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Hi Blog. There’s a joke going around to describe this weird era we’re living through. Where somebody is fretting in bed about how things are, and his partner says, “Go to sleep, dear. It’ll be all worse tomorrow.”
Another development that qualifies for that would be the Japanese government’s decision to treat all foreigners as more contagious than Japanese, and bar all foreigners only from re-entry from overseas. Excerpt from The Japan Times (May 19, 2020):
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JT: Foreign residents stranded abroad by Japan’s coronavirus controls
Japan is the only Group of Seven member denying entry to long-term and permanent residents
“…The coronavirus pandemic has prompted authorities worldwide to introduce entry restrictions on border traffic. But regulations in Japan have sparked a particularly strong reaction from its international community, as it is the only Group of Seven member denying entry to long-term and permanent residents and has set no clear criteria for their return.
The approach has left many foreign nationals in limbo — those who had headed overseas in earlier stages of the pandemic are now stuck abroad and face uncertainty about their careers and lives in Japan, whereas those who remain here fear that leaving the country would jeopardize their future as well.
Amid the restrictions, a decision about whether to cross the border due to a medical emergency in one’s immediate family can be agonizing. For Kvien, joining his grieving loved ones and paying tribute in person was an obvious choice. When he left, the travel ban was not yet imposed.
“Let’s say it had happened one week later, I would have (faced) a huge dilemma knowing that if I went (to Denmark), I couldn’t return,” said Kvien, who has a valid working visa in Japan but remains stuck in Copenhagen, on Thursday.
As the virus continued to spread, causing more than 4 million confirmed infections, some countries such as India have even banned their own citizens from returning home in hopes of limiting transmission. But most developed countries, while urging locals to refrain from nonessential travel, have exempted legal residents alongside citizens from their travel bans, albeit under mandatory quarantine.
In contrast, under Japan’s regulations imposed April 3, all foreign nationals, including those with permanent residence status and their non-Japanese spouses, and those who are married to Japanese nationals, will be subject to the measure if they try to return to Japan from any regions affected by the pandemic…”
Read the full article at https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/19/national/social-issues/japan-foreign-residents-stranded-abroad-coronavirus/
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The GOJ could have said (as India did, according to the above article) that re-entry was forbidden by anyone regardless of nationality. Or else they could have put all re-entrants regardless of nationality in 14-day quarantine, as they did for the first several weeks of quarantine. But no. Instead, the Ministry of Justice decided that only foreign residents don’t have lives, families, occupations, etc. in Japan that matter and just shut them out. As if foreigners are somehow more contagious or less worthy of concern than members of The Tribe. Naturally, if foreign residents have some urgent matter that happens to be overseas, say, oh, the illness/death of a family member from the very pandemic that closed the borders in the first place, tough shit. (You see, family tragedies only matter if someone in The Tribe dies.)
For that reason, Debito.org awards a coveted “Dejima Award” (only its eighth so far) to the Ministry of Justice (particularly Justice Minister Mori Masako). Dejima Awards are reserved for only the most eye-blinkingly obvious and inexcusable examples of racism perpetrated by Japan’s racists and authorities. Thanks for deciding once again that foreigners’ lives simply don’t matter to you. Only foreign residents have to make the choice between exiting Japan and losing their livelihoods here or staying in Japan missing a life event there. How callous and inhumane. And oh so very typical of the cold-blooded Japanese bureaucracy. Debito Arudou, Ph.D.
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PS: Debito.org Reader Sven Kramer has notified me that he has created a bilingual petition against this stupidity that you can sign. In his words:
https://www.change.org/p/内閣総理大臣-安倍晋三-日本に生活基盤を置いている中長期滞在の外国人一律入国拒否を見直してください?recruiter=1094515521
Change the policy of generically denying entry to all foreign residents of Japan, including permanent residents, family members of Japanese citizens, and other mid- or long-term foreign residents who have their livelihood in Japan
An open petition to Prime Minister Abe Shinzō and Minister of Justice Mori Masako
Initiated by Sven Kramer, long-term foreign resident of Japan and spouse and father of Japanese citizens
As a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, many countries have implemented restrictions on international travel. This includes a generic entry denial of foreign nationals and requiring virus testing and a subsequent two weeks long quarantine from the country’s own citizens upon entering. In most counties, especially developed ones, at least permanent residents and eminent foreign relatives of citizens (spouses and children) are exempt from those entry bans, but not so in Japan.
