Debito leading foreigners down the garden path
July 21st, 2008 . by MattDebito has a lot of misinformation on his site, especially regarding the extent of racism and manifestations of racism in Japan. The girl in the youtube below is an American living in Japan, and is an English teacher studying Japanese in her spare time. She been posting video blogs on youtube for sometime, and thanks to the fact that she is a white girl that is trying to speak Japanese, she gathered a Japanese following.
At some point she came across Debito’s site and decided to give a speech on youtube about human rights and Japanese racism towards foreigners in Japan. In her summary of the video, she included a link from Debito.org. The selection of topics are all from Debito’s site so it is obvious that she got her “opinions” from there. The original video is no longer visible as she has taken it offline, but someone made a rebuttal video, so we can see most of what she said there. The Japanese writing in the video is the rebuttal, not her words.
My translation (please remember that she is a beginner in Japanese and I am doing my best to translate it and not put words in her mouth) -
“… But to me the is one aspect of Japan that is still old fashioned. That is that Japan does not have a law to eliminate racial discrimination. So if I try to rent a place, go to a hotel, or a restaurant, it is accepted to rejected foreigners. When I was looking for an apartment, I saw this for myself. I cannot accept judging people just on their faces, their faces or their nationality.
Even then, there are foreigners in Japan who obtained Japanese citizenship, and they are often being judged based only on their faces. From now on Japan really needs foreigners, that it clear. It is not just me, the UN, economics newspapers and magazines, all are saying this. Japan is aging, and the number of people that can work is decreasing every year. So foreigners don’t come to Japan to replace them, who knows what will happen to the entire country. That is scary… I don’t want to see that.
Also, I don’t want Japan’s image to become worse. However, if tourists at Japan’s travel locations, for example, if there are signs excluding foreigners, saying “Japanese only”, Japan’s image will become worse. After the foreign tourists go home, they will talk about what happened in Japan. I don’t want that to happen.
Also, there is some talk of having the olympics in Tokyo in 2016. But in the current sitution if the olympics take place, I don’t think that would be good. First, think about foreigners rights and make laws, and live together in peace”
Again, her original video included a link from Debito’s site, which is obviously where she got the idea that foreigners were being discriminated against left and right. The fact is that instances of discrimination are quite rare, and when it occurs they are radical exceptions. Debito would have people belive that Japan is an exceptionally racist country, which it is not.
The result was that many of her Japanese fans took exception to what she was saying, and posted counter arguments on the comments section of her video blog. They corrected the misinformation she repeated from Debito’s site, and because of that she posted another video apologising. See below.
I am not going to translate it all, but basically she apologises for the Debito sourced and factually incorrect rant.
This is what happens when people take what Debito is saying at face value. I am a foreigner. I lived in Japan. I rode a bicycle. But I did not get stopped by police while riding a bicycle an average of 17 times a year (in fact never), which is one story about discrimination that Debito is spreading about. I have never seen a sign rejecting foreigners, except when that sign was in front of a brothel or other similar establishment. I have never been turned away at the door of a shop or denied service or ignored by wait staff. All of the foreigners that I know do not have the kind of experiences that happen to Debito, and the reason is simple - he goes looking for it. I am sure there are all kinds of racism in Japan, but it is by no means extraordinary, very widespread, or systematic. Furthermore, in terms of personal safety, I have never felt safer anywhere than I felt in Japan, and I know a great many foreigners feel the same way. They would not feel this way if they really experienced racial prejudice.
Debito is spreading misinformation that is actually harming the foreigners living in Japan. There are foreigners that will not go to an onsen (hot springs) anticipating discrimination, mainly because of Debito’s activism, and his refusal to point out in his writings that discrimination at onsen are exceedingly rare.
At some point excessive complaints that are not based on the facts about a particular people turns into race hustling and even outright racism. I have noticed how increasingly extreme Debito’s site has become, with posts proclaiming that the Japanese government condones the outright murder of foreigners appearing on his site. People that follow Debito down the garden path are going to find their lives in Japan to be that of miserable paranoia.
I think this woman is well-intentioned but she is a victim of misinformation from Debito’s blog, and this video is a good example to show how Debito’s style and message will be perceived by the Japanese
people if translated into Japanese.
I would like Debito’s fans to take this case seriously and would like them to consider forming another style of activity to speak up for non-Japanese so that Japanese and non-Japanese work
together to make Japan a better place for both of us.
The problem is not that what she said was entirely wrong.
For instance, she is not entirely wrong when she says there are discriminations as to the rent for the room.
Not many Japanese realize that there is such a problem because not many Japanese are landlords and the landlords do not always encounter foreigners and those who discriminate do not talk about it.
After googling, I found out that there were cases where foreigners were discriminated and the Japanese agents admitted such practice.
Debito’s style goes wrong because
(1)a person in Debito’s style doesn’t and even refuses to talk in Japanese, and so the Japanese, even when there is a real issue, do not realize it. That way, you cannot expect any dialogue to happen between J and NJ.
(2)a person in Debito’s style talks as if the problem was unique to Japan and rampant in Japan, and so it sounds as if , to borrow the words from Jackson, he was talking down to “Japs”— as if he was a superman from Krypton talking to the backward specie. That prevents J and NJ from working together on equal footing.
Interestingly Debito himself describes himself as a superman from Krypton and he banned the poster on his blog who pointed out there were still “whites only” sign in USA. And one of his fan’s handle is Kimapatsu, the blonds—I guess he is the Aryan race, the blondes.
(3)a person in Debito’s style does not substantiate his claim with objective data.
Debito campaigned for the innocence of the gaijin accused for quasi-rape, by covering up the fatally disadvantageous facts to the accused, and consequently some people started blaming the accuser for telling a lie. Debito blocked the comments which pointed out the fact.
And when the trial was supposed to be over, he stopped campaigning, and there is no report of it.
Debito posted an article from Hiragana Times which
was an anecdote blaming the Japanese police. It turned out the article contained lies. Debito blocked the comment that revealed the lies.
The comments on his blog are filled with anecdote which are hard to believe for the people who know Japan but which are easy to believe for the biased people.
For instance, one guy says he met a homeless with bare foot begging for foods in a crowded city in Japan. People know Japanese homeless rarely beg. You’ll never meet a beggar with bare foot in Japan.
Another guy says he was stopped on the street by the police more than a hundred times. This story might be true. But few foreigners have such experience. His case was an exception; you can not use it to show “driving while “white” in Japan, we need to examine the cause of it carefully.
Keep in mind that Debito blocks the large number of comments carefully and the comments above have survived without a comment from Debito in boldface, which is usually issued when he disagrees.
(4)a person in Debito’s style tries to thwart the bigger project Japan is promoting and she tries to solve the alleged problem by thwarting the project.
Debito suggests Japan shouldn’t host major international events; I don’t give shit whether Japan host G8, but the reasons he cites that Japan should not host the international events applies to any major developed countries;he looks either radical leftist or he looks a radical racist.
A person in Debito’s style proposes that Japan should not host the Olympic, Japan should not be
a member of security council at UN etc. I don’t give a damn whether Japan host the Olympic or Japan gets a seat at UN. but the reason she cites against them applies to any major developed countries:she looks a radical revolutionist or she looks a radical racist.
Again I understand non-Japanese in Japan need somebody to speak up for them. I suggest to avoid Debito’s style. Debito’s style is not a solution but it is creating problem by antagonizing between Japan/Japanese and non-Japanese.
Racial tension is not high in Japan . But Debito’s style is likely to facilitate a racial tension rather than diluting it.
I am sure that Debito’s fans are reading this post and the comments. One of their problems is that they stay inside their space protected by Debito’s rule.
I encourage them to join the discussion.
Don’t be Japanophobia.
Occidentalism is a blog where freedom of speech is most generously protected.
And I’ll welcome criticisms.
