www.debito.org
ON OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ISSHO KIKAKU
(Historical archive.  Originally Written December 20, 2001.
Updated 2006 after the deletion of several evidential archives.)

All three plaintiffs in the Otaru Onsens Lawsuit (2001-2005), Ken Sutherland, Olaf Karthaus, and Arudou Debito/Dave Aldwinckle (name changed after receiving Japanese citizenship) were members of group Issho Kikaku (http://www.issho.org). Olaf and Debito were active members (the latter serving as coordinator for several months) of Issho's BENCI Project (http://www.issho.org/BENCI), a group dedicated to collecting and publicizing information on the issues involved with the Otaru Onsens etc discrimination cases.

We, despite claims on portions of the Issho Kikaku website, are no longer members of Issho Kikaku, and have not been for a substantial amount of time. Likewise Issho Kikaku is not a party to our lawsuit. This essay is to clarify our standpoint towards the organization and its policies.

Over the past couple of years, Issho Kikaku and its coordinator Tony Laszlo have shown tendencies towards erroneous claims of copyright, censorship, and even plagiarism.

In terms of erroneous claims of copyright, as former coordinator of BENCI, Dave Aldwinckle wrote--with input and corrections from other BENCI members--many updates and reports on activities performed both as individuals and representatives of BENCI. Aldwinckle also maintained the abovementioned BENCI website for the duration of his membership in BENCI (1999-2000) in two languages. Aldwinckle was not informed at any time by Issho Kikaku that putting his writings up on the BENCI site would void his claims to copyright or future use, nor did he sign any document to that effect, nor was he remunerated for his writings or website works (although travel and some incidental expenses when collecting data were reimbursed, up to a year after the fact, shortly before claims of ownership arose: FOOTNOTE ONE). Under international and Japanese copyright statues (more below), this weakens Issho Kikaku's claim to ownership of the articles.

Nevertheless, when Plaintiffs Sutherland, Karthaus, and Aldwinckle/Arudou decided to pursue a lawsuit against exclusionary Onsen Yunohana and the City of Otaru, Issho Kikaku claimed ownership and denied permission to put articles written by Aldwinckle on the Plaintiff's lawsuit information site (http://www.debito.org/otarulawsuit.html). Moreover, Issho Kikaku refused to provide a link from the BENCI site directly back to the Lawsuit Site. (FOOTNOTE TWO)

The information therein is vital to our court case. Under a compromise, reached only after Arudou brought the issue up on the Issho Mailing List (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/issho/), we linked all of Aldwinckle's articles he wrote as a BENCI member from the Lawsuit Site back to the BENCI Site. Issho Kikaku, in turn, provided a one-word link, buried in the opening paragraph at the top of the BENCI index page, with no relink back to the lawsuit site from any of the BENCI articles. (FOOTNOTE THREE)

[ADDITION 2006:  THE ISSHO MAILING LIST ARCHIVES HAVE SINCE BEEN MYSTERIOUSLY DELETED FROM THE YAHOOGROUPS ARCHIVE.  FOR THE RECORD, HOWEVER, WE INCLUDE THE ORIGINAL LINKS IN THE FOOTNOTE SECTION OF THIS SITE AS EVIDENCE OF SOURCE.  MOREOVER, SINCE 11:39 AM SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2005 (i.e. AS OF THIS WRITING MORE THAN A YEAR AGO), THE ENTIRE ISSHO. ORG ARCHIVES HAVE ALSO BEEN MYSTERIOUSLY CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC.  WEBMASTER TONY LASZLO CLAIMED IN A POST TO THE "SHAKAI" MAILING LIST  (dated Sun, 10 Dec 2006 16:19:14, archived here) that "ISSHO Kikaku's website is still in renewal...Tending to a new baby boy is keeping the webmaster busier than he had expected".  HOWEVER, THE AVERAGE GESTATION PERIOD FOR A HUMAN BEING IS A LITTLE OVER NINE MONTHS, SO THIS EXCUSE IS INADEQUATE (A POSTER ON THE NBR MAILING LIST AGREES).  SHORTLY AFTER THAT, INDICATIVEVLY, THE SHAKAI ARCHIVES DISAPPEARED FROM PUBLIC VIEW AS WELL.] 

As 2001 draws to a close, we bring this issue up again because we feel the compromise has since been breached, by Issho Kikaku's actions. Not only have the essays Aldwinckle wrote been altered on the BENCI site (removing the onsen names which are part of the public record: Yunohana becoming "Onsen Y", Osupa becoming "Onsen O", Panorama becoming "Onsen P", etc: FOOTNOTE FOUR), alterations were carried out without notifying the Plaintiffs. The result is that some members of the public, as Arudou witnessed recently with his students, using website materials in a classroom debate, are unclear about important matters, such as who the Defendants are. This situation is clearly detrimental to our court case, so we have replaced all articles written by Aldwinckle (who, as uncompensated author, still legally retains the copyright) in their original formats on the Lawsuit Site. We have provided a link on each article back to Issho Kikaku as the original forum for this information.

