Commemorating the Japan Times Community Page’s 10th Anniversary, a brief column by Arudou Debito, May 8, 2012
Hi Blog. As the very popular and quite influential Community Page at the Japan Times celebrated its 10th Anniversary this week, I was asked (along with their former editor and best reporter) to say a few words as their featured columnist (now for four years plus). Here’s what I said. There are links to other celebratory articles below that. Enjoy, and congrats Community Page. You’re doing great things. Thanks for being there for our writings, and for us. Arudou Debito
Wednesday marks the 10-year anniversary of the Community pages, which have been providing news, analysis and opinion by, for and about the foreign community in Japan since May 9, 2002.
Here, an editor, columnist and writer who helped make the section what it is today reflect on the first decade of the Community section.
I remember my first article on the Community Page back in June 2002, after I jumped ship as a columnist at the Japan Today website.
Having been an infrequent contributor to other publications, I was impressed by the comparative professionalism at The Japan Times: I was never forced to toe any editorial line by the Community Page (unlike, say, the vanity projects that pass for English-language newspapers at the Asahi and Yomiuri, who tend to take criticism of Japan in English by NJ authors as a personal affront).
It was also nice that the JT paid its contributors the amount as promised promptly, something relatively rare in this business.
Honesty has served the Community Page well. Over the past decade, we have had hundreds of contributors writing exposes on subjects few other domestic outlets would touch, including unequal hiring practices due to nationality, the merits of unionization, international divorces from the studiously ignored NJ partner’s perspective, the Japanese judiciary’s systematic discrimination against claimants based on race or social origin, the biased treatment of NJ crime by police and the media, public policies and government statements that latently and blatantly disenfranchise whole peoples in Japan, one’s rights under the law and revised visa regimes, and even new takes on the perennial debate over the epithet “gaijin.”
For that matter, where else in Japan’s media does anyone even acknowledge that there is a “community” of NJ in Japan, or offer authoritative information specifically for the benefit of this community? Only here.
I have been honored to not only have had more than a hundred of my articles featured here since 2002, but also to have the ideas debated in a venue that people, including academics and Japanese policymakers, take seriously.
For example, my favorite Community Page memory is the reaction from “Forensic Science Fiction: Bad science and racism underpin police policy” (Jan. 13, 2004), where I critiqued the National Research Institute for Police Science’s highly unscientific “DNA tests for foreigners.”. They claimed that you could examine biotic evidence at crime scenes and tell whether the suspect was foreign or not. They sold this snake oil to us taxpayers for years by claiming that “foreign proteins are different than Japanese.”
When I telephoned NRIPS on different business shortly afterwards, the person on the other end immediately knew me by name, and with no invitation launched into a defense of the policy as “having nothing to do with foreigners.”
I then pulled up the policy and read it back to him. “The very title says, ‘Developing an index using biological materials in order to expose foreign crime.’ In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I can read Japanese. Can you?” I got a gasp and then a delicious silence. Plus, in a country where the police ignore media scrutiny and even get away with murder (ZG, Nov. 1, 2011), the NRIPS still felt obligated a month later to send the JT a flaccid letter of denial. Gotcha.
In sum, I have observed three definite stages in the development of the NJ “community” since I got to Japan. In the 1990s, communities were forming during the influx of foreign labor, with some regions reaching double-digit population percentages of NJ. In the 2000s, NJ communities came under attack by xenophobes and chauvinist politicians who firmly believe the fiction that more foreigners means less Japan. And now, in the 2010s, we’re watching the NJ communities attacking themselves, cleaving into one-upping camps over who is “more dedicated to Japan” in this era of perpetual stagnation, rollover disasters and seemingly endless self-sacrifice.
9 comments on “Commemorating the Japan Times Community Page’s 10th Anniversary, a brief column by Arudou Debito, May 8, 2012”
“Where else in Japan’s media does anyone even acknowledge that there is a “community” of NJ in Japan, or offer authoritative information specifically for the benefit of this community?”
— Read my sentence again. “Where else IN JAPAN’S MEDIA…” The Zainichis (and Nikkei Brazilians) have their own newspapers to fill in the gaps in the domestic media.
interesting point about the foreign community becoming more fragmented and the rise of one-upmanship to show dedication to Japan. A polite way to refer to the apologists of course!