Superb analysis, ponta.
Sometimes, it’s difficult explaining, to the poor extent that I can, Japanese culture to non-Japanese (I am not Japanese, but have ties there). It’s difficult to say Japan has xenophobia and still express how welcoming the overwhelming majority of the country is.
A blog which studiously moderates comments is one to be avoided, on any topic. I would not trust Debito for a second. I commend Occidentalism for being open.
What I fault this girl the most for is not trusting her own eyes more, and for being rash with how she presented her topic. However, she’s young, and it’s to her great credit that she was willing to back off a bit on the statements. Hopefully the Japanese can realize that there are several types of people who talk about Japan’s problems: those who want to tear Japan down, and those who have a great love for Japan.
Oh, two more things,
1) I’ve been to a number of onsen in Japan (it’s one of my favorite hobbies when I’m there), and though I’ve gotten a few raised eyebrows from other customers in some of them, I’ve never felt unwelcome generally. And to blame them for a sideways glance here and there would be ludicrous — if I’m the only white guy in a small country onsen that maybe sees whites once a month, of *course* they’ll be surprised.
2) I find her voice in Japanese kind of cute. Doubtless this is affecting my judgement.
Speaking of Kimpatsu,
“Since when? Japan is a crypto-fascist state; a third world mentality with a third world economy. But to call the country a democracy is surely monkeying with the truth.”
Of course, this post gets untouched while posts by Big B, Debito asks him to substantiate his claim.
Though I applaud your efforts Ponta, Debito will not change as will those frustrated mostly Japanese illerate expats who worships him.
Kimpatsu is a relatively good one.
The followings are some examples Debito approved of without his comment of disagreement in boldface.
Keep in mind Debito has blocked the large number of innocent comments.
I have more but I’ll stop here.
These are the messages Debito org are sending to the Japanese people. They say they are promoting a positive image of non-Japanese.
How can you expect the Japanese people to work together with them?
Debito fans, I am serious. If Debito can not do easiest things I specified on another post , I seriously recommend you to leave them, just as other people in the past have done.
People working with Debito is likely to be looked upon as the same type of the people above.
Leave them and set up a new type of a blog and a group to speak up for non-Japanese in Japan. It is quite easy to set up the blog, isn’t it?
There are more Japanese who are willing to help you than some of you with Japanophobia might think.
Some of you might think that Debito does more good than harm anyway. I am afraid you are seriously mistaken. He is promoting anti-Japan image of gaijin in Japan, fueling antagonism between the Japanese and non-Japanese.
Imagine the Muslim fundamentalists in the USA who are cursing the USA in Arabic, praising their mother countries, sending the damn message to Muslim countries about the USA, refusing the talk with Americans in English, banning the dissidents who question him. Isn’t is scary?
Of course, not all Muslims are like that, but you cannot deny they are contributing to a negative image of Muslims. Can you say Debito and his fans are completely different from that?
Here are some recent examples to show Debito’s attitude toward the comments.
debito.org/?p=1824#comment-165631
There is no comment from Debito to demand to substantiate it. Who the hell goes to every universtity in Japan?
debito.org/?p=1835#comment-165646
Randy was lucky for his comment to be generously approved of by Mr Arudou.
But he was asked to substantiate this innocent claim.
I can cite more form the archive and I am sure you can detect similar cases yourself.
Keep in mind that Randy was very lucky man Mr.Arudou still has not banned….yet.
“Who the hell goes to every universtity in Japan?”
Anything is possible in Debito-world.
A classic gem from tool named DR…
Let me recount an incident that still shocks me to this day. I had a business meeting in a city in Shizuoka-ken in January of 2003. I awaited my colleague at the exit of the station at about 1230h. It was a bright breezy January day, temp 8C and cooler in the wind, say -2C, -3C or so.
In front of me crawled a late middle-aged Japanese guy, barefoot, dishevelled and obviously cold and hungry. He was begging with the empty styrofoam instant ramen bowl. People acually spat at him in front of my eyes, and hurled epithets at him, contemptuously. I went to the Kiosk at the station and bought him a couple of onigiri and a couple of cans of warm tea. When I gave it to him he practically clung to my ankle thanking me, over and over. My associate arrived and we had to go. A besuited man who flashed a badge at me, denoting his employ at City Hall’s Social Service Dept, asked me quizzically, “Why did you do that? Feed that man?â€
My reply was simple. “We live in the world’s 2nd strongest economy, and it is a shame for me to see him like that. There’s no reason for anyone to be in such need here. None! Japan is a rich country, and it should take care of its citizens.â€
Well….it turns out that my name (which I’d exchanged to the mayor and governor) rang a bell as a no-BS kinda straight shooter, got someone’s attention.
Two days later I saw my “beggar†heading to the train, clean shaven, (and I found out later), housed, employed and now a contributing member of society.
I can’t claim that I shamed the powers that be into action. But somewhere, someone got a message. And to this day I still see the “beggar†in a suit and tie heading to work on a regular basis.
So folks, even in small ways, we actually D O make a difference…..
http://www.debito.org/?p=1207
So in Debito-world, being stopped by the police a hundred times does in fact happen.
My daughter and her American friends (males included) stopped by in Hirayu Onsen, Gifuken on their way to Kamikouchi-Hotaka treckings this summer. They were only able to afford cheapest outdoor public onsen there. The public onsen’s name is Kaminoyu. Everyone was marvelled with its affordable price and beautiful environment. The female-yu was surrounded with lovely grove of tall copsewood. A water-fall view between the thick maple trees. The male-yu was located beneath the female-yu, no water-fall view, surrounded with rocks.
Access to the places: JR Nagoya, Kyoto or Osaka ~ JR Takayama ~ 30 min. bus ride to Hirayu Onsen ~ 25 min. bus ride to Kamikouchi, stroll along the Azusa River, one of the prettiest river on the Earth ~ next morning for a whole day treckings on the Hotaka mountains.
If you have a chance, please try a set of Kaminoyu and Kamikouchi treckings and enjoy.
Hello, Debito and his gangs,
Life is short. Please enjoy Kaminoyu, Hirayu Onsen, Gifuken, OK? Don’t worry, I am not paid by Hirayu Onsen propaganda department if there is such a bureau。
As unfortunate (though indicative) as this incident is, I doubt it will compel Debito to reconsider his tactics. If anything, he will probably use it as a flimsy pretext to go against “online communities that harbor anti-gaijin discussion” — as if criticizing an entire nation on the basis of misinformation is an inherent right of a foreigner.
Ponta: While we generally see eye-to-eye, on this one I must disagree:
“People know Japanese homeless rarely beg. You’ll never meet a beggar with bare foot in Japan.”
They not only exist, I can give you a good place to start looking: on the pedestrian bridge in Umeda, Osaka, that connects the Hankyu station, JR station and Hanshin Department Store. I used to cross that bridge twice a day 4-5 days a week, and it was not too uncommon to see a beggar, some shoeless, sitting silently with head bowed with a small sign describing his misfortune and a begging bowl in front of him. Or you could try Shijo Ohashi in Kyoto, beggars sometimes appear there as well (Sanjo Ohashi occasionally too, but it is too crowded for begging or else the cops run them off quicker). I will admit that many of the beggars in Kyoto have sandals, and are better dressed, all in black robes with conical hat and usually a staff as well as a nice begging bowl. However there are truly homeless beggars besides the monks.
Matt: I believe the horrific post on Debito’s site you refer to is this one? http://www.debito.org/?p=1369
Thanks LB that is the one! Putting it in the post.
LB
I stand corrected.
I remember seeing a fake ex-soldier begging for money around Ueno when I was child .　Since then I’ve never seen a beggar in Tokyo. There were homeless who used to lie down under an railroad overpass and there are still homeless at Tokyo, I hear that they collect cans and bottles for money and they get out-of-date Bento from convenience stores or they get charity food at Ueno Park.
