People have protested this, and media has questioned the actual science behind this differential treatment. However, one vital point of this petition (equal treatment of all legal residents at the border regardless of nationality) is still not fulfilled. This Kafkaesque ordeal will no doubt resonate with those who are used to Japanese bureaucracy, and doubly so when they see how racism (the belief that having a Japanese passport somehow makes you less contagious) is as usual part of the mix. As I began to regain a semblance of mental clarity I could see that I was in a large room with many patients. OSHITANI:  Spread of COVID-19 in Japan had two major waves so far. Full article text now archived at http://www.debito.org/?p=15541. KUWAIT CITY, Jan 28: MP Hesham Al-Saleh has submitted a bill on amending Civil Service Law No. But Mori is not royalty, endured only because his position is essential upholding an apparently sacrosanct system. Discriminatory govt financial assistance for students: All Japanese can apply, but foreign students must be in top 30% of class. In the wake of treating Non-Japanese Residents like they’re riddled with extra Covid contagion, here’s yet another example of how Non-Japanese taxpayers are treated with extra suspicion — with bored tax auditors even in the most rural areas of Japan dedicated to ferreting out rank-and-file sneaky foreigners’ assets and earnings socked away overseas. “What ventilator? [18], Another animated version of Axe Cop aired on the YouTube channel Rug Burn. Meanwhile, as SNA has pointed out, certain elements within Japan have a problem with any Non-Japanese trying claiming their rights in Japan even through peaceful public protest:  “Veteran anti-foreign rightwinger Nobuyuki Suzuki, currently a Katsushika Ward assemblyman, demands that any foreigner who engages in a street protest should be tracked down by the police and expelled from the country.” After all, according to the Suzukis of Japan, foreigners don’t belong here. They view cheating, sabotage, soliciting foreign interference, and spreading unscientific conspiracy theories as fair play. I thought this was the end of that horrifically stressful saga and I would make sure to try and do everything required and account for everything down to the last cent. ’Small Axe’ is a revelation, and Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock — the second in the five-part series — is undoubtedly one of the most transfixing films of the year. “It was an inappropriate remark that went against the spirit of the Olympics and Paralympics,” he said. Striking, but not all that surprising—since these tests assessed IQ via culturally-grounded questions, on things like Japanese shogunates and tanabata festivals. Were it not for the long-term economic consequences that will follow my beloved adopted home country due to folly of these Games, I would surely enjoy the schadenfreude of a group of elites getting egg all over their face.”. This requirement should not be bestowed upon legal residents, who have their livelihoods already in Japan. 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. 4) My latest SNA VM column 14: “Visible Minorities: Weaponizing the Japanese Language”, on how Foreign Minister Motegi’s discriminatory treatment of Japan Times reporter Magdalena Osumi is part of a bigger phenomenon. That’s quite a different take! Though far from true gender equality, it would be horrifying if there were no law. This is an eyewitness account (redacted to remove personal identifiers) of a Permanent Resident of Japan, married to a Japanese for decades, who as a European went through re-entry procedures that apply to foreigners only (regardless of visa status) and not Japanese. Again, Japanese citizens only need a Japanese passport and a PCR test administered by Japan after arrival. “May you live in interesting times,” goes the famous curse. the death of a family member in the country of origin), and are thus in danger of using their livelihoods here. to lessen the threat of COVID-19 infection. Kyoto Nakagyou-ku issues comic book on local street safety to grade schoolers, created by Kyoto Seika Univ & Kyoto International Manga Museum, portraying “foreigners” as unintelligible ill-mannered tourists! NHK just expected that this would be for “domestic consumption only” and the Gaijin wouldn’t see it, (because after all, “foreigners” don’t watch Japanese TV (because Japanese is too hard a language for them to understand). I would advise everyone to contact them in the country you are staying, not to read the “assumptions” in other media. If yes, then you are a Japanese, and you are to be treated as one like everyone else. The Doctor's Diet is way more than just an eating plan: It's a blueprint for a longer, healthier, happier life! Happy New Year 2021! Even in Japan, there are people who have been exposed to discrimination and prejudice, such as Koreans living in Japan. These people