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debito.org
debito.org
2016
Roger Schreffler: Fukushima Official Disaster Report E/J translation differences: Blaming “Japanese culture” an “invention” of PR manager Kurokawa Kiyoshi, not in Japanese version (which references TEPCO’s corporate culture) (UPDATED)original ↗
8 Mar 2016
Kyodo: Kyoto taxis specializing in foreign tourists begin one-year trial. Separate taxi stands? What’s next: separate hotels?original ↗
5 Mar 2016
Sankei column by Okabe Noburu suggesting Japanese language tests for foreign correspondent visas, to weed out their “anti-Japan” biasesoriginal ↗
29 Feb 2016
Tangent: McNeill in No.1 Shimbun: “Into the Valley of the Trolls”: Is ignoring them really an effective strategy?original ↗
26 Feb 2016
Nagoya anonymous neighborhood poster warning of crime that “may have been committed by foreigners”: vigilantism that should be officially discouraged, but no.original ↗
21 Feb 2016
ABC News Australia: Video on PM Abe’s secretive and ultra-conservative organization “Nippon Kaigi”original ↗
17 Feb 2016
ALTs (“outsourced” English teachers) earning slave wages (or less) working for Japanese public schools (plus an aside on odd Japan Times editorial bias)original ↗
13 Feb 2016
Ben Shearon on RetireJapan, helping people living in Japan learn more about personal finance, investing, readying for retirementoriginal ↗
9 Feb 2016
JT: Japan’s public baths hope foreign tourists and residents will keep taps running; oh, the irony!original ↗
7 Feb 2016
Asahi: Survey: Discrimination encountered by 42% of foreign residents in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward; Asahi wants NJ resident opinionsoriginal ↗
3 Feb 2016
My Japan Times JBC 95, “Osaka’s move on hate speech should be just the first step” Feb. 1, 2016original ↗
30 Jan 2016
O’Day in APJ: Japan Focus: “Differentiating SEALDs from Freeters, and Precariats: the politics of youth movements in contemporary Japan”original ↗
28 Jan 2016
JT on corporate threats to student activists’ futures (SEALDs in particular); this is probably why they suddenly turned cravenoriginal ↗
25 Jan 2016
Suraj Case: Tokyo High Court rules Immigration Bureau not responsible for killing him during deportationoriginal ↗
21 Jan 2016
HJ on Mainichi article on “Preventing Illegal Hires of Foreigners”; what about campaigns to prevent illegal ABUSES of foreign workers?original ↗
17 Jan 2016
11 Jan 2016
JT: Sakanaka argues success of ‘Abenomics’ hinges on immigration policy (old article from May 2014; not much has changed)original ↗
8 Jan 2016
Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE 94 Annual Top Ten: “Battles over history, the media and the message scar 2015”, Jan. 3, 2016original ↗
3 Jan 2016
Happy New Year 2016: “Embedded Racism” makes TUJ Prof Jeff Kingston’s “Recommended Readings” for 2015original ↗
2 Jan 2016
2015
Asahi: Justice Ministry issues first-ever hate speech advisory to Sakurai Makoto, ex-leader of xenophobic Zaitokukai grouporiginal ↗
30 Dec 2015
Asahi: Immigration Bureau inundated with e-mails “snitching on” Korean nationals, suspends program after nearly 12 years of snitchingoriginal ↗
28 Dec 2015
The Year in Quotes: “Much jaw-jaw about war-war” (my latest for the JT), Foreign Element column, Dec. 23, 2015original ↗
23 Dec 2015
JT on Japan’s Brave Blossoms rugby team: “Imagining a Japan that thinks beyond blood and binary distinctions”original ↗
17 Dec 2015
Saitama Pref. Kawaguchi City Assemblyman Noguchi Hiroaki (LDP): “We have more foreigners registered than dogs,” querying about potential NJ tax dodgersoriginal ↗
13 Dec 2015
9 Dec 2015
JT: Anchorwoman who fled Japan during Fukushima crisis to get lost salary from NHK: So much for “Flyjin” myth.original ↗
5 Dec 2015
WSJ: PM Abe Shinzo First Non-American to Win Conservative Hudson Institute Award — and other American neocons egging on Japan’s remilitarizationoriginal ↗
29 Nov 2015
Asahi & Mainichi: “No Hate” “No Racism”, “Refugees Welcome” say protesters at Tokyo anti-discrimination rally. Bravo.original ↗
25 Nov 2015
Eleven touristy articles of mine about touring Sapporo, Hokkaido, and environs, published by Netmobiusoriginal ↗
22 Nov 2015
