43 comments on “JT: Motley crew of foreigners backing Japan’s revisionists basks in media glare (with UPDATES)”

• March 28, 2014 at 7:21 am

  Loverilakkuma says:

  I wouldn’t be surprised to see some non-Japanese who make a choice to take side with rightists for defense of Japan (or Japanese political/cultural system). There’s no argument on Tony Marano. He’s a product of the old conservative South (you can imagine from his Texas drawling accent), preaching an idiocy like Ted Nugent and Gregg Abbot to please Tea Party goers and pro-corporate billionaires. (Yes, he also insulted fast-food workers who were striking against the owners over substantially lower payment.) I crossed him out already. He’s definitely not the right person for Japanese students to learn English; and certainly not a role of good citizen.

  Reply
• March 28, 2014 at 11:45 am

  arudou debito says:

  One comment at the JT I thought was insightful:

  “This is very interesting. A fairly large proportion of long time NJ residents in Japan basically support the racist ideology of the country. They do this because they are comfortably ensconced in fat jobs and don’t wish anything to change. A few post regularly on the Japan times. They are a big reason why I left Japan, as people who stay in Japan long term tend to compromise their basic humanity and compassion in return for an easy life. They support the racist treatment of their fellow foreigners as long as they aren’t affected. They have sold their soul. They have lost their humanity.”

  Reply
• March 28, 2014 at 2:18 pm

  Gary Beaubouef says:

  I take exception to the first post above based upon the poster’s judgement of an individual based upon his place of origin and his accent. The individual may indeed be ignorant, but it’s not because he is from the South or has an accent. Such judgement is just as wrong as refusing a person entry into a hot spring because they have blond hair or different facial features.

  Reply
• March 28, 2014 at 2:47 pm

  Don MacLaren says:

  Hello debito.org,

  Tony Marano states in the linked video above, “We’re litigation-happy in this country…” (he means the U.S.), and that a “liberal American” in Japan initiated what Mr. Marano suggests was a frivolous lawsuit over racial discrimination.

  If Mr. Marano is implying the Japanese are NOT “litigation-happy,” then I strongly disagree with him. I found out the hard way that Japan is not the harmonious country the Western-media still tends to portray it as, nor that the Japanese are reluctant to initiate frivolous lawsuits. This bitter lesson on life in Japan occurred when I was sued by the Japanese company I was working for. I counter-sued, continued working for the company and after nearly a year and a half in court won the lawsuit. Please see the story “My Life in Corporate Japan” in the link below for more details. (The company is USC Limited (株式会ユーエスシー), based in Fuchu, Tokyo.)

  The link below also includes a story about other lawsuits with another company I worked for in Japan, the American Club (アメリカンクラブ株式会社) of Utsunomiya, Tochigi. The American Club was taken to court twice by its employees for several months in unpaid wages. This litigation was strongly suggested by Japanese lawyers, the Japanese Labor Standards Office and a Japanese labor union. (Nevertheless, in the second lawsuit, the American Club’s directors ignored the court summons and didn’t pay back wages. Yet, when I last checked the company was still legally operating.)

  I would very much welcome Tony Marano’s input in this discussion, on this blog. I firmly believe in freedom of speech, no matter how disagreeable Mr. Marano’s or anyone else’s opinions may be to me or others – as long as the discourse is reasoned, well-informed and respectful.

  The link, with two stories about my time in Japan’s courts is: http://donmaclaren.com/don_maclaren_-_japanese_courts.html

  1: “Teaching English at the American Club…in Japan” (aka “The American Club and the Vermin of the Wilderness”)

  2: “My Life in Corporate Japan”

  Thank you for allowing me to make this post, Debito. Sincerely, Don MacLaren

  — The operative word here is, “well-informed”.

  Reply
• March 28, 2014 at 4:06 pm

  Don MacLaren says:

  Loverilakkuma and Gary Beaubouef,

  Mr. Marano informed me in a comment he made (in response to one I’d made) on the Japan Times piece that he is actually from Brooklyn, New York, but has lived in Texas for the past 35 years…As a former resident of both Texas and New York City (and a foreigner in Asia for over 15 years), I also take exception to judgements on people based on their places of origin, the places they choose to reside or their accents. I’ve known many fine New Yorkers and Texans, and my life has been enriched by them.

  In any case, I believe Mr. Marano is quite ignorant of much of what he criticizes, and needs to bone up on his research. A good place for him to start would be with this blog.