traveled to Japan for sightseeing or other purposes, and later, through places where people congregate, such as sports gyms and small concert houses, transmissions spread across the country including Hokkaido, Tokyo, Aichi, and Osaka. Yet racism, as this blog and my research have covered for more than a quarter century, is alive and “practiced undisturbed” (according to the United Nations) in Japan. Ethan Nicolle had already written the critically praised graphic novel Chumble Spuzz when he got the idea to write Axe Cop. And in Japan, our international community was hit particularly hard by public policy regarding its containment. The screenshot is starting to multiply around the mediasphere, which is why it’s been sent to me multiple times. This is why they are entitled to treatment in Japan if the PCR test at the Japanese airport should turn out to be positive. This is only when test comes back negative. In a landmark ruling yesterday (see articles below) first testing the waters for allowing Japanese to have more diverse roots in a legal sense, the Tokyo District Court has just ruled that Japanese who obtain other citizenships do not have constitutional protections from being subsequently deprived of Japanese citizenship. She should also speak out for Japan’s Visible Minorities. But here’s another angle: This election offers the world some insights into how countries painfully evolve into multiethnic, post-racial societies. Let me start from her, because her case is short. We’re still a venue for life-in-Japan issues. With all the stories Debito.org has covered about how COVID has affected NJ Residents adversely, this story comes a welcome respite: Ten Days in May: A Memorable Japan Hospital Experience during the COVID-19 Crisis […]. So they reply in English. MEXT’s rationale: “Many NJ students go home anyway and don’t contribute to Japan’s future.”, My SNA Visible Minorities col 10: “The Guestists and the Collaborators”, May 18, 2020, on how long-term NJ leverage their newfound privilege against other NJ Residents (e.g., Donald Keene, Tsurunen Marutei, and Oussouby Sacko). SNA: Japan’s Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that Japan’s foreign residents have no “right of sojourn,” i.e., to leave Japan temporarily and expect to return. (Naturally, Japanese slacker students need not worry — they’re all part of the tribe.). Viva Eugenics. He got five million more votes in an election where more people voted for a president than ever before, with voting rates on track to be among the highest in modern US history. Entitled “We Will Continue Moving: Myself and the Future,” the two-minute ad depicts a series of diverse Asian youths pensive about their lives in Japan. The contest between incumbent Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden was indeed, as depicted in campaign slogans, a battle for the “soul of America.”. From last April until then, all foreigner border crossers were legally treated as if they were a special source of contagion, affected differently by COVID than somehow-immune Japanese, and banned from entry. This has occasioned the perfunctory hand-wringing about the effectiveness of punishment in curbing infections and “infringing too much on personal freedoms” for Japanese. Conclusion:  Essentially, nothing has changed in practice. But there are plenty of high-profile voices involved in that already. Nothing quite like being forced to wear the equivalent of a GPS criminal tracker for your entire stay. An American Lawyer at an International Firm in Tokyo privately agreed but recommended proceeding in court via an NGO. Fujisankei-owned Japan Today posts article on “What to do if stopped by J police” for Rugby World Cup visitors, after consulting with Debito.org. (And note that there wasn’t even a mention of George Floyd.). If that somebody happens to be a foreigner, his or her life in Japan may well be over…, Table of Contents: Now the ACCJ has spoken out against the Japanese government’s coronavirus policy treatment of NJ Residents that you see nowhere else in fellow developed countries. “Clearly, a lot of Japanese people think they shouldn’t.” https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55140846. Please use a pseudonym. The tax department audited me a couple of years ago covering a period of 5 years. A short summary of this paper. You ask a question in Japanese of a shop keep, clerk, passerby, or somebody on the other end of a telephone, and they flake out because you got some words in the wrong order, had an accent, or just have a foreign face? And oh so very typical of the cold-blooded Japanese bureaucracy. This is an easier target because a) Japan has long taught about racism in other countries (particularly America’s) as part of a narrative that racism “happens elsewhere, not here”, so this unfortunately plays into Japan’s grander deflection strategy; and b) this protest doesn’t imperil her sponsorship in Japan, where her money is coming from. “They are crudely putting a spotlight onto a subject that many feel should be off-limits to guests. It appears that they are trying to exploit their foreign students not only academically but also financially.”