Since April 3rd, 2020 Japan is implementing a very strict limitation on who can enter the country, after spending even a few hours in the by now more than 100 countries and areas which are designated by the Ministry of Justice of Japan. Only people with Japanese citizenship and special permanent residents (mostly ethnic Koreans and Chinese who lost Japanese citizenship in 1945 and their descendants) are admitted under the condition to test for COVID-19 and go into a two weeks long self-quarantine if tested negatively. Every other foreign national, including even permanent residents who have lived nowhere else but in Japan for decades and long-term foreign relatives holding spouse visas, is subject to the current generic entry ban. Foreign residents with their livelihood in Japan basically get the same treatment as short-term tourists and business travelers at the border now.
This unnecessarily strict policy leads to some dire dilemmas. For example, you live in Japan permanently or long-term as a foreigner while having still close relatives like parents in your home country. If one of your parents dies, you should be able to attend his or her funeral without losing your livelihood, but since Japan denies entry to all foreigners without reasonably defined exceptions, you lose your livelihood if you attend the funeral. If you want to protect your livelihood for sure, you have to make the hard choice of staying away from the funeral of some of your closest relatives. Cases in which long-term and permanent residents of Japan had been denied reentry after attending the funeral of a parent were reported recently by the “Japan Times” and “Tōyō Keizai Online” (links below)
There is one more major problem, and that is the separation of families because of applying the entry denial to foreign spouses and parents of Japanese citizens. If a foreign spouse or mother/father of Japanese citizens has to travel internationally for a very good or unavoidable reason (e.g. the above-mentioned funeral), he/she cannot return to his/her family in Japan because of the ban. If he/she was accompanied by his/her Japanese family members (because other developed countries do not only admit their own citizens, but also their foreign relatives at least when well defined exceptional cases apply), the current border policy of Japan can lead to family separation at the Japanese port of entry. This unnecessary and cold-hearted acceptance of forced family separation by the Japanese government is a major human rights violation and has to be stopped immediately. Japan is reportedly the only G7 member who does this.
To be fair, the official documents published by the Ministry of Justice state that in rare special circumstances or for humanitarian reasons foreigners might be admitted into Japan. However, those “circumstances” or “reasons” are nowhere well, reasonably, and comprehensively defined, leaving that caveat so vague that it becomes meaningless. Even attendance of one own parent’s funeral is not generally seen or being defined as a reasonable exception.
For the main reasons stated above, I think that the inclusion of permanent and long-term foreign residents, including even family members of Japanese citizens, into the current entry ban at the Japanese ports of entry, is just unnecessarily cruel and cannot be reasonably justified with the intention of preventing the international spread of COVID-19. It also has the potential to seriously damage Japan’s reputation in the world as a major developed country. I and the supporters of this open petition therefore strongly request to the government of Japan, and especially to Prime Minister Abe Shinzō and Minister of Justice Mori Masako, to immediately lift the generic entry ban on permanent, long-term foreign residents and non-Japanese family members of Japanese families, who have their livelihood in Japan and have to travel internationally for very good or unavoidable, well-defined reasons, and applying the exact same conditions to them, that are applied to Japanese citizens and special permanent residents.
https://www.change.org/p/内閣総理大臣-安倍晋三-日本に生活基盤を置いている中長期滞在の外国人一律入国拒否を見直してください?recruiter=1094515521
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27 comments on “Dejima Award #8: NJ resident returnees from abroad officially treated like contagion, barred from reentry unlike Japanese returnees. And unlike any other G7 country.”
