The bankruptcy of NOVA, Japan’s erstwhile biggest eikaiwa school, is big news, so Debito.org need not amplify it much more (I try to give cyberspace to issues less covered). But for the sake of completeness, here is something from Ken Worsley of Trans Pacific Radio, courtesy of Metropolis.
The Fingerprint Issue is starting to hit the overseas press now… With information on how it goes even further than the US-VISIT Program it was originally modelled upon. Debito in Osaka ====================================== Japan to take fingerprints, photos of foreigners Washington Post, Friday, October 26, 2007; 1:04 AM By Isabel Reynolds, REUTERS Courtesy http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/26/AR2007102600100.html And Taipei …
In part four of her five-part series Tokyo Justice, NY1 Criminal Justice reporter Solana Pyne looks into the story of a man who finds himself swallowed up in the Japanese criminal justice system even though he’s done nothing wrong, bullied by police who want him to confess to a crime he didn’t commit. The story became the basis for an eye-opening movie in Japan.
Want a quick-and-dirty (and easy to understand) presentation on what’s wrong with the upcoming NJ Fingerprinting Program? Download my powerpoint on this subject (from a speech given at Waseda University on Monday, October 22, 2007) here. Spread it around. Show it to others. It’s all there.
Here’s a link to an online petition against the GOJ’s upcoming policy to fingerprint all foreigners only, created by Thomas in Kyoto
Some anti-fingerprinting policy cartoons (you didn’t get them from Debito.org, of course)…
Hi Blog. Amnesty International Japan asked me to translate their public appeal for their Oct 27, 2007 Tokyo Symposium, calling for the abolition of the November 20 Reinstitution of Fingerprints for (almost) All Foreigners Program. Text follows below. Sent it in an hour ago. If you like what they’re saying, attend this symposium. Details on …
「日本版US-VISIT」施行の中止を求める！10.27東京シンポジウム アピール 原文 どうぞご出席を！
Oct 29 will see a speech at the FCCJ by Barry Steinhardt and Makoto Teranaka on the gaijin fingerprint laws and what they mean and don’t mean.
Links to today’s Japan Times article, Sunday’s TPR Debito.org podcast, and notice of new articles appearing in Japan Focus and Metropolis this week. Also got interviewed for Metropolis’s podcast today…
You would think that fairness is the virtue of sports, but tell that to the Japanese authorities. In May, they approved a high school ban on foreign students running the first and the longest leg of a relay race in response to complaints from fans, a spokesman for the All Japan High School Athletic Federation said. The decision came after the federation received mounting complaints from fans that “African runners lead the race so much that the Japanese athletes can’t narrow the difference or catch up throughout the race.”
Information about upcoming Peace as a Global Language forum next weekend in Kyoto. I’ll be speaking on Saturday.
Two articles coming out next week, one Tuesday in the Japan Times on the GOJ’s flawed human rights survey, and one Friday in Metropolis on the Fingerprint Laws. Snag some copies! And let them know if you want me to write a regular column for them.
1) NEW MHLW DIRECTIVE: ALL COMPANIES MUST CHECK & REGISTER THEIR NJ WORKERS
2) GLOBE & MAIL ON GOJ’S NASTY IMMIG AND REFUGEE POLICIES
3) ASAHI: UNHYGIENIC FOOD IN IMMIGRATION GAIJIN TANK TRIGGERS HUNGER STRIKE
4) ASAHI: NJ DIES DURING POLICE “SNITCH SITE” HOME ID CHECK
5) IDUBOR CASE UPDATE: DENIED RELEASE, NEXT HEARING IN TWO MONTHS!
6) WHAT TO DO IF… YOU ARE THREATENED WITH EVICTION
7) TEMPLATE PROTEST LETTERS RE UPCOMING FINGERPRINT LAWS
…and finally…
8) FORTHCOMING ARTICLES IN JAPAN TIMES AND METROPOLIS
ON REINSTATING FINGERPRINTING AND GOJ CABINET HUMAN RIGHTS SURVEY
You know things have gotta be pretty antipathetic when even inmates have bad food (and food in Japanese prison, from what I’ve read, is apparently sparse but not all that unhealthy). But then again, this is not a prison. It’s a Gaijin Tank–where NJ are held indefinitely and not subject to the same standards (such as exercise, baths, time outside their cells, and–most importantly–a definite time limit to their incarceration) that people who have been formally sentenced to a Japanese prison will have.
Back to the food. Remember where we are: This being Japan, a land of foodies, it’s famous for being a place where it’s hard to get a truly bad meal. People are really fussy, and it shows in the marketplace. No professional in their right mind in the Japanese meal services lets quality slip.