  Cheers,

  Don

  Reply
• March 28, 2014 at 4:57 pm

  Jim di Griz says:

  I think the key thing to take from the JT article is that these self-proclaimed Japan-loving-gaijin have limited Japan experience on which to base their ridiculous opinions, and are seized upon by desperate rightists as ‘proof’ that the outside world endorses their own distorted world-view, ultimately asking for money in one way or another.

  Any rational outsider looking in on them would correctly discern very quickly that they are bonkers.

  Still, they fall into the same category as ‘the other site’, so it’s nice to see that the looneys have friends.

  Reply
• March 28, 2014 at 7:16 pm

  Bystander says:

  It’s a sad reflection on the revisionists that for their years of efforts to win influential media people over to their points of view, so far they’ve only managed to line up one old man in the twilight of his career and an energetic “Daddy” in Texas whose knowledge of Asian history could be crammed into a thimble. But we can expect that they will keep chipping away at the facts and sowing doubt among those who don’t know any better. As Professor Deborah Lipstadt subtitled her best-known book — “The growing assault on truth and memory.”

  Reply
• March 28, 2014 at 7:49 pm

  Bayfield says:

  Could Pro Imperial Japan NJ be a result of a resurgence of far-right ideals in the west? It is quite coincidental in terms of timing that this article showed up not long after reading this:

  http://www.news24.com/World/News/Socialists-lose-in-French-local-polls-20140324

  Even though I am a bit off tangent and the article I read has speaks nothing of Japan, I find that many the far-right nuts in the west, that despite their seething hatred of non-European ethnicity, seem to hold Japan and the Japanese as exceptions and sometimes favorably.

  Far-right politics in the west has been on a major resurgence in the west recently, especially in Europe and I have a feeling that many NJ who happened to be suckered by Japan’s dream ideals may have already been influenced by far-right ideals prior to learning about Japan and meeting Japanese.

  One of the reasons why I think extreme Pro-Japan NJ may want to get media attention is to try to sell Japan’s homogenous society model back to their home countries.

  Also the way Scott Stokes throws around punch-lines like “democracy” and “freedom” in such a clueless manner is rather very typical of many far-right trying to defend their arguments. Actually he doesn’t sound all to much different then the typical apologist I see and read about on Japan Today comments.

  Could it be that far-right apologists are using this media opportunity to solicit the “benefits” of a homogenous society back home as a way to trick naive people to vote far-right parties in their home countries?

  Reply
• March 28, 2014 at 8:56 pm

  Jim di Griz says:

  @ Bayfield,

  Re: right-wingers abroad.

  I don’t think these NJ nuts are a product Japan’s rightward swing. There were always apologists, these apologists have gained attention from the Japanese right wing is all.

  Concerning global rightwards swings, I posted a link to a Slavoj Zizek lecture on YouTube here a while back. He has some great lectures about the failiure of western democracy, and it’s replacement with popularism and nationalism. He uses Berlusconni as a case study, but it is a perfect template for PM Abe 2.0.

  Reply
• March 29, 2014 at 12:02 am

  dean says:

  You will find that the most feverish supporters of Japan will latter change their tune once the fake affection and praise wear off and they assimilate into Japan. The affection they so desire and crave from Japanese is suddenly gone and they are back to square one. They are useful for comedy as they make fools of themselves, otherwise useless except for some neofacist Japanese propaganda.

  Reply
• March 29, 2014 at 8:56 am

  Loverilakkuma says:

  @Gary Beaubouef, #3

  I am not suggesting that the person is ignorant just because of his/her birthplace or accent. There is plenty of record that describes the ethos of Tony Marano(he uploads v-blogs on a daily basis to spread a lot of nonsense on issues related to Japan.) In another words, he proves himself he has no ethos. Guess who he mentions in the video above? Rush Limbaugh!? No wonder his behavior mirrors with a bunch of people spewing racial tirades and invectives against the national president, working-class, and anyone who falls into crack of secular culture of meritocracy.

  Reply
• March 29, 2014 at 6:39 pm

  FaithnoMore says:

  For what it’s worth, I had the displeasure to meet Henry Scott Stokes formally for work half a decade ago. He looked a craggy, nasty piece of work with an ego someone pumping iron would have trouble supporting and a sense of entitlement. I say this looking back because I looked him up later. He introduced himself to me as a by the way introduction and when he saw that I was nonplussed and not very interested in him at all, he gave me a dressing down (a professional in his 40s) about respecting your elders, etc.

