mytest
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.
5 comments on “DEBITO.ORG READERS’ ISSUES OF CONCERN, APRIL 2025”
Color me shocked: long-term detainment of foreigners in Japan are still an issue after revisions to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act.
Long-term detainment of foreigners still an issue after law revision
KYODO NEWS By Minori Moriuchi, KYODO NEWS – Apr 15, 2025 – 10:45 | Feature, All, Japan
A revised law on immigration control in Japan, which went into effect last June, introduced a new “supervisory” measure as a solution to prevent the long-term detention of foreigners who are subject to deportation.
The revision to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act allows such foreigners to live outside detention facilities under the supervision of designated individuals, but the system has gotten off to a shaky start due to a shortage of people willing to take on the monitoring role.
Making matters worse is the fact that such foreigners are unable to work due to their provisional status in Japan, making it financially unfeasible for them to make a living in country.
Daisuke Sugawara, 48, who is the owner of a bakery in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, took on three foreign detainees as a supervisor last summer. The three claim persecution in their home countries and have other circumstances that make it impossible for them to return.Immigration law online courses
Sugawara has continued to volunteer to visit detainees at the Higashi Nihon Immigration Center in Ushiku in the prefecture — one of the main detention facilities in Japan operated by the Justice Ministry — and was asked to be an Immigration Services Agency-designated supervisor.
“I am always being asked by detainees to become their supervisor,” said Sugawara, referring to the facility in eastern Japan that houses around 50 detainees and has been cited for human rights violations.
Supervisory measures are granted when an immigration inspector deems the situation “appropriate,” meaning the detainee is not considered a flight risk or likely to violate the conditions of provisional release.
The application requirement stipulates that the detainee must independently choose a supervisor and secure a supporter, relative, or acquaintance willing to take on the role.
The immigration agency, in response to a media query, said it “does not keep statistics that can be publicly released on the number of supervisors.”
But according to Sugawara and Kimiko Tanaka, 72, a representative of a citizens’ group concerned about issues involving human rights abuses at the detention center, only a few supporters have accepted supervisor roles at the Ushiku detention center.
Sugawara and Tanaka explained that because they are obligated to monitor detainees in their daily lives and report to the immigration office, there are few people willing to undertake the task.
“Some (detainees) give up on the application process because they wouldn’t be able to find work after entering society and are not guaranteed a livelihood,” Tanaka pointed out.
Sugawara added some detainees “cannot apply for a supervisor because they cannot even find a supporter to request one.”
A man from Nigeria, for whom Sugawara accepted the role of supervisor, was approved for the measure last November and is living in a guesthouse in Ibaraki.
He is in the process of applying for refugee status, citing persecution at home, but he has told Sugawara that “making money is a matter of life and death” and that he has only “managed to get by” with the support of his living expenses from the help of a friend.
Treatment of foreign nationals detained at Japanese immigration facilities has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, notably after Wishma Sandamali, a 33-year-old Sri Lankan woman, died in March 2021 at a Nagoya detention facility after complaining of ill health for around a month.
The Immigration Services Agency has stated that the basic idea of the revised law is to “ensure the protection of those who should be protected” and “not to unnecessarily detain people.”
Photo taken on Jan. 24, 2025, of notice on a decision to allow a supervisory measure for a man from Nigeria. (Part of the photo has been blurred)(Kyodo)
But under the current situation where people abandon their applications out of the frustration of being unable to find a supervisor, there is the possibility they will remain detained for longer periods, even if they qualify for the supervisory measure.
Tanaka, who as a volunteer has also continued to visit detainees at the Ushiku detention center, suggested drastic revisions to the current system are needed, even though the law has recently been revised.
“There are still people who have been detained for more than a decade there. The problem of long-term detainment has not been fundamentally resolved, and the situation remains severe,” she said. ENDS
Truth has been spoken!:
Japanese communities unite against hate targeting Kurdish neighbors
Japanese communities unite against hate targeting Kurdish neighbors
Spotlight Japan By Peter Masheter, Spotlight Japan – Apr 4, 2025 – 11:22 | Japan, Spotlight
In late March, members of Japan’s Kurdish community gathered at a park just outside Tokyo to celebrate “Newroz,” or “New Day,” a festival marking the start of spring and the Middle Eastern ethnic group’s New Year.
