…and finally… 2) Oct 1, 2020’s new govt regulations for NJ Resident Re-Entry: Not much of a change. Because NJ (especially those in the English-language communities) collectively suffer from something I call “guestism”: falling for the fiction that they are merely “guests” in Japan subject to the whims of the Japanese “hosts.” Their mantra is “It’s their country, not mine. And in Japan, our international community was hit particularly hard by public policy regarding its containment. COMMENT FROM DEBITO: Mori, one of Japan’s least-popular Prime Ministers ever, is the type of Japan elite dinosaur zombie politician (in the same vein as equally useless Former PM Aso Taro) who feels he can say whatever bigoted thing pops into his head (as I cover in this blog entry, he’s made many other racist statements), and not be held accountable. “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. At the foot of the bed was a large blue and gray high-tech machine of some sort and a nurse sitting behind it. 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. 1) Remember that, in Japan, activists are seen as extremists Dit Nyhedsoverblik: Breaking news og seneste nyheder - Stream DR’s programmer på DRTV - Hør podcast på DR LYD Residents of Japan have Japanese health insurance. 1) Japan Times: J Govt’s pandemic border policy highlights their taking advantage of insecure legal status of foreign residents The shocking visuals of the attack on the woman were recorded on CCTV and went viral on social media. It is my sincere belief that, at least when it comes to epidemiological issues, the procedure for re-entry should not be different per nationality.”. “They are crudely putting a spotlight onto a subject that many feel should be off-limits to guests. SIM: The manner in which the government has taken this policy of banishing any legal resident with a foreign passport from returning to their livelihood, their family and any assets that they hold if they set one foot outside Japan because of a virus that cannot see the color of said passport is underhand to say the least. [There are of course some caveats, and] given the current status of Trump refusing to concede the election, and his lackeys interfering with a transition to the presumptive winner, it’s clear that no matter who wins, Republicans feel they are the only ones entitled to run the country. 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. They’re evidently the same crew who did sequences for legendary TV show “Koko Ga Hen Da Yo Nihonjin” some decades ago. It must be said that Japan is not ready for a society that lives with many people of different races, ethnicities, religions, and nationalities. As questions linger over the government’s intentions behind the controversial rules, records and reports from behind the scenes of Japan’s fight against the pandemic have begun to emerge. This is only our ninth awarded, but it’s the second time the JRFU has received it. READ PAPER. [1][2][3][4] The first four comics were drawn in December 2009 and posted to Facebook; the website was not launched until January 2010. For example, consider Marutei Tsurunen, Donald Keene, and Oussouby Sacko… Kyoto JET Programme teacher TS on being made homeless due to xenophobic landlord, and Kyoto Board of Education (who found the apartment) refuses to help, “Visible Minorities”: My first monthly column for the Shingetsu News Agency, Aug 19, 2019 (FULL TEXT), Book “Embedded Racism in Japan”, acclaimed as “important, courageous and challenging” and “a must-read” by prominent academic journals, now discounted to $34.99 if bought through publisher directly, using promo code LEX30AUTH16, Japan Times JBC 116: “‘Love it or leave it’ is not a real choice” (on how Trump’s alienation of critics of color is standard procedure in Japan), July 24, 2019, Kyodo: Japan celebrates its South American Japanese diaspora. 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: Any language is acceptable; English, Japanese, Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian), Chinese, Korean, etc. But this semester has been a busy one, what with three classes — two of them new, and one of them an elite writing seminar. [6] The idea arose when Ethan was playing pretend with his brother, who invented the Axe Cop persona. Happy New Year 2021! That is why they all end up making comments.” [..] Speaking at a hastily-prepared press conference on Thursday, Mori confirmed he made the comments and offered an apology. 2) Kyoto City manga denigrating “foreigners”, produced by Kyoto Seika University, has naturalized African-Japanese citizen Dr. Oussouby Sacko as University President! The site also features Ask Axe Cop, a series of comics where Axe Cop responds to questions from readers.[5]. Should the plaintiffs decide to appeal this case, then the Tokyo High Court and probably eventually the Supreme Court will affirm the lower court’s ruling. Japan for the Japanese. In addition to the past year of Japanese media blaming foreigners for creating “foreign clusters,” it also ignores the lazy government response to Covid. XY on being racially profiled–by a designated police task force looking for “bad foreigners”–for a traffic fender bender caused by someone else! It was purely arbitrary…, From October 1, Japan announced it would open its borders to foreign residents under certain conditions. Full article text now archived at http://www.debito.org/?p=15720. This is in addition to the Japan Association of National Universities’ similar call on behalf of international students: ACCJ: The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) today issued a second statement [included below] in response to re-entry travel restrictions placed on residents of Japan who are not Japanese citizens and called on the Government of Japan to provide fair and equal treatment for all residents regardless of nationality. But there are also lessons here for Japan, particularly its minorities: how countries make slow and painful transitions to a post-racial society…, Read the rest on SNA at http://shingetsunewsagency.com/2020/11/16/visible-minorities-us-elections-repudiate-trumps-japan-style-ethnostate/. 