We would also like to point out that Issho Kikaku is establishing a pattern of claiming credit for and distribution control over other people's work. This can be witnessed in a recent a recent addition to the Issho Website (http://www.issho.org/huesapporo.html). A special report on Hokkaido Hot Spring Facilities, written by the students of Hokkaido University of Education (not by Issho Kikaku--the university coordinator has confirmed that this report is a university project, not an Issho project), has Issho Kikaku claiming copyright privileges: People quoting the text must notify Issho Kikaku and make clear that Issho Kikaku is the source of information. This is highly questionable activity under Japanese and international copyright laws (FOOTNOTE FIVE). We might add that the discriminatory onsens in question have their full names up for the record without abbreviation within the report.

*****************

As for issues of censorship: Initially, before the abovementioned compromise, Arudou tried to discuss the issue of fair use and website links in public on the Issho Kikaku mailing list. Issho Kikaku's response was to change the mailing list to "active moderation". Any mails questioning Issho policy were censored, denied posting to the list, and told to be reposted either to a private and undisclosed list of monitors at issho@issho.org, or to a separate "issho suggestions" mailing list (which has recently been discontinued due to low readership and input). (FOOTNOTE SIX) We consider these to be unnecessary moves, moreover unhealthy for the organization's policymaking processes.

*****************

In terms of tendencies towards plagiarism, Tony Laszlo, a journalist by profession, has taken materials verbatim from the Issho Kikaku mailing list, without permission from or notification of the source, and used them for personal remuneration in a Nihongo Journal article, dated December 1999 (FOOTNOTE SEVEN) There may be some debate as to whether using materials from a public mailing list constitutes plagiarism, but there is no question in our minds that Coordinator Laszlo does not always follow the same guidelines he proposes for others.

[ADDITION 2006:  DESPITE THE DELETION AND OFF-LINING OF ARCHIVES WITH INFORMATION WRITTEN BY MANY PARTIES, TONY LASZLO THREATENED AUTHOR ARUDOU DEBITO IN 2004 WITH A LAWSUIT (see letter from Laszlo's lawyer here) FOR, INTER ALIA, "VIOLATION OF COPYRIGHT", FOR PUBLISHING A BOOK ABOUT THE OTARU ONSENS CASE ("JAPANESE ONLY", Akashi Shoten 2003, 2004, and 2006).  IN OTHER WORDS, NOT ONLY IS THE HISTORICAL RECORD BEING DELETED, THERE ARE ATTEMPTS TO CONTROL OTHER MEDIA'S INTERPRETATION OF IT.  FORMER BENCI MEMBER AND ISSHO KIKAKU CO-MODERATOR BERN MULVEY HAS MORE TO SAY ON TONY LASZLO'S  ATTITUDE AND ACTIONS TOWARDS "REDUNDANT" SOURCES OF INFORMATION HERE.]

*****************

In conclusion, let us make clear that we are sympathetic to Issho Kikaku's goals, and do believe in the good works of its members. However, we believe that we have neither been treated fairly nor equitably by Issho Kikaku for our past cooperations. By stating the above for the record, we hope that the organization will take self-diagnostic measures to cease this treatment of its volunteers and contributors in future.

Arudou Debito
Olaf Karthaus
Ken Sutherland
Plaintiffs in the Otaru Onsens Lawsuit,

Bern Mulvey
and former Issho Kikaku members

OLAF KARTHAUS'S STANDPOINT ON THE ISSUE (Addendum 2006)
ENDS

FOOTNOTES
(All information herein is current as of December 20, 2001. If followed links and enclosed text show differences, it is due to alterations to Issho Kikaku cyberspace materials after this date.)

FOOTNOTE ONE
(on expenses and compensation)

[Viewable at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/issho/message/1008]
From: ISSHO Kikaku <owner-issho@m...>
Date: Wed Feb 21, 2001 12:04 am
Subject: [ISSHO] NOTICE: Benci I, Benci II Financial Report

During 2000, many people sent contributions to
support the Benci (I) Project. We very much
appreciate those financial contributions, as
well as the immeasurable non-financial support
that has been given to us from people within
ISSHO network; without this support, none of
what we have accomplished would have been
possible.

We take this opportunity to present the financial
records of the Benci I Project and thus the current
financial status of the Benci II Project.

