides, I couldn’t understand why Softbank needed to see both. He just kept repeating it was now company policy to require both. I told him I thought he should check up on that, and he agreed to call me back.
An hour or so later, I received a call from a different person in the PR department who basically said Softbank required both the card and a passport because they’d been ripped off by foreigners before and that gaijin cards can be faked. When I again brought up the question of whether it was legal, he said Softbank’s understanding was that, because the letter of the law does not specifically state that a business CAN’T also demand a passport, Softbank assumes that they CAN. But, when I said that, in effect, Softbank, without confirming the exact meaning of the law and despite knowing that foreingers were upset (based on past complaints) simply wrote the manual requiring a passport be shown, the official agreed that was the case.
One wonders: what is the purpose of a gaijin card if, as of November 20th, it alone will no longer get you through immigration. And, legal questions about showing it to anyone other than government officials aside, what is the practical purpose of carrying the card if, as of today, businesses like Softbank are going to demand to see our passports as well?
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Beware: SHINSEI BANK, Japan, Discrimination of Foreigners
Discrimination of Foreign Nationals at SHINSEI BANK, Tokyo
Oct.4, 2007, 1 pm: I went to SHINSEI BANK, Tokyo, Ikebukuro branch to get me an new cash card as I did not find my old one any more.
Though I have had a (legal) bank account there for many years, I was asked for my Alien (we are all aliens in Japan!) Registration Card although I have been a Permanent Resident in Japan for 20 years.
When I showed my Japanese driving licence and even offered my Japanese health insurance card (a normal thing at any other institution in Japan if you are a permanent resident; I had just done it the day before at the postal bank) they refused to deal with my case unless they saw my Alien Registration Card insisting on some dubious company regulations.
Of course, all was written in Japanese, no English at all.
How international for a bank with American backup!
They left me with no choice. I had to show my Alien Registration Card. Although I protested, told them about the illegality and mentioned discrimination they would not budge. A copy of my Alien Registration Card was taken.
If/Before you go to SHINSEI BANK, Japan, remember my case and don�?Tt forget:
Any foreigner is a potential criminal, customer or not. All Japanese are good people.
Only foreigners have to be fingerprinted, when they enter Japan, no Japanese have ever or will ever commit a crime.
Hermann Troll
P.S. Feel free to pass on to this message.
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Our Minister of Justice should be more careful about the company he keeps… and the conclusions he draws. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Hatoyama justifies taking prints with ‘friend of a friend’ in al-Qaida claim
Mainichi Shinbun Oct 29, 2007
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071029p2a00m0na052000c.html
Courtesy of FG
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s justice minister said Monday a “friend of a friend” who belonged to al-Qaida was able to sneak into the country with false passports and disguises, proving Tokyo needs to fingerprint and photograph arriving foreigners.
Japan will begin imposing the new measures on Nov. 20 on all foreigners entering the country aged 16 or over to guard against terrorism, in a move critics say will fail to protect the country and will violate human rights.
Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama, however, told reporters that he had personal knowledge of how terrorists can infiltrate the country, citing an unidentified “friend of a friend” who was involved in a bomb attack on the Indonesian island of Bali.
“I have never met this person, but until two or three years ago, it seems this person was visiting Japan often. And each time he arrived in Japan, he used a different passport,” Hatoyama said.
The justice minister added that his friend, whom he also did not identify, had warned him to stay away from the center of Bali.
Hatoyama did not specify which of two Bali bomb attacks — in 2002 and 2005 — he was referring to. Nor did he say whether the warning came before a bombing, or whether he alerted Indonesian officials.
Indonesian police have said the 2002 bombings that killed 202 people were carried out with funds and direction from al-Qaida. A splinter group of the Southeast Asian terror organization Jemaah Islamiyah allegedly carried out the 2005 attacks independently.
“The fact is that such foreign people can easily enter Japan,” Hatoyama said. “In terms of security, this is not a preferable situation.”
“I know this may cause a lot of inconvenience, but it’s very necessary to fight terror,” Hatoyama said of the fingerprinting measures. “Japan may also become a victim of a terrorist attack.”
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said he hoped Hatoyama’s al-Qaida connection would not re-enter Japan.
“I hope he’ll deal with this issue firmly through immigration controls now that he’s justice minister,” Fukuda said.
Critics have blasted the new fingerprinting measures, which only exempt some permanent residents, diplomatic visitors and children.
“The introduction of this system is a violation of basic human rights, especially the right to privacy,” said Makoto Teranaka, secretary-general of the human rights group Amnesty International Japan.
He said it unfairly targets foreigners since Japanese could also be criminals or terrorists.
Under the new regulations, all adults will be photographed and fingerprinted on arrival in Japan, according to the country’s Immigration Bureau. Incoming aircraft and ship operators also will be obliged to provide passenger and crew lists before they arrive.
Resident foreigners will be required to go through the procedure every time they re-enter Japan, the bureau said. Immigration officials will compare the images and data with a database of international terror and crime suspects as well as domestic crime records. People matching the data on file will be denied entry and deported.
Similar measures have been introduced in the United States.
Tokyo’s support of the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and dispatch of forces to each region have raised concerns that Japan could become a target of terror attacks.
Fingerprinting carries a strong stigma in Japan because it is associated with criminals.
Japan previously fingerprinted foreign residents, but that system was abolished in 1999 following civil rights campaigns involving Japan’s large Korean and Chinese communities.
——————————————
Barry Steinhardt, of the American Civil Liberties Union, speaks at an FCCJ press conference in Tokyo Monday, Oct. 29, 2007. Japan is to launch new regulations for foreigners entering the country starting Nov. 20, which will require all adults ages 16 or over to be photographed and fingerprinted upon arrival in Japan. Steinhardt said a similar measure introduced in the United States in 2004 US-VISIT, which stands for U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology, has been an ineffective tracking measure. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
ENDS
mytest
The Fingerprint Issue is starting to hit the overseas press now… With information on how it goes even further than the US-VISIT Program it was originally modelled upon. Debito in Osaka
======================================
Japan to take fingerprints, photos of foreigners
Washington Post, Friday, October 26, 2007; 1:04 AM
By Isabel Reynolds, REUTERS
Courtesy http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/26/AR2007102600100.html
And Taipei Times, Yahoo News, Reuters India, China Post…
Japan is to fingerprint and photograph foreigners entering the country from next month in an anti-terrorism policy that is stirring anger among foreign residents and human rights activists.
Anyone considered to be a terrorist — or refusing to cooperate — will be denied entry and deported.
“This will greatly contribute to preventing international terrorist activities on our soil,” Immigration Bureau official Naoto Nikai said in a briefing on the system, which starts on November 20.
The checks are similar to the “U.S. Visit” system introduced in the United States after the attacks on September 11, 2001.
But Japan, unlike the United States, will require resident foreigners as well as visitors to be fingerprinted and photographed every time they re-enter the country.
“It certainly doesn’t make people who’ve been here for 30 or 40 years feel like they’re even human beings basically,” said businessman Terrie Lloyd, who has dual Australian and New Zealand citizenship and has been based in Japan for 24 years.
“There has not been a single incident of foreign terrorism in Japan, and there have been plenty of Japanese terrorists,” he said.
There are more than two million foreigners registered as resident in Japan, of whom 40 percent are classed as permanent residents.
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS
The pictures and fingerprints obtained by immigration officials will be made available to police and may be shared with foreign immigration authorities and governments.
Diplomats and children under 16 are excluded from the new requirement, as are “special” permanent residents of Korean and Chinese origin, many of whom are descended from those brought to Japan as forced labor before and during World War Two.
Local government fingerprinting of foreign residents when issuing registration cards, long a source of friction, was abolished in 2000.
Amnesty International is calling for the immigration plan to be abandoned.
“Making only foreigners provide this data is discriminatory,” said Sonoko Kawakami of Amnesty’s Japan office. “They are saying ‘terrorist equals foreigner’. It’s an exclusionary policy that could encourage xenophobia.”
The new system is being introduced as Japan campaigns to attract more tourists. More than 6.7 million foreign visitors came to Japan in 2006, government statistics show. Immigration officials say they are unsure how long tourists can expect to wait in line for the checks to be made.
Britain is set to require non-European foreign nationals to register biometric details when applying for visas from next year.
ENDS
mytest
Some anti-fingerprinting policy cartoons (you didn’t get them from Debito.org, of course…) Courtesy of Antonio ( K ) Ferreira. Debito
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Amnesty International Japan asked me to translate their public appeal for their Oct 27, 2007 Tokyo Symposium, calling for the abolition of the November 20 Reinstitution of Fingerprints for (almost) All Foreigners Program. Text follows below.
Sent it in an hour ago. If you like what they’re saying, attend this symposium. Details on where it’s being held here.
You want to get organized and stop all foreigners from being treated as terrorists? Now’s your chance. Arudou Debito in Tokyo
========================================
STOP THE “JAPAN VERSION OF THE US-VISIT PROGRAM”
APPEAL FOR THE OCTOBER 27, 2007 SYMPOSIUM
Sponsored by Amnesty International Japan and Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ)
(Draft One, Translated by Arudou Debito, not yet approved translation)
The introduction of the Japan version of the US-VISIT Program, where almost all non-Japanese residents and re-entrants will have their fingerprints, face photographs, and personal details taken and recorded upon (re-)entry, is imminent.
Although this system, which was approved by the 2006 regular session of the Japanese Diet (Parliament) mainly as a means of combating terrorism, has not in our opinion been properly deliberated and considered by our policymakers.
For example:
1) Is it acceptable for these measures to be adopted without clear legislation regarding the collection, processing, use, and disposal of fingerprints, which is highly personal and biotic data?
2) Is it acceptable to entrust this kind of data, which as fingerprints and photos are of a highly personal and distinguishing nature, to all governmental bodies in this manner?
3) Is the technology behind biometric data collection really all that reliable?
4) Can we truly say that the definition and classification of “terrorist” has been clearly defined by law?
5) Have proper restrictions been put in place so that this information is not given to other governments?
These questions were neither adequately addressed nor answered when this program was passed by our legislators. Further, based upon our legislators’ answers and misunderstandings about these measures, it is clear that this program has been adopted without an adequate degree of preparation. Even though a year has passed since this program was approved, the above concerns remain unaddressed.
For these reasons we make this public appeal. We oppose this “Japanese version of the US-VISIT Program”, and add the following reasons:
The basis for requiring non-Japanese to give biometric data when entering Japan is the presupposition that “foreigners are terrorists”. This is discrimination towards non-Japanese people. With the exception of the Special Permanent Residents etc., taking fingerprints, photos, and other biometric data from almost all non-Japanese is an excessive and overreaching policy. In light of Japan’s history of using fingerprinting as a means to control and track non-Japanese residents, one must not forget that thus equating non-Japanese with criminals is a great insult and indignity.
It has also become clear in Diet deliberations that this biometric data will not only be utilized for “anti-terrorism”, but also in regular criminal investigations. This use is of sensitive biotic data is clearly beyond the bounds of the original goal of these measures, something we cannot allow our government to do.
Further, there an assumption that this data will be kept on file for at most 80 years, which means it will amount to millions of people being recorded. It goes without saying that keeping this much sensitive data (given that biometric data is the ultimate in personal information) for this long is highly dangerous.
Add the fact that the very definition of “terrorist” is vague, and that it is being applied not merely to people who “undertake action with the goal of threatening the public”. People who are “probable agents” of terrorism, or “can easily become probable agents” of terrorism, or who are even “acknowledged by the authorities as having sufficient grounds for becoming agents” of terrorism, are also included. This is completely unclear, and creates fears that Immigration officials will deliberately use this as a means to expand their powers.
Meanwhile, it is nowhere acknowledged that the US-VISIT Program is in any way an effective means of preventing terrorism. In fact, the very model for this system, the United States, has been advised by its Government Accountability Office that the US-VISIT Program has some serious weaknesses.
In other words, the US-VISIT Program, nominally introduced for anti-terrorism purposes, has not been clearly adjudged as fulfilling such purposes adequately. In fact, introducing said system has created clear and present human rights abuses. Even if such system was proposed for the express purposes of “anti-terrorism”, any country duty-bound to hold human rights in high regard has no mandate to do this. This point has been stressed several times by the United Nations, and in other international organizations debating anti-terror. It is hard to deny the danger that this means to control foreigners, under the guise of “anti-terror”, will lead to a deliberate disadvantaging of specific races, religions, and ethnic groups–in other words, the embodiment of racial profiling and racial discrimination.
This “Japan version of the US-VISIT Program” is thus laden with problems. There is not enough reason for it to be introduced in this version at this time. For this reason, we who have gathered at this symposium strongly oppose this program and demand its cancellation.
October 27, 2007
”Toward further control over foreign nationals?