日本が外国人の｢一律入国拒否｣を貫く大問題 長期滞在者や外資系企業からは批判の声
東洋経済オンライン2020年05月26日
https://topics.smt.docomo.ne.jp/article/toyokeizai/business/toyokeizai-352557
5月下旬、日本に20年以上住む筆者の知人は、父親がフランスで亡くなったと知らせを受けた。葬儀のために急いで国に帰ろうと支度しながら、ふと思った。「今出たら日本に戻ってこられるのだろうか」。
日本に住む、78万3513人の永住者を含む220万人のほかの外国人と同様に、彼も日本が新型コロナウイルスから自国を守るために定めた入国管理に関する非常に厳しい規則の対象となっている。
日本に家族を持つ人や働く人に衝撃
今後の通知があるまで、外国人は日本を出国する場合は、日本に入国できないリスクが伴う。4月3日より事実上、およそ100カ国の「リスク国」（欧州連合＝EUやアメリカを含む）の領土を通過した外国人は、経由するだけの場合も含めて日本に入国することができなくなった。
この措置の対象は、長期滞在者や、日本人の配偶者・親などにまで及んでおり、ほぼ例外はない。近親者の死や、やむをえない商談でもこの対象外にはならない。これは、日本外に家族を持つ人や、日本で働いたり、学校に通っている人にとっては大きな問題だ。
特に日本で働く外国人の多くは、出稼ぎに来ている人が多く、日本に留まるか否かの選択は生死に関わる問題である。
日本と同様に、ほかのG7諸国も自国の移民に厳しい規制を課しているが、それぞれの国に生活基盤を持っている外国人が帰国することを許可している。カナダでは、永住者の家族でも入国できる。 日本とは異なり、外国人の経済的価値ではなく、こうした人たちの生活がまず考慮されているのだ。外国人の運命を決定するうえで、法務省にあたる省庁の裁量権も、日本よりもはるかに限定されている。
「日本に住んで40年になる。6月中旬にはフランスに帰らなければならないのだが、帰国できなくなった」と、駐日フランス領事顧問のイヴリーヌ・イヌヅカ氏も頭を抱える。
水面下では、各国の領事館職員が日本政府に自国民の窮状を訴えようと奔走している。外交官が切迫した事情を伝えても、法務省は無反応だ。「法務省ではなく、意思決定機関でない外務省を通さなければならない」と、あるヨーロッパの外交官は言う。
長期滞在者にまで影響が及ぶ日本による入国規制は人道上問題があるほか、ビジネスや研究にも障害が出る可能性がある。EUは日本を含む永住者や長期滞在者のヨーロッパへの帰国を禁止していないため、不平等な状況でもある」と、別のEU関係者は話す。
長期滞在者と日本人の違いは何か
報道によると、出入国在留管理庁は、今回の措置はパンデミックの拡大を遅らせるためのものとして、自らを正当化している。しかし、長期滞在者と日本人の区別は、健康上の理由から正当化できるものではない。両者とも海外から新型ウイルスを持ち帰るリスクは同じである。海外から来る人々がリスクなのであれば、日本人も同様に排除されなければいけない。
「長期滞在者の外国人が日本人よりもウイルスを持ち帰るリスクが高いなんてことがありうるだろうか」と、フランス外務省のケ・ドルセー氏は疑問を投げかける。
同省は、ヨーロッパの他の外交当局と同様に、日本の一方的な政策に特にいら立ちを感じている。なぜなら、ヨーロッパに滞在する日本人の長期ビザ保持者は、EUに自由に出入りできるからだ。
「コロナ危機が始まった当初、日本の当局はウィーン条約を反故にし、外交官に拘束の可能性を受け入れさせようとさえした」と、ヨーロッパのある関係者はいまだに信じられないという面持ちで語る。
ヨーロッパ企業も怒りをあらわにしている。5月12日には、ロビー団体である在日欧州ビジネス協議会が「非和解的な」体制を糾弾する声明を発表している。「私たちは優遇されることではなく、日本が外国人を自国民と同じように扱うことを望んでいる」と、ヴァレリー・モシェッティ理事は説明する。
原則としてすべての外国人を排除する政策は、外国企業に対する日本の魅力を損なうことにもなっている。北東アジアの地域拠点を日本に置く企業は、日本国外へ出張させることができなくなっている。こうした状況が続けば、次に事業の地域拠点をどこに置くかを検討する際には、台湾や韓国を選ぶ可能性が出てくるかもしれない。
「外務省は現在、問題があることを把握している。しかし、法務省は外国人のことについては議論に応じてくれない」とある外交官は言う。
「ビジネス客」という曖昧な区分け
5月21日付の日本経済新聞によると、政府は「ビジネス客と研究者、留学生、そして観光客」の順に3段階に分けて入国許可を緩和していくという。
しかし、そもそも法的に「ビジネス客」という区分けはないうえ、記事によるとコンビニのバイトとして必要な研究者や留学生も優先的に入国を許可するとしている。一方で日本で長年生活し、税金を納めてきた長期居住者についてはまったく触れられていない。
実際、冒頭のフランス人男性は、父親の葬儀でフランスに帰った場合、日本に再入国できない可能性がある。5月22日、井上一徳衆議院議員は、外務委員会において日本に住む韓国人男性が、母親の葬儀で韓国に行ってから日本に戻ってこられない例を挙げた。
このときも法務省は、「特段の事情」がある場合に限って再入国は認めているが、何が特段の事情にあたるかを示すことは困難だとして拒否した。母親の葬儀が特段の事情に当たらなければ、何が相当するというのだろうか。法務省は早く何が特段の事情なのか明らかにする必要があるだろう。
安倍晋三首相は5月26日、EU各国首脳との電話会談で、「ハイレベルの協議」を行うが、日本における外国人長期滞在者をどうするかは、大きな議題の1つとなる。
著者：レジス・アルノー
As far as I know, Japan is the only country showing such blatant posture of racism !
No Government in the American continent (from Canada to Argentine) is doing something similar.
It is a 21’s century self-imposed “sakoku” that hopefully will send a clear message to everyone and people become aware of Japan’s tribalism and absurd widespread xenophobia !
International students beware !