I googled and yes I’ve found the website that confirms there are beggars at Umeda.
http://www.osaka-minkoku.info/damepo/e144.html
Still I don’t believe DR’s story on Debito’s blog which nigelboy copied on his comment 7.
Have you ever seen Japanese people spitting at a barefoot beggar? I find the story that follows just hard to believe.
I lived in Kyoto and Tokyo for twelve years in total. In Kyoto I must have been mesmerized with the old temples since I never saw homeles people, let alone beggars. In Tokyo for some years I saw groups of homeless people squatting at a certain corridor in JR Shinjuku Station. Not once did I see any of them bothering passer-bys? I did not even see cans or baskets. I never saw any of the passer-bys take offensive actions like spitting or hurling at the squatters. I once saw young blonde man with a sign written on a carbon board depicting crude Japanese letters saying, “I am from Israel, good at pencil drawing for 3,000 yen a piece.” He asked me to let him draw. I said I did not have money and tried to pass by. He quickly said that the price would be 2,000 yen, 1,000 yen, then 500 yen, looking at my face. “馬鹿ã«ã—ã¦ã‚‹ã‚ï¼â€ I said and objected to his offer. That was an only incident some one ever asked me for money on a Tokyo street.
Hi. I`m the Randy mentioned above in Ponta`s post. I have indeed been chased off Debito`s blog while he lets other posters talk about how all foreigners are restricted to slum housing without jumping in. Now he wants to bully Japanese companies into providing free credit to anyone. I`m very glad that he is not having any real impact aside from giving a collection of liars and racists a place to vent.
I take off my hat to Randy.
It might be true that, as nigelboy said, they won’t change but I think it is important to let everyone—Japanese and non-Japanese —know that everything said on Debito should be taken with a grain of salt;otherwise, it will just fuel antagonism between Japanese and non-Japanese.
Moreover, it is regrettable that foreigners who have little knowledge of Japan and Japanese language visit Debito .org for help. It is obvious that he does not have sufficient knowledge of Japanese law and law in general, I think even Debito will admit it. And notice he does not have Japanese skill sufficient enough to write in Japanese what he write in English. You should get what it means.
Foreigners who seek help should be given numerous advices from numerous perspectives.
For instance,
http://www.debito.org/?p=1815
This guy had a trouble with a Japanese.
Granted the Japanese initiated it as the guy said, but if
as the guy said, it is very likely that the guy will be charged for an assault.
Even if he acted in self-defence, if it was excessive, it is a still crime—Japanese or non-Japanese. If the court does not admit that he acted in self-defense, it is a simply assault. A conspiracy theory does not work outside of Debito’s world. And he is likely to have a criminal record on his own account if prosecuted. I don’t give a damn whether he’ll get a criminal record or not, but if I am a friend of this guy, I recommend him to take a personal settlement–jidan ,as the police suggested, rather than to take it to the court.
He might want to say that the police should have explained that he had no duty to be fingerprinted, and if fingerprinted, the record would be kept at the police. The point taken. But really that’s a minor issue in caparison with the issue he is facing now.
(BTW I don’t understand at all why Debito suspected this is the case of Atariya)
Balanced posters like LB and others have been banned, I am not sure when Debito bans them and whether he is blocking balanced comments like HO’s.
But, I thank Randy, Big B and others for their efforts. They are the good guide to new comers and the Japanese who might otherwise think Debito type of people represent non-Japanese in Japan
What is worse than Debito leading folks who don’t know better “down the garden path” is that there are a lot of folks at his site who think they do know better. Folks like Ralph who say all foreigners should maintain a “united front” and accuse those who won’t adopt an “us vs. them” mentality of “brown-nosing” their “masters” - what’s next, calling people “Uncle Toms”? Oh wait, that already happened. And yet Debito has the cojones to claim “I’m not every poster’s keeper. And I definitely do not agree with or vouch for everything in everyone’s commentary to this blog.”
Really. He cuts comments that he doesn’t like, then bans people who point out that he does that. All posts go through him. Unlike this and other blogs where posts go up for all to see (although the site owner may cut them later), nothing goes up on his site without his checking it first. He has written or posted articles on his site filled with hate speech or linking to hate sites, and still claims (as he did on Japan Probe) that even that does not mean he approves of what he himself puts on his own site!
He won a suit against 2ch. for the owner’s “allowing” defamatory posts on an open, anonymous forum, then goes one better by putting similar such posts up on his own site. He froths at the mouth at the very mention of Tony Laszlo, claiming Tony “deleted the historical record”, even as he does effectively the same thing on his own blog by refusing to allow responses that answer other posts through - but then allows other posts in such a way as to make given posters look like liars or idiots.
Ponta has a good start with his blog recording posts that never saw the light of day - what I wonder about is how many of the posts on Debito’s site have been “pre-edited” to say something entirely different from what the original poster intended. If he selectively allows posts through, and also has the ability to edit others’ posts before he puts them up (which he does), then you have to wonder…
I think Occiditalism is taking effect again.
http://www.debito.org/?p=1842
If you read the post, it is clear that he has this blog in mind.
I am sure the posters out there are reading this.
I recommend them to join the discussion here.
I am banned, and LB is banned out there. We won’t bite you.
I am native Japanese and some other guys here are native Japanese, Matt, LB and other guys are non-Japanese. We are getting along and we are working together.
Hey, I have mastered English to the level of translating laws that even native cannot easily understand. Actually many Japanese graduate students have mastered English to such a level. But unfortunately nobody praise it.
The difference is that so few gaijin, except zainichi Koreans and Chinese ,of course, speak and write Japanese that every gaijin who speak and write Japanese are praised. Even Debito cannot write what he wants to say to Japanese society in Japanese!!!
And even Debito’s talk is praised despite some faults–I heard him speak on the digital record in the interview with the police—That’s okay I don’t expect non-native speaker to speak perfect Japanese as long as they don’t expect me to write in perfect English.
I don’t demand you to write Japanese here.
So please join, please.
.
Does Giant Panda want cheese with his/her whine?
Has he/she considered that Japanese fluency among NJ’s are RARE and that because of this, certain Japanese people react that way?
Here’s an exerpt from Terrie Lloyd’s article titled “High-level skills abroad don’t guarantee job in Japan” which sums up the attitudes of some expats living here in Japan.
“Most people are quite surprised to find that although their technology, business management, or financial skills were highly rated at home, their lack of Japanese and awareness of the market means that they can’t integrate into most companies’ operations in Japan and thus their skills are severely devalued”
http://www.japantoday.com/category/commentary/view/high-level-skills-abroad-dont-guarantee-job-in-japan#comment_63211
Replace the word “Japanese” with “English” and “Japan” with any other english speaking nation and your response would be “no $hit Sherlock!!!”
And of course, this English superiority complex syndrome is quite common among Debito worshippers as seen on this recent “Pay your taxes in One yen coin” stunt.
http://www.debito.org/?p=1675
“And I’ve also mentioned that correspondence, which is supposed to be important, needs to be brought up to international standards. Anything in Japanese only I will ignore and put into the shredder. For the kind of taxes they’re charging, I want first class services in English. Being “international” as this country always tries to pretend to be means being multilingual.
Start here, and start now.”
So maybe Giant Panda needs to focus his frustration towards these people including the so-called “fluent as in grade school level” activist from Hokkaido.
[...] Check out this post over at Occidentalism,which takes gaijin-turned-Japanese-national Debito Arudo (David Aldwinckle) to task and then some for “race hustling” and spreading misinformation about Japan that eventually has a negative effect on foreigners who live here. [...]
What triggered me to “stoke” Debito’s blog is a guy I discussed with on Japan probe who said something to the effect you only needed to read Debito’s blog to see how backward, racist Japan is.