Japan’s anti-terrorism policy and a Japanese version of the “US-VISIT” program”
Symposium organized by
Amnesty International Japan and Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ)
Co-signed as Arudou Debito, Author, JAPANESE ONLY
ENDS
=====================================
mytest
「日本版US-VISIT」施行の中止を求める！
10.27シンポジウム アピール
（ご出席希望ならこちらへ）
（有道 出人が翻訳した英文はこちらです（下書き））
来日・在日外国人の（再）入国時に指紋や顔写真など個人識別情報を採取する日本版US-VISITの実施が目前に迫っている。
この制度は、テロ対策を主たる目的として、06年の通常国会で導入が決定されたものであるが、そのさい国会審議は十分になされたとは言えない。
たとえば、
・指紋情報という生体情報に関する取得・保管・利用・廃棄について明確な法律による規制のないままでよいのか
・指紋・写真以外に提供させる個人識別情報の種類をすべて省令に委任してしまってよいのか
・生体認証技術は本当に信頼性を有しているのか
・「テロリスト」の定義や認定方法は明確と言えるのか
・外国政府との情報交換にきちんと制約が及ぶのか
など多くの疑問が残されたまま法案は可決・成立したのである。また、国会審議における政府関係者の答弁や認識に食い違いが見られ、十分な事前の準備がなされていない実態も明らかとなった。さらに、法案成立以後、１年以上の期間があったにもかかわらず、以上の疑問点について明らかにされることもなかった。
私たちは、これまでも「日本版US-VISIT」に対して、反対の意思を表明するとともに、様々な社会的アピールも行ってきた。それには、以下の理由がある。
入国時における外国人の生体情報の提供を義務づけることは、「テロリストは外国人である」という先入観に基づくもので、外国人に対する差別である。これによって、特別永住者を除くほぼすべての外国人から指紋・写真その他の生体情報を取るという広汎かつ過度な手段が取られることになる。しかし日本では、指紋採取は、歴史的に外国人管理の象徴と言えるものであり、外国人を犯罪者と同視するかのごとき屈辱感を与えてきたことを忘れてはならない。
また、取得した生体情報を、「テロ対策」ばかりでなく一般の犯罪捜査にも利用することが国会審議の中で明らかとなってきた。これは、生体情報というセンシティブ情報に関する明らかな目的外使用であり、行政機関の間であっても許されない。
さらに、取得した個人識別情報が、長ければ80年にも及んで保有されることが想定されており、億単位の情報量となる。生体情報という究極の個人情報が、かかる長期間にわたって多量に保有されることの危険性は言うまでもない。
そのうえ、「テロリスト」の定義も曖昧で、「公衆等脅迫目的の犯罪行為」を実行した者だけでなく、その「予備行為」または「実行を容易にする行為」を「行うおそれがあると認めるに足りる相当の理由がある者」まで含まれる。これではまったく不明確であり、入管当局による恣意的な運用が拡大するおそれもある。
同時に、US-VISITが「テロ対策」として有効であるのかどうかも確認されていない。実際、日本に先立ってUS-VISITを実施している米国では、Government Accountability Office（行政監査院）が、その制度の脆弱性を指摘するにいたっている。
つまり「テロ対策」という名目のもと実施されようとしているUS-VISITは、その目的に適う手段であるかは明らかではない一方で、その実施による人権侵害は明白なのである。しかし、たとえ「テロ対策」を名目にしていようとも、人権の尊重という国家の義務から自由ではない。この点は、「テロ対策」に関わる国連の議論や国際会議においても繰り返し強調されてきたところである。また、このような外国人の管理が、「テロ対策」の名の下に、特定の人種・宗教・民族集団に恣意的に不利益をもたらす危険性、すなわち人種的プロファイリングという人種差別の一形態となるおそれは否定しがたい。
以上のように日本版US-VISITは大きな問題をはらんでおり、現時点で導入するに足る理由があるとは認められない。このため、本シンポジウムに集った私たちは、日本版US-VISITに反対し、その実施中止を求めて、あらゆる力を結集することをここに表明する。
2007年10月27日
「どこまで強まる？外国人管理――「テロ対策」と日本版US-VISIT」シンポジウムにて
＜主催団体＞
社団法人アムネスティ・インターナショナル日本
移住労働者と連帯する全国ネットワーク
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Writing this to you on a timer at a hotel in Tokyo, so I’ll be brief. An article on sports citing me, even though sports isn’t exactly my forte. I hope I got the information below right. Corrections from knowledgables appreciated. Arudou Debito in Shinagawa
PS: Original Debito.org feature which inspired this article at
https://www.debito.org/?p=417
———————————————–
Let’s be fair, let Japanese win – Feature
Posted on : 2007-10-04 | Author : Deutsche Presse-Agentur
News Category : Sports Courtesy of the Author
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/118542.html
Tokyo – You would think that fairness is the virtue of sports, but tell that to the Japanese authorities. In May, they approved a high school ban on foreign students running the first and the longest leg of a relay race in response to complaints from fans, a spokesman for the All Japan High School Athletic Federation said.
The decision came after the federation received mounting complaints from fans that “African runners lead the race so much that the Japanese athletes can’t narrow the difference or catch up throughout the race.”
Marathon races in Japan have seen many runners from Kenya, Ethiopia and other African nations taking part. At most one foreign student is allowed per team.
The relay marathon and 29 other sporting events that the federation manages limits the ratio of overseas athletes to about 20 per cent of all entries, but, according to a spokesman, complaints have flooded in only in relation to the high school marathon.
One of the reasons is that the race receives much coverage on television with a high viewer rate.
Fans wonder why they are not seeing Japanese students run when it is an all-Japan race, he said.
“We don’t consider this decision as discrimination,” the spokesman said. “We are not banning (foreign students) from participating in the race.”
Japanese fans and authorities don’t seem to realize that this is a form of discrimination, which makes the problem even more serious, because people approve of such discriminatory treatment in other social areas, Osamu Shiraishi of Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Centre said.
But criticism of the decision has come from many quarters.
“They are basically saying that sports are great as long as Japanese win,” Arudou Debito, the author of Japanese Only, which highlights discrimination against foreign residents in Japan, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Racial discrimination is usually based on superiority, but it is based on inferiority in Japan in this sense, Debito said.
“This is symbolic to Japan’s sly opportunist ideology,” Shiraishi, a former official from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said. “Making nationality an issue in sports goes against the genuine sportsmanship.”
There are sports that couldn’t generate solid competition without foreigners’ participation, the former UN High Commissioner for Refugees official said.
For such competitions, Japan makes talented athletes its own kind.
Brazilian soccer players Santos Alexandro and Ramos Ruy gave up their nationalities and played in the national team for the World Cup after they became Japanese citizens.
A new regulation to the Japanese national sport of sumo in 2002 to allow one stable to host one foreign national at a time, partly because the industry was suffering from declining Japanese enthusiasts but becoming a popular hub of muscle men from abroad.
The fear was that the national sport would be tainted with foreigners. But, ironically, it relies on them for its survival and the yokozuna or highest-ranking wrestlers are Mongolians.
The sumo association also came under attack in the past when Hawaiian wrestlers were climbing up to the top. Some Japanese fans demanded Japanese nationality from potential yokozuna.
Amidst the controversy, Hawaiian Akebono Taro became the first foreign-born yokozuna in 1992 and later gave up his US passport to prepare for opening his own stable.
Although one of the few retirement plans for most sumo wrestlers is to open up their own stables, the Japan Sumo Association requires stable masters to be Japanese citizens.
Others, however, remain mum about their nationalities.
Some Korean or Chinese residents of Japan who excelled with their athletic competence hide behind their Japanese-given names and remained outside of national competitions.
While the government requires and prefers foreigners to become Japanese nationals in certain areas such as sport, resident Koreans and Chinese who are born and raised in Japan for three or four generations, are not granted citizenship at birth.
Japan’s home-run king Sadaharu Oh, born and raised in Tokyo, has been stripped of his chances to compete in the nation’s largest amateur athletic meets because he holds Taiwanese nationality.
Oh was lucky to find a vacancy in the quotas for foreign nationals in Japanese baseball when he entered a professional league, according to Arudou.
But there must have been many more like Oh and could have been many more home runs or advanced skills imported from overseas to polish Japan’s athletes if not for the restrictions.
The US Major Leaguer Ichiro Suzuki needed somewhere more challenging than Japanese baseball fields to excel, and he found a niche in Seattle.
“It goes against being sporting,” Arudou said of limiting or eliminating participation by foreign athletes. “Restrictions make sporting boring. Everyone has a chance to be number one.”
Print Source :
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/118542.html
END
mytest
Hi Blog. Here’s another reason you don’t want to be apprehended by the Japanese authorities–in this case Immigration. Bad food. No, I don’t mean humdrum food. Read on:
=======================
CATERPILLARS AND COCKROACHES:
FOREIGNERS LEAD HUNGER STRIKE IN IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTER
Asahi Shinbun Oct 18, 2007
http://www.asahi.com/national/update/1018/OSK200710170103.html
Translated by Arudou Debito
Japanese original in previous blog entry.
OSAKA IBARAKI CITY–Forty foreigners being detained in the Ministry of Justice West Immigration Detention Center are claiming, “There have been instances of stuff being mixed in with the meals provided by the Center, such as caterpillars (kemushi). We cannot safely eat it”. The Asahi learned on October 17 that they carried out a hunger strike on both October 9 and 10. The Immigration Center has confirmed that there have been 30 instances from April of inedibles mixed in the food. It has formally demanded their cooks improve the cooking.
According to the Center, as of October 17, there are 240 foreigners being detained. They receive three meals a day, cooked on site by professionals and provided in detainees’ cells. However, the company contracted to provide these meals have since April have had materiel mixed in the food, such as hair, cockroaches, and mold.
Consequently, the Center has taken measures from September to sure there is no extraneous stuff in the food, but one detainee claims it happened again on October 8. The Center said that they had already cleared the food and refused to exchange it for more, so the next day from breakfast the detainees went on hunger strike. By breakfast October 10, an additional 30 people had joined the movement. After the Center told them it would thoroughly check the sanitation procedures of the meal preparers, the detainees called off their strike.
The Center said, “We have demanded the meal preparers clean up their act, and will keep a sharp eye on them from now on.”
ENDS
=======================
QUICK COMMENT: You know things have gotta be pretty antipathetic when even inmates have bad food (and food in Japanese prison, from what I’ve read, is apparently sparse but not all that unhealthy). But then again, this is not a prison. It’s a Gaijin Tank–where NJ are held indefinitely and not subject to the same standards (such as exercise, baths, time outside their cells, and–most importantly–a definite time limit to their incarceration) that people who have been formally sentenced to a Japanese prison will have.
Back to the food. Remember where we are: This being Japan, a land of foodies, it’s famous for being a place where it’s hard to get a truly bad meal. People are really fussy, and it shows in the marketplace. No professional in their right mind in the Japanese meal services lets quality slip.
It might be the effect of a captive market, literally, meaning no competition and no incentive for quality control.
Or it might be antipathy. Either this Detention Center’s meal preparers are completely shameless people, or they just don’t like foreigners and feel no compulsion to serve them properly.
Anyway, pretty stunning. Stop faffing about and fire the cooks already, Immigration. Debito in Sapporo
mytest
食事にゴキブリや毛虫 入管収容中の外国人がハンスト
朝日新聞 2007年10月18日10時31分
http://www.asahi.com/national/update/1018/OSK200710170103.html
法務省西日本入国管理センター（大阪府茨木市）に収容中の外国人約４０人が「支給される食事に毛虫などの異物がたびたび混入し、安心して食べることができない」として、今月９、１０両日にハンガーストライキをしていたことが１７日、わかった。同センターは今年４月以降、約３０件の異物混入を確認。施設内で食事を調理する業者に改善を申し入れた。
同センターによると、１７日時点の収容者は約２４０人。１日３回の食事は、給食業者が施設内で調理して各居室に配膳（はいぜん）しているが、現在の業者と委託契約を結んだ４月以降、人の毛髪のほか、毛虫、ゴキブリ、カビなどの異物がたびたび混入した。
このため、同センターは９月以降、収容者が食事に異物がないことを確認したうえで食べさせる措置を取ったが、８日にも収容者１人が混入を訴えた。センター側は「自分で調べたはずだ」として交換を拒否したため、同室の外国人ら数人が翌９日朝食からハンストを開始。翌１０日の朝食には三十数人が加わったことから、センターは「業者に衛生管理を徹底させる」と収容者に伝え、ハンストは終わった。
同センターは「業者へ強く改善を申し入れており、今後も注意する」としている。
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. I’ve been getting a lot of questions recently from people being approached by their employers and asked for copies of their Gaijin Cards.
The MHLW says, in its link below:
平成１９年１０月１日から、すべての事業主の方には、外国人労働者（特別永住者及び在留資格「外交」・「公用」の者を除く）の雇入れまたは離職の際に、当該外国人労働者の氏名、在留資格、在留期間等について確認し、厚生労働大臣（ハローワーク）へ届け出ることが義務付けられます。（届出を怠ったり、虚偽の届出を行った場合には、３０万円以下の罰金の対象となります。）
“From October 1, 2007, all employers are now legally bound to formally submit (by todoke) to the Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare (Hello Work) a report on all their pertinent foreign laborers (confirming their name, status of residence, and duration of visa) when they are hired or leave work. Exceptions to this rule are Special Permanent Residents [the Zainichis], or people here on Government Business or Diplomatic Visas. Those who do not do so promptly and properly will face fines of no more than 300,000 yen.” (Translation Arudou Debito)
I knew that the GOJ had long proposed taking measures against visa overstayers, and I too agreed that employers who employ illegals should take responsibility (as opposed to the standard practice of punishing the employee by merely deporting them at a moment’s notice). But I wish there was a less intrusive way of doing this. And I wish more care had been made to inform NJ workers in advance and explain to them the reasons why. (In comparison, the recent Fingerprint Law amendments were enlightened in their PR. And that’s not saying a lot.)
Feedback from cyberspace and referential articles on the subject follow. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
RE THE NEW REQUIREMENTS TO REPORT NJ WORKERS TO THE GOVT
KNOWLEDGE NOT MADE WIDESPREAD, AND DANGERS OF DISCRIMINATION
Kobe Shinbun Oct 1, 2007
https://www.debito.org/?p=632
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October 5, 2007:
Hi everyone. I’m writing on behalf of a friend who was requested by his employer today to submit a copy of his Alien Registration Card, which is to be submitted to Hello Work under a new requirement. I apologize if this has been covered here before; I did a search through the archives and didn’t find anything. Here is the pertinent page (in Japanese only):
http://www.mhlw.go.jp/bunya/koyou/gaikokujin-koyou/index.html
The law came into effect on the first of October, so don’t be surprised if someone from your workplace comes round asking for copies of your alien card. Perhaps I am simply clueless, but I hadn’t heard a single thing about this, and was therefore quite surprised to hear about it. Considering that all foreigners’ addresses are on file in the ward/town/city offices, one would think the government could make a bit more of an effort to inform us of changes in the laws… I suppose that may be expecting too much. Anyway, I haven’t been asked for any information yet, but we’ll see how things pan out. FWIW.
Jake Dunlap in Osaka
=================================
October 18, 2007:
Debito, After reading your many articles I NEVER show my gaijin card to hotels etc. Thanks so much for all your work and research on this topic!
Yesterday I got an email from a university where I teach part time. They said:
“The University Office called me to ask you for a photocopy of your ID Foreigner Registration Card). As you may know, our government has set a new law to protect foreign workers, so U of Toyama needs to keep the copy.”
Are you familiar with this “new law?” I am not. And do schools have the right to request a copy?
=================================
October 5, 2007:
Reading the rules at the website given, it seems that employers should use common sense in determining if a potential employee is a foreigner, e.g. their name, appearance or japanese ability.