In point of fact, the ban applies to all foreign nationals, making it ethnonationalist rather than racist. Some might see that as splitting hairs, but it’s not strictly speaking based on race. Are readers aware of anyone who’s naturalized and travels on a Japanese passport who’s been refused reentry?
Bill, take 30 seconds to Google the international legal definition of racial discrimination.
Here is the definition of “racial discrimination” for your convenience:
“… any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.”
I read that mail cannot be delivered to the US now. Can anyone confirm this? How long will this last?
According to this site by Japan Post international mailing service is so good as dead at the moment.
I have received mail from the U.S. about two weeks from it being sent from the U.S. on about the first of May. I have also sent mail to the U.S. from Japan assuming it will be delivered based on assurances from post office officials that it will be, albeit a delivery date can’t be assured.
I sent a letter to Vermont. It took seven weeks. I read that letters, postcards and mail for the blind can be sent to the US but that is it. I did get my COVID check in May.
I’ve mailed my tax returns at the beginning of April, and a Mother’s day card in early May. Neither have arrived yet. They are clearly lying on their site about what outgoing mail is affected.
. o O (Yes, anecdote, but still.)
Apparently business people will be the first group allowed in when Japan reopens; then students and researchers, and finally tourists.
No mention of permanent residents, long term residents or spouses.
— Source please.
That was an official press release statement by the ministry of justice some days ago. It’s also mentioned in the 東洋経済オンライン article.
The Dejima Award #8 now is even more deserved by the tribal Japanese Government :
https://mainichi.jp/articles/20200530/k00/00m/040/179000c
Brutal police discrimination against a kurd man in Tokyo led to a protest in Shibuya on May 30,2020. Videos are circulating online.
This article from the Nikkei Asian Review lists the three categories of people allowed with businesspeople and researchers getting priority followed by students and then tourists.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Japan-maps-out-how-to-begin-accepting-foreign-travelers
The Mainichi article quotes the Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi stating that businesspeople will be the priority but that it will be: “a step-by-step process with essential personnel coming first.”
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200515/p2g/00m/0na/098000c
Long term residents are obviously not seen as essential to Japan.
On a sidenote Japan Today has this headline::
https://japantoday.com/category/national/businesspeople-to-get-priority-when-japan-opens-borders-motegi?comment-order=latest
-but for some reason the article is no longer available.