It might be the effect of a captive market, literally, meaning no competition and no incentive for quality control.
Or it might be antipathy. Either this Detention Center’s meal preparers are completely shameless people, or they just don’t like foreigners and feel no compulsion to serve them properly.
Anyway, pretty stunning. Stop faffing about and fire the cooks already, Immigration.
朝日：法務省西日本入国管理センター（大阪府茨木市）に収容中の外国人約４０人が「支給される食事に毛虫などの異物がたびたび混入し、安心して食べることができない」として、今月９、１０両日にハンガーストライキをしていたことが１７日、わかった。同センターは今年４月以降、約３０件の異物混入を確認。施設内で食事を調理する業者に改善を申し入れた。
Hi Blog. I’ve been getting a lot of questions recently from people being approached by their employers and asked for copies of their Gaijin Cards. The MHLW says, in its link below: 平成１９年１０月１日から、すべての事業主の方には、外国人労働者（特別永住者及び在留資格「外交」・「公用」の者を除く）の雇入れまたは離職の際に、当該外国人労働者の氏名、在留資格、在留期間等について確認し、厚生労働大臣（ハローワーク）へ届け出ることが義務付けられます。（届出を怠ったり、虚偽の届出を行った場合には、３０万円以下の罰金の対象となります。） “From October 1, 2007, all employers are now legally bound to formally submit (by todoke) to the Minister of Health, Labor, and …
Martin Issott reports that Kansai Int’l Airport will not have an automated gate system for fingerprinting foreigners, confirmed, for 2007–and probably not even 2008. Which means, a 2 minute immigration queue up to now will change into a 2 hour one, each time you cross the border, from Nov 20. His conclusion: “So the message is clear, all resident foreigners – at least those of us living outside of the immediate Tokyo area – must complain repeatedly in writing , to MOJ and Immigration officials at the Airports they regularly use!!”
I sometimes post pretty mediocre articles on Debito.org by journalists just going through the motions to file stories, without much attempt at bringing new information or angles to the surface. In contrast, here is an excellent one that could probably after a bit of beefing up be reprinted in an academic journal. Lots of good information here, have a read. I think the reporter followed quite a few of our leads…
IMMIGRATION: JAPAN’S UNFRIENDLY SHORES
‘One culture, one race:’ Foreigners need not apply
Despite a shrinking population and a shortage of labour, Japan is not eager to accept immigrants or refugees
Asahi: On October 16, 2007, around 9:55 AM, a woman resident on the 9th floor of an apartment complex (Osaka-shi Nishi-ku Minami Horie 3 chome) thought to be a foreigner was asked by Nishi Prefectural Police for identification (shokumu shitsumon), in order to ascertain her Status of Residence. The woman received the police in her genkan, but returned to her room, and minutes later fell from her veranda. She died of severe injuries to her entire body.
朝日：０７年１０月１６日午前９時５５分ごろ、大阪市西区南堀江３丁目のマンション９階で、大阪府警西署員が在留資格の確認のため、外国籍とみられる住人の女性に職務質問した。女性は玄関でいったん応対したが室内に戻り、数分後、ベランダから転落した。女性は全身を強く打つなどして死亡
In this first-ever podcast from Debito.org, October 13, 2007–for people on the go who would rather listen than read. In this edition of the Debito.org newsletter:
1) FINGERPRINT LAW REVISIONS: CONFUSION, OUTRAGE, AND AMNESTY INT’L
2) JAPAN’S ANTI-TERROR: GOVT PROFITEERING & USER-FRIENDLY SNITCH SITES
3) LAWSUITS: ZAINICHI KOREAN VICTORY, VIETNAM WORKERS VS TOYOTA
4) UPCOMING SPEECHES OCT 22-27 IN WASEDA, TOCHIGI & KYOTO
5) IDUBOR CASE: HEARING OCT 18, BEERS AT THEIR YOKOHAMA BAR OCT 20
Scott Wallace: “I know many have written comments about the new fingerprinting laws for all non-Japanese reentering Japan’s borders. So i had a Japanese friend draw up a letter of protest. Here it is in English and Japanese. For the cost of stamp and an envelope i think its well worth sending it. Even if nothing is done, it’s great for our health just to let them know and get it off our chests. Nothing ventured nothing gained right? I have kept it to one A4 size so that it is read, points out politely why i think it the law should be removed or amended, and specifically makes a request. I don’t expect much but i do expect it to make me feel better. Feel free to amend it as you like.”