I can expect to hear of returnees and the spouses/children of foreigners gettin some hassle over this.
BTW, nowhere do the rules require submission of the ARC to an employer. They are required to verify the details on it, which can be done without actually physically surrendering it (if you want to pick a fight about it that is.)
As regards not telling us about it, the rules seem to be aimed at employers rather than employees. Tony
P.S. Did anybody else get a letter from their tax ofice last month asking to confirm if you were a resident or domicile for tax purposes?
=================================
Tabloid Tidbits: Salarymen struggle as new law menaces gaijin nightspots
Nikkan Gendai (10/3/07)
Struggling salarymen who like a party have been shattered by recent changes to the Employment Promotion Law that threaten cheap nights out with young foreign women, says Nikkan Gendai (10/3).
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/news/20071006p2g00m0dm005000c.html
With the changes to the law that came into effect on Oct. 1, companies employing foreigners must report their names, visa status, address and date of birth to the government.
Those in Japan’s adult entertainment world are bemoaning the crackdown, saying the existence of cheap pubs and clubs where many foreign women work will be threatened.
“Up until now, the only companies that have had to report all this stuff have been those with 50 or more employees and they only had to do that once a year, while reporting was voluntary for companies with fewer staff than that,” a writer on the adult entertainment world tells Nikkan Gendai. “Now, under the new law, every company is legally obligated to report on each and every foreigner it employs. With employers facing fines of 300,000 yen if they fail to comply, everybody’s getting really antsy.”
Entertainment joints staffed by foreign women are popular among salarymen as they are typically cheaper than equivalent nightspots with Japanese women employees, and 3,000 yen to 4,000 yen is usually good enough to get a couple of stiff drinks and female companionship to make other things stiff, according to the lowbrow afternoon daily.
Nikkan Gendai says establishments that typically ignore their employees’ visa status, like South Korean nightclubs, Chinese massage parlors and Philippine pubs, may be terminally effected by the legal changes.
Aki Wakabayashi, author of a book called “Sarada Bouru ka shita Nihon (Japan Turned Into a Salad Bowl)” which advises Japanese to get used to a multicultural future, says the crackdown on foreigners could create plenty of problems.
“What this new law does is offer authorities a pretext to do a sweep of illegal aliens,” Wakabayashi tells Nikkan Gendai. “But just making it obligatory for companies to report on their foreign staff doesn’t mean they’re going to obey the law blindly. The move could, in fact, drive these places underground and quite possibly lead to an increase in crime.” (By Ryann Connell)
（Mainichi Japan） October 7, 2007
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Martin has been reporting on the half-assed implementation of the new Fingerprint Law for some time. His previous entries
https://www.debito.org/?p=592
https://www.debito.org/?p=638
Update follows. Debito
==================================
From: Martin_Issott
Subject: KIX IMMIGRATION UPDATE 171007
Date: October 17, 2007 11:02:40 PM JST
Dear Debito,
On return from a business trip this evening Oct 17 I began to distribute a protest letter to Kansai International Airport (KIX) Immigration staff re the amended Immigration Law.
The official who had started to process my re entry documentation refused to accept the letter, which resulted in my having a lengthy conversation with, to be fair, a sympathetic KIX Immigration official who was prepared to listen to my complaints, and to respond –
1) Immigration have no way to accept my demands to pre register my biometric data before Nov 20, as there will be no Automated Gate established at KIX by that date.
2) My statements that there was no plan to establish the Automated Gate at any other International Airport in Japan were denied – yes, eventually Automated Gates would be established at all other Airports – but as to when ref KIX, no idea now! ( Impression – not during 2008!)
3) My letter would be given to more senior officials, and the more resident foreigners complained about the situation the more likely it was to speed up the Automated Gate establishment process.
4) Meanwhile my situation was understood – a 2 minute immigration queue up to now going to a 2 hour one, each time, from Nov 20, 2 or 3 times per month – but KIX Immigration could do nothing except follow the law!
So the message is clear, all resident foreigners – at least those of us living outside of the immediate Tokyo area – must complain repeatedly in writing , to MOJ and Immigration officials at the Airports they regularly use!!
Martin
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. I sometimes post pretty mediocre articles on Debito.org by journalists just going through the motions to file stories, without much attempt at bringing new information or angles to the surface. In contrast, here is an excellent one that could probably after a bit of beefing up be reprinted in an academic journal. Lots of good information here, have a read. I think the reporter followed quite a few of our leads. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
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IMMIGRATION: JAPAN’S UNFRIENDLY SHORES
‘One culture, one race:’ Foreigners need not apply
Despite a shrinking population and a shortage of labour, Japan is not eager to accept immigrants or refugees
GEOFFREY YORK Globe and Mail (Canada) October 9, 2007
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071009.JAPAN09/TPStory/TPInternational/Africa/
Courtesy of Satoko Norimatsu
TOKYO — In the Turkish village of his birth, Deniz Dogan endured years of discrimination and harassment by police who jailed him twice for his political activities on behalf of the Alevi religious minority. So he decided to escape to a country that seemed peaceful and tolerant: Japan.
Seven years later, he says he has found less freedom in Japan than in the country he fled. For a time, he had to work illegally to put food on his table. Police stop him to check his documents almost every day. He has suffered deportation threats, interrogations and almost 20 months in detention. In despair, he even considered suicide.
His brother and his family, who fought even longer for the right to live in Japan, finally gave up and applied for refugee status in Canada, where they were quickly accepted.
“We had an image of Japan as a very peaceful and democratic country,” Mr. Dogan said.
“It was very shocking to realize that we had less freedom in Japan than in Turkey. We did nothing wrong, except to try to get into this country, yet we were treated as criminals. We felt like insects.”
Despite its wealth and democracy, Japan has one of the world’s most intolerant regimes for refugees and immigrants. And despite its labour shortages and declining population, the government still shows little interest in allowing more foreigners in.
From 1982 to 2004, Japan accepted only 313 refugees, less than 10 per cent of those who applied. Even after its rules were slightly liberalized in 2004, it allowed only 46 refugees in the following year. Last year it accepted only 34 of the 954 applicants.
Those numbers are tiny in comparison with Canada, which accepted more than 42,000 refugees last year, despite having a much smaller population than Japan.
But they are also tiny in comparison to European countries such as France and Italy. On a per capita basis, Japan’s rate of accepting refugees is 139th in the world, according to the United Nations.
Japan’s attitude toward immigrants is equally unwelcoming. It has one of the industrialized world’s lowest rates of accepting immigrants. Only about 1 per cent of its population is foreign-born, compared with 19 per cent in Canada and 9 per cent in Britain.
Yet paradoxically, Japan is in greater need of immigrants than most other nations. Because of a sharp drop in its birth rate, its population is on the verge of a decline unprecedented for any nation in peacetime. The latest projections have the number of its citizens – 127 million – plunging to just 95 million by 2050.
At the same time, the population is rapidly aging. By mid-century, about 40 per cent will be over 65, leaving a relatively small labour force to support the country.
Demographic decline has emerged as one of Japan’s most hotly debated and angst-ridden issues. Yet the obvious solution – allowing in a substantial number of immigrants – is rarely considered. The tight restrictions on foreigners have remained in place. Robots, rather than immigrants, are seen as the potential solution to labour shortages. One government panel has recommended that foreigners should never comprise more than 3 per cent of the population.
Much of Japan’s hostility to immigrants and refugees is the result of prejudice against foreigners, who are widely blamed for most of the crime in the country. Ignorance is widespread. In one survey, more than 90 per cent of Japanese said they don’t have any regular contact with foreigners, and more than 40 per cent said they rarely even see any.
Politicians are reluctant to allow any challenge to Japan’s racial homogeneity. Their beliefs are typified by a top leader of the ruling party, former foreign minister Taro Aso, who described Japan as “one culture, one race.” The government has refused to pass laws against racial discrimination, making Japan one of the few industrialized countries where it is legal.
“We do not often see Japanese people praising the work of foreign residents and warmly welcoming them as friends and colleagues,” wrote Sakanaka Hidenori, former director of the Tokyo Immigration Bureau who retired after 35 years in Japan’s immigration system and now heads the Japan Immigration Policy Institute.
“The native Japanese have lived as a single ethnic group for nearly 1,000 years and it will be a difficult task for them to build friendly relationships with other ethnic groups,” he wrote in a recent book, Immigration Battle Diary.
These attitudes have shaped a system of tight restrictions against foreigners who try to enter Japan. One of the latest laws, for example, requires all foreigners to be fingerprinted when they enter the country. Japan’s rules on refugee claims are so demanding that it can take more than 10 years for a refugee to win a case, and even then the government sometimes refuses to obey the court rulings. Hundreds of applicants give up in frustration after years of fruitless effort.
Japan demands “an unusually high standard of proof” from asylum seekers, according to the most recent United Nations report. They are asked to give documentary evidence of their claims, including arrest warrants in their home country, which can be impossible to provide. They are often required to translate those documents into Japanese, which is costly and complicated. Then the documents are often rejected as invalid.
“It has been a very legalistic approach, showing no humanitarian sense to those who had to flee,” said Sadako Ogata, the former UN high commissioner for refugees, in a recent Japanese newspaper interview.
“From the perspective of Japanese officials, the fewer that come the better.”
While they struggle to prove their cases, asylum seekers are often interrogated by police and confined to detention centres, which are prisons in all but name. When not in detention, asylum seekers cannot legally work and are required to live on meagre allowances, barely enough for subsistence.
In one notorious case in 2005, Japan deported two Kurdish men after the UN refugee agency had recognized them as refugees. The UN agency protested the deportations, calling them a violation of Japan’s international obligations.
“We really hesitate to tell asylum seekers to apply to Japan,” said Eri Ishikawa, acting secretary-general of the Japan Association for Refugees.
“Work permits are not given to them, but they have to work to survive, so they work illegally.”
In one of the most bizarre twists in its refugee policy, Japan sometimes sends its officials on fact-finding missions in the home countries of the asylum seekers, accompanied by local police and army troops, even when the police and soldiers are the ones accused of the persecution.
“This is really shocking to us,” Ms. Ishikawa said. “It puts their families in danger.”
In the case of Deniz Dogan and his brother, for example, Japanese officials went to their family’s home in Turkey, accompanied by local police. The families felt frightened and intimidated. Then the family were repeatedly called to the police station for questioning after the visit. “It was an indignity and a violation of our human rights,” he said.
Mr. Dogan’s lawyer, Takeshi Ohashi, says the long process of applying for refugee status is like a “mental torment” for asylum seekers.
“The government is very negative about accepting refugees,” he said. “It’s worried that there will be social unrest and crime if it allows too many foreigners into Japan.”
Mr. Ohashi, a refugee specialist for the past 11 years, says the process is heavily influenced by Japan’s diplomatic objectives. Because it is seeking good relations with countries such as China and Turkey, for example, it almost never accepts any refugees from those countries, he said.
Hundreds of Kurdish people from Turkey have applied for refugee status in Japan in recent years, but not a single one has been accepted.
Consider the case of Kilil, a 35-year-old Kurdish activist, who fled from Turkey fearing for his life after he was repeatedly detained by police and soldiers in his hometown because of his political activism.
He arrived in Japan in 1997, stayed illegally for two years, and then applied for refugee status. His application was twice rejected and his third appeal is now before the courts. In the meantime, he was put into custody for eight months at a detention centre. To support himself, he now works illegally as a labourer, demolishing buildings and removing asbestos. It is dirty, dangerous work – and asylum seekers are among the few who are willing to do it.
He lives in constant fear of being arrested for working illegally. “It’s very stressful,” he said. “The worst is the uncertainty. It’s been 10 tough years here, without any result. I can’t even afford to go to a hospital if I get sick. Every day is like being in prison.”
In many ways, he regrets his decision to flee to Japan. “But I want to keep fighting to change the system here. I want to fight to the end.”
Deniz Dogan and his brother, who endured the same kind of conditions, became so frustrated by 2004 that they held a sit-in for 72 days at the Tokyo office of the UN refugee agency. When it failed to influence authorities, his brother made the decision to emigrate to Canada.
This summer, Deniz was finally given a one-year visa to live and work in Japan, but only because he had married a Japanese woman.
“My visa could be cancelled at any time,” he said. “I feel a lot of unease. But for the other refugees, it is even worse. We all have the same goal: freedom.”
*****
FIGHTING TO STAY
Win Soe, a political activist from Myanmar, knows from painful experience how difficult it can be to survive in Japan’s refugee system.
As one who took part in protests against Myanmar’s military junta before fleeing the country, he knows he would face persecution if he returned to his homeland. He has been seeking refugee status in Japan for four years, but the government has twice rejected his application.
Most asylum seekers end up working illegally to survive. But because he wants to abide by the rules, Win Soe is trying to live on the official monthly allowance, which amounts to $760.
Most of it is needed for rent, electricity, utilities and transportation costs, leaving him about $90 a month for food, barely enough for survival in this expensive country.
He can’t afford new clothes, shoes, or medicine for his hay fever. He eats only two meals a day and often goes hungry.
“Sometimes I can’t even afford rice,” he said. “I eat mostly bread, potatoes and bananas. I’m trying to abide by the law very carefully.”
He believes the meagre allowance is part of the government’s attempt to put pressure on refugees to give up their claims. “They want me to surrender. But I will never give up.”
Geoffrey York
*****
Japan’s closed doors
Despite its wealth and democracy, Japan slows little interest in allowing more foreigners to enter the country.
Percentage of foreign-born population within each country
Australia: 23 per cent
Canada: 19
New Zealand: 19
United States: 13
Germany: 13
Sweden: 12
France: 11
Belgium: 11
Britain: 9
Italy: 4
South Korea: 1
Japan: 1
SOURCES: UNITED NATIONS AND OECD DATA, 2004 and 2005
gyork@globeandmail.com
ENDS
mytest
FROM SCOTT WALLACE. ARUDOU DEBITO IN SAPPORO
“I know many have written comments about the new fingerprinting laws for all non-Japanese reentering Japan’s borders. So i had a Japanese friend draw up a letter of protest. Here it is in English and Japanese. For the cost of stamp and an envelope i think its well worth sending it. Even if nothing is done, it’s great for our health just to let them know and get it off our chests. Nothing ventured nothing gained right?