I used to think nobody took Debito’s blog seriously, but I found out that not a few people believed in information from Debtio org and that their prejudice and bias about Japan were reinforced and strengthened by Debito.org. The above comments I cited from Debito org and Debito’s analogy between himself and a superman exemplified the attitude.
How can they expect the Japanese people to work together when they talk down to the Japanese?
In his newest post, he says,
But that is exactly the way he runs blog and the way he presents case is leading his readers ;his blog is creating a victim like the girl above or a monster like the guy I mentioned above.
How can they not mislead people when the blog blocks the comments that debunk lies, cover-ups, fake anecdotes, and distortions?
I am not saying that there is no racism in Japan.
In some areas Japan has more problems than other countries, in other areas Japan has less problems than other countries. Probably Japan has a lot to learn from “driving while black” experience. police brutality, false conviction, unsatisfactory law against discrimination towards foreigners in US,UK, Canada.
I think the Japanese people are willing to learn from that and that way we-natives and non-natives- can tackle the same problems together on equal footing, taking the context and history into consideration.
How can they be convincing when they know little about their mother country and their host country?
The number of people from the countries other than Korea and China are extremely small in Japan. Lack of knowledge sometimes means positive and other times negative for such foreign-looking people. Toward such people, I think Japanese feel anxiety at the same time curiosity. Japan is inexperienced;at the same time, she is not burdened with heavy prejudice.
How can they expect to promote a positive image of gaijin in Debito’s style?
They blamed the exclusionary shop at Tsukiji. Matt and other gaijin and native Japanese tried to understand what the owner was doing for. We worked together to take down the sign. Matt listened to my advice and I listened to his advice. Natives and non-native worked together and ended up with a success.
How can they be successful when they don’t try to hold a dialogue with natives?
If they just want to get a spotlight, go ahead.
If they just want to rant, go ahead.
But they are not getting a solution and they should
realise that they are making it harder for gaijin and Japanese to work and live together.
Matt and Ponta,
I don’t post on this blog often — I think the last time was during the Tsukiji fish restaurant debate — but I know Debito and post at his blog all the time.
I’m the one who’s been pulled over by cops 117 times (in just under 10 years); let me assure you that I’m not exaggerating in the least.
Now keep in mind that I worked in the most heavily-policed district (Chiyoda-ku) of Japan’s most heavily-policed city (Tokyo), where there is in fact almost no street crime at all, and commuted to work in the middle of the night when police thus have almost nothing better to do than bother cyclists. And every one of those 117 stoppages has been in Tokyo — I lived in Shiga and Kyoto and was never hassled.
They also run an impromptu bicycle checkpoint right in front of my apartment (which is on a convenient street corner) from time to time. My landlord has asked them to remember who the residents of her building are and not stop them, but the cops refuse, claiming that the’re not responsible for that and that we have to “cooperate”.
(I can provide photos of this, if you don’t believe me. I can see them stopping people from my own balcony.)
As time passes and the stoppages mount, there’s only so much harassment you can take before you start to get angry. And you wonder why the same poilce officers can’t bother to remember your face — a white one *does* stand out — or bicycle model. I’ve offered to take a photo of myself on the bicycle and give it to them, so they can keep it in the koban and let me go in the future, but they won’t accept it. No records are being kept of the stoppages, and the individual officers often refuse to give their names.
Given the powers that police have, both official and semi-official, when questioning someone, being harassed by them frequently is a serious issue for anyont. If you mouth off to them, you’re in big trouble. And when you get harassed that often, eventually an unlucky day when you’re in a bad mood and the cop is too, and trouble erupts, is going to occur.
Police officers I’ve spoken to in my New Jersey hometown find this egregious, insisting that the relationship between the police and the residents of their districts is bilateral, with each side cooperating with the other. Here in Tokyo, however, we have to obey them, while they have no responsibilities to us.
Whatever you may think of Debito, he works on a lot of important issues. If they don’t affect you (e. g. cyclist harassment), why snipe at him? Let the people who *are* affected fight their fights.
Thanks for reading this very long post.
Mark in Yayoi
Hi Mark in Yayoi
Welcome.
So people around your area are stopped so often anyway, and you think you are stopped more often than the Japanese.
I sympathize.
But it was not entirely appropriate but misleading as an example to show how often gaijin is unfairly stopped in Japan, isn’t it?
You mentioned Housei University on Debito’s blog.It is located in Chiyodaku. Housei is a place where one of the most radical student group gather.
Did you tell Debito the circumstance and did Debito intentionally fail to tell the whole story when he wrote the article on Japan Times?
If the people around your building are stopped so often, Japanese and non-Japanese have something in common to protest.
Have you tried to talk with your Japanese neighbor about it?
Have you consulted Chiyoda-ku or Bukyou-ku about that? If you give me address, I can give them a call. You can ask my mail address to Debito.
Japanese police officers in Tokyo would find a case like this
egregious and would answer the same way .
Really why? —The answer is on this post and the comments.
Thank you very much for coming. Honestly, I am very glad you have the courage to visit.
Debito blocks the comments. Your comments are not blocked on his blog. Let people on Debito’s blog know about this post on Occidentalism—Could you post a comment on his blog to tell we are discussing Debito’s tactics here on Occidentalism?
Do you think Debito will block such a comment?
If they come, they will be all welcomed.
Let’s start discussions between natives and non-natives.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your post. It seems like you have faced some exceptional circumstances, and I sympathise strongly with it, but somehow I do not see this as being widespread in Japan. Personally, I think that most foreigners are not going to run into this problem, that they should not have an unreasonable fear of “riding bicycle while white”.
My problem with Debito is that he does not allow any comments challenging his viewpoint, which on occassion is factually incorrect, and then implies on his blog that the banned commenter was guilty of some sort of misconduct, which is TOTALLY untrue. Seriously, Debito is the owner of his blog and has a right to run it anyway he likes, but from a moral standpoint his policy of what he deletes, and what he allows to stand is reprehensible.
I do not have a problem with people talking about whatever they would like to talk about, but Debito is trying to be a public figure, making bold assertions about controversial issues, so when I see something that I think is wrong, I offer my opinion about it. If that is sniping, then so be it. I never said he should not be able to speak his mind.
I wish someone else would work on these “important issues”. For example, someone that will actually speak Japanese to Japanese people, and not in English at his various speaking engagements. Are there any ethnic minority activists in the USA or anywhere else that insist on activism only in their native language?
Debito’s site is getting increasingly extreme, the language also increasingly strident. A blow out is coming, I can see it on the horizon. There is plenty of material on his site for a Japanese person interested enough to make an excellent case that Debito himself is deeply prejudiced. I don’t want that to happen because it could damage the image of foreigners in Japan, which is ironic because Debito is Japanese (but not a 日本人 as he well knows).
Debito is very deceptive and I have seen this in his treatment of myself and others that posted a comment, or tried to, on his blog. For this reason he is not a very sympathetic figure to me. In the past I had believed he was well meaning but misguided. Now I think he is mainly motivated by an attention seeking desire to be in the spotlight.
Anyway, I hope you will visit from time to time to get an alternative viewpoint that is banned on Debito’s site. This is a market place of ideas after all, no matter how much Debito wishes it was not so.
I have recently been barred from Debito`s blog for disagreeing strongly with his take on visas. I have economics training and demonstrated that, by his own admission, Debito has advocated for changes to the way that credit his handed out in Japan with no understanding of how credit checks work internationally.
I think that many of the assumptions about the visa system in Japan that are being thrown aruond on Debito`s blog do not take into account fundamental economic realities that should be discussed. My attempt to raise some of these points elicited an angry backlash. In effect, what Debito is arguing is rooted in emotion, not rationality. I think that knowledge of this needs to be spread widely as it proves that Debito is an activist with little understanding of what he advocates for. Ponta or others, please feel free to put this on your blogs so that more people can get an idea of how undeveloped Debito`s arguments are.