As many of you know, Nova is on the verge of bankruptcy and is likely already insolvent, burdened with massive liabilities from terminated and ongoing student contracts, and little assets since most properties are rented. Administrative staff were not paid on their most recent payday of Sept. 27 and have yet to be paid. Management has already said that teachers’ salaries will not be paid on Oct. 15 (tomorrow) and may be paid by Friday, Oct. 19. The situation for thousands of foreign and Japanese employees around the country is serious. In addition to unpaid wages, some are being kicked out of their housing, others are having visa problems. Meanwhile, President Nozomu Sahashi is nowhere to be found and refuses to file to the court for bankruptcy protection. Such a filing would aid all employees to retrieve 80% of their unpaid waves through government subsidies and to start to receive unemployment benefits (‘for those who have been employed long enough). The company is falling apart without Sahashi filing properly, the worst possible of situations, making it far more difficult and time-consuming to get our wages paid and onto the dole, etc.
Warm-fuzzy article from the Washington Post: “Hamamatsu was a natural magnet for the newcomers because its many factories offered entry-level employment and required virtually no language skills. Officials here like to brag that their community became the most “international” of Japan’s cities. About 30,000 of its residents, or 4 percent, are foreign-born. That’s almost twice the proportion of foreign-born residents in Japan as a whole. (About 13 percent of the U.S. population is foreign-born.) Most newcomers are from Brazil and Peru. They are offspring of Japanese who immigrated to South America in the early 1900s to work in coffee fields and take other jobs…”
Addition to the What to do if… artery site up at Debito.org, now containing advice from people in the know on what to do if you’re threatened with eviction from your abode (answer: stand your ground–they can’t evict you without a court order in Japan). Plus additional advice courtesy of the Japan Times, September 25, 2007, regarding union support, unpaid wages, Immigration/Visas and employment, redundancies, and unemployment insurance.
1) FINGERPRINT LAW REVISIONS: CONFUSION, OUTRAGE, AND AMNESTY INT’L
2) JAPAN’S ANTI-TERROR: GOVT PROFITEERING & USER-FRIENDLY SNITCH SITES
3) LAWSUITS: ZAINICHI KOREAN VICTORY, VIETNAM WORKERS VS TOYOTA
4) UPCOMING SPEECHES OCT 22-27 IN WASEDA, TOCHIGI & KYOTO
5) IDUBOR CASE: HEARING OCT 18, BEERS AT THEIR YOKOHAMA BAR OCT 2O …and finally…6) METROPOLIS’S MARK DEVLIN: “JUST LET THE DAMN JAPAN TIMES DIE”
Information on five upcoming speeches I’m giving between Oct 22 to 27 in the Tokyo, Utsunomiya (Tochigi-ken), and Kyoto areas in English and Japanese. Attend if you like.
We live in interesting times, where the GOJ is attending “Anti-Terrorist” profiteering exhibitions, making their internet “snitch sites” more user-friendly, and then reinstituting fingerprinting policy in ways designed to make life more difficult for NJ residents trying to return here. Surreal excerpts from online sources.
Chosun Ilbo: A Kyoto court ruled partially in favor of a Korean woman who sued a Japanese landlord for refusing to rent a room to her. A Kyoto district court ruled that refusing to rent a room to a person due to her nationality is illegal and ordered the landlord to pay the woman W8.65 million (US$1=W916) [about 110 man en, pretty much the average award in these lawsuits] in compensation.
Kobe Shinbun: Beginning October 1st, according to new amendments in the Employment Promotion Law, all firms employing foreign workers will be obliged to report employment conditions to labour offices. The goal of the reforms are two fold – to provide foreigner workers with job support and to help curb illegal employment. As awareness about the amendments is still relatively low, officials at the Hyogo Labour Department are eager to distribute leaflets to business groups. However, some have pointed out the danger that such reforms might invite new kinds of prejudice toward foreigners.