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, Sept 21, 2020. 4) My SNA Visible Minorities 17: NIKE JAPAN Advertisement on Japan’s Visible Minorities does some good (Dec 21, 2020). I would advise everyone to contact them in the country you are staying, not to read the “assumptions” in other media. According to a Ministry of Justice survey released in 2017, 25% of the people were refused employment because they were foreigners, and about 40% were refused. It is very important that someone is trying to do something with this discriminatory measures. 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) Dark Horse published an ashcan copy of Axe Cop for the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International, which included the first five episodes of the webcomic and some of the "Ask Axe Cop" strips. BLOG BIZ: Semester busy-ness drawing all my energy, and US Election Day, My SNA Visible Minorities 15: “New Covid Foreign Resident Re-Entry Rules Still Racist”, on how they are actually a natural outcome of Japan’s bullying bureaucracy (Oct. 19, 2020). The Doctor's Diet is way more than just an eating plan: It's a blueprint for a longer, healthier, happier life! In 2011, they blamed a poor showing in the 2011 Rugby World Cup on “too many foreign-born players on the team”and then ethnically-cleansed their ranks. Mark’s report follows: A couple of weeks ago, we covered on Debito.org a flap about TV network NHK (“the BBC of Japan“) broadcasting a racialized anime to Japanese kids explaining the Black Lives Matter movement in America. 1) Reuters: Tennis star Osaka Naomi “a Jesse Owens of Japan”. "[8] Detroit News said in their review, "'Axe Cop' is a hoot. Debito.org cries BS about NHK’s claims of “not giving enough consideration”, because in fact, NHK hired this production crew BECAUSE they are famous for creating these outlandish videos. That’s also BS. They essentially become an excuse to invite foreigners in, then police them further. My, what paranoia and hypocrisy, My SNA Visible Minorities column 18: “Latest visa rules could purge any foreigner” (Jan 18, 2021), on how Covid countermeasures disproportionately target Non-Japanese against all science or logic, NJ voices ignored, discounted & discredited, Japan Times: J Govt’s pandemic border policy highlights their taking advantage of insecure legal status of foreign residents, “Educating the Non-Japanese Underclass”, my Shingetsu News Agency “Visible Minorities” Col 2, Sept 17, 2019, link to full text. But it should be limited to new entries only. Information website here: https://blacklivesmattertokyo.carrd.co/. I don’t think the comparison is apt, yet. From January to early February, the number of cases from China found in Japan was 11. [10], In response to the success of the online comic, Nicolle was approached by several comic publishers to print an Axe Cop series. However, the government still is bestowing this requirement on all foreign residents, not distinguishing between new entry and re-entry (only special permanent residents and diplomats are exempt). However, this requirement can nobody meet who stays in a country which does not test people without symptoms or does not deliver the results on time. The letter is addressed to the NHK president, as well as the heads of the international news division and the News Department. The United States’ 233-year experiment in democracy be damned; 73 million voters in this election agreed with Trump’s authoritarianism. Naturally, internet trolls, xenophobes, and haters got triggered. Now is the time to start discussing anti-racism laws. In their five-page letter to the NHK, the experts in U.S. studies describe the video as “including content that cannot be overlooked.” Among its 13 signatories are professor Fumiko Sakashita of Ritsumeikan University in Tokyo and professor Yasumasa Fujinaga of Japan Women’s University, also in the capital. COMMENT: I wrote back in January in that Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan’s gaijin gulag was the right move — not least because Japan’s heavy-handed prosecutorial powers and treatment of criminal suspects is in itself a violation of human rights. But if the Japanese government ever gets around to doing that, based upon yesterday’s ruling, as far as the Japanese judiciary is concerned it will have free rein. 