  Who is this godawful fossilized asshole, I thought. Typical hack. If I were friends with some sort of sick nutcase like Mishima Yukio, I would question why. Just the reflected fame and power, like the little rat on the lap of Jabba the Hutt.

  I found out later who he was. At least he left a bad impression on me. I hope I never have the pleasure, but time I meet him I think I’ll just tell him to get lost.

  Reply
• March 30, 2014 at 4:07 am

  Mark says:

  Although not a foreigner, RandomYoko on YouTube uses the English language to pretty much drum up similar rhetoric to Marano – in song no less. I’d love to ask her where all the money went, as in the money her parents spent on music lessons. Below is her link to “Annexation Song”, her right-wing view on Japanese history and the annexation of the Korean Peninsula. She has a few like this.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUelX8kBThk

  Reply
  • September 1, 2021 at 11:17 pm

    Baud says:

    horrible, lame, cringe singer with unpleasant vioce, odd pitch with naff yet toxic lyrics basically a list reminiscent of Borat’s national anthem of Kazakhstan (“Other countries have inferior potassium”), wannabe rap while some plonker plonks away on a virtual piano.

    Its very similar to CCP approved China rap (oh, the irony, pot meet kettle).
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC47QOo-NwQ&ab_channel=ADVPodcasts

    Uncool on all counts. Yet, 57k subscribers. Kowai Nippon.

    And she looks weird. The eyes of a psycho. I hope I never meet her.

    Reply
• March 30, 2014 at 10:23 pm

  Markus says:

  I think the person commenting on JT that Debito above, saying “They do this because they are comfortably ensconced in fat jobs and don’t wish anything to change” has at least a partially wrong idea about the type of people who over-identify with Japan to the point they become defenders of foreign nationalists. During my time in Japan, I met some foreigners who would fit that bill, but none of them had a fat job. Rather, they were stuck in a precarious situation, teaching English or blogging about clothing stores in Harajuku, with no perspective either in Japan or their home countries.
  Most of them shared an irrational hate for their home countries and had “fled” them at some point. My personal opinion is that Japan attracts a lot of these “loser” personalities who are too socially awkward to build a life back home, so they start to build up a defense mechanism around an utopian idea of “Japan, the perfect country far away from my personal troubles”.
  An socially awkward Western person can exist in Japan without being constantly reminded of his shortcomings. It’s easy to see why such a person would even go to defend their personal utopia up to the point of ridiculousness – it’s the only straw they can hold on to. When they defend Japanese neo-fascists, it’s more a cry for help than anything – “look at me, I’ve been treated wrong by you, so I’ll join your enemies”.

  Reply
• March 30, 2014 at 11:12 pm

  Dean says:

  Mark,

  Thanks for that link. What a nut, but I dont think she is that rare. It can be argued that Koreans, Chinese are doing the same, but wow, who would of thought such a “kawaii chan” would be so indoctrinated.

  Reply
• March 31, 2014 at 2:08 am

  john k says:

  #14
  Markus

  Very good summary, hear hear…

  Reply
• March 31, 2014 at 3:06 am

  Jim di Griz says:

  @ Mark #13,

  I just watched the link. Thank you.

  Wow! She just doesn’t get it, does she? The whole ‘we invaded you to do you a favor’ excuse is really just an lack of understanding of what imperialism is. Again, this Japanese assumption that they can control the victims narrative.

  Reply
• March 31, 2014 at 8:57 pm

  Becky says:

  “An socially awkward Western person can exist in Japan without being constantly reminded of his shortcomings.”

  Nicely put. Or, as I’m fond of saying, “couldn’t get laid or hired anywhere outside of Japan.”

  Reply
• March 31, 2014 at 9:16 pm

  Baudrillard says:

  there is quite a long tradition of western wannabe Japanophiles pandering to a kind of self hating western diatribe and getting Japanese actresses (Japan Fetish, much?) to spout it, or is it vice versa?
  Here is one example:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahU-94ramjg

  The actress dramatically proclaims how she “doesnt like western way” (whatever that is).

  What if I made a movie saying I dont like “Japanese Way?” I wonder how that would go down.