I have kept it to one A4 size so that it is read, points out politely why i think it the law should be removed or amended, and specifically makes a request. I don’t expect much but i do expect it to make me feel better. Feel free to amend it as you like.” Scott Wallace
SUGGESTIONS ON WHERE YOU CAN SEND THESE LETTERS HERE
===============================
指紋押捺及び入国管理法について
“平成１８年５月２４日, 法律番号043.
前略 私達は最近可決された、日本での永住権を持ち、日本に居住し、労働し、日本に家族を持つ全ての外国人に対して写真及び 指紋押捺を義務付けるとする新しい法律に関して、非常に懸念しております。
この法律は私達外国人を犯罪者としてみなし、私達の居住する地域だけでなく日本の家族や子供、同僚や友人から隔離するものであります。
平等で公平な社会を供給するために、憲法に記載があるように政府は日本に居住する全てのものに対して平等に扱うことを保証せねばならないと確信いたします。
私達は貴殿に、永住権を持ち日本に居住する者、または日本に家族を持つ者がこの法律の対象から免除されるように法改正にご助力及び提案頂けるよう、切に希望致します。法改正により、平和的かつ公正に私達が居住する地域との調和を生むものと確信し、貴殿に法改正への援助を賜れることを望みます。
この件についてご質問等ございましたら、上記の住所へご遠慮なくお問い合わせ頂けます様お願い申し上げます。
貴殿からのご回答をお待ち申し上げております。
末筆ながら、貴殿のご健康と益々のご活躍を祈ります。草々
=====================================
Mr Suzuki
Your address
To the right honorable………
Reference finger printing and immigration law.
“Heisei 18.5.24, Law No. 043.
We are concerned at the recent passing of a new law by the government which forces all foreign permanent residents who live and work in Japan, or have a Japanese family to be photographed and finger printed。
This law stigmatizes us as criminals, separates us from our families, children, colleagues, and friends, as well as the Japanese community that we live in.
We believe that to provide an equal and fair society, the government should ensure that all people who live in Japan should be treated equally as written in our constitution.
We would kindly like you to support/propose a change in this law so that all people, who have permanent residence or have a Japanese family, are exempt from this law. This would bring us in line with other special permanent residents who have been granted an exemption from this law. We believe this will provide a harmonious, peaceful, and a fair society that we live in, and we hope you will support us by proposing such an amendment to the law.
If you wish to contact us please do not hesitate in contacting me at the above address.
We look forward to your reply.
Yours sincerely,
Jane/John Smith.
mytest
Hello Blog. Brace yourself:
ANTI-TERRORISM/ANTI-CRIME MEASURES IN JAPAN
HAPHAZARD POLICY, MORE USER-FRIENDLY ONLINE SNITCH SITES,
EVEN ANTI-TERROR PROFITEERING SALES EXHIBITIONS WITH THE GOJ ATTENDING
Pretty fascinating stuff going on these days in the official putsch to treat all foreigners as terrorists, er, criminals, er, so what–we Japanese can treat non-Japanese any way we like in our own country…
First, here are two letters to the editor from Martin Issott regarding the recent fingerprinting revisions, coming up in late November, and how they aren’t being instituted across the board. (More on this from Debito.org here and here):
Click on thumbnail for Yomiuri Letter:
And three documents that were Martin’s primary sources for the letter (click on thumbnails to expand in your browser):
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Meanwhile, look at the profiteering going on nowadays (English original):
Now, Confronting Terrorism
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
EXHIBITION & CONFERENCE FOR ANTI-TERRORISM
2007.10.17-19 TOKYO BIG SIGHT, TOKYO, JAPAN
www.seecat.biz, Organizer Tokyo Big sight [sic] Inc.
http://www.seecat.biz/
(courtesy of MD)
==============================
Some select bits from the site, all English original:
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS:
(note how the Ministry of Education is also attending)
ASAGUMO SHIMBUN INC.
AZEARTH CORPORATION
BRUKER DALTONIK GMBH
CANBERRA JAPAN
CHORI CO., LTD.
CORNS DODWELL LTD.
DU PONT K.K.
GADELIUS K.K.
GENERAL ELECTRIC INTERNATIONAL INC.
HITACHI HIGH-TECHNOLOGIES CORP.
JAPAN EDITORIAL & PUBLICATION CO., LTD.
KAWASAKI KOGYO CO., LTD.
MAJ CO., LTD.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORP.
MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC TOKKI SYSTEMS CORP.
MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD. NAGASAKI SHIPYARD & MACHINERY WORKS
MORITA CORP.
NIKI GLASS CO., LTD.
NIPPON KAIYO CO., LTD.
NPO INSTITUTE FOR NUCLEAR AND BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL AND RADIATIONAL DEFENCE
NUCSAFE INC.
OSAKA UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL
PDI CO., LTD.
PONY INDUSTRY CO., LTD.
RHEINMETALL WAFFE MUNITION GMBH
RIKEI CORP.
SAKURA RUBBER CO., LTD.
SECURICO CO., LTD.
SECURITY CO., LTD.
SECURITY SANGYO SHINBUN, INC.
SEIKO EG&G CO., LTD.
SHIGEMATSU WORKS CO., LTD.
S.T.JAPAN INC.
SUMITOMO CORP.
TEIKOKU SEN-I CO., LTD.
TOHTO SECURITY PATROLS CO., LTD.
TOYO BUSSAN CO., LTD.
========================
What’s the point of this meeting?
Merits of Exhibiting
It is the first presentation in Japan of assembled counterterrorism equipment and information. It is an original, and very important opportunity to exchange information, with the latest counter-terror products and services brought together under one roof. As a specialized exhibition, it has two major features; “Effective presentation targeting specific group of people”, and “Attendees coming with a purpose”.
Attendance of important managers with purchasing authority is guaranteed by the connections with relevant authorities built through RISCON. This is the ideal chance to have direct contact with exhibited products and services and to discuss purchase and introduction.
Attendance at the site is limited to people connected to terrorism countermeasures such as crisis management administrators from major facilities, and public servants from government administration offices and local government. It is planned that during the exhibition entry to the site will be limited to only about 3000 people. Because of this it will be possible to exhibit high level equipment and products with special specifications which cannot generally be shown in public.
http://www.seecat.biz/en/about/index.html
====================
And of course there is security at the event itself
http://www.seecat.biz/en/registration/index.html
Visitors who wish to attend the exhibition are required to submit a declaration in regards to the purpose of their visit and description of their daily business activities.
The organizer will review the content of the declaration and permit entry to only those whose declarations are deemed appropriate.
Those who are permitted admittance can enter RISCON TOKYO, ASBEX and GPJ for free.
How to declare:
Click the “Declaration Form” button.
Fill in the form and click the “Declare” button.
The organizer will review the content of the declaration and send an e-mail directly to applicants granted entrance permission not later than Oct. 12, 2007.
How to enter on the day of exhibition:
Individuals permitted admittance through the declaration process must show the following documents at the Visitor Registration in order to confirm identity:
1. Printout of e-mail indicating entrance permission
2. Passport
3. Business card of individual specifying affiliated agency or company
Tool around the site yourself. Amazing.
http://www.seecat.biz/
//////////////////////////////////////////
Finally, user-friendly snitch sites from Immigration:
http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/keiziban/happyou/an%20informant_070921.html
(Courtesy of JJ)
Weird on several levels… (Japanese original, translated by Arudou Debito)
(NOTICE) HOW TO SUBMIT INFORMATION ON ILLEGAL FOREIGNERS WHEN GOVT. OFFICES ARE CLOSED
By Tokyo Immigration Bureau
From October 6, 2007, we will be taking information on illegal foreigners on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays too. Phone 03-5796-7256
In order to restore “Japan as the World’s Safest Country”, Immigration has the goal of reducing the number of illegal foreigners by half in the five years between 2003 and 2008. To this end, we need everyone’s cooperation.
So from October 6, 2007, in addition to the regular business hours of government offices, we will be open to receiving information on illegal foreigners by phone on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays between 9 AM and 5PM (exceptions being holidays between December 29 and January 3).
–Note that we will not be open for informants to visit in person on these Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays.
–This avenue will only be open for those wishing to inform on illegal foreigners. Those with other needs should call us during regular business hours when our offices are open.
====================
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More on other snitch sites in Japan and their abusable parameters at
THE ZEIT GIST
Downloadable discrimination
The Immigration Bureau’s new snitching Web site is both short-sighted and wide open to all manner of abuses
By Debito Arudou The Japan Times: March 30, 2004
https://www.debito.org/japantimes033004.html
Anyone want to report me to Immigration and see what happens?
What a lovely turn of events. Want to do something about this? Attend Tokyo Oct 27 Amnesty meeting on this if you want. Details at https://www.debito.org/?p=585
Arudou Debito in Sapporo
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Got enough stuff backlogged recently to have two updates per day. Here’s a quick one, which didn’t appear in the Japanese media in English or Japanese, according to Google News. Thanks to the Korean press for covering it. Good news:
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Korean Woman Wins Discrimination Damages in Japan
Chosun Ilbo, South Korea, October 5, 2007
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200710/200710050017.html
Courtesy of Neil Marks
A Kyoto court ruled partially in favor of a Korean woman who sued a Japanese landlord for refusing to rent a room to her. A Kyoto district court ruled that refusing to rent a room to a person due to her nationality is illegal and ordered the landlord to pay the woman W8.65 million (US$1=W916) [about 110 man en, pretty much the average award in these lawsuits] in compensation.
Courts have taken a dim view of refusal to let rooms to foreigners since an Osaka court in 1993 ruled this went against the constitutional stipulation of equality before the law. But in reality, Japanese homeowners often reject foreign tenants citing differences in the lifestyle and customs. Counsel for the plaintiff said the ruling was a “head-on attack on discrimination based on nationality” and predicted it would help eradicate unfair discrimination against foreigners.
The woman signed a contract to rent a room through a real estate agency in January 2005. But after she paid the deposit to the landlord and commissions to the realtor, the landlord changed his mind since she was a foreigner.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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Moral: Get refused for being a foreigner, sue. It’ll only take you a year or two and you had better have signed a contract.
Next step necessary in the precedent ladder: winning in court for getting refused a room for being a foreigner, before a contract was even signed. Any takers? No doubt there are plenty of readers out there who have experience…
Arudou Debito in Sapporo
mytest
Hi Blog. Another lawsuit against an employer for bad work practices. This time around, however, the plaintiffs are NJ. Let’s hope their efforts both make the labor laws more clearly enforceable, and highlight more of the problems created by treating NJ laborers as inferior. Thanks to Shuukan Kin’youbi and people at the Japan Times for bringing this to the fore. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
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EXPLOITING VIETNAMESE
Apocalypse now
Japan Times Sunday, April 29, 2007
By MARK SCHREIBER
Shukan Kinyobi (April 20)
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fd20070429t2.html
Courtesy of Steve Silver
For 22-year-old Thi Kim Lien, Japan was the shining city on the hill, glistening with the promise of a better life for her family of 10 in Ho Chi Minh City. Buoyed by such hopes, she arrived in Japan in 2004.
On March 27, Shukan Kinyobi reports, Lien and five of her Vietnamese compatriots filed charges in the Nagoya District Court against the Japan International Training Cooperation Organization (JITCO) and TMC, a Toyoda City-based, vehicle manufacturer that produced components on a subcontractor basis to Toyota Motor Corporation. The six demanded unpaid wages and financial compensation of some 70 million yen.
JITCO arranged to place the six as “trainees” (and later “interns”) at TMC. Their tasks involved stitching the covers onto armrests for use in vehicles produced by nearby Toyota Motor Corporation.
After having their personal seals, bank deposit books and passports taken away for “safekeeping,” the trainees were put to work at a monthly salary of 58,000 yen. They received a paltry 100 yen per hour for additional overtime work.
The six plaintiffs allege that their “training” frequently involved verbal harassment by supervisory staff. Any complaints were met with the threat of deportation, and mistakes on the job brought curses like, “You people aren’t humans, you’re animals.”
The greatest indignity, though, was that the employer posted a table outlining how many times and for how long its workers were permitted to utilize the toilets during work hours, and enforced the rule strictly. For each minute in the toilet in excess of the allotted times, they were docked 15 yen.
Besides being fined for responding to the call of nature, the six women also allege they underwent sexual harassment. One of the bosses, they claim, would “visit” their dormitory rooms at night and even slip into their futons, where he offered certain financial incentives in exchange for sexual favors.
Language training drills heaped further humiliation upon them, as they were encouraged to hone their Japanese pronunciation with such tongue twisters as “When nipples are large, the breasts are small. When the nipples are small, the breasts are large.”
“We really wanted to go back to Vietnam,” Lien says. “But we couldn’t.” It seems the trainees had posted a bond of $ 8,800 — the equivalent of six or more years of earnings in Vietnam — before leaving. Their families had borrowed to scrape together the money, which would be forfeited if they failed to fulfill their contractual obligations.
Truly, opines Shukan Kinyobi, this is a form of modern-day slavery that enables Japan to “abduct” Vietnamese.
According to TMC’s chairman Masaru Morihei, an organization called the Toyoda Technical Exchange Cooperative, comprised of 20 businesses, promoted the hiring of Vietnamese.
“We were told we could obtain low-cost labor that would address the problem of worker shortages,” he explains. “From the standpoint of a subcontractor factory at the bottom of the cost structure there was no reason for us to reject low-cost labor.”
Other firms in the area that employ Vietnamese trainees were reluctant to discuss the ongoing lawsuit. But one remarked off the record, “The only way for small subcontractors like us to survive is to hold the line on the cost of manufacturing by reducing labor costs.”
So what it comes down to is that the foreign workers who are helping to support a trillion-yen industry get penalized for responding to the call of nature. If that isn’t disgusting, huffs Shukan Kinyobi, what is?
ENDS
mytest
WHAT TO DO ABOUT NEW NOV 20 FINGERPRINT LAW REVISION TARGETING ALL NJ BORDER CROSSERS
LETTER OF PROTEST YOU CAN USE
AND AMNESTY INT’L MEETING OCT 27 YOU CAN ATTEND
(UPDATE: OCT 9: Comments section below contains suggestions on where to send your complaints.)
I’ve been getting quite a few inquiries as to what we can do about this from very frustrated people. Some want to march in protest, others want to lobby legislators, still others want to launch a lawsuit or just refuse to be fingerprinted.