Benci's total assets before 11/7/00: 85,000 yen
(donations from the ISSHO network)

Olaf Karthaus expenses <1>: 15,266 yen
David Alwinckle expenses <2>: 23,100 yen
no other declared expenses <3>

Total expenses: 38,366 yen
--------------------------------------------------------------
Assets after payment <4>: 46,634 yen

Notes:

<1> Olaf Karthaus expenses (breakdown):
9/19/99 (First Onsen trip),Kotoni to Otaru round trip, 650 x 2 = 1300 yen
1/3/00 (Kakunin trip to Otaru onsens to take photos of the signs with
newspaper)Kotoni to Otaru round trip, 650 x 2 = 1300 yen
1/31/00 (Funatsu Conference) Kotoni to Otaru round trip, 650 x 2 = 1300 yen
2/26/00 (Otaru Kazemakase) Kotoni to Otaru round trip, 650 x 2 = 1300 yen
3/1/00 (round Table with Otaru city) Kotoni to Otaru round trip, 650 x 2= 1300 yen
4/8-9/00 (Trip to Wakkanai) gasoline: 8766 yen

grand total: 15266

<2> David Aldwinckle expenses (breakdown):

These are all JR Expenses (which do not require receipts--JR doesn't usually
issue them and most Japanese institutions--my school included--simply notes
them as established-price koutsuuhi and pays up):

9/19/99
Nopporo to Otaru round trip, 1050 x 2 = 2100 yen
11/24/00 (Meeting with Funatsu on Benci Business--re the Forum)
Nopporo to Otaru round trip, 1050 x 2 = 2100 yen
1/3/00 (Kakunin trip to Otaru onsens to take photos of the signs with newspaper)
Nopporo to Otaru round trip, 1050 x 2 = 2100 yen
1/13/00 (Press Conference)
Nopporo to Otaru round trip, 1050 x 2 = 2100 yen
1/31/00 (Funatsu Conference)
Nopporo to Otaru round trip, 1050 x 2 = 2100 yen
2/9/00 (Roundtable with Canadian Ambassador)
Nopporo to Sapporo round trip, 350 x 2 = 700 yen
2/14/00 (Roundtable with American Consulate)
Nopporo to Sapporo round trip, 350 x 2, plus subway 240 x 2 = 1180 yen
2/9/00 (Roundtable with Russian Consulate)
Nopporo to Sapporo round trip, 350 x 2 = 700 yen
2/26/00 (Otaru Kazemakase)
Nopporo to Otaru round trip, 1050 x 2 = 2100 yen
4/15/00 (Sapporo Kazemakase II)
Nopporo to Sapporo round trip, 350 x 2 = 700 yen
4/16/00 (Chinjou Submission to Hokkaido Chiji et al)
Nopporo to Sapporo round trip, 350 x 2 = 700 yen
4/24/00 (Lobbying Otaru Assembly I)
Nopporo to Otaru round trip, 1050 x 2 = 2100 yen
4/26/00 (Lobbying Otaru Assembly II)
Nopporo to Otaru round trip, 1050 x 2 = 2100 yen
5/7/00 (Doshin Debate between Takeuchi and myself, after a Sapporo coffee
shop interview 4/29/00, countable because Issho was mentioned as my (David)
affiliation in the article)
Nopporo to Sapporo round trip, 350 x 2 = 700 yen
6/7/00 (Seitou Chousa delivered to Otaru and Dogikai political parties)
Nopporo to Otaru round trip, 1050 x 2 = 2100 yen, plus Nopporo to Sapporo
round trip, 350 x 2 = 700 yen, total of these two trips that day equals 2800 yen.

Grand total : 23,100 yen.

<3> With the consent of Benci members, I (Tony Laszlo)
spent 4,500 yen to pay for a PR-related service on
April 20. In addition, he spent several thousand
yen during the period before and after the 4/20
Diet program, most of that being tel/fax charges
incurred while contacting Diet members and the press.

However, in consideration of the fact that the two
Benci members who made donations did not to declare
expenses themselves though they incurred expenses,
and because the 4/20-related expenditures were also
in ISSHO's long-term interests, I decided that
the 4/20-related expenses should be allocated from
ISSHO's funds rather than from those of the Benci
Project.
<*>

FOOTNOTE ONE ENDS

FOOTNOTE TWO
(on denying links between information sites)

Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 01:56:07 +0900 (JST)
From: ISSHO Kikaku <issho@gol.com>
X-Sender: issho@asong.issho.org
Reply-To: issho@issho.org
To: Arudou Debito/Dave Aldwinckle <debito@debito.org>,Olaf Karthaus <karthaus@...>
Subject: re: Benci page update
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Abuse-Complaints: abuse@gol.com
Status: RO

Dear David (cc Olaf, in keeping with the
format of your note).

Thank you for your offer to update the Benci page.
After careful consulation with the members of the
Benci II Project and other ISSHO members, I have
decided to hold off on that plan at this time.

The reasons:

* The material that you have sent us
contains items that were not achievements
of the Benci Project or ISSHO; many of
them are developments which occurred
after the project was terminated.
ISSHO and the Benci Project can neither
take the credit for, nor accept the
responsibility for these items.

* The material you sent has many
outside URLs. ISSHO has a policy of
not linking to outside URLS with
which we are not affiliated (this
policy is currently under review).