  Reply
• March 31, 2014 at 11:36 pm

  Markus says:

  @John K (#16) Well, not really – just an anecdote from the type of wacky characters I had the misfortune to meet when I was still wide-eyed about Japan. I’d even wager to say that these people share the mindset of those Westerners who fly to Afghanistan and train in Taliban camps, or even the Breivik types who identify with the totalitarian, militaristic, and fascist aspects of East Asian culture. Are they all dangerous – probably not, because most never cross the line to leave the anonymity of the internet, but all of them have in common a personal history of actual or perceived slights in their home countries that made them look for something completely contrary to the culture they weren’t able to thrive in.

  Reply
• April 1, 2014 at 12:17 am

  Karjh12 says:

  Totally off the thread but what a great day for Japan as a” good international citizen”:-

  1) We accept the decision of the International Court of Justice to ban our Antarctic
  whaling program.

  2) We are now a signatory to the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction.

  Let’s wait and see how many caveats are chosen to be applied.

  http://www.news.com.au/national/australia-wins-whaling-case-against-japan-in-the-hague/story-fncynjr2-1226870210

  http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=events.details&year=2013&varevent=344

  Reply
• April 1, 2014 at 5:23 am

  Bendrix says:

  I imagine sheer racism and love of the attention they’re getting are also major motives for these types.

  Reply
• April 1, 2014 at 12:32 pm

  William says:

  I think Markus makes a fairly good point about the ‘loser’ crowd in Japan. These long-term Uncle Tom types in Japan are sadly telling Japan Inc. what it wants to hear — that those bad malcontent FOB foreigners are dangerous upstarts and threatening their way of life. I see this particularly among the American and British expatriates in Japan. Most are really negative about America and really pro-Japanese culture, to an unrealistic extent. These people cannot hear any criticism of Japan and engage in the like-dislike logical fallacy.

  To their ears, any criticism of Japan is criticism of their chosen identity, one of being the long-term foreigners. The “back home loser (BHL)” type seems to often be the managerial class at eikaiwa or higher up expatriates in Japanese companies. Sadly these smug charisma man style guys are ruining it for the rest of us.

  Reply
• April 1, 2014 at 3:13 pm

  arudou debito says:

  UPDATE APRIL 1 (No, this isn’t an April Fool’s prank): Marano gets a regular column with tabloid weekly Asahi Geino. Now all he has to do is spout off, and it gets translated into a language and culture he doesn’t understand.  I love how they try to directly translate his “god bless” at the end of the article.  Marano has no idea what he’s getting himself into.
  

  Reply
• April 1, 2014 at 7:03 pm

  Jim di Griz says:

  @ Debito #24,

  Well, quite frankly, that’s a dangerous development since he has no control over the translation and inherent cultural nuances that the translation will carry. Nor does he have to live in Japan with the consequences of the misinformed tripe that he spouts.
  In effect, someone who doesn’t know the first thing about Japan and NJ rights has just become the spokesman for us all, and he is going to trash us.

  Reply
• April 2, 2014 at 1:09 am

  Baudrillard says:

  @ WIlliam, its not just the Brits and Americans, Australians on a working holiday visa are very inclined to put anyone complaining about something in Japan as “whingeing” as in “whingeing pom”. A lot of Aussies have bought into the old “Japan, its all good” culture and as long as the surf is good in Chiba, then lets just focus on the outdoor activities….Especially true in the 80s-90s when USA and UK couldnt get a working holiday in Japan.

  Of course, if you are on a working holiday visa you are effectively just a visitor.

  Reply
• April 2, 2014 at 1:14 am

  Baudrillard says:

  @ William again, I ll challenge this stereotype The “back home loser (BHL)” type seems to often be the managerial class at eikaiwa or higher up expatriates in Japanese companies.”

  I kind of fit this description and no one is more critical of Japan’s shortcomings.

  AM I a loser back home? Well, I dont fit in. Or its just too boring to fit in.
  and Becky, Becky “couldn’t get laid or hired anywhere outside of Japan.”

  I must say that when I went back home I got laid somewhat less with Caucasians. but as you have raised this stereotype, I ll counter it with another; if I could find a local Anglo woman who wasnt “twice the man I am” then I am sure I would be happy!

  Touche!

  — I’ll approve this comment, but that’s enough. Tit for tat, so I will stop the division along gender lines with this comment. I have also said my piece about this in the past here, FYI.