Revelers in traditional dress linked arms to dance to energetic music in Akigase Park, Saitama, while kids played among the crowd. Stalls sold kebabs, embroidery and even books about the Kurdish community in Japan.
Revelers dance at the “Newroz” festival in Saitama on March 23, 2025. (Kyodo)
PHOTO:
People celebrate the “Newroz” Kurdish New Year’s festival at a park in Saitama on March 23, 2025. (Kyodo)
But behind the smiles were signs of tension. Notices cautioned against sharing photos on social media to protect the identity of those in attendance, while police lingered on the venue’s edges.
Just as Vakkas Cikan, a representative of the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association, wrapped up a multilingual welcome to the crowd, a man draped in the Japanese national flag emerged on the field.
“Cancel Newroz,” he shouted, raising a white-gloved hand and calling the celebration a “terrorist event that should be suspended.”
PHOTO:
Yusuke Kawai, an assemblyman for Toda, Saitama Prefecture, films anti-hate protestors while police officers stand in front of him, in Saitama on March 23, 2025. (Kyodo)
The man was Yusuke Kawai, the self-styled “Joker” city councillor for Toda, Saitama Prefecture. He is one of a group of journalists, politicians and anonymous accounts who have garnered online clout by spreading hate against Kurds, especially since 2023.
The moment risked a repeat of the 2024 festival, when altercations between Kurds, one of the world’s largest stateless ethnic groups, and their detractors marred festivities. It was a reminder of the hostility toward the community in Japan, estimated at around 2,000 people.
This time would be different. Within seconds, predominantly Japanese sections of the crowd rushed to drive Kawai out, some holding up banners decrying discrimination.
A mass of people and law enforcement formed around Kawai, driving him through parking lots and into a dead-end, far from the sounds of the festival.
There, smartphone-wielding supporters and detractors of the Kurdish community became locked in an interminable exchange of shouting and recriminations. A line of police stood between the sides and after a long hour, Kawai and his supporters drove off.
PHOTO:
Anti-hate activists demonstrate while police separate them from anti-Kurdish protestors in Saitama on March 23, 2025. (Kyodo)
“We’re here today to take responsibility for this discrimination as a Japanese problem,” one anti-hate protestor said after the commotion had died down.
A victim of online abuse herself for previously protesting a public appearance by Kawai, the woman in her 30s spoke to Kyodo News anonymously from behind a cat mask.
A resident of Kawaguchi, the city where much of the Kurdish community resides and which has become synonymous with online claims of lawlessness, she has been compelled to act, she says, since coming to the realization her neighbors are buying into the hate.
Her protest is part of a wider movement unfolding. Since late 2024, an anti-hate group has held “stand-ins” outside Warabi Station in the city next to Kawaguchi, sometimes called “Warabistan” for its large foreign population. Around 10 people attend the protests each time, many coming from afar to participate.
PHOTO:
Anti-hate activists protest hate speech outside Warabi Station in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, on March 2, 2025. (Kyodo)
“We don’t do this out of pity for Kurds,” one man in his 40s from Yokohama said at a recent stand-in. Speaking anonymously, he said it is part of a trend against hate since 2009 that first targeted the city’s Filipino residents.
“The targets change but the people spreading hate are the same,” he said. “I can’t pretend I don’t see it. We must stop other members of society from being subjected to discrimination. The only people who can solve this are the Japanese majority.”
PHOTO:
A man protests against hate speech outside Warabi Station in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, on March 2, 2025. (Kyodo)
Local initiatives have also sought to support Kurdish community members since well before the hate came to the public’s attention.
Tatsuhiro Nukui and his wife Madoka run nonprofit organization Heval, meaning friend in Kurdish. The group supports integration for Kurdish residents and helps children go to public schools. Since 2020, they have held a volunteer-led Japanese language class for kids and adults on Sundays close to Warabi Station.