Not to douse any fireworks (and I never like to tell anyone not to utilize a peaceful form of protest, even if it may not work in the Japanese system), but be advised of the obstacles you are facing:
1) LAUNCHING A LAWSUIT means a lot of time and energy (and often a considerable amount of money) you invest, and probably no way to stop this law from being promulgated in the first place. It’s been in the pipeline for years now, and at the risk of saying I told you so, I did, from at least 2005, so the “foregone conclusion” effect is very powerful by now. Moreover, I speak from experience when I say that the legislative and judicial processes in Japan are not going to interfere with one another (not the least due to the Separation of Powers mandate), at least not for the many years spent in civil court anyway.
Wanna try it? Go for it. I’ll hold your coat. But the simple argument you’re going to get back from any lawyer with a retiring personality (and no activist proclivity) is that you’re not going to be able to sue for discrimination–when many laws don’t treat citizens and non-citizens equally anyway; it’s like suing because you don’t have voting rights, and that definitely won’t wash in court.
2) CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, i.e. refusing to comply with the law, is an option, but the GOJ has already out-thunk you there. When protests against fingerprinting happened before (mostly by Zainichis), they were possible because people were already inside Japan when they protested. Refuse to hand in your fingerprint? Fine, go home and have dinner and wait for the next scolding letter from the GOJ. You weren’t going to get kicked out of the country. This time around, however, you’re outside the country, so refuse to be fingerprinted and you won’t be let in; you can sit in the airport lobby or Gaijin Tank all year for all Immigration cares. Moreover, to save themselves a repeat Zainichi protest performance, the Zainichis were conveniently made exempt. Touche. Refuse to comply if you like, but be aware of the potential risks–and unless enough of you do it and fill up the Gaijin Tanks they’re not going to notice.
You can, of course, in a similar vein make your complaints known and loud via you or your spouse and family by all lining up in the same Gaijin Line together, and grumbling when it’s your turn that you are not a tourist and should be treated like a resident of Japan like any other.
3) LOBBYING LEGISLATORS sounds interesting, but it’s extremely labor intensive, and legislators in my experience are not as accessible as they are, say, in the US Congressional lobbying experience I have had. Again, go for it if you want. They have email addresses and phone numbers. Just remember that unless you are an entrenched interest, Japanese Diet Members will generally be nonplussed about what you’re doing in their office; they don’t usually even pretend to listen to the commoners unless it’s election time.
4) A PUBLIC MARCH is also viable, and you might be able to get something going by attending the Amnesty International/SMJ meeting in Tokyo Oct 27. Attend if only to salve your angst that you feel alone in this issue–because you’re definitely not, but it sure is difficult to get the NJ community mobilized around much.
Anyway, first, the details of the Oct 27 Amnesty/SMJ Tokyo Meeting are blogged here.
Next, if you want to raise awareness of the issue, I have some letters below which Martin Issott has kindly said I can include to inspire us. He’s sent these out to various agencies, particularly the tourist-based ones, and I suggest you adapt them to your purposes and do the same.
Anyone have time on their hands (I don’t right now), please translate into Japanese for the public good and I’ll put it up here.
But don’t do nothing about it if this bothers you–otherwise the aggravation will build up inside you and fossilize into resentment. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
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RE: JAPAN’S AMENDED IMMIGRATION LAW
——————————-
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am a 20 plus year resident of Kobe, and I am taking the liberty of writing to you to describe what I regard as the grossly unfair manner in which Japan’s Ministry of Justice intends to implement amendments to the Immigration Law, which come into effect from 23rd November this year.
I am hoping that you will be able to support the case that I describe, and will use your good offices in the UK to publicise this situation to all of your Japanese national members, in the hope that together their and your influence may be able to affect change to MOJ’s plans.
As you may already be aware, the amended Immigration Law requires that all foreigners, be they visitors, residents, or permanent residents, must submit fingerprints and photographs on each and every entry, or re-entry, to the country.
However the law also stipulates for those resident foreigners who have pre-registered their bio-metric data with the authorities, they may use what is termed an Automated gate system to facilitate their immigration procedure.
Since 23rd August I have on several occasions requested the Kobe Immigration Office to allow myself and my wife to provide the required bio-metric data.
At no time have I received an actual response to this request, but have been told, initially, only that the automated gate system would be established at Narita Airport by 23rd November.
Subsequent follow up finally resulted in a letter from the Kobe Immigration authorities dated 21st September clearly stating that the automated gate system is only to be established at Narita Airport, and there are no plans to establish this system at any of Japan’s other international airports.
As a Kobe resident, it is impractical for me to use Narita Airport, and thus as the situation stands at present I will be required to join the lengthy queues of arriving foreigners to provide my fingerprints and photograph each time I reenter the country.
It is a classic Catch-22 situation!
I regard it as grossly unfair to all resident foreigners residing outside of the immediate Tokyo area that the automated gate system is not to be established at all Japan’s International Airports.
Even more galling is the fact that at all international airports special immigration channels, effectively automated gates have recently been established for non Japanese APEC business travel card holders.
The final irony is that as a 20 year resident my fingerprints have long since been on file with Kobe City authorities, so I appealed to them to provide a copy of my data that I could submit to Kobe Immigration – they proudly proclaimed that they had long since destroyed such data!
I also applied to the local police, and was informed that the police never, ever, take the fingerprints of citizens in good standing!
Sir, this is really quite a ridiculous situation, but one which will very seriously inconvenience a great many resident businessmen, and in my case as an Area Director I need to enter and reenter Japan 2 or 3 times per month!
Finally I repeat whatever you are able to do to publicise this situation will be very much appreciated – noting that of course frustrated businessmen here will very soon be making loud appeals to the British Immigration authorities to treat resident Japanese businessmen in the UK in the same unfriendly manner which would be another retrograde step.
Yours sincerely,
========================================
RE: AMENDED IMMIGRATION LAW
Attention: The Director, Visit Japan Campaign [or whatever avenue you wish to pursue]
Dear Sir or Madam,
As I am sure you are well aware, the amended Immigration Law, contains a stipulation that an Automated gate system shall be established to facilitate the entry and re-entry to Japan of resident foreigners, however the Automated gate will only be established at Narita Airport by 23rd November this year, the date of the new law’s enforcement.
Kobe Immigration have confirmed to me by letter dated 21st September that there is no plan to establish the automated gate system at any other international airport in Japan.
You may claim that this has nothing to do with your organisation, but I believe very strongly that it has everything to do with your activities in your attempts to promote tourism to Japan.
When resident foreigners such as myself, with over 20 year residence in the city of Kobe, are as from 23rd November, on entry or re-entry to Japan treated as suspected criminals or terrorist despite our pleading with authorities to pre-register our bio-metric data in advance, I’m sure you can imagine that this does not give us a good impression about the quality of life living in Japan as a foreigner!
Therefore we will pass on these views and opinions to friends, relatives, and colleagues who might by considering to visit Japan with a strong warning to stay away!
There are still 2 months to go before implementation of the amended Immigration Law on 23rd November this year; I urgently request you to do your best to remonstrate with the Ministry of Justice about their unfair implementation of the new Immigration Law.
Sincerely yours,
================================
ends
(CLICK HERE FOR ANOTHER TEMPLATE PROTEST LETTER IN JAPANESE YOU CAN SEND TO AUTHORITIES.)
mytest
“WHO ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE–ME, OR YOUR LYING EYES?”–Groucho Marx
Hi Blog. I’ve been asked a number of questions about some recent news articles, which indicate that “long-term” or Permanent Residents will NOT be fingerprinted at the border from November 20, as per newly-promulgated anti-terrorism laws.
==========================
“Permanent residents, including ethnic Koreans born in Japan, will be exempt from the law, along with state guests and diplomats.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071004/wl_afp/japanimmigrationterrorism_071004070723
“Permanent residents will be exempt from the law, along with state guests and diplomats.”
http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/287938/cs/1/
“Japanese permanent residency certificate holders, people under the age of 16, and guests of the country’s government chief administrators will not subject to the new measure, Sasaki [Seiko, head of Japan’s immigration agency’s intelligence management department], said.”
http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=89606&CtNode=39
==========================
Similar misportrayals of the law have appeared in the Japan Times, Iran TV, Kyodo, and other news agencies.
Sloppy, lazy journalism and interpretation, if not some careless statements by government officials. As reported on Debito.org as far back as last June (and the information has not changed as of this morning), the new Immigration procedures, according to the Japanese Government, apply to (English original):
==========================
1. Persons under the age of 16
2. Special status permanent residents
3. Those performing actions which would be performed [sic] by those with a status of residence, “diplomat” or “official government business”
==========================
http://nettv.gov-online.go.jp/prg/prg1203.html
“Special status permanent residents” (tokubetsu eijuusha) mean the Zainichi generational “foreigners”. This means regular-status permanent-resident immigrants (ippan eijuusha) or “long-term foreign residents” (teijuusha) are NOT exempt. They will be fingerprinted.
This means you if you’re not a citizen, a Zainichi, or naturalized. Every time you enter the country. Don’t comply, you don’t get in. Be advised.
I’ll have some advice on what you can do about this in a later post today, and some feedback I’ve received in the Comments section below.
Arudou Debito in Sapporo
mytest
Hello Blog. Sorry to leave this so late, but I will be briefly speaking both for ten minutes and as part of a panel (English and Japanese) at Osaka University’s Suita Campus, Osaka University Convention Center (Osaka-fu Suita-shi Yamadaoka 1-2), from 9:30AM to 11AM.
Panel will be on “Non-Japanese Residents and their Health Treatment–What’s Necessary in this Era of Multicultural Co-Existence”, chaired by Professor Setsuko Lee of Nagasaki’s Seibold University, Director of the Japan Global Health Research Center., and will also offer opinions of three other speakers.
Sponsored by the 22nd Annual Meeting for the Japan Association for International Health
http://volunteer.hus.osaka-u.ac.jp/jaih2007/
学術集会の情報
第２２回日本国際保健医療学会
メインテーマ： いのちと健康の豊かさへの挑戦
とき： 2007年10月7日（日） – 8日（祝）
場所：大阪大学コンベンションセンター （吹田キャンパス）
8日の午前９時３０分１１時まで
私は「在日外国人の保健医療—多文化共生時代に求められるもの」でパネリストとして努める。
主催：大阪大学大学院人間科学研究科（中村安秀）
〒565-0871 大阪府吹田市山田丘1-2
FAX：06-6879-8064
Email: jaih2007@hus.osaka-u.ac.jp
http://volunteer.hus.osaka-u.ac.jp/jaih2007/
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Sorry to have missed this debate on reinstating fingerprinting for NJ only in the Japan Times Community Page last June. Since cyberspace is quite incandescent with outrage at the moment over the November revisions to the laws, here are the pros and cons by two friends of mine, Scott and Matt. Which do you find more convincing?
More on the issue on Debito.org here, and Amnesty International/SMJ’s October 27 Tokyo Forum on it here. Comment from me and links to referential articles below the articles…
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Japan Times Community Page Tuesday, June 6, 2006
THE ZEIT GIST
Should Japan fingerprint foreigners?
Two views of a pressing issue
PRO ARGUMENT
By SCOTT T. HARDS
Immigration’s new system will make us safer
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20060606z2.html
Over the protests of human-rights activists and groups like the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, Japan recently amended its Immigration Control Law to require that all foreigners (except “special” permanent residents) be photographed and fingerprinted when entering the country beginning November 2007. The plan mimics the “U.S.-Visit” program in the United States, which has been in place since late 2003.
The most vigorous arguments against the plan attack its use of fingerprints.
Even Nichibenren suggests that if the plan must be adopted, it should drop fingerprinting. Why? Because in Japan, public authorities’ only use of fingerprints is in criminal investigations, they say, and therefore it violates one’s dignity.
Indeed, all criminals are fingerprinted, but that doesn’t mean all people fingerprinted are criminals. The “green cards” of permanent resident foreigners in the U.S. have shown their fingerprint for decades. People in high-security or sensitive jobs are fingerprinted, too.
Some countries require fingerprints for passports now, and many more are proposing such a measure. Fingerprints are being used for biometric ID on ATMs and even cell phones for online transactions.
Clearly their role has evolved far beyond just crime investigations. And as their use continues to diversify, public feelings are likely to evolve toward a neutral view, too.
Fingerprints are just one form of biometric identification. Ironically, they are not even the most widely-used form, even in law enforcement. That throne belongs to photographs, which are in many ways much more “personal” data than fingerprints.
Yet you don’t hear anyone complaining that being photographed is “degrading” or “makes them feel like a criminal.”
In the end, when public safety is at stake, worrying about hurting people’s feelings is just not good policy. Airline security, for example, with its body pat-downs and shoe removal almost seems designed to violate one’s dignity. It’s unpleasant, yes, but necessary.
Other criticism of the program has focused on suggestions that it won’t be effective in preventing terrorists from entering Japan, that it will be too costly, and that it violates the “dignity” of travelers. But are these convincing arguments for abandoning the plan at a time when the risks from terrorism are clear?
For starters, critics of Japan’s plan suggest it simply won’t work. After all, they point out, the 9/11 terrorists were in the U.S. legally. While true, keep in mind they traveled extensively around the world before coming to the U.S. Had such a program been in place years before, it may have stopped them.
Another hole seems to be the program’s inability to stop a terrorist who lacks a criminal record, since it relies on database lookups to identify people. That, too, is true, but no one is suggesting that this program will perfectly prevent all terror.
That’s impossible, especially when the terrorist is willing to sacrifice their own life. Still, even if an attack is carried out, the data provided by a program like this can be valuable after-the-fact in tracking down the organizations responsible, and thereby preventing future incidents.
What’s more, terrorists aren’t the only ones that may be snared. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (USDHS), since January 2004, over 1,000 visa violators and other criminals have been arrested through the U.S.-Visit program. And keeping people like that out is in the public’s interest.
For fiscal 2007, the U.S.-Visit program will spend roughly $ 400 million. Developing the program cost another $ 1.5 billion. Japan — which has far fewer ports of entry and international visitors than the U.S. — could probably get by on a third to a quarter of that amount.