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 By that standard, 2020 was captivating. “Women are competitive. Striking, but not all that surprising—since these tests assessed IQ via culturally-grounded questions, on things like Japanese shogunates and tanabata festivals. This paper. What to do about it: Continue to follow Debito.org’s advice: If you have two passports, you always claim to be solely Japanese by age 22 but secretly keep renewing your foreign passport. But here’s where the bad science turns evil… Read the full text at http://www.debito.org/?p=15744. This is not to say that the comic is entirely chaotic: the main characters and their relationships stay consistent, there are persistent world-building elements (most notably the shapeshifting properties of being splattered with blood or a fruit's juice), and a number of powers and items recur (e.g. And Japan aims to be Asia’s #1 financial hub? [6], Entertainment Weekly listed the comic as their "Site of the Day" on January 28, 2010. Rape-aXe Devices Being Given to Women in Cities Hosting World Cup Soccer Matches. Dr. Robert Chase was the diagnostic team's surgeon and intensive care (intensivist) specialist during the first three seasons. SNA (Tokyo) — The US elections captured the world’s attention. Airlines require to fill in (or rather tick boxes) on their own document. Ethan Nicolle had already written the critically praised graphic novel Chumble Spuzz when he got the idea to write Axe Cop. Dejima Awards are reserved for only the most eye-blinkingly obvious and inexcusable examples of racism perpetrated by Japan’s racists and authorities. As a long-term foreign resident of Japan I could not keep silent any longer, so on May 28 I have started the following online petition at “change.org”: http://chng.it/GN9Wp2Sj Axe Cop has gathered a loyal team. Osumi then retorted in Japanese, “You needn’t treat me like I’m stupid. to lessen the threat of COVID-19 infection. Or to list them on official family registries as “spouses” of Japanese? The ACCJ statement expresses concern among our international business community that the prohibition currently in place is detrimental to Japan’s long-term interests…, “Such individuals, especially those with permanent residency (eijuken) and their accompanying family members or those who are immediate family members of Japanese nationals, and those with long-term working visas and their accompanying family members, need to be allowed to enter Japan under the same conditions as Japanese citizens to continue living and working in this country. Japan now requires another form to be filled in once inside the plane to “catch” early those at high risk who may be infected and may need hospitalization. Such foreign nationals are actively and positively contributing to Japan’s economy and society, and do not pose any greater risk than Japanese citizens re-entering Japan… At minimum, Japan should adopt the approach of other G7 countries to allow foreigners with established residency status and their immediate family members to depart and enter the country on the same basis as Japanese nationals.”. 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.”. For years now, according to Ministry of Education surveys, schools have subjected their non-native foreign minority students to IQ tests. However, a Debito.org Reader sends me a FNN news videos which, at minute 1:30, says, “Bunkakai de wa, kurasutaa e no taiou ya, kotoba no chigai de soudan ya jushin ga okureru gaikokujin no tame ni ichigenteki na soudan madoguchi o setchi suru koto ni tsuite giron shiteimasu.” “At this panel, they are debating about whether to set up a unified consultation center to deal with clusters and with foreigners and who face delayed medical consultations and treatments due to language differences.”. Ultimately, the history books will remember this about the past four years: Trump was the worst president in American history—the only one who was impeached, served only one term, and lost the popular vote. Let’s be careful to avoid disinformation (UPDATED). However, one vital point of this petition (equal treatment of all legal residents at the border regardless of nationality) is still not fulfilled. We are collecting evidence for a lawsuit and need your help! I don’t think the comparison is apt, yet. That’s what that subcontractor has done for years. In sum, Japan’s October revised re-entry system is still a means to discriminate against foreigners. And that’s why govt policies specifically exclude only foreigners, even NJ Permanent Residents. In her review, Margaret Lyons described it as "all kinds of silly fun" and asked, "Are we looking at the next great comic franchise? That’s quite a different take! Axe to Grind. Aside from journalistic concerns about cramming a wordy term into concise articles, it wasn’t hard for media observers to understand this as a response to government pressure, already manifest in Japanese media and world history textbooks, to portray Japan’s past in a more exculpatory light… The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled against Dr. Jan Pol (right, with wife Diane Pol), a veterinarian featured on the TV show “The Incredible Dr. Pol” and a former Mayville resident. They speak no English. What is sorely needed is someone standing up for the equal and nondiscriminative treatment of, for example, Japan’s Visible Minorities (a group Osaka is a member of). 5) Info on Black Lives Matter demos in Japan in response to excessive police force towards a Kurdish Resident; also the backlash of right-wing Tokyo Katsushika-ku Assemblyman Suzuki Nobuyuki: “expel any foreign demonstrators”. Or perhaps found themselves stranded within Japan, as family members abroad died, and the prospect of attending their funeral or taking care of personal matters in person would mean exile. “A Despotic Bridge Too Far”, Debito’s SNA Visible Minorities column 12 on Japan’s racist blanket ban on Foreign Resident re-entry, July 20, 2020, DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER JULY 20, 2020: SPECIAL ISSUE ON JAPAN’S BLANKET BAN ON FOREIGN RESIDENT RE-ENTRY, American Chamber of Commerce in Japan calls on J govt to cease “double standard restricting [Foreign Japan Residents’] travel, economic, and familial opportunities based on nationality” in Coronavirus policy, Japan’s National Universities call on the Education Ministry to protect int’l students from expulsion and exclusion (a report from Debito.org Reader Mark), NHK TV’s racist video explaining Black Lives Matter for a children’s news program: Why their excuse of “not enough consideration made at broadcast” is BS. 