— Thanks.
Kudos Debito!!!! This is definitely deserving of the Dejima award. I reread all of the previous 7 awards which are indeed gross violations of basic human rights however I would argue this is the worst; by far. This codifies into law the separation of families who are legal residents in Japan. In addition in many cases people who run businesses, have invested in the country, and pay taxes are faced with this dilemma.
Abe and his cronies desired to recruit “Highly skilled foreigners” to Japan. No “highly skilled” foreigner will bother investing in or working in Japan from here forward. There is simply too much risk and Japan is no longer reliable.
Just for transparency, I wanted to inform you that I’ve corrected a minor error that sneaked into the English text of the petition. In the original version that is also quoted here, I wrote that the SPR lost Japanese citizenship in 1945, which is of course not correct. I changed it to the correct year of 1952.
A great shout-out to debito.org for supporting my petition. Let’s make it matter.
I did a video about this last week see it here: https://youtu.be/kJ–WGk9Ke4
blatant racism by the JP gov basically
John, good work! If you have time and interest, I’d like to ask you if you could make a follow up video advertising my petition. All support no matter how small is very much appreciated.
Once again, for the sake of transparency, I wanted to inform you that I have added the following points of argumentation to both language versions of the petition. The last point is especially based on the constitutional guaranty of pursuing happiness, which I’d argue is unnecessarily impaired by the current reentry ban on family. I hope that this will give the petition a little bit more momentum.
– The number of foreign long-term residents, permanent residents and foreigners who live as relatives of Japanese citizens, is more than 2 million people.
– They are equal to Japanese citizens in regard of being part of Japanese society, and contributing daily to Japan as employees, teachers, business owners, or tax payers, to name a few of their contributions.
– Because of this, if they have to travel abroad for a very good or unavoidable reason, they must not be subject to the generic entry ban like short-term visitors and should be granted reentry into Japan under the same conditions that apply to Japanese citizens and special permanent residents immediately.
– One part of Japanese society must not be treated like random visitors even under the intention to prevent the international spread of COVID-19.
– Especially the reentry ban on foreign relatives of Japanese citizens is a huge problem, which is not only a human rights violation, but probably a violation of Japan’s constitution, too.
@Sven Kramer
“The last point is especially based on the constitutional guaranty of pursuing happiness”
I thought it was already established that the constitution of Japan does not cover foreign residents of Japan, only “Kokumin” – Japanese people. Is that not correct?
— Correct when the Japanese Goverment wants it to be. But not when the outside world is watching, of course (as in GOJ reports to the UN). It’s a matter of timing and venue.
@TJJ
That’s why I limited the constitution claim to the last point, where kokumin are indeed affected. The current regulation shamelessly impairs some kokumin’s guaranteed pursue of happiness of being with their family who just happen to have a different passport.
oh, OK, I see. But if they are safe in Japan and surrounded by other Japanese people then is it really that much of a hardship just because some gaijin are out of the picture? (I’m sure some people think that way)
Kyodo News articles detailing how Japan's coronavirus entry ban is disrupting the lives of foreign residents and how the MoJ might let you in if they think you are worthy.
I didnt ever bother getting permanent residence as I thought it wouldnt mean much, and now we see that in a bit of a crisis, it certainly doesnt.
Well, for a country that is desperate for NJ to come and pick their vegetables and toil in their convenience stores, Japan sure knows how to appeal…
MOJ is just looking at this as an opportunity to keep out NJ they couldn’t keep out before.
I don’t understand why anybody who is not Japanese would ever choose to live in Japan. I left after living in Sapporo for 10 years because, for a person who is not of Japanese heritage, living in Japan was not really “living”. All the things that Debito has catalogued over the years were abundantly clear to me and I made a decision that I have never regretted.
This is simply awful.
I’m by means a died-in-the-wool bleeding heart ‘lefty’ but I will say this.
Do unto others!
Australia ensured that its permanent residents could return, particular if they had immediate family in Australia. Why should Japan bar me from returning? It’s simply unfair!