Is it worth it? The direct costs from 9/11 in property destruction and rescue efforts have been estimated at a whopping $ 27 billion. Medium-term, the impact on the U.S. economy due to drops in travel and tourism, increased insurance premiums and other effects is said to have been about $ 500 billion. And of course, the “cost” of the thousands of lives lost can never be measured.
Indeed, 9/11 was an exceptional case. But given that U.S.-Visit’s budget is less than 1 percent of the total outlays of the USDHS, it doesn’t seem like an unreasonable expenditure in light of its antiterrorism goal.
A government’s primary responsibility is to protect its citizens. Fingerprinting all foreign travelers will help do just that by creating a database that will help keep terrorists and criminals out of the country.
What’s more, shared with law enforcement agencies globally, it can be a powerful tool to help reduce the very real threat posed by international terrorism.
ENDS
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CON ARGUMENT
By MATT DIOGUARDI
Fingerprinting puts foreign residents at risk
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20060606z2.html
Courtesy Matt Dioguardi’s blog at
http://japan.shadowofiris.com/politics/foreigners-are-suspected-criminals/
Imagine you live in a small town. Every time a crime is committed the police come to your door and escort you to the police station, take your fingerprints, and compare them to those found at the crime scene.
As you are the only person so regularly singled out, you ask, “Hey, why always me?” The answer is, “if you’re innocent, why worry about it?”
Eventually after your visits to the police station become almost daily, you plead with the officers to leave you alone. One of them has a revelation: “Hey, instead of destroying your fingerprints each time, let’s make a permanent record! Then, every time there’s a crime we’ll use that?”
Problem solved? Of course not. Having had enough, you spit in outrage, “why me? Why is it always my fingerprints and not anyone else’s you compare to those found at crime scenes?” One officer smiles sheepishly and explains, “it’s because you’re a foreigner.”
Sound unrealistic? Unfortunately, it’s not. It’s a reality. It’s already happened in the U.S., and it will soon be happening here.
Do you wish to enter Japan? Then you are suspect. Before you can enter you must turn over your fingerprints and allow them to be cross checked against an international list of criminals and terrorists. And that’s just the beginning.
The prints will remain on record for 70 years. According to the new procedures, if requested, the Justice Ministry will turn over the data to the police and other government agencies.
What’s that mean? It means like our fictional character in the beginning of this story, that for any crime committed in Japan, there is a high probability that you will be treated as a de facto suspect.
While no citizens will have to submit fingerprints by default, yours will already be there. And you’d better believe you are a de facto suspect in each case. It’ll be as easy as pushing a few buttons on a computer.
Is it fair for a foreigner to be a de facto suspect in potentially any crime in Japan where fingerprints are lifted? No.
The Japan Federation of Bar Associates has come out strongly against this measure. (See: http://www.nichibenren.or.jp/ja/publication/booklet/data/nyukanhou_qa.pdf)
Among the many useful arguments they make, they point out that the measure might well stigmatize foreigners as somehow being more inherently capable of crime than Japanese.
They also note that it is clearly unconstitutional under Article 13. And yes, the constitution does apply to people seeking entry into Japan. They may not be citizens, but they are people.
Ultimately, this policy puts foreigners at unfair risk. I typed in the phrase “how to fake fingerprints” on Google recently and got back over half a million hits. I checked the first 60, which told you how to do just that.
You leave your fingerprints everywhere you go. You leave them on trains, on vending machines, any place you lay your hands. Foreigners will have to take this in stride as they become de facto suspects in almost every crime committed.
There are respected scholars, former police officers, and journalists now questioning the entire science of fingerprinting. And whose to say how long it takes before collected prints are leaked through Winnie?
Putting all this aside, guess what? This policy just won’t work. Does anyone really believe that all terrorists are foreigners? The Tokyo subway sarin attack comes to mind (6000 injured, 12 dead), so does the bombings of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Tokyo in 1974 (20 injured, 8 dead) and the Hokkaido Prefectural Government office in Sapporo in 1976 (80 injured, 2 dead). The obvious prejudice here is palpable.
Lest anyone forget, most of the 9/11 terrorists entered America legally. Terrorists often have clean records and are not on watch lists.
So if not terrorists, who is on the watch lists? Well as the Justice Ministry will rely on an international list, in many cases they have no way of knowing.
There have already been credible reports of activists in America being detained because their names turned up on terrorists watch lists (simply a mistake?).
Recently some British citizens were outraged when they found that their names had been put into a criminal database (more mistakes?).
Terrorists with clean records will be able to enter, ordinary people will be hindered and face rights abuses.
If none of this is enough, has anyone stopped to even fathom the cost involved here?
So what you have here is a ineffective policy that clearly discriminates against foreigners and costs a bundle of cash.
In short, the worst of all worlds.
ENDS
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COMMENT FROM ARUDOU DEBITO
The biggest problem I see with this new copycat biometric system (aside from the fact that it’s not even being instituted nationwide–only at Narita, which means elsewhere everyone foreign goes through the Gaijin Line regardless of whether or not they are actually a resident of Japan) was not really alluded to in Scott’s argument–that if you really want to take care of terrorists, you fingerprint everybody. After all, if you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to fear, even if you’re Japanese, right?
I’ve said this before, but there is no reason to target NJ only like this, except for the fact that you can. Given the cultural disfavor with fingerprinting in Japan (essentially, only criminals or suspected criminals get systematically fingerprinted in Japan–this association is one of the reasons why the Zainichi generational foreigners successfully protested for decades to get it abolished in the 1990’s), if you included Japanese in the fingerprinting there would be outrage, and the policy would fail. Look what happened when they tried to institute the Juki Net universal ID card system earlier this decade (it was even ruled unconstitutional in 2006).
I been watching this come down the pipeline for years now, and have of course been writing about it. See the roots of this policy and what sorts of discriminatory logic it is founded upon (i.e. clear and systematic racial profiling, both in essence, and in an enforcement which bends existing laws) in a 2006 Mainichi article and a 2005 Japan Times column. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
THE ZEIT GIST
Here comes the fear
Antiterrorist law creates legal conundrums for foreign residents
By Arudou Debito, Japan Times, May 24, 2005
Japan to fingerprint foreigners under proposed immigration bill
Mainichi Shinbun, February 8, 2006
Both at
https://www.debito.org/japantimes052405.html
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Another article cataloging the nastiness that occurs when Japan will neither allow joint custody of children after divorce (meaning one parent usually just disappears from a child’s life), nor sign the Hague Convention on Child Abductions (which in international marriages encourages Japanese to abscond with their kids back to Japan, never to return). More on this phenomenon at the Children’s Rights Network Japan site at http://www.crnjapan.com
I’m personally interested in this issue, as I too have not seen one of my children since Summer 2004, and am involved in the production of a movie talking about the Murray Wood Case. More on that in a future blog entry when the directors are good and ready for publicity.
The article below, by the way, disappeared from the Japan Today archives not three days after it appeared, oddly enough. I managed to retrieve it through a search engine cache. This is why I blog whole articles on Debito.org–to make sure information doesn’t just disappear. Enjoy. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
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Japan remains haven for parental abductors
September 25, 2007, Japan Today/Kyodo News
By Alison Brady
Courtesy http://www.japantoday.com/jp/feature/1287
LOS ANGELES — More than a year has passed since Melissa Braden was abducted to Japan by her mother, Ryoko Uchiyama. Brokenhearted and fearful, her father, Los Angeles resident Patrick Braden, prays for the day when he will see his daughter again.
Unlike in many cases of abducted children, there is little mystery about Melissa’s location. Braden is nearly 100% certain of his daughter’s whereabouts in Japan. But there is nothing he or the U.S. government can do to get her back.
On March 8, 2006, after months of custody proceedings, Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Gretchen Taylor ordered that Melissa’s passport, which Uchiyama had obtained, be turned over to Braden to prevent Uchiyama from fleeing with the child.
For the next eight days, Braden’s attorney fought Uchiyama’s to recover the passport, but to no avail. On March 16, they were gone.
The FBI issued an arrest warrant for Uchiyama within days of her departure. The FBI said she had committed a federal offense by fleeing the country to avoid prosecution.
But once on Japanese soil, Uchiyama was out of reach of U.S. law enforcement agencies. What is more, an injunction filed within hours of her arrival in Japan prevents Braden from following his former girlfriend to locate and negotiate the return of his daughter.
Experts identify several factors in Japan that have created a haven for parents who kidnap. First, Japan is not party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, a civil legal mechanism to deter parents from abducting their children to other countries.
More than 75 countries worldwide have [e]ffected the treaty, thereby agreeing to return any child abducted from his or her country of habitual residence to a party country in violation of the left-behind parent’s custodial rights, according to the U.S. Department of State website.
Another factor is that parental kidnapping is not considered a crime under Japanese law and Japan refuses to extradite parents who have kidnapped their own children and face arrest in other countries.
Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare statistics show that since 1976, the time of the Hague treaty’s inception, the rate of marriage between Japanese nationals and foreign spouses has increased more than 800%.
As a result of the increasing number of international marriages, more than 21,000 children are born each year in Japan to couples of mixed Japanese and non-Japanese descent. Add to that the number of children born to Japanese who live abroad and are married to a non-Japanese.
What becomes of these bi-national children when the parents separate or divorce?
Cases like Melissa Braden’s are not uncommon. If the breakup occurs in Japan with custody proceedings taken to Japanese family court, foreign parents must battle what critics call a one-sided and often discriminatory system that almost never awards foreign parents custody of their children.
“An American parent in Japan may not be awarded any visitation rights at all in a divorce action,” explains a U.S. government official at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.
Even if custody is awarded to a foreign parent in Japan, there is little means of enforcing such a court order as Japanese police rarely get involved in family cases, says Colin Jones, a professor at Doshisha University Law School in Kyoto.
Walter Benda, 50, a publisher living in Virginia, spent more than a decade and $100,000 trying to gain visitation rights to his two daughters after his wife disappeared with them in 1995 from their home in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture.
“I’ve tried every legal avenue available to me in Japan,” Benda told Kyodo News by phone. “I’ve gone to the Supreme Court with my case twice seeking visitation rights, partial custody rights, or any sort of way to see my children and I have not even had one scheduled visit with my children in all the legal efforts I’ve undertaken in Japan.”
“The police would not do anything,” Benda says, recalling the time his children first went missing. “They basically called my ex-in-laws, and the ex-in-laws said that they didn’t know anything but that they were sure the kids were okay. So, the police said that was good enough from them and they wouldn’t help me anymore beyond that except to say go see a lawyer.”
Benda went on to co-found a support group called the Children’s Rights Council of Japan, or CRCJ, to offer parents like himself a resource in the struggle to see their children again.
Issue ignored by Japanese government
CRCJ’s online group has over 90 members and in recent years the group has organized events in Washington and Tokyo aimed at increasing awareness about an issue the Japanese government has long ignored.
“No one is putting any pressure on the abducting parents right now,” Benda said. “They’re actually kind of being rewarded for their actions. Just by virtue of being born a Japanese citizen or by virtue of having abducted your children to Japan, you’re able to have 100% control of your children and deny contact to every other person…including the father and the extended family.”
There are no exact figures on how many children have been abducted to Japan. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports 46 American children have been kidnapped to Japan since 1995. That number grows considerably when factoring in children of other countries and cases that were either dropped or never reported.
Furthermore, the U.S. government has no record of even a single case in which Japan has agreed to return an abducted child by legal means to the United States.
In an increasingly global society, bi-national children have the potential to be key allies between Japan and other nations. But Japan’s failure to sign the Hague treaty is creating a barrier to good relations.
“People like me, and especially my daughter, we’re the bridge between the two countries,” Braden says, “and that fact that Japan wants to make enemies of us is a very clear demonstration of their lack of foresight on this issue.”
Not everyone believes Japan’s signing the Hague treaty will rectify the child abduction issue.
In an article for the spring 2007 edition of the Whittier Journal of Child and Family Advocacy, Doshisha University’s Jones argues, “…it might even make the situation worse by removing a red flag to judges in foreign countries who might otherwise be inclined to disallow custody or visitation arrangements that involve travel to Japan.”
But that does not deter others from fighting for progress toward Japan signing the treaty. With a growing voice, people like Braden and Benda and the CRCJ have finally begun to be heard by U.S. politicians.
California Sen Dianne Feinstein wrote a letter to Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Kato in Washington in June 2007, imploring him to take action in returning Melissa Braden to her rightful home.
Governor of New Mexico and Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson wrote Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in May of 2007, lamenting that “no progress has yet been made” on the Braden case, and urging her to “pursue this important issue with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.”
Asked about Melissa’s case, Kazumi Yamada at the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s First North America Division in Tokyo told Kyodo News, “We are looking into the issue and attaching priority on the welfare of the child.”
“With regard to The Hague…we are still looking at the Convention to determine what our position will be,” she added.
The longer these children are kept from their non-Japanese mothers and fathers, the more likely their welfare is to be jeopardized.
Often fed lies about the left-behind parent and kept from school and regular socialization with other children because the abducting parent is afraid of being caught, children abducted by one of their own parents are likely to suffer deep developmental and emotional scars.
“It is very clear that the position that Japan takes is bad for the children. Bad for families. Bad for all people,” Braden says.
September 25, 2007, Japan Today/Kyodo News
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Get a load of this. It’s happening, as anticipated. When the Otaru Onsens Case first came up, one of the arguments Olaf and I made was the slippery slope. If hot springs were going to refuse NJ with impunity, what’s next? Bars? Stores? Restaurants? Hospitals?
Now it seems even hospitals refusing NJ have come to pass.
This is also happening to J women as well, the news reports. But that’s what makes this case even more ludicrous and nasty. According to the article below, these refusals happened to the NJ woman a whole year ago! It only became a “peg” for news because a similar thing recently happened to a Japanese! Oh, so until it happens to one of “us Japanese” it’s not newsworthy??
Iron na imi de hidoi! Gongo doudan! Arudou Debito
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Foreign woman rejected 7 times by hospitals in western Japan after childbirth
Mainichi Shinbun, September 27, 2007
Courtesy http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070927p2a00m0na022000c.html
Courtesy of Erich Meatleg
A foreign woman seeking medical help in Japan after giving birth at home was rejected by five hospitals where officials said her Japanese wasn’t good enough and they didn’t have proper facilities, authorities said Thursday.