ブログの皆様、こんばんは。用件のみ載せてすみませんが、以下で書いてある面白い大前提ですね：『「働けなくなった外国人が余計に犯罪に走るのではないか」と心配する。』どうですかね。有道 出人 ／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／ 外国人労働者報告義務付け、周知進まず 差別の恐れも 2007/10/01 神戸新聞 http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/kobenews/sg/0000668949.shtml Courtesy of Colin Parrott 外国人労働者の雇用状況の報告を事業所に義務付ける改正雇用対策法が１０月１日から施行される。外国人の就労支援や不法就労の抑止が目的だが、事業所への周知は進んでいない。兵庫労働局はリーフレットを経済団体に配るなど周知に懸命だが、新たな外国人差別などを招く恐れも指摘されている。（高田康夫） これまで外国人を雇用する一定規模以上の事業所は毎年六月、在留資格や国籍、職種別の外国人数について、任意で職業安定所に報告してきた。同労働局によると、県内では従業員三十人規模以上の約九百十事業所で、約五千人が対象だった。 改正で、特別永住など一部の在留資格をのぞいた外国人を雇用する全事業所が対象となり、氏名と在留資格・期限、住所、生年月日などを、職業安定所に届けることが義務化された。留学生のアルバイトも含め、すでに外国人を雇用している企業は一年以内に報告しなければならない。報告を怠ったり偽ったりした事業主には三十万円以下の罰金が科せられる。 外国人の労働実態が把握でき、職場環境の改善や再就職支援に役立てられるほか、事業主に在留資格を確認させることで、不法就労の抑止が期待されるという。 神戸市長田区では、約五百人のベトナム人が居住し、多くが地元のケミカル工場で働く。日本ケミカルシューズ工業組合は法律の改正を会報で会員企業に知らせたが、「どこで何人働いているか調査しておらず、影響も分からない」。ケミカル工場の経営者（４２）は「不法就労をなくすのはいいが、その前に外国人の単純労働を認めてもらわないと、人手不足でやっていけない」。 周辺では不法滞在のベトナム人が摘発されることもあるといい、「働けなくなった外国人が余計に犯罪に走るのではないか」と心配する。 また、厚労省が取得した情報は法務省に提供する仕組みで、日本弁護士連合会などは「外国人のプライバシー権などを侵害する」と批判。「人種、皮膚の色、民族的・種族的出身を理由とした差別的取り扱いがもたらされる恐れがある」と指摘している。 雇用対策法 労働者の就労の安定と経済的、社会的地位の向上などを目的に、女性や高齢者、障害者などの施策の充実を定めた。１０月から募集・採用時の年齢制限の原則禁止なども盛り込まれた。 外国人労働者は、「安い労働力」として酷使されていることが問題になり、雇用状況の報告が義務付けられた。 ENDS
I had a fascinating lunch in Osaka today with four faces of Japan–a Nikkei Peruvian, a Zainichi Korean, a kikoku shijou Japanese working in the USA, and a long-term Peruvian. We compared notes on whether or not we would naturalize into the places we currently live. Their answers were enlightening, so I blog them here for posterity.
Debito.org “goes electric” by inserting a small advertising bar, due to financial exigency. My apologies.
Reuters: “In a homogenous country traditionally wary of outsiders, foreign workers are seen as a last resort to boost the shrinking workforce. Instead, the preference is to bring more women into the workforce, keep senior citizens working and even resort to robots — but experts say these steps will not be enough to fill the hole left in the labor force as the population ages.” And on and on in mass media retread mode…
Hi Blog. Another lawsuit against an employer for bad work practices. This time around, however, the plaintiffs are NJ. Let’s hope their efforts both make the labor laws more clearly enforceable, and highlight more of the problems created by treating NJ laborers as inferior. Thanks to Shuukan Kin’youbi and people at the Japan Times for …
Lots of frustration out there about the upcoming reinstitution of fingerprint laws. This blog entry offers an assessment of what can be done about it. Not much, but not nothing. Organize through Amnesty Int’l/SMJ this October 27, even crib from two protest letters included. Civil disobedience is not out of the question, either. Details here.
Some recent news articles and foreign government translations of Japanese announcements indicate that “long-term” or Permanent Residents will NOT be fingerprinted at the border from November 20, as per newly-promulgated anti-terrorism laws. This is incorrect. Yes they will, according to the MOJ even as of this morning.
1) JAPAN TODAY ON NOVA EIKAIWA MELTDOWN
AND LABOR UNIONS ON WHAT TO DO UNDER LABOR LAW
2) FOLLOWUP ON JAPAN TIMES’ FINANCIAL PROBLEMS: STATS
3) JAPAN TIMES: REINSTATEMENT OF FINGERPRINTS DEBATE
4) ECONOMIST: EDITORIAL ON ANTI-TERROR VS CIVIL LIBERTIES
5) BLOOMBERG OFFERS OVER-ROSY ASSESSMENT OF J IMMIGRATION
6) FOLLOW-UPS: J CHILD ABDUCTION ISSUE AND IDUBOR CASE
7) SPEECH OCT 8 AT OSAKA UNIVERSITY SUITA CAMPUS
…and finally…
8 ) HOKKAIDO NIPPON HAM FIGHTERS WIN PENNANT! AGAIN!