. 4) Full text of my first SNA column is now archived on Debito.org: “The Japan Times Becomes Servant to the Elite” (Feb 2, 2019) Some transform into community leaders, prominent business owners and spokespeople, media mavens, and elected officials. That is, unless they’re ryuugakusei (foreign exchange students). Furthermore, we don’t need to get into deflections of about how dictatorial countries currently behave in this crisis. Consider these examples of how institutionalized and embedded racism is in Japan: You’re probably aware that Japan has long advertised itself as a “monocultural, homogeneous society,” denying that minorities, racial or ethnic, exist within it. But as protest petitioner Sven Kramer points out: “Getting a negative PCR test result 72 hours before departing for Japan is a necessary requirement. Foreigners, as we’ve seen from the days of AIDS, SARS, and even the Otaru Onsens Case, are more likely to be seen as riddled with contagion, and treated as such by policymakers either with benign neglect or overt reactionary policies. This resulted in a large outbreak. Well, my spouse doesn’t need anything even though we would re-enter together from the same country where we lived together. Axe Cop gained other allies, including Ralph Wrinkles, Sockarang, Leaf Man, Baby Man, The Wrestler, Uni-Man, Uni-Baby, Wexter, Presty, Best Fairy Ever, Bat Warthog Man, Army Chihuahua, Gray Diamond, Liborg, Water Queen, and more. According to FNN, this panel seems to be trying to assist, not exclude or blame. ", "Artist's Six Year-Old Brother Inspires DHC Series AXE COP", "The Eagle Awards - Results And Dave Gibbons\' Acceptance Speech", "Great Graphic Novels Top Ten 2012 | Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Axe_Cop&oldid=1001872653, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 21 January 2021, at 19:57. 1) W on Japan’s Kafkaesque and faulty re-entry procedures (even after October revisions to “open borders to Re-entry Visa foreign residents”): More elaborate racist barriers now. Shingetsu News Agency, SEP 21, 2020 by DEBITO ARUDOU in COLUMN. I also asked about my Japanese spouse who is always with me in the same country where we spent the last half year. 1) German journalism on Japan Govt’s COVID policy: Tohoku’s Dr. Oshitani: Foreigners (not Japanese) brought it in. 6) “A Despotic Bridge Too Far”, Debito’s SNA Visible Minorities column 12 on Japan’s racist blanket ban on Foreign Resident re-entry, John Doe: “Tokyo International University (TIU), located in Kawagoe, Saitama, was founded in 1965. My vision was unfocused and mind disoriented. DEBITO: Debito.org invites Readers to comment on their experiences with the Ministry of Justice at the border. Here is my personal investigation. It’s still unclear she will ever choose to. This paper. HRW (machine translated): “Black Lives Matter” (black lives are also important) and a protest against racism spread from the United States to the world and were held in Japan. From a document called “Regarding refusal of landing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (novel Coronavirus)” on the MoJ website, I have found that the legislation relied upon is Article 5 of Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act which reads as follows: “Article 5 (1) A foreign national who falls under any of the following items is denied permission to land in Japan: It must be said that Japan is not ready for a society that lives with many people of different races, ethnicities, religions, and nationalities. Any language is acceptable; English, Japanese, Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian), Chinese, Korean, etc. SNA Visible Minorities Column 11: Advice to Activists in Japan in general (in the wake of the emergence of the Black Lives Matter Japan Movement), June 22, 2020. I usually aim for one blog post per week, sometimes two if there’s a monthly Shingetsu News Agency column in the works. I’d like to hear your thoughts about this. With the sponsorship of my company and using the new points system I changed to “Highly Skilled Professional (i) (b)” status…. Dr. Stuart McGill Dr. McGill is a professor emeritus, University of Waterloo, where he was a professor for 32 years. An Indian man was arrested on February 3, 2021, after he attacked a woman with an axe in Meerpet, Hyderabad, Telangana. All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin. […] This column would like to point out some of the pitfalls that activists may face in Japanese society, based upon my experience fighting against racial discrimination in Japan for nearly thirty years. The United States’ 233-year experiment in democracy be damned; 73 million voters in this election agreed with Trump’s