A remark:

We assume that you drafted and provided us
with that revision because you would like to
inform visitors to the Benci page of the
latest developments in Otaru, namely, your
most recent attempt to enter Yunohana and
the subsequent lawsuit.

In our future work concerning the exclusions issues,
ISSHO Kikaku plans to record those developments via
the report to CERD and on the ISSHO site. Information
concerning the post-Benci developments in Otaru,
including the contents of the Jan. 21st Benci II
statement, will be connected to the Benci page in
such a way as to inform visitors interested in those
developments.

Thank you for your patience.
Tony Laszlo
ISSHO

FOOTNOTE THREE
(on what links between information sites transpired)

Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 00:05:00 +0900 (JST)
From: owner-issho@ml.gol.com (issho)
To: issho-digest@ml.gol.com
Subject: issho V1 #1280
Reply-To: issho@ml.gol.com
Sender: owner-issho@ml.gol.com
Viewable at [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/issho/message/1025]

issho Sunday, February 25 2001 Volume 01 : Number 1280

subjects of the messages sent today:
[ISSHO] Changes to Otaru Lawsuit Website
[ISSHO] On the infamous link to debito.org.

Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 02:41:23 +0900
From: Arudou Debito/Dave Aldwinckle <debito@debito.org>
Subject: [ISSHO] Changes to Otaru Lawsuit Website

Okay, in the spirit of compromise, here are some changes that I tried to
make in time for Issho's Feb 23 deadline.

1) The information on Ana Bortz and Azumamura (which is sokkuri to that on
the BENCI site) I have taken down, and linked the English and Japanese
timelines back to Issho for information on legal precedents.

2) The timelines in English and Japanese, as well as the photo
substantiation page, have been revised with new information and completely
rewritten (not "doctored"), meaning there is no copyright issue involved.
They will stay up at debito.org.

3) The documents that are linked to those timelines are of two categories:

a) documents from the newspapers (those I scanned and/or textualized).
These are public documents and thus not Issho property. They will stay up
as is on the debito.org site.

b) documents and reports Bern, Julian, Ken Isozaki, and I wrote. I have
linked access to those from the timelines back to the same documents on
Issho BENCI. There are quite a few and I will soon be in Tokyo for a
stretch, so they will still remain up at debito.org but unlinked to the
timelines. I hope that there will be a link on BENCI sooner or later so
that people who go to BENCI can come back.

4) Photos up on debito.org are either public domain (halftones from
newspapers) or photos that Olaf and I took. Since we were never expressly
paid for the film or the development costs (check the expense lists three
days ago), they remain our property and are freely loanable to press
agencies and Issho as long as we are credited.

I hope this will be satisfactory. Even though the lawsuit website has been
up and under construction for a little over a week, we have since had 411
hits to the two timelines only (many more if you include the other
documents), or around 50 per day. This may be partially from Issho, but my
reporter contacts have also told me they have been using this information
assiduously for their articles. I say this to stress the points I have been
making--the need for one-stop shopping and updatability to a website on our
lawsuit.

Now would somebody please explain exactly why Issho has an aversion to
outside links, not just say it is due to precedent? What precedent?

Arudou Debito
Sapporo

HOW IT ALL TURNED OUT:
THE LINK FROM BENCI TO THE LAWSUIT SITE

(From http://www.issho.org/BENCI/ as of December 20, 2001)

"NOTICE
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination will review ISSHO Kikaku's Report on Race-related Exclusion in Geneva on March 8-9, 2001. At the same time, a number of Japan's Diet members are reviewing our proposal for a Japanese Law against Racial Discrimination. Please see the ISSHO top page and the archives of the ISSHO Digest for the latest news on ISSHO Kikaku's research and actions concerning this issue. The Benci Project came to a close in the fall of 2000. However, the Benci II Project, headed by Ana Bortz, was established soon thereafter, to pick up where Benci left off. The Benci II Project homepage is now under construction, but a statement made by the project group on January 21, 2001 is now available. The statement concerns a lawsuit brought against the Otaru public bath "Y" on February 1, 2001. The lawsuit is being filed by ISSHO Kikaku members Arudou Debito, Olaf Karthaus and others. Please note that ISSHO Kikaku is not a plaintiff in this case. "

In other words, the only link was the word "lawsuit". Nothing else nowhere else.

FOOTNOTE FOUR
(re issues of alteration)

Details of the censorship can be seen with a cursory look at BENCI's index page, at http://www.issho.org/BENCI. A sample from that page (current as of December 20, 2001):

"The point is that, as of April 21, 2000, things have changed for the better at one place but remain unchanged at the other. "O" has instituted a membership system so that people like Dave Aldwinckle (formerly of BENCI) can get in, but the conditions for being granted a membership card, as Mr "Oh" told BENCI on March 27, are 1) applicant's ability to understand Japanese, 2) preference given to people with families, 3) foreigners not coming in large groups, 4) the judgment of the person at the front desk at the time. Also, a Yomiuri Shinbun Otaru reporter found out that Japanese are not checked for cards, and Mr "Oh" said that people who were "O" members before will not be issued cards. Hence this is a membership system which applies to non-Japanese only.