The changes that Debito wants - a quick enactment of easier access to working visas and easier extension of stays - could completely undermine the lives of many of his supporters.
Right now, teaching English conversation in Japan pays okay and the hours are okay. Not great, just okay. It`s a living.
If it is easier for more people to come and stay in Japan or to stay in Japan without steady jobs (tutoring under the table), two things will happen. The labor supply increases, so wages and working conditions decline. This is not due to ill will, it is simple economic reality of supply and demand. With more people competing for a static (or in the case of English conversation, shrinking) number of positions, conditions will decline.
This is likely, within a few years, to push wages (or private tutoring fees) so low that English conversation will cease to pay a living wage in Japan. This is the reality of a labor surplus. It may recover later as people leave, but many of the foreigner founded English conversation companies will be forced out of business and many people who have built lives in Japan will find themselves replaced by newcomers, attracted by easier visa conditions, who will work for less - either forced to leave or forced into poverty.
I think that the supply / demand consequences of the immigration changes that people like Debito and his followers are advocating need to be VERY carefuly considered. If relaxed in the way that Debito demands, this could dramatically undermine the lives of the majority of native English-speakers in Japan.
The Japanese government is in the process of studying relaxations of visa standards. This needs to be done with care and over time. Debito`s demands would turn the Japan dream of many foreigners into a nightmare. Perhaps a wider understanding of this will lead some who take his statments at face value to demand more intellectual rigor from the man. He really dosen`t understand the way that immigration works.
If anyone doubts what I am saying here, just ask an economist what happens when the labor pool for a shrinking industry suddenly increases in size.
Well said, Randy. Yours is an intelligent and insightful post, and it is people of your calibre that he is banning. Thanks for posting this.
Hello Mike,
You live in a very interesting area in Tokyo. I hope you will be liberated from curious police men’s obnoxious questionnaires someday.
When I was in Tokyo some of my working colleagues were former ä¸æ ¸æ´¾ from Hosei University. As a matter of fact the social welfare department of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office was infested with self-enchanted revolutionists from Hosei Uni., Wakou Uni., 社会ç¦ç¥‰ Uni etc… Since the Hosei man in particular tried to enlighten me for some reason with Trotskii’s said revolutionary wisdoms I happen to participated in some gatherings led by a Hosei professor. This sensei’s name is Yasui Kaoru. He was a first chairman of the so called International Study Institute of Juche Philosophy. Hosei University is still a center of Kim Il Sunism among other anarchism in Japan.
Mike, if you have a chance to visit Pyongyang you will probably be guided to the Juche Tower. Underneath the Juche Tower there is a plaque on which this Hosei Uni. sensei’s name is carved as one of acknowlegded faithful advocators of the world Juche revolutionary movements guided by the Chosun Labor Party.
Sorry,
happen to participated→happened to participate(笑。
Mark in Yayoi,
I am very sorry, I should have spelled your name correctly in my previous post. I appologize.
Hi Mark in Yayoi.
I am still waiting.
I am trying to help.
You said you were stopped more than anybody could imagine and you were in trouble.
Do you want a solution? or just help Debito to write misleading articles? Was LB right when he wrote Debito was just asking trouble?
I am asking you to post a comment on Debito’s blog to let them know that we are discussing his tactics
here on Occidentalism to make the relation between natives and non-native better. His blog is affecting the relation for worse. To paraphrase you, “Let the people who *are* affected fight their fights.”
Am I asking too much? Did Debito block your comment?
I am asking to start dialogue between natives and non-natives. Why do you reject it? Are they Japanophobia? Am I impolite? I’ll change the way I talk if you give me a advice.
Ponta, you know as well as I do that posting the occidentalism link on Debito’s site will either result in a ban or an edited blog posting. He doesn’t like the people here because occidentalism posters are the most critical of him and his methods. Mark seems to know Debito personally and I doubt he would go out of his way to antagonize that relationship.
I wouldn’t be too concerned about it, though, because as this YouTube video shows, the Japanese crowd seems to be getting more vocal an in my opinion doing increasingly better job of balancing out mistaken information regarding Japan.
Hi Gerbilbastard
Well, if mark in Yayoi is a friend of Debito, he should tell Debito what is the best for him.
Debito’s style won’t make it. So he should criticize it if he really wants to make a difference in Japan.
Let’s take a case of a rapist.
Debito org has supported the accused. There is nothing wrong with it so far.
But Debito org campaigned for the alleged rapist, posting several articles, so much so that some of them started blaming the woman for telling lies.
In the process, Debito showed away the real name of the accuser.
Debito had covered up the important fact that the accuser admitted at the court ,according to the court text, that he molested the woman.「ç§ã‚‚彼女ã®é™°éƒ¨ã«æŒ‡ã‚’入れるãªã©ã‚’ã—ã¾ã—ãŸã€‚セックスã¾ã§ã¯ã—ã¦ã„ã¾ã›ã‚“ã€(the court text page 15)
I pointed out the fact. I asked them to explain away.
He blocked the comment. I had to publicize it on another blog.(Global voices on line)
And here is the accused’s final statement to the police document to the appeal court.
We don’t know his statement here is true or not , but read it very carefully. The accused does not deny his statement to the police and at the court to the effect that he molested the woman.
According to Debito, the High Court also found him guilty on April 23. Debito promised he would write on this later but so far there is no report of it.
Is it not the case that Debito org has been deceptive and misleading and his tactics has been inappropriate?
I can cite other examples, but keep in mind these records will accompany Deibo org and his fans.
Unless he admits and make it clear on his blog that that his tactics has been wrong and he’ll change the tactics, he and his fans must live with these tainted records
I have asked them several times EITHER his fans criticize his tactics in order for his group to be
self-corrective OR set up another organization to speak up for non-natives.
So far my request has been ignored.
I might be expecting too much.
Probably he will fulfill self-prophecy.
Their Japanophobia won’t make any productive result but will suffer the same fate as WaiWai, leaving the resentments between natives and non-natives.
On a final note, I appreciate the efforts by Randy, Big B, HO, Icarus etc on Debito’s blog .
As I thought,　Debito is reading this blog.
http://www.debito.org/?p=1835#comment-165741
But he cannot participate in the discussion here, why?
And how can we know Debito is not telling the whole story, considering his records about his blogging.
Debito org is not a messenger when his blog covers up and distorts the facts and blocks the comments that debunk them and keeps acting as if he was just chasing of trolls.
Mr Arudou, as I said, I’ll welcome an open discussion and criticism.
And I want to ask Debito’s fans,
Do you really want to go with Debito’s blog as a cooperators of his style, fueling antagonism between natives and non-natives as Debito style has done,
OR
Do you want to criticize his style and/or do you want to, for instance, set up a blog that is open to natives and non-natives, thinking and working together to deal with the questions and problems that non-natives are facing?
Camphortree, please don’t worry about getting my name wrong — Mark and Mike are easy to confuse.
I didn’t know anything about the radicals at Hosei. Maybe this is why the Chiyoda police, who hassle me at seemingly all other times, have never stopped me there — I’m obviously not on the list of anarchists or Kim Il-Sung supporters!
Matt, I haven’t claimed that the bicycle harassment is widespread *in Japan* (and can’t claim it, since I’ve only lived in three places). I’m only talking about my own experience in central Tokyo. I’ve never been harassed a single time outside of Tokyo, even when doing something that would provide an easy excuse for a cop to stop me, such as riding on the covered streets in Kyoto where you’re not supposed to (but wouldn’t know this, since lots of people ride anyway).
Since Debito experienced the same thing as me, in the same area — he was stopped several times in one evening — it’s not just me that this happens to. Injustice is injustice whether it affects two people or thousands.