  Reply
• April 2, 2014 at 9:12 am

  arudou debito says:

  UPDATE APRIL 2: Henry Scott-Stokes, mentioned in the JT article above, also admits that he can’t even read his own revisionist book, let alone write it:

  Oddly, perhaps, he admits to not knowing exactly what’s between the pages of the book that carries his name – he says he reads little Japanese and an English translation has yet to be produced. It was dictated over hundreds of hours to another FCCJ member, Hiroyuki Fujita, then brought to publication by Tony Kase, an old friend of Henry’s with connections to the LDP. “Tony Kase had the most to do with this,” he explains, but adds: “I have to accept responsibility for it since it is in my name.”

  From “The Revenge of History”, FCCJ’s Number 1 Shimbun, April 1, 2014
  http://www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun/item/332-the-revenge-of-history.html

  So like Marano, Scott-Stokes has no idea how he’s being rendered in Japanese. Seems like for some, Japanese language fluency and apologist/revisionist stances are inversely proportional.

  Reply
• April 2, 2014 at 6:38 pm

  Baudrillard says:

  thanks Debito, your thoughtful and conditional approval with a link to a piece you wrote before was a perfect response; because it was time to put a stop to the thread dumbing down into stereotypes about “what kind of person thinks like that”.

  My comment #19 was about a long tradition of western wannabe Japanophiles; there is no gender bias or job stereotyping here. (In this case one Edgar Honetschlaeger who does not even live in Japan, but just J apologizing through his rose tinted camera lens).

  Actually, there is a caveat to “long tradition”. I agree with your analysis that the year 2000 and Ishihara’s election was the turning point, and the opening of high season on foreigners. In fact the amateur movie at the link I provided was made that year, presumably it was becoming fashionable in wannabe J-arty circles to declare “I don’t like western way” (while filming/living in a western country).

  There is a subconscious zeitgeist linkage here; I was going to comment that Ishihara represents for some a continuation of the “J-rightism and unique culture as art, so it cannot be racist” line of thought inspired by Mishima Yukio (rightly or wrongly), to whom Ishihara sucked up to in his youth, and guess what, Mishima Yukio is included in the amateur movie in the link. Its such a cliché from the 80s and before, mainly because Mishima is widely translated in the west.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahU-94ramjg

  Sadly, in my experience going to any performance or play by Mishima is often ruined for me by the audience, whom seem to emit an atmosphere of sullen nationalism, waiting eagerly for a foreigner to appear (me) if they get the chance to engage in conversation, they can guilt trip into apologism for American war atrocities or trumpet their exclusiveness as cultural characteristic.

  Having said that, singling out the NJ in the crowd is not confined to the right. I had the misfortune to be singled out in front of a crowd of 1000 at CAY Aoyama by Okinawan folk singer turned DPJ politician Kina Shokichi on the basis of my nationality, and berated to “calm down American foreign policy in Yugoslavia”.

  The J crowd roared its approval. I just kept on dancing. I am not going to enter in a political conversation with a singer in front of his fans, on his terms. I think it just made Kina look foolish in any case, or at least naïve and detracted from his art.

  Of course, the “go along to get along” NJ would probably have agreed with Kina to get approval from the group.

  Sorry, I no play that game.

  Scott Stokes, as a “close” (sic) friend of Mishima, would no doubt go along to get along with this crowd. But I always thought he was taking advantage of his association with Mishima, and in fact the “friendship” would in fact sully Mishima’s reputation.

  I found John Nathan’s biography of Mishima more balanced and realistic than Scott-Stokes’s effort. One review of the latter rather tellingly notes as follows: “David said: He is a little bit annoying about knowing Mishima.”

  So arguably this whole phenomenon of westerners like Clark, Keene etc starts with western apologism for Mishima’s odd political views on the grounds that Mishima is a great artist, so its OK. Dovetailing with or descending from that we have Ishihara, a politician who dabbled in art (novels) who sadly was more successful in implementing retrogressive policies and making bizarre statements that harken back to the imperial era.

  We have had this argument before but Mishima was just play acting nationalism and anti communism as he was by his own admission a fantasist and a poseur. And he used his private army to indulge his penchant for young men. He was comfortable with NJs and desperately sought foreign acceptance of his work.

  Ishihara is more dangerous as he is an egotist who seeks the media attention he used to get in his youth now through provocative political action, the Senkaku purchase being his latest “stunt”.