As for "Y", things are unchanged. All foreigners are still barred at the door. No exceptions."

FOOTNOTE FOUR ENDS

[From http://groups.yahoo.com/group/issho/message/2078]
===================
From: ISSHO Kikaku <owner-issho@m...>
Date: Wed Dec 12, 2001 5:05 pm
Subject: [ISSHO] REPORT: Hokkaido Hot Spring Facilities (Jp text)
http://www.issho.org/huesapporo.html
REPORT:
道教大札幌社会学研究室調査報告書（ダイジェスト版）
Special Report on Hokkaido Hot Spring Facilities (Onsens) - by Students of the Sociology Department at Hokkaido Education University, Sapporo)
===================

where it states
「本ページにある意見は作者のものであり、必ずしも本ウエブサイトを運営している一緒企画の主張と重なるとは限りません。次の条件を守っていただければ、 本ウエブサイト以外での抜粋、転送、引用など（以下、再利用）は可能です：再利用の際、作者および一緒企画が再利用されているデータの提供者であるこ明白 に述べられること。２）データを再利用したい方がその旨を事前に一緒企画に知らせること。なお、一緒企画が国連へ送った入場拒否問題に関するリポートや同 問題の調査報告も、ご参考までに。」

BERN MULVEY (mulvey@edu00.f-edu.fukui-u.ac.jp) WRITES:

Claiming "Copyright" is not the same as claiming authorship. It is the act of claiming "the legal right to exclusive publication, production, sale or distribution of a literary, musical, or artistic work."

With regards to the study in question, while Issho does not claim to have actually done the work, it does strongly imply that it has attained copyright powers over its distribution. As this would necessarily involve both informing, and attaining the permission of, the actual author of the study (I have confirmed this with two attorneys), Issho's statements also imply a kind of relationship with
the author which, at least in this case, does not appear to have been in existence.

Here is at least my understanding of the Japanese (please correct me if I am wrong):

本ページにある意見は作者のものであり、必ずしも本ウエブサイトを運営している一緒企画の主張と重なるとは限りません。

The Japanese here states that the "Opinions of the authors on this page are not necessarily the same as those of Issho Kikaku, the operators of the website."

次の条件を守っていただければ、本ウエブサイト以外での抜粋、転送、引用など（以下、再利用）は可能です：

Here is the claim to copyright, in my opinion.

"As long as the following rules are obeyed, it is possible to excerpt, forward, quote, etc. (hereafter 're-use') the data on this site:"

再利用の際、作者および一緒企画が再利用されているデータの提供者であること明白に述べられること。２）データを再利用したい方がその旨を事前に一緒企画に知らせること。

And here are the two "rules":

1) Whenever this data is to be re-used, the ownership [literally "sponsorship"] of both the author AND [emphasis mine] Issho Kikaku must be explicitly stated.

2) Those wishing to use any of the data on this site must notify Issho Kikaku [and NOT the author!] to this effect beforehand.

Now, as you suggest, this can also be read as just a request for notification, i.e., a common courtesy. However, we have seen in the past how broadly Tony interprets Issho's "copyright" powers, including his threat to take Dave and Olaf to court for attempting to "re-use" a timeline they wrote and maintained solely by themselves (and without any knowledge that they were giving up all rights to it by letting Benci utilize the information on its website -- ironically, a website that Dave was running by himself at the time).

That none of Issho's claims to copyright have "any legal validity" has been of course my point from the beginning.

There's an interesting debate on this very subject taking place on the EFL-J list (an academic list mostly made up of Japanese teachers of English at the university-level http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/eflj/). The consensus appears to be that, at least according to Japanese law, rights remain with the person who actually created the document(s) in question -- unless there has been an agreement otherwise. See messages eflj-05450 to eflj-05469 for the pertinent thread.

While none of the list participants are attorneys, it would appear that their understanding of the Japanese copyright law is similar to my own.

Japanese copyright law（著作権法）can be found at the following site:

http://www.jva-net.or.jp/jva/copyright/copyright.jindex.html

As is made quite clear at this site, transfer of copyright (著作権の譲渡) is possible only under certain clearly defined conditions -- none of which appear to be applicable in this report's case. Go see for yourself.

FOOTNOTE FIVE ENDS

From: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/issho/message/1558
From: ISSHO Kikaku <owner-issho@m...>
Date: Wed Jun 13, 2001 1:14 am
Subject: [ISSHO] ADMIN: * ISSHO Digest - active moderation ||| * New List: ISSHO-suggestions

* In accordance with a decision made by
Ana Bortz and Tony Laszlo, the ISSHO and
ISSHO Digest lists have been switched to
active moderation as of approximately
18:10, June 12. This measure is being
taken in response to several opinions
from listmembers regarding the limitations
of the previous system.