Mainichi: Miss Universe Japan Ariana Miyamoto spurns ‘half Japanese’ label, seeks end to prejudice. Good, but article in English only, not for Japanese-reading audience.original ↗
17 Nov 2015
UPDATE: Standard Charted Hong Kong Marathon Japan tour “Japanese Only” registration is sanitized to include NJ residents, but “Japanese Citizenship” remains requirement on actual registration pageoriginal ↗
13 Nov 2015
20th Standard Charted Hong Kong Marathon Japan tour registration is “Japanese Only”: “Applications from non-Japanese runners ‘invalid’, deposit payment not refunded.”original ↗
10 Nov 2015
Interview with ABC News Radio Australia on my book “Embedded Racism: Japan’s Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination”original ↗
5 Nov 2015
My latest Japan Times JBC Col 93: “Tackle embedded racism before it chokes Japan”, summarizing my new book “Embedded Racism”original ↗
1 Nov 2015
Paul Toland Case Update: Japan as a “black hole” for parental child abductions — Family Court lawsuit & press conference to raise awareness of issueoriginal ↗
26 Oct 2015
Asahi TV: Police public training drill in Tokyo on how to deal with jewelry thieves brandishing knives. Oh, and they’re depicted as “foreign” thieves.original ↗
23 Oct 2015
“Onsen-Ken Shinfuro Video”: Japan Synchro Swim Team promotes Oita Pref. Onsens — and breaks most bathhouse rules doing so. Historically insensitive.original ↗
20 Oct 2015
Japan moving on to the next sucker societies for cheap or slave labor: Cambodia and Vietnamoriginal ↗
16 Oct 2015
Japan Times: Japan sanctioning mass ‘slave labor’ by duping foreign trainees, observers sayoriginal ↗
11 Oct 2015
CSM: Reviving Shinto: Prime Minister Abe tends special place in Japan’s soul for mythologyoriginal ↗
7 Oct 2015
My next Japan Times JBC 92 Oct. 5, 2015: “Conveyor belt of death shudders back to live”, on how Abe’s new security policy will revive Prewar martial Japanoriginal ↗
4 Oct 2015
Mainichi on emerging GOJ policies towards refugees & immigration, still not allowing them to stay in Japan: “tourists yes, refugees & immigrants no”original ↗
2 Oct 2015
Honolulu Civil Beat: Cultural Exchange Program or a Ticket to Sweatshop Labor? Contrast US with J example of exploitative visa conditionsoriginal ↗
28 Sept 2015
Another Gaijin Handler speaks at East-West Center: Dr. Nakayama Toshihiro, ahistorically snake-charming inter alia about how Japan’s warlike past led to Japan’s stability today (Sept. 15, 2015)original ↗
23 Sept 2015
Tangent: Economist on “Japan’s Citizen Kane”: Shouriki Matsutaro; explains a lot about J-media’s interlocking relationship with J-politicsoriginal ↗
20 Sept 2015
Nikkei interview with Japan’s most famous naturalized former Zainichi Korean: SoftBank’s Son Masayoshioriginal ↗
17 Sept 2015
Yomiuri: More Japanese public baths OK tattooed visitors (particularly NJ) for 2020 Olympics: suddenly it’s all about showing “understanding of foreign cultures”original ↗
13 Sept 2015
5 Sept 2015
Reader TH: Refused treatment at neurological hospital by setting overly-high hurdles for J-translation servicesoriginal ↗
2 Sept 2015
Asahi: Supreme Court backs stripping children of Japanese nationality if parents lapse in registering their births abroadoriginal ↗
29 Aug 2015
More public-policy bullying of NJ: LDP Bill to fine, imprison, and deport NJ for “fraud visas” (gizou taizai), e.g., visa “irregularities” from job changes or divorcesoriginal ↗
26 Aug 2015
Morris-Suzuki in East Asia Forum: “Abe’s WWII statement fails history 101”. Required reading on GOJ’s subtle attempts at rewriting East Asian history incorrectlyoriginal ↗
22 Aug 2015
Thoughts: How does a society eliminate bigotry? Through courts and media, for example. Not waiting for it to “happen naturally”. Two case studies.original ↗
17 Aug 2015
Mainichi: Unequal treatment for foreign and/or foreign-residing A-bomb victims? Supreme Court decision due Sept. 8original ↗
13 Aug 2015
Tangent: Japan Imperial Rescripts declaring war and surrendering: Interesting (and scary) documents in terms of narrativeoriginal ↗
10 Aug 2015
6 Aug 2015
Kyodo: “Overseas work, study seen as negative point for hiring anyone handling state secrets” Such as multiethnic Japanese?original ↗
31 Jul 2015