I tend to see these people as enemy collaborators in the struggle for NJ rights here in Japan and believe they should be treated as such as they are holding us all back, not just themselves!
On that note, why not a Rogue’s Gallery for apologists? You could include the obvious ones like Mike Guest, Gregory Clarke, Donald Keene et al but also people who put their face on TV yet never stand up for the plight of NJ.
A small profile for each person, where they operate, and so on could be invaluable for someone newly arrived in Japan and therefore susceptible to being swayed at first by apologist arguments. A database of sorts would be a map to the minefield, so to speak.
The JT has been considered as unique English newspapers that serve for the needs of NJ living in Japan. Even before the Community Page (CP) was added in May 2002, the JT is unparalleled in providing good pieces of reading (i.e., Sunday Features, the editorials from foreign media correspondents). But, there’s no doubt in my mind that the CP has created a wide audience of readers–both NJ and J–in Japan and around the world. I know most authors are NJ (some of them naturalized), — and possibly, liberal, but it just doesn’t matter whether they are more like David Brooks or Amy Goodman. As long as they can keep their commandments in FAIR (Fairness And Accuracy In Reporting), they deserve recognition in the CP. The next stage for the CP, 5 to 10 years from now, will be to provide news report & analysis regarding NJ Community online or media post casts.
““Where else IN JAPAN’S MEDIA…” The Zainichis (and Nikkei Brazilians) have their own newspapers to fill in the gaps in the domestic media.”
They are written by residents of Japan, printed in Japan, published in Japan, and sold in Japan, to residents of Japan.
— Come on. How many Japanese do you know read Mindan Shimbun? Or International Press? Or even The Japan Times? I bet a lot less than even read Akahata, methinks. It’s definitely nowhere near the number who read the big dailies (Yomiuri, Asahi, Nikkei, Mainichi, Sankei), wire services (Kyodo, Jiji) or many of the regional papers (Hokkaido Shimbun, Tokyo Shimbun). Therefore, I argue ethnic newspapers are NOT part of Japan’s national media narrative. (How often do you see the big boys cribbing stories from ethnic papers, as they do from each other and capitalizing off each others’ scoops, for example?)
And it is fair to say that the newspapers by ethnic Koreans, etc. are marginalised, ostracised and ignored.
Yet, I would say that to deny them as being a part of Japan’s media is to succumb to the very mindset that you decry.
Being a part of Japan is not dependent on acceptance by the majority of Japanese but rather depends on objective criteria.
— So let’s have that objective criteria. Let’s start with circulation numbers. Then let’s work up to cross citations. We’re measuring media impact, not mere existence, which is the very definition of what media is trying to do: influence society (for what good is a media if hardly anyone reads it — or if most people are essentially told not to read it because what they cover is not newsworthy?).
I’m talking about influences on national narratives, and you’re making my case too that they are marginalized, ostracized, and ignored. It’s not succumbing. It’s acknowledging and calling for improvement.
“definition of what media is trying to do: influence society (for what good is a media if hardly anyone reads it”
I think that in the case of media that represent a despised, marginalised and ostracised group, such as ethnic Koreans, etc. in Japan that influencing society is NOT their goal.
Much as the bulk of the gay press in Japan is not generally aimed at changing society as a whole, but rather it is talking to its own readers about coping with and handling the stress from being a marginalised group, so too with the press for marginalised ethnic groups in Japan.
As to the good of that, as you ask, I would offer the the thought that the good is in helping readers to manage such stresses and cope.
For many in Japan’s embattled marginalised groups the goal is simply to endure and survive Japanese society’s treatment of them.
Your goal is more ambitious, certainly, but I would request that you also acknowledge the value of the humbler goal as well.
So, as to impact, the impact should be considered in light of the goal — in this case a humbler goal.
The fact that there are few readers does not demean the impact for those who are readers of such media in Japan.