  Hopefully when Ishihara goes, this odd tradition and distortion of Mishima Rightism as Art/Unique Japanese Culture, will die out.

  It was not taken seriously by the Japanese SDF at Ichigaya in November 1970, and I do not believe it will be taken seriously as a call to arms in the future either.

  Reply
  • August 27, 2021 at 3:43 pm

    greg says:

    Sorry. Have never said a word praising Mishima’s political views. Detest the man, and all he stands for.

    Suggest the anti-J s get their act together better.

    Clark.

    — By Jove, look who’s popped up from his bolt hole — it’s Gregory Clark! Our resident opportunist unreconstituted racist apologist self-hating gaijin xenophobe.

    What the heck are you doing here? You certainly don’t belong. After all, you’re the one who lacks much of a completed education to speak of (you certainly can’t do research; you even got the name of the bathhouse being sued in the Otaru Onsen Case wrong!). Yet despite this shabby record, you speak with the outsized hauteur of the entitled, White old-school Gaijin ( despite a life never measuring up to your famous father) and expect to be taken seriously.

    Not one to take responsibility for his own record, Gregory Jiji will even try to suppress journalistic research done on his little scams by fake-threatening to sue Debito.org, even for articles reprinted here with permission from the publisher.

    Yep, it’s the very Glegory Crark who believes “antiforeigner discrimination is a right for Japanese people“. Who wrote self-serving anti-foreigner articles so bad that the Japan Times had to quietly delete them. That is, until things got so real for him that he backtracked. What a day that must have been for you to realize that after all these years, beers, and profits, you’re still no more than a gaijin in Japan.

    Up he poops here saying nothing of consequence once again. Just thought I’d approve this comment for the larfs.

    Retreat back into your irrelevancy, you ugly little man. Nobody really pays attention to you anymore. They never should have in the first place.

    Reply
    • September 1, 2021 at 9:14 pm

      Debito Arudou, Ph.D. says:

      Debito here. Did regular critics of Gregory Clark notice that Clark himself had the cojones to comment here?

      See above. Just putting this comment here so it’s visible under new comments. It took a few days for me to get to commenting on it, so it got buried. Enjoy.

      Reply
      • September 1, 2021 at 9:45 pm

        Baudrillard says:

        I noticed, as he was basically dismissing my lengthy analysis of Mishima etc with an unsubstantiated one liner and he misread it anyway. I never said (or even knew) that he “Knew” Mishima.
        He probably didn’t.

        Reply
      • September 1, 2021 at 10:44 pm

        Jim Di Griz says:

        That’s hilarious!
        Thanks for pointing that out Dr. Debito!

        Reply
• April 3, 2014 at 9:56 am

  arudou debito says:

  UPDATE APRIL 3:  Now a second Marano column has appeared in daily tabloid Yuukan Fuji, this one dated April 4 and apparently out every Thursday…  

  

  Reply
• April 6, 2014 at 2:15 pm

  arudou debito says:

  UPDATE APRIL 6:  Debito.org Reader Don MacLaren responds to Marano’s accusation that litigious NJ are in Japan “messing up their legal system”.  According to MacLaren, despite numerous attempts on numerous fora, Marano has not responded to him publicly.  MacLaren’s video, then his comments accompanying his video, follow:

  
  Courtesy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exozeU7LplU

  Published on Apr 6, 2014

  Don MacLaren:  Mr. Tony Marano has published numerous videos on Japan, many of them sympathetic to the right wing element in Japan, which believes Japan’s actions in World War II were noble. He also posted a video called, “No foreigners allowed” signs in Japan,” concerning non-Japanese (people’s) feelings about this discrimination (regarding these signs, posted in front of Japanese business establishments) and a lawsuit that was initiated over this discrimination.