Mainichi: “Not Japanese Enough?” Bog-standard article about Miss Japan Miyamoto Ariana’s fight against racial discrim in Japan, not in Japanese for J-audienceoriginal ↗
26 Jul 2015
22 Jul 2015
Discussion: Abe rams through Japan’s new security guidelines: How will this affect NJ and Visible Minorities in Japan?original ↗
19 Jul 2015
15 Jul 2015
“Gaikokujin ja arimasen: An Analysis of the Interactive Construction and Contestation of Being a Foreigner in Japan”, an academic paper by Dr. Cade Bushnell analyzing the conversation I had with Yunohana management during Otaru Onsen Caseoriginal ↗
11 Jul 2015
Japan Times Just Be Cause 89, “Media redraw battle lines in bid for global reach”, on Fuji network’s acquisition of Japan Today.com, July 6, 2015original ↗
6 Jul 2015
Tangent: How anti-discrimination measures are enforced elsewhere: Racism towards me at a bank in Canadaoriginal ↗
3 Jul 2015
Looking for substantiation of change in editorial bent at Japan Today etc. after acquisition by right-wing Fuji Media Holdingsoriginal ↗
28 Jun 2015
Honolulu Weekly Feb 9 1994: “Prints of Darkness”: Ronald Fujiyoshi, Hawaiian fighter of GOJ fingerprinting of NJ, 20 years ago says prescient things about future Japanoriginal ↗
25 Jun 2015
Film record of Debito in action negotiating with a “Japanese Only” establishment in Shinjuku: excerpt from documentary “Sour Strawberries” (2009)original ↗
18 Jun 2015
“The problem I have with David Aldwinkle [sic] is…” A stock criticism of me and my methods, then my answer.original ↗
15 Jun 2015
AOL News: J-League soccer ref speaks English to, then denigrates Japanese-German player, denies anything discriminatory. But then official protests from club!original ↗
13 Jun 2015
Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus extended interview with Dr. M.G. Sheftall: “Japan’s Kamikaze Suicide Pilots Exhibit at the USS Missouri in Honolulu”original ↗
8 Jun 2015
Tangent: Indo-Pacific Review article: “A Rope Bridge in a Fiber-Optic Age: The East-West Center in Hawaii”original ↗
4 Jun 2015
My Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE column 88: “U.S. green-lights Japan’s march back to militarism”, on America’s historical amnesia in US-Japan Relations, June 1, 2015original ↗
30 May 2015
30 May 2015
Debito.org Dejima Award #6 to Mishima Village, Kagoshima Prefecture, for subsidizing outsiders to move and live there — unless they are foreignoriginal ↗
26 May 2015
Arimura Haruko, Minister for the Empowerment of Women: Immigration is a “Pandora’s Box”, offers weird Team Abe arguments to justifyoriginal ↗
21 May 2015
J Times Kingston on Abe’s intimidation of media: You know it’s getting bad when even apologist bigot Gregory Clark complains about Rightists targeting himoriginal ↗
18 May 2015
Tangent: NYT Op-Ed: Foreigners Are Attacking … American TV, within US TV programs. Contrast with Japan.original ↗
14 May 2015
Online media outlet Japan Today acquired by right-wing Fuji Media Holdings, meaning Japan Times is last E-media news organization independent of J-media conglomeratesoriginal ↗
10 May 2015
Japan at Expo Milano 2015: Official display claims Japan is a land of “harmonious diversity” (in English). SRSLY? Yep. Let’s parse.original ↗
7 May 2015
Japan Times JBC 87 May 4, 2015: Interview with M.G. Sheftall: “Japan-U.S. effort to tell Kamikaze suicide pilots’ stories dodges controversy, wins praise”original ↗
5 May 2015
Tokyo sushi shop Mizutani, with 2 Michelin stars, refuses NJ customers; awaiting Michelin Guides’ responseoriginal ↗
28 Apr 2015
Kyodo: Summary Court overturns fine levied on Filipino-Japanese man after Osaka police botch assault probe — that punished him for defending himself against drunk Japanese assailants!original ↗
24 Apr 2015
1912 essay: “Japanese Children are no Menace in Hawaii” (from a “Prosperity-Sharing System for Plantation Laborers” handbook), with surprisingly inclusive argumentsoriginal ↗
21 Apr 2015
Post #2500: Dr. M.G. “Bucky” Sheftall’s speeches at the opening of “Kamikaze” suicide pilots exhibit aboard USS Missouri, Apr 10 and 11, 2015original ↗
16 Apr 2015
Kyodo: Ryukoku U exchange student denied “No Foreigner” Kyoto apartment in 2013; MOJ in 2015 decides it’s not a violation of human rights!original ↗
12 Apr 2015