* ISSHO requests that listmembers wishing to
post messages regarding ISSHO's policies
and organizational structure do so either
by sending them to issho@i... or by
posting them to "ISSHO-suggestions", a new
list established for that purpose.
Subscription information made be found at
the following URL:
http://www.egroups.co.jp/group/issho-suggestions

* With these changes, we hope to maintain a
higher level of quality information on the
ISSHO Digest, and also provide a forum for
people interested in ISSHO policy matters.

* We ask that listmembers refrain from posting
on the topic of ISSHO policy and organizational
structure on the ISSHO Digest. Depending on the
content, such messages may be blocked by the
moderators.

* The guidelines noted here:
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/issho/message/1550) apply
to the ISSHO-suggestions list. Revised guidelines
for the now actively-moderated ISSHO Digest will
be forthcoming.

* More detailed announcements will be posted
as decisions are made regarding the moderation
and maintenance of ISSHO-suggestions.

Thank you for your understanding.

ISSHO Kikaku

FOOTNOTE SEVEN
(re issues of permission and attribution)

Visible at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/issho/message/1038
From: Arudou Debito/Dave Aldwinckle <owner-issho@m...>
Date: Sun Feb 25, 2001 11:05 pm
Subject: [ISSHO] Response from Bern

(I am forwarding the following with Bern's permission.--Debito)

Tony Laszlo et al wrote:
(viewable in full at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/issho/message/1028)
///////////////////////////////
> Bern is a capable writer. His professional writings - they are
> his own. But in his recent statements he also has apparently
> forgotten who the above material and other material was made
> and kept (I count about 6 people/organizations with direct
> involvement).
///////////////////////////////

It is good to know that you still think of me as capable!

Of course I received language assistance in finishing the
Japanese drafts for Benci. I am not sure who the "6 people/
organizations" are, but I am happy to acknowledge all the
help I did get. This includes invaluable assistance from Ken I.,
a Benci member who gave me excellent advice on many occasions
(often responding after midnight because of his late work hours),
from Dr. Terao and Dr. Tachi at Fukui National University,
and from my wife (who had but recently given birth!) as well.
I am also happy to acknowledge that I received good advice
and moral support from the other members of Benci, all of
whom (despite this recent thread) I still consider friends.
Indeed, my beef is not with them at all.

I didn't want to fight with Tony either -- privately or
publically. Frankly, I did not even know Tony, Olaf, and
Dave were having this debate until this past Sunday, when
I started getting bombarded by messages stating that ISSHO
Kikaku property had been stolen. Furthermore, as Tony will
readily admit, I had been trying privately for one week to
get him to change his thinking on this matter, and only went
public when he knowingly quoted Olaf (of all people!) out
of context to try to make him into some sort of villain.

Olaf is not a villain. He asked Tony one month ago to allow
a link (with disclaimer) from the debito.org site and was
refused. Only then was a separate page put up at Dave's
site. This is the truth as I understand it. Confusion over
Olaf's language use -- he is not a native speaker of English --
can only excuse the persistent unwillingness to understand
Olaf's intentions so far. Indeed, given how much Olaf has
given this organization, this continued unwillingness to give
him the benefit of the doubt is inexcusable.

In this last post, Tony continues to accuse Dave, Olaf, and
now myself for basically stealing, implying that he would
never have done this himself. However, if you would check
his article in Nihongo Journal from two years ago:

///////////////////////////////
http://www.debito.org/nihongojournal1299.jpg
///////////////////////////////

and then compare it to my post to ISSHO:

Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 00:05:03 +0900 (JST)
From: owner-issho@m... (issho)
To: issho-digest@m...
Subject: issho V1 #802
Reply-To: issho@m...
Sender: owner-issho@m...
Status: RO

issho Wednesday, September 15 1999 Volume 01 : Number 802
subjects of the messages sent today:
[ISSHO] Re: issho V1 #797 Otaru Onsen
[ISSHO] Funny Survey
[ISSHO] Re: issho V1 #801
[ISSHO] Braathens again, Shitsukoi-desuka?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(snip)
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 12:58:31 +0900
From: Bern Mulvey <mulvey@e...>
Subject: [ISSHO] Funny Survey

I thought I'd submit the following as a sort of humorous aside -- to lighten
the mood, so to speak, as ISSHO girds up to do battle in Hokkaido. All
English translations are my own (so blame me if they are off).

Today, I was approached by someone from the "'99 International Exchange
Jamboree in Fukui." This is a kind of festival run by the local international
center here. Though it gets a lot of local publicity, there has been the
criticism that, while ostensibly an event promoting "international exchange,"
there has been little participation by foreign members of the community.

Well, the Planning Committee has decided to change that with this year's
theme. In their own words: "in order to increase our understanding of
foreigners, we are going to have as our theme 'International Couples,' and
we will hold a question-and-answer session with actual international
couples." (Taken from the survey -- Japanese original at bottom).

