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Hi Blog. I put out Debito.org Newsletters once a month. After sending, I archive them here, and below, Debito.org Readers have been adding recent issues and articles that concern them regardless of the content of the post over the past several years. It’s been a good way to allow Readers to be heard and engaged.
I still put out Debito.org Newsletters, but since I’m only posting once a month, there’s only one article to repost (my SNA column), and I have it here as Debito.org post anyway. So it’d only be a repeat if I dedicated another post to the Newsletter.
But I don’t want to deprive Readers of a forum, so let me continue this “Issues of Concern” section (still categorized under “Newsletters”) and let it be a free space for articles and comments germane to the mission of Debito.org. Thanks as always for reading and contributing to Debito.org. Debito Arudou, Ph.D.
3 comments on “DEBITO.ORG READERS’ ISSUES OF CONCERN, JANUARY 2025”
@Dr. Debito, those pesky 「迷惑外国人」 are getting outta hand back in your old stomping grounds!:
Hokkaido city posts guards at tourist hotspot ahead of Lunar New Year
— I know the spot. Been there many times. And Otaru is reacting as Otaru does.
It looks these guys could be facing some omotenashi torture a la Ghosn & Taylor if the J-Gov gets its way:
London court backs extradition of 2 men to Japan over Tokyo robbery
While the following issue of concern does not directly impact visible minorities, it is nevertheless germane to Debito.org. Why? Because it highlights a novel response to external pressure (gaiatsu) when it is applied to a J-Gov policy sacred cow.
In this case, the divine bovine in question is Japan’s male-only imperial succession rule enshrined in the Imperial House Law of 1947. Here’s the latest wrinkle in this ongoing saga: back in October 2024, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) said that this rule contravenes the “the object and purpose” of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Japan’s response — as was the case when the CEDAW raised this issue back in 2016 — was to make a stink which it did by lodging a protest against the committee, saying that the imperial succession system is linked to Japan’s “foundation” and that the reference to the law is “unacceptable” and should be deleted from the report.
This time around, things were taken a step further: in a press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Toshihiro Kitamura said that Japan has requested its funding to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) — i.e. the entity which oversees the CEDAW’s administrative affairs — not be used for CEDAW-related activities. In fact, none of the J-Gov’s precious yen has been spent on the CEDAW since 2005!
Put another way, Japan has decided that, despite there being a shortage of successors to the throne, the best thing to do is a) maintain the status quo, and b) explicitly de-fund the U.N. committee that issued a less-than-flattering report.
Returning to visible minorities, the use of this new bullying tactic sets a disturbing precedent: should another J-Gov sacred cow find itself under scrutiny by the U.N. (e.g. the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination or CERD), fiscal retaliation is now a viable response.
Japan to take steps to protest U.N. call over imperial succession law
Japan halts U.N. panel funding, wants only men as imperial heirs / 国連女性差別撤廃委、日本に夫婦別姓の導入を勧告 皇室典範の改正も
EDITORIAL: Japan’s response to U.N. gender report runs afoul of its principles / （社説）国連機関拠出 女性委除外は筋が違う