“We wanted Kurdish parents to get more familiar with Japanese, as we got a lot of calls from schools saying they were struggling to communicate with them,” Nukui said, as the small class groups behind him exchanged laughter and fragmented Japanese.
PHOTO:
A child (R) studies at a Japanese-language class for children and adults held in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, on March 2, 2025. (Kyodo)
Few locals volunteered at Heval before the negativity began, Nukui said. It has received around 120 pieces of hate mail since May 2023, all from outside Saitama Prefecture. But Nukui said that on the local level, friction with the locals is nothing new.
“I’ve come away with the impression that I share some of the same concerns as some prominent anti-Kurdish figures. How we differ, though, is our approach to resolving those differences.”
“Japanese education for foreigners who come to Japan is almost entirely left up to volunteers, for example. As a society we need to think about how to include other groups,” Nukui said.
PHOTO:
A child studies at a Japanese classroom for Kurdish children and adults in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, on March 2, 2025. (Kyodo)
Some older Kurds at the class played down the significance of the online discourse. One writer in his 40s fled Turkey for fear of repercussions against his family after he produced work in Kurdish contravening Turkish assimilation measures.
“People with hearts filled with hate are cowards,” he said through a translation app. “I have known truly terrible fear, and forgotten what it means to be afraid. They do not scare me.”
Japan’s legal community is also helping shield Kurds from hate.
PHOTO:
A collection of anonymous hate speech sent to Heval, a nonprofit organization that helps Kurdish people integrate into Japanese society, is shown on March 2, 2025. (Kyodo)
An 83-member strong group of lawyers has submitted a suit for damages of 5.5 million yen ($36,000) from a male resident of distant Kanagawa Prefecture, who until recently had made almost weekly appearances in the city to accuse the Kurdish association of affiliation with terrorists.
Their suit builds on a Saitama District Court ruling in November, executing a provisional order banning the prominent anti-Kurdish protestor from demonstrating within 600 meters of the association.
The first hearing is April 23. “We intend to show the country this is unacceptable and not limited to the defendant, that Kurdish hate is spreading across society,” said Yasuko Moroka, a Tokyo-based lawyer.
“We hope it will encourage municipal governments to introduce a local ordinance against discrimination in general, not just regarding a single group,” she said.
PHOTO:
Vakkas Cikan (C), a representative of the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association, speaks at a press conference in Saitama on Feb. 12, 2025, regarding a lawsuit against a prominent anti-Kurdish protestor. (Kyodo)
Legislation discouraging hate speech has been introduced in other Japanese municipalities, most notably in 2020 in Kawasaki near Tokyo, where hate speech toward the city’s Korean population has been rife.
Back at Newroz, the rest of the afternoon unfolded uneventfully. While lamenting the inevitable unease, Mehmet Colak struck an optimistic note.
“Whatever happens, people like that are going to show up. But this year we could enjoy the festival and welcomed about twice as many Japanese people. I hope we can repeat it next year,” he said. ENDS
Yamanashi prefecture, in a bid to attract foreign (i.e. Vietnamese) workers, came up with a novel scheme: provide health insurance for the family members of the workers back home. However, this set off a firestorm of criticism because public money is being used in the scheme! Unfortunately for Yamanashi prefecture (and others), they’re in between the proverbial rock and a hard place:
Rural areas woo foreign workers with health insurance, cash / 「外国人優遇だ」批判の電話やまず 保険や現金支給…過熱する争奪戦
First the good news: 5 years after filing the lawsuit, he’s been compensated a whopping $770 for his ordeal.
Now the bad news: he died in 2023!
Japan court orders gov’t to pay damages over treatment of detainee
14-hour restraint by Immigration Bureau ruled not justified by court / 後ろ手錠で14時間放置「一部違法」 ペルー人男性が入管訴えた裁判
Hey, all. I got a big one I’m hoping for help with. Is there ANY way to get 永住権 even if I don’t have a 3+ year visa? I have been here 13 years now. I’m paid up on taxes, social insurances, I have a JLPT N2, work a non-English job, and yet have never gotten a visa longer than 1 year. I am quite tired of making yearly visits to immigration to get a new visa, so if there’s any loopholes or whatever, I’d really appreciate it.