authoritarianism. COMMENT:  The line to draw is simple: Do you have legal Japanese citizenship or don’t you? The very professional staff proceeded to wheel my bed along with the blue and gray machine down a short hallway to a somewhat more secluded section of the ward…. Table of Contents: Hah. W on Japan’s Kafkaesque and faulty re-entry procedures (even after October revisions to “open borders to Re-entry Visa foreign residents”): More elaborate racist barriers now. Only non-Japanese residents have to apply for a Receipt for Request of Re-entry at the Immigration Services Agency before departing from Japan. She was focused on a laptop computer resting on the surface of a tray in front of the mass of the machine. [10], In response to the success of the online comic, Nicolle was approached by several comic publishers to print an Axe Cop series. A foreign reporter for Japan Times, Magdalena Osumi, asked some questions in Japanese. THE EMBEDDED RACISM IN JAPAN’S BORDER POLICIES This complicates things for all Non-Japanese residents to this day…, Read the entire article at http://shingetsunewsagency.com/2020/07/20/visible-minorities-a-despotic-bridge-too-far/, Table of Contents: Airlines require to fill in (or rather tick boxes) on their own document. In a development that Debito.org has been anticipating for quite some time (see, for example, the remotely-trackable RFID chipped Zairyuu Kaado ID cards the Government rolled out in 2012 to keep better tabs on NJ Residents), according to a Kyodo article below the Government is using the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as an excuse to enact programs digitally tracking all foreign tourists. Japanese Embassy – Pick up confirmation letter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G02u6sN_sRc […]. Japanese Embassy – Apply for Confirmation Letter. I’m aware that tax losses can be carried over to offset gains but they would not recognize this for my foreign investments, saying something about a “blue paper”. Oct 1, 2020’s new govt regulations for NJ Resident Re-Entry: Not much of a change. In fact, the Patient Zeroes who came back from England and went out partying instead of quarantining were Japanese. “In addition, foreign students must be achieving high marks and have attained a grade point average of at least 2.30 in the past academic year. One thing affected everyone worldwide: COVID-19. Senaiho Update 3: Civil suit to be launched over school “Hair Police” forced-haircut bullying of student in Yamanashi JHS (UPDATED), My Shingetsu News Agency Visible Minorities col 3: “Racial Profiling at Japanese Hotel Check-Ins”, October 23, 2019. 3) Debito’s SNA Visible Minorities 13: “Japan’s Cult of Miserable Happy”, Aug 24, 2020, questioning whether “omotenashi” Japan is actually all that hospitable to anyone, what with such a strong “culture of no”. But where is the parallel debate about the “freedoms” of non-Japanese residents who are receiving unequal treatment under the law? 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…”. It’s been within character for decades now, so retire him. JAPAN’S BLANKET BAN ON FOREIGN RESIDENT RE-ENTRY We don’t have space for them all, so below are the top five issues I feel were of greatest impact to Japan’s non-Japanese residents in 2020, in ascending order. You may lose your visa status and get deported from the country. By that standard, 2020 was captivating. You read that right. (Other countries, such as Germany, respect certificates issued elsewhere when showed at the border, and next PCR is not necessary then.) A lot is going on around the world, but personally I’m under the weather. It’s dated November 27, 2020, and been viewed nearly 10 million times as of this writing. The Japanese government denounced the report as a “totally unacceptable” viewpoint that will change nothing in the country’s legal process. SO DO JAPAN’S UNDERCOVER RACISTS 4) Debito’s SNA column: “Pandemic Releases Antibodies toward Non-Japanese”, Visible Minorities col 9, April 20, 2020, Subscribe to Debito.org Monthly Newsletter. Reuters and ABC News: Tokyo 2020 chief Mori makes sexist remarks at Olympics meeting. It features a muscular, vested black man shouting about economic inequality in the U.S., and makes no reference to the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. We are collecting evidence for a lawsuit and need your help! Mark: I would like to point the fact that foreigners in Japan (including me) have been severely affected by a political decision implemented in the form of a travel ban. 