As an "international couple," my wife and I were asked both to participate
in the question-and-answer session and to fill out the survey below. Note
the leading nature of the questions (the actual Japanese version -- included
at the end -- is even worse):

SURVEY QUESTIONS

1)How did you meet your partner?

2)Why did you choose to marry your partner? At that time, had you made
comparisons with prospective partners from your own country?

3)Tell us about the hardships you have had up to now (for instance, with
procedures, opposition from your families).

4)Were the marriage-related procedures difficult? If yes, give us examples.

5)Did your families oppose your marriage? If yes, give us examples.

6)What is the most troubling thing right now for you (for example, your
partner's different way of thinking or your mutual language problems)?

7)In what ways has your image of marriage changed since you married? (Are
there good things about having married your partner?)

8)Finally, for international couples in general, what do you think are the
most important things to keep in mind?

Wow, don't you just love the positive spin put on the whole process? My wife
laughed when I read the questions to her over the phone. I especially like
the parenthetical remarks, including how the one positive question (about
"good things") is included only as a parenthetical tag to another question!
Also, what about those of us who speak Japanese and get along with our
in-laws? Not interesting, I guess....

As for the question-and-answer session itself, the person who delivered this
survey to me described it as a "good opportunity for you to tell Japanese
people what it is like to be a foreigner. For example, how you can't
eat fish"(!?). Not sure exactly what she meant by that (he writes as he
munches on some Lawson's sushi), but still, can't wait!

Below is the original survey in its entirety. Any mistakes in the Japanese
(and there appear, to this non-native speaker at least, to be several) are
the responsibility of the Japanese individuals who wrote it.

アンケート

’９９国際交流ジャンボリー・イン福井が、国際交流会館において、この秋の
１０月２３日（土）、２４（日）に開催される予定です。

今回は、より外国の方との理解を深めるため、『国際カップル』と題し、実際の
国際カップルを中心に意見交換会を行います。当日の皆さんの参加を多数お待ち
しております。
お手数ですが、国際カップルについてアンケートを取りたいと思いますので、下記
の質問に回答して下さい。
１）どういうきっかけでつきあうようになりましたか？
２）なぜ結婚を決心したか理由を答えて下さい。又、その時、自分の国の人との
　　比較はありませんでしたか？
３）結婚に至るまでの苦労について、教えて下さい。（手続き、家族等の反対）
４）結婚の手続きは大変でしたか？　はいと答えた方は、何が大変だったのか答えて
　　下さい。
５）家族等の反対はありましたか？　はいと答えた方は、どのような反対があったの
　　か、答えて下さい。
６）今一番何に困っていますか？（相手との考え方の違い、言葉など）
７）自分がイメージした結婚との違いは何でしたか？（相手と結婚して良かったこ
　　とは？）
８）最後に、国際カップルに大切なことは何だと思いますか？
///////////////////////////////
ends

You will find that the idea, and much of the contents,
are the same. Furthermore, by quoting the contents to
the extent he did, he got me in trouble. Indeed, as I
do not read Nihongo Journal, the only reason I found
out about it was when I got an angry call from the local
Kokusai Kouryuu Kaikan from someone who had read the
piece, recognized the writing, and knew I had to be
the source of it. (Basically, she wanted to know
why, considering that the problem -- there had been
a heated confrontation over this survey -- had been
resolved in September, there were still articles
appearing on this issue in December.)

Did I freak out -- no. I confronted him in a nice
private note, he apologized (kind of), and we moved
on. You can see this apology at the end of this post.

Are stealing from a webpage and stealing from a monitored
list (even for a paid article) the same? No, they are not.
I think my reaction to him, however, is instructive.
We worked it out like adults. There were no threats
or ultimatums, we compromised, forgave, and moved on.

With one exception, everyone on both sides of this
stupid debate have been begging for weeks for compromise.
Indeed, the plaintiffs (as far as I can tell) would
have been satisfied with just the link (with disclaimer,
of course) from the beginning. Now, judging from Tony's
latest post, it looks like compromise along these lines
will finally be achieved. My only regret is that it
has been such a long, and such a painful, process.