The woman, in her 20s, was finally admitted to one of the hospitals after begging to be treated over two hours, during which two of the hospitals rejected her twice, said Takaaki Uchida, an official in Tsu.
All of the hospitals were equipped with maternity wards, but only two had intensive care units for newborn babies.
The incident happened in August 2006, but was reported in Japan on Thursday in the wake of the case of a 38-year-old woman who suffered a miscarriage last month after ten hospitals refused to admit her and her ambulance collided with another car.
The cases have raised concerns about shortcomings in emergency care for pregnant women, an growing worry as Japan grapples with declining birthrates — among the lowest in the world — and a burgeoning elderly population.
Uchida said the hospitals claimed the woman, whose name and nationality was withheld by officials, couldn’t speak Japanese well enough for them to communicate with her, and that they didn’t have emergency facilities to care for her newborn boy.
The woman had never consulted a doctor at a maternity clinic during her pregnancy, a fact that also made it difficult for her to find a hospital, Tsu City fire official Yoshinobu Sakurai said.
Sakurai also said the woman could not speak Japanese at all and her female companion to the hospital also spoke only broken Japanese.
Both the mother and the baby boy were healthy, according to Sakurai.
Following the miscarriage case, on Aug. 29 incident, the government has ordered local governments to review past cases of transporting pregnant women.
Last year, a pregnant woman in western Japan died after being refused admission by about 20 hospitals that said they were full. (AP)
September 27, 2007
REFERENTIAL ARTICLE:
Woman has miscarriage after waiting 3 hours to be transferred for emergency birth (see comments section)
ENDS
mytest
ブログの皆様、おはようございます。これを見て言語道断。温泉等じゃなくなりました。ましてや、昨年８月に起きた事件ですね。つまり外国人に遭った事件ならニュースにならないでしょうか。日本人妊婦に同様に遭ったからニュースになりますね。色んな意味でひとい！有道 出人
／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／
出産直後の外国人拒否 「言葉通じない」と津市の病院
産經新聞 2007/09/27
http://www.sankei.co.jp/shakai/wadai/070927/wdi070927004.htm
津市内で昨年８月、出産直後の２０代の外国人女性が救急搬送の際、７つの病院で受け入れを断られ、到着するまでに約２時間かかった事例があったことが２７日までに分かった。母子ともに健康だという。
三重県消防・保安室によると、この女性は自宅で出産。１１９番で消防が駆け付けたところ、赤ちゃんにへその緒がついたままだった。消防が新生児集中治療管理室が空いている病院を探したが、女性が日本語を話せず、一度も産婦人科を受診していなかったため「言葉が通じない」「処置困難」などの理由で断られ、医療機関の調整に時間がかかった。
奈良県で救急搬送中の妊婦が死産した問題を受け、県が調査し判明した。
(2007/09/27 11:26)
mytest
Hi Blog. Report from Martin Issott, who has been doing extensive follow-up research on this subject over weeks. The new November Immigration Procedures, which will be reestablishing the fingerprint system withdrawn after decades of protest ten years ago, will be treating all foreigners as fresh off the boat. Including non-Japanese residents of Japan and Permanent Residents.
Worse yet, since “insufficient funds” have made it so that only one airport (Narita) will have the latest technology, NJ residents will have to give fingerprints every time they enter the country and go through the Gaijin Line. Nice welcome home, Immigration.
Amnesty International and SMJ have been duly advised of this. They will be holding a public forum in October on this in Tokyo. Details here. Attend if you like.
See the GOJ’s hilarious justification for reinstating this system here.
If you’d like to get in touch with Martin for confirmation of any details below, please contact him through me at debito@debito.org; as per his request. Or of course, leave a comment below. Thanks. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Dear Debito,
The Ministry of Justice briefing I previously advised was duly held on afternoon of 18th September, and contact with the British Embassy representative who attended the meeting has clarified the situation with confirmation as follows:
1) The law was promulgated on 24th May 2006, and will be enforced from 23rd November this year.
2) At Narita, for foreign residents with pre-registered fingerprints and photographs, there will be an automated gate system established prior to 23rd November.
3) This automated gate system will only be established at Narita and at no other International airport in Japan until processing via this system has been perfected and, very ominously, “when funds are available” to provide the system at other International airports.
4) Resident foreigners entering Japan at other airports will be required to join the queue with all arriving visitors and to provide their fingerprints and photograph on every entry and re-entry into Japan.
5) As a Kobe resident it is obviously impractical for me to use Narita, therefore I, a 20 year resident of the country with valid re-entry permit and visa, will nonetheless be required to follow these procedures, despite the fact that for non-Japanese APEC Country business travel card holders there are already separate immigration channels (effectively automated gates !) to facilitate their entry.
I am now doubly incensed, first at the discrimination ,and secondly at the sheer incompetence of the Japanese authorities in not getting their act together during the last 18 months to establish the automated gate system at all Japanese International airports prior to the amended law enforcement.
As a result many long term family residents and the resident business community will be seriously inconvenienced which all could have been quite simply avoided.
I cannot change the facts, but I would ask you through your newspaper columns to castigate in the strongest possible terms the Japanese authorities for their sheer indifference to the rights of resident foreigners.
Martin Issott
===========================
Written substantiation from Kobe Immigration (in letter form: query letter, then answer) in pdf format, courtesy of Martin Issott, downloadable from
https://www.debito.org/issottkobeimmigration210907.pdf
Or click on thumbnails for jpg format:
Details as follows:
===========================
RE: Kobe Immigration 100907.pdf
Mr Issott,
I have received Kobe immigration response dated 21/9.
Details are –
———————————————-
” Regarding your letter of 10th September for asking confirmation we
respond as follows:-
1) There is no plan for the Automated Gate System to be installed
at Kansai International Airport Osaka.
A) As responded previously regarding the introduction of the automated
gate system, there is no other installation plan in this fiscal year
except Narita Airport, to be installed by 23/11.
The installation plan of the automated gate system in and after next
fiscal year is under investigation.
As future installation plan will be announced as soon the details
are decided, your understanding is appreciated.
2) If I wish to avail of the Automated Gate System, then my only
option will be to re-arrange my travel schedule to enter and re-enter
Japan via Narita Airport.
A) As per our response 1) above the automated gate system is planned,
as of now, to be installed at Narita only. Therefore if you wish to
avail of the automated gate system there is no other way for using
Narita Airport. Your understanding is appreciated.”
———————————————-
nh
ENDS
mytest
Public lecture you might be interested in. Arudou Debito
**********************************************************************
Symposium organized by Amnesty International Japan and Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ)
Toward further control over foreign nationals? Japan’s anti-terrorism policy and a Japanese version of the “US-VISIT” program **********************************************************************
Date: Saturday, 27 October Time: 14:00 – 17:00
At: 9 Floor, KOREAN YMCA (YMCA Asia Youth Center) 2-5-5 Sarugaku-cho, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo
http://www.ymcajapan.org/ayc/jp/
Admission: 1000 yen
Simultaneous translation service available (Japanese-English)
*** Program ***
14:00 Opening remarks
14:00 Briefing about a Japanese version of “US-VISIT” program by Akira HATATE (JCLU)
14:30 Keynote speech by Barry Steinhardt, ACLU Technology and Liberty Program “War on Terror” and impacts of US-VISIT in the United States
15:10 Break
15:20 Panel Discussion: Anti-terrorism policies and reinforced control over foreign nationals —- The challenge of civil society to fight against discrimination and to protect rights. Members of the panel: Barry Steinhardt / Akira HATATE / Ippei TORII (SMJ) / Toshimaru OGURA (The People’s Plan Study Group)
17:00 Closing remarks
*** Profile of Barry Steinhardt ***
Barry Steinhardt served as Associate Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) between 1992 and 2002. In 2002, he was named as the inaugural Director of the ACLU’s Program on Technology and Liberty. Steinhardt has spoken and written widely on privacy and information technology issues.
*** Why Amnesty and SMJ are organizing the symposium ***
A law proposing to implement a Japanese version of “US-VISIT” was passed in 2006 and will probably be enacted by November 24th.
The law makes fingerprinting and photographing mandatory for all foreigners arriving in Japan except “special permanent residents” and youth under the age of 16. Furthermore, according to news reports, the biometric data obtained would be shared not only with a number of ministries in Japan but also, in the near future, with US authorities as well. US-VISIT (United States Visitor and Immigration Status Indicator Technology) was originally launched by US authorities in 2004 and Japan has become the second country to introduce a similar program.
The law is part of our government’s policy to reinforce control over foreign nationals entering and living in Japan in the name of the “War on Terror”.
Non-governmental organizations in Japan such as Amnesty International (AI) Japan, Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ) and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations are concerned that the current government policy encourages discrimination against foreigners and violates individuals’ right to privacy. Please refer to a joint statement by NGOs dated 5 April 2006 (appendix 1).
Ahead of the enactment of the Japanese-version of “US-VISIT”, AI Japan and SMJ have invited Director of American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Technology and Liberty Program Mr. Barry Steinhardt to Japan, and is organizing several public events including the symposium. The aim is to share information and concerns, as well as to raise awareness within Japanese society about the issues involved.
*** For further information ***
Amnesty International Japan 2-2-4Ｆ Kanda-NIshiki-cho, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 101-0054 JAPAN TEL: 81-3-3518-6777 FAX: 81-3-3518-6778
Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ) Tokyo-to, Bunkyo-ku, Koishikawa 2-17-41, Tomisaka Christian Center, House 2, #203, Japan (Map) TEL:81-3-5802-6033 FAX:81-3-5802-6034
ENDS
mytest
（転送歓迎）——————————————————
▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼
バリー・スタインハードさん（米自由人権協会）を招いてシンポジウム
どこまで強まる？ 外国人管理 「テロ対策」と日本版US-VISIT
▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲
▽日時 2007年10月27日（土） 14:00〜17:00 （13:30開場）
▽会場 在日本韓国YMCA 9階ホール （定員150名）
千代田区猿楽町2-5-5
JR水道橋駅徒歩6分、御茶ノ水駅徒歩9分、地下鉄神保町駅徒歩7分
▽参加費 1,000円 同時通訳有
2006年、「テロ対策」を名目とした「日本版US-VISIT」導入が決定され、今年11月23日までに施行されます。これは、特別永住者や16歳未満を除くすべての外国人に対し、入国・再入国のたびに、指紋と顔写真情報の提供を義務づけるものです。提供された情報はほぼ一生涯にわたって保存され、警察からの要請があれば、犯罪捜査などにも利用されることになります。
指紋や顔写真といった生体情報は究極の個人情報であり、漠然とした「テロ対策」名目で安易に集めることは、プライバシーの侵害にあたります。さらに、外国人に限って指紋・顔写真情報の提供を義務化することは、外国人＝テロリスト予備軍とみなしていることの表われであり、外国人に対する差別です。
集められた情報は、「テロ対策」よりも外国人の在留管理と監視の強化に利用されると危惧されています。
シンポジウムでは、米自由人権協会のバリー・スタインハードさんをお招きし、US-VISITをはじめとする、「テロとの戦い」の下で進められるさまざまな米国の監視体制の問題、そうした動きに追随する日本社会と外国人管理体制について考え、市民社会は何をすべきかを議論します。
▽US-VISIT：正式名称はUnited States Visitor and Immigrant Status
Indicator Technology（米国訪問者・移民現況表示技術）という。2004年9月
30日から米国で導入された、スキャンシステムによる米訪問者の顔写真と指紋
の採取プログラム。
▽バリー・スタインハードさん
1992年から2002年まで、米自由人権協会（American Civil Liberties Union: ACLU）の共同代表を務め、2002年から現在まで、テクノロジーと自由に関するプログラム部長を務めている。1990年代後半から2000年頃、米国におけるインターネット盗聴捜査の拡大に反対して活動してきた。現在の関心は、反テロ愛国法の成立にともなう、個人情報の国家による一元管理と監視システム問題など。
＜プログラム＞
14:00 開会
14:10 日本版US-VISITとは何か？（旗手明さん・（社）自由人権協会）
14:30 米国の「テロとの戦い」とUS-VISITの問題 （バリー・スタインハードさん）
15:10 休憩
15:20 パネル・ディスカッション
「テロ対策」と強まる外国人管理〜市民社会は何をすべきか〜
パネリスト：小倉利丸さん（ピーブルズ・プラン研究所）
旗手明さん
鳥井一平さん（移住労働者と連帯する全国ネットワーク）
バリー・スタインハードさん
司会：東澤靖さん（弁護士・明治学院大学法科大学院教授）
17：00 終了
主催
社団法人アムネスティ・インターナショナル日本
東京都千代田区神田錦町2-2 共同（新錦町）ビル4F
TEL. 03-3518-6777 FAX. 03-3518-6778
移住労働者と連帯する全国ネットワーク
東京都文京区小石川2-17-41富坂キリスト教センター２号館203号室
TEL 03-5802-6033 FAX 03-5802-6034
★★★本シンポジウムを含む「日本版US-VISIT」施行直前緊急企画! ★★★
バリー・スタインハードさん招聘プログラム」への賛同を呼びかけています。
ご賛同いただける団体・個人の方は、賛同金を以下にお振り込みください。
団体：一口3000円 個人:一口1000円
振込先：郵便振替口座：00120-9-133251
加入者名：社団法人アムネスティ・インターナショ
ナル日本
※「バリー・スタインハードさん来日企画賛同金」
と必ずご明記ください。
——————————————————————
***********************************************
移住労働者と連帯する全国ネットワーク
東京都文京区小石川2-17-41富坂キリスト教センター
２号館203号室
�：03-5802-6033 FAX：03-5802-6034
e-mail
URL http://www.jca.apc.org/migrant-net/
Ｍネット年間購読募集中！
年間購読費：団体・１２０００円、個人・６０００円
詳しくは、移住連事務局までお問い合わせください。
***********************************************
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Just received this from Valentine:
Dear Debito.
Please, kindly remind your bloggers about the date for my court attendance. 25th Tuesday September, 2007 at the Tokyo High Court, Kasumigaseki. by 1.30pm 8 floor Rm 808. Thanks, Valentine
Attend if you like. More on the Valentine Lawsuit, where he was denied medical treatment for a broken leg while being interrogated by police (and is now crippled), and then the lower court exonerated the police of any respnsiblity on extremely flimsy grounds, at https://www.debito.org/valentinelawsuit.html
Debito in Sapporo
mytest
Hi Blog. The ancient Tokugawa Clan (which as daimyo closed off Japan for 250 years to foreign influences, known as the “sakoku” [closed country] period) are facing their own sakoku. Their heir apparent has married a foreigner!