I’ve watched the Tokyo cops from the top of my house and have actually compiled statistics. I don’t “think” (to use Ponta’s words) that I get stopped more often than most; I “know” it. And there is a clear hierarchy of people who get stopped and who don’t.
Ponta, I do think it’s unfair that Debito doesn’t allow your comments, while other nasty anti-Japanese ones such as what you’ve quoted can stay up, but I don’t want to start another argument at his blog.
Can I make one suggestion? You might want to reply in English to English posts, and in Japanese to Japanese posts. Debito posts plenty of articles and translations of his own writing in Japanese, so there is a forum for Japanese-language debate (though I wish people used it more). Using both languages in the same debate makes it impossible for monolingual posters to participate, and of course they can’t rebut your assertions if the language is suddenly switched.
He *has* made many speeches and hosted discussion forums in Japanese; I’ve been to a few of them. I don’t think the assertion that his activism is English-only is true — he uses English with foreign journalists and Japanese with domestic journalists. What makes you (Matt) say that he insists on activism in his native language?
I think Debito should run for president of Korea. The Koreans would love him…probably worship the ground on which he walks. Who cares if he leads the country to ruins and turns out to be a selfish greedy corrupt president. Koreans are used to that and don’t really care if he actually doesn’t give a rat’s ass about improving the country…Koreans are happy as long as the president insults and attacks Japan. That is the lifelong dream and guiding force for every Korean.
Another English superiority complex displayed by Debito worshippers regarding Koseki
“Jib Halyard Says:
July 25th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
The annoying thing is middle names. some ward offices will not accept two given names for a birth certificate, unless they are joined together as a single name without a space.
Which means a bureaucrat had a say in naming my child (in the eyes of official japan, at least), rather than just accepting his REAL name, as they must do when registering a foreign-born applicant for an alien card. pretty sickening.”
“adamw Says:
July 25th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
jib,
japanese only have 2 names legally (god knows why) so if you have a middle name for your child you have to run them together-but you can do one in kanji,one in hiragana etc to get round it..”
http://www.debito.org/?p=1843
The above is typical of why Debito and his worshippers won’t be able to accomplish anything in Japan. There is no middle ground with these people. Granted Koseki system has flaws but these morons never discuss the positive side of it as it pertains to the ordinary Japanese.
As for those two idiot posters, do you even stop to think that ordinary Japanese could ask “why do Westerners have middle names”?
“The annoying thing is middle names”
You said it Jib. It’s annoying as hell.
Hi Mark
I am glad you have responded. Welcome.
So do you have statistics as to the ratio of Japanese and non-Japanese who are stopped? And if you have solid evidences, I really do want to call Chiyoda-ku or tokyo-to to complain the discrimination. Let me know.
Here is my E-mail address.
ponta_at_oocidentalism後八風ードットå°ãƒ‰ãƒƒãƒˆã‚¸ã‚§ãƒ¼ãƒ”ー
Mark, I am banned from his blog. You can see on my blog, Global voices on line and
Occidentalism all of my comments I tried to post on his blog and how he banned me and . And other people are either banned or their comments are blocked.
Now look at the way he deals with posters like jim, ,who often make hateful comments which will fuel antagonism between natives and non-natives..
Debito says he is not defending jim, but in substance isn’t it clear that he is defending jim, who is the author of a dubious article on Hiragana times and dubious comments about it, blocking my comment that debunk his lies?. In other words, isn’t he indirectly endorsing the hateful comments and lies ?
Considering his record, fewer people , except the people who kiss Debito’s ass, would want to post comments.
See how it goes?
It goes like this.
A poster says:
I disagree with Debito because A,B.
Debito says:
Prove A.B.
The poster says:
A is　・・・・B is・・・・
Debito blocks the comment, saying
You are banned because you were invective.
And the readers are mislead into believing that the poster was a vulgar.
Isn’t it obvious that Debito rarely if ever writes the posts in Japanese? There are few, if not at all, Japanese posts on his blog, and most of Japanese posts are just copies of the Japanese articles. And note when he quote articles from newspapers, most of the times, he quotes from English articles. I doubt if he reads Japanese newspaper.
In his newest post,
he explains why he does not debate outside of Debito org.
But this is deceptive when he blocks the posters who try to debate with him on his blog —-for instance, you can read what he said to Matt, “Kindly fuck off” was Debito’s words and he deleted the comment as if nothing happened, but I recorded it on a screen capture(click)—and he does not provides his readers with the links in which the posters he is blaming are discussing.
I don’t care if he speaks English or if he has a forum for English speaking people. But if he wants to appeal to Japanese society, he should have Japanese forum rather than cursing Japan in English and misleading people who cannot read Japanese and he should not reject Japanese comments—you can see Japanese comments rejected on Occidentalism—-
.
Considering his rercord, he should make sure he’ll accept Japanese comments:Write it on his front page.
For that matter, I think he should make sure and write it on his fron page he’ll change his style and it is desirable that he apologize to the accused for showing away her real name and misleading the readers as to her testimony.
Otherwise, the tainted records will always accompany Debito associated activity.
Keep in mind he cannot keep pretending he is acting for the best interest of non-natives when he is deceptive in ways that are mentioned on this post and comments.
And as I said, I have a strong feeling that Debito org, if not revised, will suffer the fate of WaiWai, leaving the resentments, putting a deep wedge between natives and non-natives. Mainichi, especially foreign writers, ignored several complaints from the Japanese. If they sincerely listened to the complaints, they would not have received the bashing they are not getting.
And also keep in mind Korea-Japan relation was pretty good until many Japanese people realized many Koreans had been cursing Japan in an unreasonble way.
Mark, I am worried very much.
apologize to the accused→the accuser, the rape victim (if the coviction was final(kakutei)).
the bashing they are not getting.
→
the bashing they are now getting.
Hi Mark,
I was not suggesting that you were saying that the riding bicycle while white thing was a common occurance in Japan, I was saying that Debito was suggesting it.
I have looked for Debito giving speeches in Japanese and have never found anything, and people I know that have seen him speak says he speaks in English. If you have any links for these speeches (audio or video, not text), I would appreciate it. I am also keen to know if he delivers the same message to a Japanese audience.
Anyway, surely you realise that Debito is blocking comments that make him look stupid. He has a long history of doing that. Over at “the community” (some old site he was associated with) my friend engaged him in debate and Debito banned him when he could not sustain it. He hasn’t changed at all since then.
BTW, I don’t think Debito is very well versed in what is happening in Japan. He doesn’t read Japanese newspapers. He relies on stuff like the New York Times and other western sources for his Japan information. It comes out very clearly in his posts. This was clear when there was the controversy about the statement PM Abe made about the comfort women. Debito denouced Abe for his statement (I think it was this), but the fact is that it was a non-issue in Japan and was not carried in the Japanese newspapers because the western media had mistranslated Abe’s comment. I commented on Debito’s blog that he was mistaken, and that the problem with the comment was the result of mistranslation. I included a link to what Abe actually said in Japanese so he could see how it differed to what he was repeating on his blog. What did Debito do? He basically called me an apologist for sexual enslavement of women and ignored the fact that he was attacking someone over something they didn’t say. Then he deleted my comment and his response. During the Tsukiji sign controversy he called me an apologist for Japanese only signs.
The above shows that he is shadow boxing with a caricature of the Japanese. He is not interested in what is really going on just what he thinks is going on.
I am glad that you are able to comment on his blog but the real test would be to ask him forthrightly, on his blog in public, why he feels the need to delete comments that corrects him when he makes mistakes.
Nigelboy, I agree that middle names need not be inserted into the Japanese Koseki, but the Koseki is an antiquated registration system that I frequently hear complaints about from Japanese people. It’s very rigid, almost unchangeable, it’s required for most official registrations but you are required to take time off from work to actually get it, it leaves stains on your person such as divorces and it serves no real purpose other than to show that you exist - and even then, it has not been updated to include foreign spouses. I don’t think the Koseki needs to be updated to serve the purpose of foreigners, but it definitely needs to be updated to serve the needs of Japanese people much better.