Bern Mulvey

///////////////////////////////
> > Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2000 09:04:39 +0900
> > To:Tony Laszlo <laszlo@g...>
> > From:Bern Mulvey <mulvey@e...>
> > Subject:Re: Kokusai Kekkon Kappuru
> >
> > Wasn't irked about you doing the article, though do wish you could
> > have done more to hide the fact that it was about Fukui. As it
> > stands now, I found out about the article through an angry phone
> > call/fax from someone in the Fukui Kokusai Kouryuu Kaikan. As the
> > questions were direct quotes from the Fukui survey, and as much of
> > your position mirrored two talks I gave on the topic (FYI, they
> > ended up changing the event to something much more palatable),
> > it seems to have been assumed that I was your source.
> >
> > I told them I had never heard of you, and that your piece must
> > have been about another city. That seems to have satisfied them.
> >
> > Bern
> >
> >
> > At 19:08 00/01/21 +0900, Tony Laszlo wrote:
> > >
> > > Ah.
> > > I hope you weren't unpleasantly surprised.
> > > I recall thinking I should mention my intentions
> > > to you before writing.
> > > Don't suppose I did, did I?
> >
///////////////////////////////
(snip)
===================================
Responses and further discussion on this issue at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/issho/message/1040
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/issho/message/1045
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/issho/message/1046
FOOTNOTE SEVEN ENDS

OLAF'S STANDPOINT ON THE ISSUE

Subject:
My standpoint of the Debito.org site
Date:
Wed, 21 Feb 2001 12:19:06 +0900 (with amendments made on Dec 23, 2006)
From:
olaf@debito.org
To:
project@issho.org

Dear Project members,

two days ago Tony called me on the phone and requested a statement of my
standpoint towards the debito.org site.
That very evening I sat down and wrote a few lines.
The next morning, however, I decided not to send it, since Tony made
this request inofficially via phone. I send an email to him that I would
make a statement if it is requested by the Benci II project leader via
email.
This official request has not been made.

Nevertheless, after the recent email of Ana Bortz and Tony Laszlo to
Dave, Ken and me, (Footnote1) I feel that I should send it out anyway,
with some minor corrections that I made today.

This morning I scrolled the Issho pages and I found something that made
me think and that I want to remind you of (Footnote2)

I am very (and I mean very) disappointed of the reaction of the Issho
kikaku head and the Benci II members (I asssume that the Benci II
members have the same standpoint on this issue as Tony, since I did not
receive any information otherwise. Nobody contacted me on that matter,
except Tony), and the way they handled the situation. Don't you think
that this issue couln't have been solved in a more friendly way?

It seems that a whole world can change in 16 months. Well, I have to
accept it.
I have been through worse recently, thus this episode will just be a
little 'dip' in my emotional rollercoaster.

Olaf

*********
written Feb. 19, 2001

Dear all,
(by the way, if you don't mind, may I ask who the benci II members are?
It would make me feel much better if I knew to whom I am talking to)

[part of the email deleted on May 29th , 2001]

Thus why, here I am adding my motivations for suing:
I am suing Yuunohana and Otaru City because I feel that it is the right
thing to do. I am doing this not only for my future but also and
foremost for the future of my children.
Last but not least, I am suing because my anger against Yuunohana for
refusing Daniel the entry, against the city of Otaru for doing not
enough to protect my children is not over yet. What I am most
disappointed about, and I should know better, is that Daniel did not
live long enough to see a satisfying solution to the problem.
I should know better, because the place where he is now, he possibly
couldn't care less about an Onsen. In my understanding of heaven, he is
still an individual with knowledge about his earthly life and emotions
for the people he knew. I think he cares about me, and maybe disapproves
what I am doing. But he also knows that I can't do any other way.

I am at a point in my life, where I care much less about what people
think or say about me than before.
Do what you think you have to do. Take actions that you think that are
appropriate.
But please try to understand my point of view. I need a free back. I
can't fight at two fronts at the same time.

I expected more support from Issho Kikaku, benci II and their members
for our lawsuit. Of course you can say that writing a letter of support
(for which I am very thankful!) and burying a link to David's page in
the writings section of Issho is enough support.
I am not in a position to argue against this decision, but I *expected*
more support.
There were barely any personal emails to me wishing me luck, or giving
me encouragement for our lawsuit.

I think that I know most benci II members as friends. I wish it could
stay like this.

Olaf

"Hier stehe ich und kann nicht anders" Martin Luther
(Here I stand, and can do nothing else [my translation])

*************

*****Footnote1

[Amendment made on Dec 23, 2006. Because of privacy concerns I am not
allowed to quote the email from Tony Lazlo in verbatim.
The email was sent to me, Arudou Debito, and Ken Sutherland on
Feb. 21, 2001.

In this email Tony Lazlo said that material from benci project were on
the debito.org site in violoation of Issho guidelines.
He strongly requested that the material has to me removed within two days.]
*****end of footnote1

*****Footnote2

The Benci Project which ISSHO Kikaku initiated in 1999 was led to a
point of completion in
2000 by David Aldwinckle and Olaf Karthaus who were very active as
ISSHO's Hokkaido
representatives. In this project, major roles were also played by Julian
CHAPPLE, Anna and
Ken ISOZAKI, Richard CURTIS, Ana BORTZ and Bern MULVEY. Special thanks
go to
David ALDWINCKLE for the herculean efforts he put into the Benci Project
web page and into
press relations, among his other feats.

*****end of footnote2 1

ESSAY ON PLAINTIFFS' STANDPOINT TOWARDS ISSHO KIKAKU ENDS