Read on, from the Mainichi Waiwai Page, translated by Ryann Connell. Arudou Debito
=================================
Tokugawa clan looks to slam the gate on future chief’s marriage to foreigner
Mainichi Waiwai Page, Sept 18, 2007
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20070918p2g00m0dm009000c.html
Courtesy of MS and Doc
Modern day members of the Tokugawa clan — the xenophobic dynasty of Shoguns that shut Japan off from the world for centuries — are up in arms because the man set to one day become head of the family has married a non-Japanese, according to Shukan Shincho (9/20).
Iehiro Tokugawa, who is poised to one day become the 19th head of the clan that ruled the country as Shoguns from 1603 to 1868 and maintained a rigid ban on foreigners entering Japan, has tied the knot with a Vietnamese woman.
But his father, Tsunenari, the current clan chief, is among the members of the family who are supposed to be outraged that the most Japanese of non-Imperial families is about to receive an injection of non-Yamato blood.
Iehiro Tokugawa graduated from posh Keio University before completing a doctorate of economics at Michigan University. He went off to work for the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, spending time at its Rome headquarters before being transferred to its Hanoi branch. The 42-year-old heir apparent of the Shogun’s dynastic name now works as a translator.
“He met the Vietnamese woman about 10 years ago,” a close pal of Tokugawa’s tells Shukan Shincho. “He was working at the FAO’s Vietnam office at the time and met her through his work. She comes from a good family. She’s petite and pretty. She’s a complete contrast to Iehiro, who is only 174 centimeters tall but weighs 105 kilograms. She’s 11 years younger than him, too. And she looks even younger still. Iehiro said he fell in love with her charms.” Iehiro apparently set his mind on marriage not long after he started dating, and he soon let his parents know of his intentions.
“Iehiro knows that he is a member of the Tokugawa clan and fully realizes exactly what that status entails. He told his parents he spent three years in elementary school in the United States and that he has very liberal ideas about marriage. On top of that, she is the woman he chose,” the buddy says. “But Tsunenari, important as head of the clan, and his mother were bitterly opposed. They said they didn’t mind if their son dated a foreigner, but there was no way they were going to let him marry one.”
Over the past few years, Iehiro’s Vietnamese partner traveled back and forth between her country and his before finally settling down together in his home.
“He’s got a photo of when they went on a trip together to Kamakura displayed prominently in his study. They’ve visited the Tokugawa family in Gotenba and have also been on trips together to Hakone and Karuizawa. Iehiro has often gathered his friends at his home and let them taste her delicious Vietnamese cuisine. They’re having a great time no matter how much his parents may oppose their bond,” the future clan head’s friend tells Shukan Shincho.
The opposition of the clan boss to the union has not deterred the loving couple.
“They actually registered their marriage a year ago,” the friend says. “They’ve tried countless times to get his parents to approve their marriage, but the parents have steadfastly refused. It’s more convenient for her to be married if she’s in Japan, so they formalized their bond. Iehiro has often said he’s going to have a big wedding ceremony in the spring of next year.”
Even if the couple is actually married as the friend claims, Iehiro Tokunaga’s worries don’t stop there.
“Only a few very close friends and relatives actually know about the marriage. And they haven’t reported it to anyone in the Tokugawa clan. He’s gonna face huge problems if their marriage goes public,” the friend says.
Meanwhile, Iehiro remains dignified about the situation.
“I’m going to do exactly what I have been doing until now,” the future head of the once xenophobic Tokugawa clan tells Shukan Shincho. “I’ll keep trying again and again. I believe in the end they will approve my marriage.” (By Ryann Connell)
September 18, 2007
ENDS
mytest
ブログの皆様こんにちは。有道 出人です。ご無沙汰しております。
さて、きょうの件は
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京都「イスラーム世界フェスティバル」は外国人お断り
（つまり日本人客とイスラム教の外国人はOKだが、それ以外の外国人は却下）
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一昨日、友人からの連絡があり、「９月３０日京都にてのイズラーム教祭に行こうとしたが、予約を受けた代表に『貴方はムズリム（イズラム教の信者）ですか。』と聞かれました。『違います』と言うと、『それなら、外国人客はお断りです』と言いました。外国人は外国人を断ると大変皮肉を感じております。」
私はムズリムの友人に問い合わせ、「これはイズラム教違反です！コラン（イズラム教の聖書）によると、イズラム教について全ての興味を持つ人は断っていけないと書いてある！」と言い、彼（アリと者）も問い合わせてみると、同じ結果。代表の『セリム』氏は（名字を明かしてくれなかったという）は、「これはファミリーみたいな集いなので、これは日本人とイズラム教の人たちのみ」と弁解したが、アリさんは「違うでしょう。これは『コミュニティーとの連絡・イズラム教についての意識高揚』のためでは？また、いついきなり日本人のみが『ファミリー』となったのですか。なぜ外国人が外国人を断るのか。そうすると、私たち外国人はこれから日本人が外国人に対する『Japanese Only https://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html 』の看板などを掲げると、苦情や抗議を言う立場が崩されていないでしょうか。」それでも、セリム氏は一切譲らなかった。
アリさんの抗議文は英文として
https://www.debito.org/?p=587
にあります。連絡先は 080 5088 2637
この祭の詳細は
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9月30日（日）京都「イスラーム世界フェスティバル」
http://www.islamjapan.net/html/festival.html
イスラーム世界と日本との相互理解を深める恒例の「イスラーム世界フェスティバル」を今年も開催いたします。
京都に住むイスラーム諸国の留学生たちが皆様のために腕をふるってイスラーム世界の料理を作りご紹介いたします。イスラーム圏の人々と直接交流できる機会です。多くの皆様のご参加をお待ちしております。
参加費：無料
ただし、事前のお申し込みが必要です。
お申し込みの方には当日受付で抽選券付き入場券をお渡しいたします。
日時：２００７年９月３０日(日)午後４時３０分〜７時３０分(４時より受付)
会場：京都市国際交流会館 特別会議室２階
アクセス：地下鉄東西線 蹴上駅から徒歩６分
第１部：講演会
第２部：夕食会（断食明けのイフタール）・お楽しみ抽選会
申し込み受付：9月18日(火)から
申込先： イスラーム文化センター
フリーダイヤルは、こちら： ０１２０-５１９-５９９
（受付時間） 火〜金 10：00〜18：00 土 12：00〜18：00
電子メールによる申込：getsurei@islamjapan.net
代表はギュレチ・セリム・ユジェル（トルコ出身）
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なお、今朝、私は開催場の行政している京都市国際交流協会 (075-752-3010, http://www.kcif.or.jp/jp/footer/06.html)の高木さままで連絡して、「お客様からお金をもらって、開催の仕方について分かりません。」私は「公共施設はこうやって外国人納税者を却下できませんよね」と言っても、「調べてみるが、借りているのイベントについて詳しく分かりません」と言った。私の連絡先を高木さまに伝えたが。
要は、こうやってコミュニティーに下手に「リーチ・アウト」すると、逆効果もありえると思います。先週の英字新聞「メトロポリス」（９月１４日版）で「日本国内のイズラム教コミュニティー」の特集を載せ、結論としてある代表はこう発言した（有道 出人和訳）：
「もっと多くの日本人と私たちと話に来てほしいです。お互いに私たちの考え方を伝いたい。しかも誰でも手伝ってあげたい、相手がムズリムであってもなくても無関係。こうやって多文化共生を促進します。」
但し、「誰でも」と言うなら、なぜムズリム以外の外国人はそうなる？『セリム」さんに是非聞いてほしい。
宜しくお願い致します。有道 出人
debito@debito.org www.debito.org
September 21, 2007
ENDS
mytest
Hello All. Turning the keyboard over to friend Ali Rustom, a British national of some Middle Eastern descent, with an essay of great irony. Comment from me at the bottom.
KYOTO ISLAMIC FESTIVAL IS “JAPANESE ONLY”
=======================
I am a Muslim. I make no apologies for my beliefs, and until today (September 20 2007), I was proud and happy to be a Muslim.
A Muslim festival is due to be held on September 30 2007 in Kyoto (http://www.islamjapan.net/html/festival.html), sponsored by the Islam Culture Center in Kyoto (free dial 0120-519-599, email getsurei@islamjapan.net). Recently, a non-Japanese said that he was interested in joining the festival, but when he called to ask if he could go, the sponsors’ first question was if he was a Muslim. He replied that he wasn’t. He was then told that the festival was open only to Muslims and Japanese. Non-Muslims, unless they were Japanese, were forbidden from attending.
As a fellow Muslim, I found this hard to believe. So today I called to see if this was true. First, I got a Japanese lady, who sure enough, asked me if I was a Muslim. I said “no”, but reiterated that I was interested in going anyway. She told me to call back in 10 minutes. I did.
This time she dispatched me to a man, coordinator of the event, who confirmed my friend’s allegations. The cultural event was indeed open to only Muslims and Japanese. Non-Muslim foreigners are to be excluded.
The reason he gave me is that the Muslim community was trying to reach out to the Japanese community and promote understanding of Islam in it.
I asked him, “Isn’t reaching out to foreigners in the community you live in also a part of reaching out to the community and promoting Islam? After all, non-Muslim foreigners are a part of our community, same as Muslims, and same as the Japanese you are reaching out to. Or don’t they count?”
The man answered with an analogy that since the Muslim community was providing food, it was their right to choose who to invite. He said that if he was inviting his family for a meal, someone not related to the family couldn’t complain about being not invited. He said that this case was the same. Non-Muslim foreigners are not family, slam the door.
I replied that it was not the same. Why now are suddenly all Japanese “family”? I told him that a public event is not a “family feast”, and that his comparison was ludicrous.
For the next 10 minutes, he continued to give me stupid excuses, and I continued to refute them, trying to show him the error of his ways. This went on until I realized that there was some grovelling going on here. The fact that he was as adamant to exclude foreigners who were non-Muslim sounded harrowingly like a man who wants to exclude all infidels, but has no choice but to branch out to the Japanese community for fear of being labeled a terrorist. This to me makes the image of Islam in the community even worse.
I finally asked his name. He then said I should go first. I gave him my full name, but then he refused to give anything more than Selim, his first name. He is apparently from Turkey, and he is the spokesman for this festival. That to me is cowardly.
And bigoted. It’s terrible that now, not only do we have to combat prejudice from Japanese people, but now also from fellow non-Japanese. In this case, foreign lickspittles are just trying to get into Japan’s good books. What a setback to community unity, something this festival was supposed to promote!
Think about the damage done: Now that foreigners are discriminating against each other, how can we ever complain about, much less campaign against, racism in Japan by Japanese if the foreign community is doing the same?
I find it, frankly, disgusting that this “Selim” attempts to identify himself as a Muslim. Believe it or not, this goes right against the tolerance that Islam teaches.
Let me give you an example from our teachings: There is a story in the Koran about Prophet Mohammed (Praise Be Upon Him) when he was visiting with non believers (Kooffar) and trying to reach out to them with peace and understanding. Then along came a old man who was lame and who obviously had spent lots of energy to get to the Prophet (PBUH). But when the old man sat down, the Prophet (PBUH) turned his back to him and continued with his conversation to the non-believers in which an Aya (passage) came down from the Koran. The basic gist of this story is that no-one should ever turn away from a person who purposefully comes by his own will asking to learn more about Islam.
Now, it is certainly not my wish to compare someone like this “Selim” to someone as wonderful as our beloved Prophet (PBUH). What I am suggesting is that we should not turn away people who are interested in Islam and learning more about us. Especially when we are inviting them. That means that this festival should be open to everyone, not only to people who are suddenly “family” members thanks to their “host’s” nationality.
Maybe “Selim” should learn how to become a better Muslim, instead of spending his time organizing “exclusionary festivals and parties about cultural understanding” (moronic and oxymoronic). Read the Koran and really understand what it means to a member and a representative of our faith.
===========================
Aly Rustom in Tokyo
Cellphone 080 5088 2637
The “Islam World Festival” (Islaamu Sekai Festival) will be held in Kyoto at the Kyoto City Kokusai Kouryuu Kaikan, Tokubetsu Kaigishitsu 2F on Sunday, September 30, between 4:30 and 7:30 PM (doors open 4PM).
The person in charge (gleaned from their website) is Quireshi Selim Yujel (spelling unclear, from Katakana), Director, Islam Bunka Center.
Access: Tozai Subway Line, 6 minutes walk from Ke-age Eki
Cost: Free, with events and food provided
Places for 100 people. Reservations are requested via free dial number 0120-519-599, or via email at getsurei@islamjapan.net
More information in Japanese Only (naturally) at
http://www.islamjapan.net/html/festival.html
Try to sign up if you can. Failing that, register a complaint with them if you are inclined.
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COMMENT FROM ARUDOU DEBITO: I called the Islam Bunka Center this morning to inquire about my situation as a naturalized Japanese. They said they would let me in, but, alas, they’ve filled up their reservation slots. Thanks, I guess.
I also called the holders of the venue, the Kyoto City International Foundation, at 075-752-3010, and talked to a Mr Takagi. He said that all they do is take money and don’t supervise what these groups do. I asked if a public space refusing foreigners is permissible, as public spaces cannot refuse taxpayers. He said that he would look into it, but the KCIF can’t tell them not to refuse foreigners.
Irony in relief. Metropolis Magazine last week quoted the Muslim Community in Japan in a special article (“True Believers”, Sept. 14, 2007) as saying, “We want more Japanese people to come to talk to us. We want them to share what they are thinking. And we want to help anybody, whether or not she or he is Muslim, in order for us to exist on a cultural level.”
http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/703/feature.asp
I doubt what’s happening in Kyoto reflects the same spirit. Talking to Japanese at the expense of other members of their community? A lot more of the world than just Japanese also need their image of Muslims adjusted. This won’t help.
Amazing what ironies abound when even foreigners will resort to the same tactics as the worst elements of their “hosts”.
Arudou Debito in Sapporo
debito@debito.org
https://www.debito.org
https://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html
September 21, 2007
ENDS