As for Debito, I really feel his time has come and gone. Like I said in an earlier post, Japanese people are becoming more vocal towards this kind of negative activism, and this particular video shows that people who are at least versed a minimum of Japanese are getting hammered by the Japanese crowd for spouting crap. The people that speak no Japanese probably don’t care that the ideas they rant on about are total nonsense and completely discriminatory and I’ve really started to feel that the foreign community needs to start improving it’s image in Japan if we want to make any progress (and improving that image means much more that having our clownish reps on TV). Ponta is correct in saying that Debito is ruining that image with his tactics, but I think the problem has elevated much higher than just Debito. Asian foreigners living in Japan work towards integrating into Japanese society unless very much discriminated against, but Westerners (and this included Middle Easterners as well) work towards changing the system to meet their standards and shout racism when the system doesn’t change. There seems to be a very large imbalance that is not being addressed by anyone yet and I feel this is the key to moving forward.
Gerbilbastard
You made many good points.
As for Koseki, I don’t care if they change the law to save time as you say. But I don’t think the Japanese people really care. Probably the time you need to change Koseki is when you are born, married, divorced, dead. That does not happen often.
Other times Juminhyou and other certificates will do. But really I don’t really care if the law is changed for naturalized gajin and gaijin’s convenience.
But note non-Japanese citizens cannot change the law. You have to talk to Japanese to do it.
And you can not expect the Japanese to corporate, asking
as AWK Says
(For your reference Debito does not chase off AWK in his favorite bold type—Am I mistaken Debito was Japanese?)
A poster on Debito org asked a question.
Debito didn’t answer, Instead he agree with the comment to the effect the poster should read his book.
Now it is not difficult to check the answer if you have the ability to read Japanese.
(1)
Google “国際çµå©šã€€å›½ç±ã€€åä¾›” you have plenty of websites explaining it.
Essentially kids have two citizen-ships, but at the age of 22, they have to choose which citizenship to take.
(it’s not about children who were born between Japanese and non-Japanese but for your reference,
)
(2)I don’t understand the question. if you submitted the necessary document, I guess you are listed on bikou/備考 on Japanese spouse’s Koseki, according to the comments on Debito org, And you are a legal father.
(3)This question comes , I think, because of article about the interview with a Canadian lawyer.
When they divorce, they decide who gets child cutody, if they cannot decide, they goes to the court.
Here is how it goes in the U.S.
It is essentially the same here in Japan. the court
decides which is in the best interest of child.
The difference is that in Japan there is no system of joint legal custody.
In the U.S.
But Japanese court grant the visiting right.
And some Japanese people are working to elevate it to the law. I think that is the very good idea.
For more information as to the international divorce,
http://www.divorce.co.nz/divorce/article/dsp_articledetail.php?article_id=106
I think the link provides the balanced view.
I don’t claim that I am absolutely correct, but Debito’s readers who can’t read Japanese should be given an opportunity to get various perspectives.
Debito is preventing it by his unfair rule.
Does Debito just want to sell his book?
Gerbilbastard says;
I have the similar impressions.
But if the claim is valid, there is no problem.
And I welcome their new perspectives. That is great for Japanese society. On Japan Probe, there was a post about gajin who fought against Japanese boss through the Japanese judicial system. The author didn’t turn it into the case of racism but left the room for for Japanese employee and gajin employee to work together .I think that was enlightening for Japanese and Asian employee who tend to hesitate to complain.
What I am against is Debito’s style, not new perspectives.
(not that you were saying otherwise)
Gerbilbastard
I’m in agreement with you regarding Koseki as I stated as follows
“Granted Koseki system has flaws but these morons never discuss the positive side of it as it pertains to the ordinary Japanese. ”
But as it stands, it’s the “system” that allows the government to gather data on a certain individual thereby enabling them to administer such categories as pension, collection of taxes, social services, marital status, family make up, probate, and identity. One could argue that it’s excessively private for government to hold such private information. But on the flip side, the Japanese government is more aware of the demographic makeup than say U.S. which holds Census every 10 years.
And as Ponta mentioned, it takes a Japanese citizen to make these changes. And in order to do so, Debito et. al, needs to convince the ordinary Japanese. And my point is, how is this possible with the aforementioned knumbnuts with their middle name BS rant trying to convince a Japanese person?
“I think the problem has elevated much higher than just Debito. Asian foreigners living in Japan work towards integrating into Japanese society unless very much discriminated against …”
Since ponta welcomed the aforementioned perspective, I feel compelled to offer mine. I am Asian American with an invested interest in Japan and I fully agree that change through integration is the proper method instead of change through force. In general I believe Asians will have an easier time accepting “integration” as an option based on an understanding of and respect for Japan’s core cultural values, and not just following “what is politically correct”.
But I think westernized Asians in particular have a unique perspective, as (in my experience) it is important for me to reconcile values from both identities (American ideologically, and Asian culturally) without simply allowing one to dominate the other. I believe this to be an important distinction, since non-westernized Asians may simply base their integration on “the similarity of Asian cultures compared to Western cultures”.
Therein lies the real potential: since Japan really is located between The East and The West, the integration of values from both sides could help it become a model society, as a bridge between the two hemispheres. And I don’t think this is too far-fetched, as over history Japan has been able to “keep with the times” without losing much of its core culture. If presented in that way, I think it the opportunity could even be embraced. Otherwise, it would be a terrible waste if Japan were simply forced to adopt Western values at the loss of its valuable heritage.
Of course he does.
As for child custody, the issue is very confusing, but from what I was reading today the trouble that comes from the koseki system is as follows:
When a foreigner and a Japanese marry, a koseki is created with the Japanese person marked as head of the family. This is always true because the foreign parent has no koseki.
When a child is born the child is marked on this koseki until they create their own. The child will create their own koseki usually at time of marriage.
In the case of divorce, if the foreign parent gains custody, it’s very important to break the child off of the Japanese parents koseki to have the child’s koseki created - otherwise, it’s not clear that the Japanese parent has lost custody. This can affect later actions, especially in cases of child abduction or when the Japanese parent won’t relinquish custody of the child.
And nigelboy, I’m pretty sure that the koseki is not used for any kind of demographic studies. Japan does a census much like the US, and if I remember correctly, the last time was about 3 years ago (it was a pretty big deal at that time). Private investigators are also apparently able to get copies of koseki even though they’re not supposed to be able to.
Gerbilbastard
I am not sure how child’s Koseki will be after the parents’ divorce. (I’ll call yakusyo if you want me to) But it seems clear that the custody has little to do with Koseki. The record of the court’s decision will be kept at the court ,and that is what counts. It is substance, and substantial relations that affect the description on Koseki, not the other way around.(I am not dead, but if Koseki said I was dead, it is Koseki that should be corrected. The article about a Canadian lawyer was confusing because he talks as if Koseki affected substantial relations.)
And a child remains to be a biological child of Japanese parent no matter what. The fact matters in case of inheritance and the record to that effect should remain somehow on Koseki.
fh
I agree.
And I think people born between a foreigner and a Japanese also have an very important role to play in bridging the cultures. But their perspective will be be precious integral part
of Japan. It is really a tough job, and they will face identity crisis .
It might be even the case that they will face descriminations. In this regad, Japanese education has a lot to do. And that is why natives and non-natives should work together in a good relation. I think Debito’s style is making the relation for the worse.
“And nigelboy, I’m pretty sure that the koseki is not used for any kind of demographic studies.”
I beg to differ.
http://www.stat.go.jp/data/jinsui/qa-1.htm#Q01
http://www.stat.go.jp/data/idou/qa-1.htm#Q01
But as in ALL SYSTEMS throughout the world, it has it’s flaws. In the U.S., although they have SS# as the defacto identification, various commercial entities have abused it to a point where identity theft is now a problem.