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? The purpose of the rule passed in 2016 to restrict Japanese status to those eligible to play for the Brave Blossoms was, according to Top League Chairman Osamu Ota, to bolster the strength of the national team. They highlight the limits of the nation’s immigration strategy, with decisions apparently made ad hoc amid chaos, and reveal the insecure status of foreign nationals in Japan and underlying discriminatory attitudes within society toward immigrants and expatriates…. Here is my personal investigation. “Foreign residents of Japan who have made a decision to build a life here and contribute to the Japanese economy should not be subject to a double standard restricting their travel, economic, and familial opportunities based on nationality,” said Christopher J. LaFleur, ACCJ Chairman. Twice. Candidate Anoma van der Veere has kindly tweeted out his research indicating some media sensationalism is going on here. 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. It appears that they are trying to exploit their foreign students not only academically but also financially.”. And anyway, the PCR test at the Japanese port of entry should suffice. For the TV series based on the webcomic, see, Animation Domination HD programming block, "Axe Cop: The Comic Written by a 5-Year-Old, Drawn by a 29-Year-Old", "Axe Cop: The Web Comic Written by a Five-Year-Old", "Sockarangs, Pretzel Heads and Uni-Babies - A Glimpse Inside The World Of Axe Cop", "Axe Cop, The Interview: Talking with the 5 and 29-Year Old Creators, Malachai and Ethan Nicolle", "5 year old's comic 'Axe Cop' sweeps the Web! What time is it? PCR test (lucky they opened just recently a lab close to me) Or (my translation): Table of Contents: And unlike any other G7 country. Debito’s SNA Visible Minorities column 8: “No Free Pass for Japan’s Shirking Responsibility”, Mar 16, 2020, DF on Chugoku bank unlawfully demanding to check NJ customers’ visa stay durations and photocopy their Gaijin Cards, or face discontinuation of service, BBC: “Is Japan embracing diversity?” A Pollyannaish article highlighting a few celebrity examples without data on broad public attitudes or government policy re immigration, 2020 Tokyo Olympics drops Ainu performance from its Opening Ceremonies, despite 2019 law officially recognizing and promoting them as an indigenous people in Japan, My SNA Visible Minorities column 7: “Japan’s Botched Response to the Diamond Princess Coronavirus isn’t Racism; it’s Stupidity”, Feb 17, 2020, Senaiho “Hair Police” School Bullying Case Update 4: Civil lawsuit launched against school bullies, gaining traction with other international couples, “Gaikokujin Shimin”: Kawaguchi City Mayor Okunoki (kinda) answers a query about the racialized application of this term that officially makes Japanese into “foreigners” (UPDATED), My Japan Times JBC 118: “Remain calm when stopped by the police”, on what to do if stopped by Japanese police for an Instant ID Checkpoint, Jan 20, 2020, SNA Visible Minorities Col 6: “Carlos Ghosn’s Escape from Japan Was the Right Move”, Jan 20, 2020 (UPDATED with full text), Finance Minister Aso apologizes if ‘single-race nation’ remark (essentially denying Japan’s officially-recognized multiethnic society) was “misunderstood”, My Japan Times JBC column 117: The annual Top Ten for 2019 of human rights issues as they affected NJ residents in Japan, Jan 6, 2020, Debito.org’s stance on the Carlos Ghosn Case, at last: A boardroom coup making “thin legal soup” that might shame Japan’s “hostage justice” judicial system into reform, My SNA Visible Minorities column 5: “Local Governments Classifying Japanese Citizens as Foreigners”, Dec. 16, 2019, “Every Foreign Guest must present passport for photocopying” at Hotel Crown Hills Kokura; Japanese Police up to same old unlawful tricks in Fukuoka Prefecture, SITYS: MH Fox translation: “Gangsters and foreigners have no rights”, book excerpt by former J prosecutor Ichikawa Hiroshi Ichikawa on jiadep.org, Dr. Oussouby Sacko, African-born President of Kyoto Seika U, speaks at JALT, shows more blind spots re racism and tokenism, My SNA Visible Minorities Col 4: “The Xeno-Scapegoating of Japanese Halloween”, Nov 18, 2019. Reuters: Tennis star Osaka Naomi “a Jesse Owens of Japan”. And it’s even backed up by Japan’s scientists. This first wave had come under control by mid March with number of cases relatively low, but the second wave came as the first wave was calming down. Let’s recount some important facts. All of my columns are behind a paywall, unfortunately, but now with the acknowledgment of SNA, I am now reprinting my columns in full on Debito.org after one year has passed since publication. But there are plenty of high-profile voices involved in that already. Saitama Korean schools denied protective mask distribution because they might “sell off” the masks.
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