Hi Blog. Here’s something I received the other day from Debito.org Reader XY. It’s a flyer he found in his mailbox from the Tokyo Edogawa-ku LDP, advising people to “protect Japan and vote their conscience” (although they can’t legally use the word “vote” since it’s not an official election period). It talks about how “dangerous” it would be to grant NJ PR local suffrage.
I’ve given some of the con arguments here before (from radical rightists loons like Dietmember Hiranuma and co.), but this time it’s seventeen more-mainstream LDPers (a party which would otherwise be in power but for people voting their conscience last August) offering a number of questionable claims. First, have a look at the flyer (received February 19, 2010):
1) PR NJ suffrage might be unconstitutional (hedging from the rabid right’s clear assertion that it is). In fact, I’m not sure anyone’s absolutely sure about that.
2) PR NJ suffrage will give foreigners say over how our children are taught and how our political decisions are made. (Well, yeah, if there are enough NJ in any particular district; and even if there were, given how nasty Japan’s public policy can be towards NJ, I’m not so sure that’s such a bad thing.)
3) Granting PR NJ suffrage is not the world trend. (Oh, now we cite how other countries do things? If other countries were creating a world trend, such as signing the Hague Convention on Child Abductions, you’d no doubt be begging off stressing how unique Japan is instead. Besides, at least three dozen other countries, many of them fellow developed countries, grant local suffrage to non-citizens, and they deal with it just fine.)
4) One shouldn’t equate taxpayer with voting rights, asserting that Japanese wouldn’t get suffrage if they lived overseas. (Actually, yes they would, if they lived in one of those abovementioned three dozen plus countries which grant it.)
5) We haven’t studied the issue enough. (This is a typical political stalling tactic. How much debate is enough? How long is a piece of string?)
6) We’ve got prefectural governors coming out against PR suffrage. (And we have prefectural governors coming out FOR suffrage too. Anyway, when has the national government listened to local governments until now? It hasn’t been for the past decade since the Hamamatsu Sengen, for example.)
My favorite bit is the illustration at the bottom. “JAPAN, LET’S PROTECT OURSELVES!!” Love how it’s an angry-looking alien ship with its spotlight on our archipelago. NJ as invading alien!! And I remember back in the day when we had a UFO Party (yes, the UFO党) waiting to cart us all away!! How times change when there’s a real policy up for debate.
But seriously folks, this isn’t some podunk backwater like Dejima Award Winner Setaka Town in Fukuoka, which decided that its local university should be officially “foreigner-free”. This is Edogawa-ku, the easternmost ku of Tokyo proper, right across the river from Chiba, with more than half a million registered residents. It’s not the type of place for xenophobic alarmist politicians to immaturely paint the spectre of an alien invasion in a serious debate.
Vote your conscience. Now that we know who these LDP idiots are, don’t vote them back into power. Arudou Debito in Calgary
36 comments on “Tokyo Edogawa-ku LDP flyer, likens granting NJ PR suffrage to UFO alien invasion. Seriously.”
I think you will find this issue growing in importance since Hatoyama favors it. We saw what happened in Nagasaki which is one of the Prefectures you listed as coming out against NJ suffrage; so I think we will see this issue coming close and closer to Nagatachou as the months wear on. They know we won’t fall for their gags and tricks. We’ll oust the losers and elect people who do their jobs, yes for us, but guess what for Japanese, too! They know they have to deal with the situation at some point which is why the opposition is trying to spread as much fear, misinformation and doubt as possible. NJ will have their day in the voter’s box someday. It’s eventual. It’s just a matter of how ugly it gets.
I think this is just another political football the LDP are using to try and oust the elect government. I’m sure they don’t want PRs voting but now they’re just putting it on thick for show. Ever since the DPJ took power the LDP has shown no sign of productive growth. They have offered no policy change that would endear them to the public what so ever. All they have done is try to bring down the government through scandal and opposition. And the saddest fact of all is that the media seems to be backing this frenzy and the J public are falling for it.
“…The government has said the facility aims to respect the inmates’ human rights and treat them in a humanitarian manner regardless of their language, culture or religion…”
South Korea has opened what officials say is the world’s first purpose-built prison for foreign convicts.
The number of foreigners in South Korean jails has more than doubled in the past four years to about 1,500.