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Japan: Highlights for Debito.org Readers, Reuters: Yet another NJ detainee dies after hunger strike after 3 years in Japan “detention center”; time for a change in labeling, Mainichi: New “open door” visa programs violate basic NJ human rights (now including marriage and children), don’t resolve cruel detention centers, and still curb actual immigration and assimilation, "Japanese Only" gallery of exclusionary places in Japan, "The Community in Japan" — a group for J residents to join and get advice, Activists' Page — site for people wanting to make Japan a better place for everyone, In a jam in Japan? Dejima Award #7: Nagoya City officially classifies “Foreigner City Denizens” to include “naturalized persons, children of international marriages, people with foreign cultures or roots in their backgrounds”. Well, good for the United States. No wonder. In the past, Marian has also been known as Marian Catherine Wodwaska and Marian C Wodwaska. They’re evidently the same crew who did sequences for legendary TV show “Koko Ga Hen Da Yo Nihonjin” some decades ago. And how about all the others (including NHK) in the past? The shocking visuals of the attack on the woman were recorded on CCTV and went viral on social media. This new policy is ironic. I chose this title for two reasons… For example, consider Marutei Tsurunen, Donald Keene, and Oussouby Sacko… Whether it’s a) you left and re-entered without incident, b) you inquired about leaving in advance and received information that inspired or dispelled confidence in the process, c) you received an unexpected surprise at the border despite all the information you had, d) you wound up in exile, etc., please let us know. It’s also based upon a myth…, Read the rest at http://shingetsunewsagency.com/2020/09/21/visible-minorities-weaponizing-the-japanese-language/ Table of Contents: DEBITO: I call BS. But Nike should not think, as a foreign brand, that it is appropriate for them to point it out to their hosts. On top of the conditions, those “deemed by their institutions as unable to continue their studies due to financial difficulties” will be eligible for the handouts, the ministry said.”. And that’s why govt policies specifically exclude only foreigners, even NJ Permanent Residents. Petition: Since September 1, 2020, all legal non-Japanese residents of Japan can leave and reenter the country. Candidate Anoma van der Veere has kindly tweeted out his research indicating some media sensationalism is going on here. Information website here: https://blacklivesmattertokyo.carrd.co/. Granted, the government is now threatening to mete out jail time and fines for Japanese who don’t cooperate with measures to reduce Covid’s spread. "[8] Detroit News said in their review, "'Axe Cop' is a hoot. I also think that it’s enough evidence that he at least doesn’t care about the problem for stranded NJ residents. (This is not a failsafe; anyone can lie on any forms, including these given by airlines.) 1) Dejima Award #8: NJ resident returnees from abroad officially treated like contagion, barred from reentry unlike Japanese returnees. Furthermore, only non-Japanese residents (except for diplomats and special permanent residents) have to take a PCR test abroad within 72 hours before the departure for Japan. Before long the doctor returned and informed me that they were going to move me to a different part of I.C.U. But it turns out that, realistically, these conditions are still a ban. Debito.org Reader TJL forwards a message from an Indian exchange student in Tokyo. A PRACTICAL ENGLISH GRAMMAR EXERCISES 1. … and finally … Clearly American voters chose the latter course; Biden won. – Please sign, if you share my opinion that the government of Japan immediately should allow reentry of returning foreign residents of Japan under the same quarantine regulations that are applied to Japanese citizens. The letter is addressed to the NHK president, as well as the heads of the international news division and the News Department. It’s just that kind of a semester. For example, the Education Ministry announced an increased budget for language support in schools for non-Japanese children next year — a promising sign. Axe Cop is a webcomic by brothers Malachai Nicolle (age 5 when the series began) and Ethan Nicolle (age 28 when the series began). It became obvious that it was futile and I paid a substantial amount. The video of that Motegi press conference is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdlt9n5FDUU (watch from around minute 2 onwards), Table of Contents: Tired Panda: It started with my tax accountant in [Katainaka Prefecture], who I have used for several years, suddenly asking me to declare my worldly assets, including how many mountains I owned. Read the rest at https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2020/12/31/issues/japan-2020-foreign-resident-issues/. German journalism on Japan Govt’s COVID policy: Tohoku’s Dr. Oshitani: Foreigners (not Japanese) brought it in. Osumi then retorted in Japanese, “You needn’t treat me like I’m stupid. That’s what that subcontractor has done for years. Bravo. So once again, we are in a position to award a rare “Debito.org Dejima Award”, reserved only for the most head-spinningly obvious examples of racism in Japan, to the JRFU.