On Monday October 8, I will be briefly speaking both for ten minutes and as part of a panel (English and Japanese) at Osaka University’s Suita Campus, Osaka University Convention Center, from 9:30AM to 11AM. Panel will be on “Non-Japanese Residents and their Health Treatment–What’s Necessary in this Era of Multicultural Co-Existence”, chaired by Professor Setsuko Lee of Nagasaki’s Seibold University. Sponsored by the 22nd Annual Meeting for the Japan Association for International Health
Mr Feldman of Morgan Stanley Japan: “Immigrants are now really welcome… I see a very large number of Japanese people very much welcoming young, eager, aggressive people who want to come to Japan and make their lives there. We have now between 400,000 and 450,000 foreign-born workers in Japan. That’s not a huge number. But most of these are very young people, a huge number are from China… And quite interestingly, until a couple of years ago, there was a lot of talk in the media in Japan about crime coming in with these foreign workers. You see almost no discussion of that anymore. I think the immigrant groups have proven themselves to be very hardworking, very good citizens, and that’s helping the image of immigration.” Er, really?
Hi Blog. The Japan Times newspaper raised their cover price on October 1st to 180 yen. That to me is a signal (among other things, such as the slimming classified ads) that the paper may be in financial trouble. Notwithstanding the fact that print journalism everywhere is hurting due to the spread of the Internet …
Hi Blog. Interesting article on job security in Japan and what unions can do to help. In light of the recent NOVA eikaiwa labor market earthquakes (not to mention pretty lousy job security in Japan for NJ in general–90% of all NJ workers in Japan are on term-limited contracts, according to the National Union of …
Sorry to have missed this debate on reinstating fingerprinting for NJ only in the Japan Times Community Page last June. Since cyberspace is quite incandescent with outrage over the November revisions to the laws, are the pros and cons, by two friends of mine, Scott and Matt. Comment and links to historical articles charting this policy for years in the pipeline also included.
A Iranian has been acquitted of the indecent assault of a woman at his home in January last year, due to a court judgment of lack of evidence. Hope for the Idubor Case.
The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, *OUR* local team, has just won its second pennant IN A ROW in the Pacific League. BANZAI!!
As a result of the increasing number of international marriages, more than 21,000 children are born each year in Japan to couples of mixed Japanese and non-Japanese descent. Add to that the number of children born to Japanese who live abroad and are married to a non-Japanese. What becomes of these bi-national children when the parents separate or divorce?… There are no exact figures on how many children have been abducted to Japan. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports 46 American children have been kidnapped to Japan since 1995. That number grows considerably when factoring in children of other countries and cases that were either dropped or never reported. Furthermore, the U.S. government has no record of even a single case in which Japan has agreed to return an abducted child by legal means to the United States.
1) PREGNANT NJ WOMAN REFUSED TREATMENT AT 5 HOSPITALS 7 TIMES. IN 2006!
2) BIOMETRIC DATA MACHINES AT NARITA ONLY COME NOV 2007
(NJ FACE FINGERPRINTING IN THE GAIJIN LINE IN ALL OTHER AIRPORTS)
3) AMNESTY INT’L/SMJ FORUM ON NEW GOJ FINGERPRINT LAWS OCT 27 TOKYO
4) IDUBOR CASE AND THE DANGERS OF OVEREMPOWERING THE PROSECUTION
5) FUJIMORI FINALLY GETS HIS–EXTRADITION BACK TO PERU
6) NOVA EIKAIWA FINALLY GETS THEIRS–ADVICE FOR TEACHERS IN LIMBO
7) YOMIURI: FIRST TENET OF PM ABE’S “MORAL EDUCATION” PLAN SHELVED … and finally
8) STARS AND STRIPES: KOREAN-STYLE ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION
Coming up tomorrow, Saturday, Sept 29, from around 3:00 P.M. there is to be a general protest (kyoukasho kentei shuudanjiketsu) staged at the Okinawa Convention Center over MEXT’s attempt to rewrite history regarding the Japanese military’s policy of encouraged civilian “mass suicides” during the Battle of Okinawa. MEXT is pushing the view that it never happened. Scores of Okinawans who were there and witnessed it say it did.
Mainichi: A foreign woman seeking medical help in Japan after giving birth at home was rejected by five hospitals where officials said her Japanese wasn’t good enough and they didn’t have proper facilities, authorities said Thursday. The incident happened in August 2006, but was reported in Japan only after a similar thing recently happened to a Japanese too.