The prison’s director said the inmates would still be able to pursue the “Korean dream” that had led them to the country in the first place.
Inmates are given classes in Korean culture but can also view satellite TV from around the world and eat non-Korean meals. A number of the guards are fluent in English, Russian or Chinese.
One American prisoner told visiting journalists that compared with standard South Korean prisons, the food and education on offer were much better.
The government has said the facility aims to respect the inmates’ human rights and treat them in a humanitarian manner regardless of their language, culture or religion.
“We will operate this facility for the inmates to recognise that their ‘Korean dream’ was not a failure,” said the prison’s director, Kim Pyung-gun. “We will give them a message of hope.”
NJ as space aliens? That explains a lot. They seem to think that Japan not only has a unique culture, but a unique species as well.
I wish it weren’t so, but what with the horrendous state of finances and all the ‘issues’ dogging any governing party, even among young people in Japan playing the foreign devil card will only increase votes for any party. There is a deep-seated fear of foreigners (the different) that, in my opinion, starts in the education system. It’s very easy to exploit this fear for political gain. I have heard highly educated people here say they fear, on some level, being overrun by the Chinese, even though there is absolutely no logical argument for that being a reasonable scenario. Throw in the black truck wack jobs intimidating good politicians and the prospect of NJ local voting rights is slim to none.
I feel that some of the people behind this really would prefer to have gaijin in ghettos- nice ones, but still separated from the populace, where they breed and intermingle with people, upsetting the wa- giving them different ideas, mixing up the pure Japanese blood…(puff, pant!)
Hey why not put them all on an island or something- an enormous cosmopolitan human zoo. If they try to settle on the mainland, actually mix with the Japanese, just make sure they are cut off from really having a stake in society by denying them long-term job contracts, encourage them to leave after a few years anyway because they’ll never fit in…
And how about putting the more troublesome ones, especially the cheap labor from China, in controlled camps or schemes out in the country where they can be exploited out of sight and out of mind.
I am reminded of a conversation I had with a guy from a famous Japanese household security firm (知っていますか？) who had great ideas for preventing innocent Japanese being victims of foreigner crime- RFID tag them all. As we were “mates” over “beer” he’d quite forgotten that I was a gaijin or if so, at least I was a “good gaijin” who “understood.”
PKU – While back in the day it wasn’t so easy to tell who was Jewish or not so they used the Star of David and for other groups, other symbols….since we’re a visable minority, all they need to do is open their eyes and they could see. The scary thing is, we already carry our own star around with us, as mandated by law: the Alien Registration Card. In reality, it’s not all that different and with the coming reforms, it will accomplish basically what the stars, pink triangles, etc. did back in the day.
Nagasaki – always trumpeting how it was the first place to welcome foreigners (though it stuck them all on Dejima). Even now, Nagasaski is always going on about internationalization and how it is more accepting of us gaijin than other places. Bull! On the front page of the Asahi newspaper a month of so ago it said 14 prefectures were dead against suffrage for permanent residents. Hypocritical Nagasaki was top of that list. I live here and brought up the issue with a Japanese acquaintance whose response was such, “Oh, no no we don’t mind you people (by which I guess he meant white Europeans or Americans etc) getting voting rights – it is the Koreans, they have grudges going all the way back to the Japanese occupation of their country.” Yeah, right! End of rant.
What’s ironic is that the only reason the LDP can get away with this discriminatory scaremongering is precisely because there aren’t enough foreigners with political power to oppose it. In a way, this poster illustrates precisely why there is no need to worry about PRs getting the vote.
Unfortunately, your average Taro P. Salaryman won’t make the connection; time to call up the old LDP and have a gripe, I suppose.
It is not really productive to trade off issues but…I expect that if dual-nationality was allowed and reasonably available (say under the same criteria as a permanent or special residency), then the case behind suffrage for NJs would be weakened and could potentially kill two birds with one stone.
Supreme court did in the past declare that granting foreigners local suffrage was not unconstitutional, although one of the judges later admitted that he made that judgment with “political regards” towards Korean residents. He himself was pro-foreign suffrage, and thought that it would be given exclusively to the special-PR holders (a.k.a. Korean residents).