  Mr. Marano suggests Americans are excessively litigous, while the Japanese are not. I take exception to this as I was a defendant in a frivolous lawsuit in Japan brought on by my visa sponsor and employer. I felt I had no choice but to countersue (even though I couldn’t afford a lawyer at first). After almost a year and a half of litigation, I was awarded everything I wanted. I resigned my position with the company and left Japan. Please read the link below to read more about my time in Japan’s courts:
  http://donmaclaren.com/don_maclaren_-…

  Mr. Marano’s video, “No foreigners allowed” signs in Japan” is here:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6vCj…

  The Japan Times Piece I refer to in my video, where I first read about Mr. Marano is here:
  http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014…

  Debito Arudou’s blog/website is here:
  http://www.debito.org/

  The discussion on Mr. Arudou’s blog/website on Mr. Marano (and non-Japanese who support Japan’s right-wing element) is here:
  http://www.debito.org/?p=12215

  Thank you for tuning in. Please feel free to comment/criticize in a civil, reasoned way in the “comments” section of this video. Sincerely, Don MacLaren

  Longer version of MacLaren’s video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCvrAN3uf08

  Reply
• April 12, 2014 at 1:42 am

  Baudrillard says:

  Scott Stokes is an opportunist and toady of J-propaganda (well, they started using this word!) straight out of WW2 observe similarities between ““Japan is a country of rising sun,” he told his audience. “Joining hands together with the fellow Asian people who desire truly Free Asia, I sincerely hope that Japan will play a vital role for realizing democratic Asian unity.”

  and

  “1935 poster of Manchukuo promoting harmony between Japanese, Chinese, and Manchu. The caption, written from right to left, says: “With the help of Japan, China, and Manchukuo, the world can be in peace.” The flags shown are, left to right: the flag of Manchukuo; the flag of Japan; the “Five Races Under One Union” flag.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Manchukuo011.jpg

  Can someone be tried for revisionist treason 70 years on? It was a crime then, so surely it is now?

  Reply
• April 14, 2014 at 9:30 am

  arudou debito says:

  UPDATE APRIL 14, 2014:

  The pandering columns keep proliferating.  Now Scott-Stokes has a regular column in Yuukan Fuji (bylined “Wake Up, Japan”, this inaugural one dated April 15, 2014) where he calls Korean issues with Wartime Sexual Slavery “nonsense” and the Kouno Statement on it as “the worst” (sai-aku).

  

  Reply
• April 14, 2014 at 12:39 pm

  Jim di Griz says:

  Makes my f*ing blood boil!

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• May 2, 2014 at 12:47 am

  Fred says:

  Im trying to find a word that describes what this ridiculous looking clown Marano represents. I think he has experienced some Asian fever and is too ignorant to even realize he is in too deep. From the defeat of Japan that cost the Allied thousands of lives to present day Japan, there is a post war history that he never mentions. He seems to be ignorant of why Japan is what it is today, where he can even be allowed to show his silly self visiting Yasukuni, if thats his desire. From the immediate post war years of a promising democracy, corruption, yakuza, poverty, to the reverse course and installment of neo facist regime, there is allot to cover. Then we have madness of WW2, those responsible like Dr. Okawa and other madness. This guy needs to come live in Japan, learn the language and see it for what it really is.

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• May 12, 2014 at 5:57 am

  Jim Di Griz says:

  Dr. Debito,

  It appears that your concerns about Stokes being manipulated by the right have played out precisely as you feared!

  Here is an article that claims that Stokes did not know that the Japanese version of his book had had passages inserted into it to claim that he believes that the Nanking Massacre never happened, and that he was shocked by this! His Japanese translator was just kind of fudging together some comments that Stokes didn’t actually say. However, now that Stokes (on his deathbed?) is a darling of the revisionist movement, he has decided to back-track on the fact that he was shocked to have been painted as a Nanking Massacre denier in translation! What a twisted web we weave….

  http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/05/12/national/journalist-now-stands-by-nanjing-book/

  — I think we can coin a new word: “Scott-Stoking”, ger., usu. cap., the act of an outsider profiteering from the rich and powerful in Japan who crave a “foreigner” to legitimize their insular, revisionist, xenophobic, chauvinistic, and/or racist views.

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• May 13, 2014 at 2:38 am

  Jim di Griz says:

  @ The Doctor,

  Ha! Scott-Stoking! Love it!

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• September 1, 2021 at 10:50 pm

  Jim Di Griz says:

  Here’s a line of thought…
  The Japanese ‘religion’ of Japanese exceptionalism, the death cult nihilism of Shinto, adored by US right wingers as a model for their own xenophobia whilst Japan’s anti-women, anti-children, anti-‘western values’ place it way down in terms of gender equality and press freedom than many strict Islamic countries.
  Well, now the same American right wingers that were so enamored with Japanese racism are in love with the Taliban’s ability to topple governments.
  https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/01/politics/far-right-groups-praise-taliban-takeover/index.html

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