Very interesting discussion developing here.
I just wanted to mention that Debito has called me a liar and used me as the prime example of why he does not debate away from his own blog. When I posted here originally, I said that I had been `chased off` Debito`s blog. He later said that this was not the case as I could still post. By `chased off` I meant that he was clearly ignoring and twisting things that I said and posting additions to my comments to encourage other readers to not take them seriously. I was accused of tangents and for writing off topic when trying to argue with individuals who were calling Japan a `hell`. I am, at present, not sure if I am banned or not. The post about visas and economics that I posted above here was submitted to Debito`s blog and did not appear. Whether he has banned me completely or just chosen to erase any post of mine that challanges him in any way…. I don`t really see the difference.
There is a point that I would like to make regarding Mark in Yayoi`s comments. Mark, I think that you are being reasonable and that your situation with the bike thing is unfortunate. You are correct that any situation like this that pops up should be met with some kind of protest. What concerns me, and other posters here, is the lack of any context whatsoever on Debito`s site. When you see your bike complaint together with statements that the Japanese state condones the murder or foreigners, what is one to beleive? Debito throws all of this together with no context and bans people who have a problem with it.
Here is an example that I think gets to the bottom of the `Debito problem`. In putting forward his `rouge`s gallary` of signs, he says something to the effect that `don`t let anyone tell you that this problem isn`t spreading nation wide!` This is irresponsible as there is no way to quantify this. The evidence that we have suggests a small number of signs in mostly scummy places. The way to respond to this is the way that Occidentalism chose - engage the people and try to get the signs taken down. What does Debito do? He presents them online without any context while selling t-shirts and stickers.
Why is this dangerous? Just check out the `Do you like Japan, Japan doesn`t like you!` Youtube video. This has gotten over 350,000 hits and is based on Debito`s site. The video itself is not that offensive. But how are people reading Debito`s material when he does not provide adequate context (for example, admitting that the signs are annoying, but not a major problem)? There are posters there saying that foreigners are not allowed into ANY bars in Japan. There are posts saying that Japanese are all racist. There are posts there calling for the murder of every last single man, woman, and child in Japan. There are posts there calling for a few more atomic bombs to be dropped on Japan. There are posts there calling Japanese `monkeys`, `savages`, `the shame of the world`, `inhuman`, `unhuman`, and those are just the ones without four letter words. When some posters - and there are 12,000 posts there - have stepped in to say `Hey, you really won`t see these signs very much in Japan. 99.99% of the businesses in Japan are okay` - the response has been that Debito`s site `proves` that these signs are `everywhere` and that foreigners cannot get into stores in Japan.
We know that Debito reads his press all over the net. Do we think that he isn`t aware that his gallary has been used to build a Youtube clip that has gained 350,000 hits? However, you won`t see him calling for reason. He started this thing and has to take some responsibility for all of the venom that is being poured on Japan because of it. If he could just step back and add some context, it would be fine. If he would post on Youtube and call for reason, that would be fine. If he would contact Youtube, say that that is his content, and seek to have it taken down, that would be better. He could help people torealize that while there are signs, we can work to have them taken down and they are certainly not `everywhere` or `spreading nation wide`. They are not, by any stretch of the imaginaton, common. Without any context, however, Debito is simply feeding vile racists who would even go so far as to advocate racist violence (while not doing this himslef, he has to share some of the blame). His excuse has always been that he can`t control how people use the material on his site but he clearly CAN do something - drop the self promotion, the t-shirt and sticker sales, and provide needed context to keep people from taking his often poorly evidenced conclusions and running totally out of control.
Sorry Ponta, I’m not sure which Canadian lawyer you’re referring to. One thing I’m trying to figure out about divorce related to the koseki in terms of foreigners is what happens to the Bikou (備考) entry. According to my wife a divorce usually results in an X on the koseki to indicate that you are divorced, but is that same for foreigners? My previous information about forming the child’s own koseki was taken from a Child’s Rights in Japan website but I can’t find the exact page anymore. The way the article stated it, the procedure was to be done as more of a preventative measure in cases of abduction. If the child has their own koseki, apparently it takes additional legal procedures to get them put back on the koseki of the parent.
Thanks for the links Nigelboy. The information provided kind of makes me wonder how much of the koseki information is actually being given to the national government, and how much of it is just compiled data based on internal records. Two things I found interesting were:
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Is the comment section closed ?
Okay it seems not.
Hi Randy.
Otsukaresama
We don’t really know how Debito dealt with your case, judging from his record. What we know is that he manipulates comments.
Anyway, as for the rouge`s gallery, there are three points I want to make.
(1) Of course, the signs are wrong.
(As you say, they are not common at all , and many times, even with â€no foreigners” sign, they often mean no foreign language service available, though)
(2)We don’t really know whether the shop still post it, and we don’t even know whether the shops like that are still running. As you know, the kind of shops offering entertainments, posting the sign like that, come and go.
(3)The gallery is very easy to be abused as you point out.
There are still “whites only” signs in the U.S.A.
Somebody can set up the website pointing out the problem of white supremacist and put up the rogue gallery . It might be politically correct.
But it is quite easy for stir up the tension between whites and non-whites using the gallery, by saying “do you like whites? well whites don’t like you.”If somebody abused the gallery that way, it is at least the responsibility of the people who set up the gallery to explain the context fully.
Debito writes, “Don’t let anyone convince you that the problem isn’t spreading nationwide in Japan…”debito.org/?page_id=4
That makes things worse.
And isn’t it kinda nonsense or even offensive to wear “whites only “T-shirt in front of Debito, for that matter in front of white people in Japan or in U.S ? Or is it good to raise consciousness for the white people in general?
That is my opinion, and different people have different opinions and that is good. It is though debate, discussion, dialogue that we reach the best solution, we correct our mistakes.
It seems he does not even debate on his own blog.
People cannot help but wonder why he has to block the comments that debunk the lies, for instance, about the comment and article on Hiragana Times..
And people might wonder why he does not feel guilty without apologizing to the accuser, the victim of molest , about whom he misled the readers into believing that she was telling a lie by blocking and covering up.
In any case, this post is influencing his blog. I notice the subtle change he deals with the comment.
Gerbilbastard
I think those information are important to the local governments in order for them to get sufficient funding from the central government. Do you recall a seminar about a year and half ago where municipalities of various region in Japan which had high % of foreigners residing? One of the key messages there was the municipalities plea for these foreigners to register to the new residence once they moved for they indicated that they had problems giving social servicies/aid to the new comers due of lack of funding.
Ponta
Ruling: Geno’s ‘English Only’ Sign Not Discriminatory
http://www.kyw1060.com/Ruling:-Geno-s–English-Only–Sign-Not-Discriminat/1853749
One thing to note here is that this isn’t just your any city in America. This happened in Philadelphia, The City of Brotherly Love.
That English sign is interesting. It seems to me that it can only be considered discriminatory if they refuse service to the people who don’t speak English. Otherwise, it seems really insulting but there’s not much you can do about it.
The wording of the sign is particularly intriguing. It says Speak English! which I think is hard to sound discriminatory compared to something like Don’t Speak Spanish, which is probably what the sign is hinting at - and which would probably be considered discriminatory. This is similar to the uproar over the Debito sign from before: Non-Japanese welcome! It sounds and looks positive, but it also can mean Japanese people not welcome.
I don’t think this Speak English sign can be compared to the No Foreigner signs because one is restricting and one isn’t. They are both insulting, but the choice of language makes a big difference.
Hi Gerbilbastard
Okay I called a ward office.
The answer is yes.
And whichever gets the child custody, it gets written on Koseki in the child section. In other words, if you, an American father, get the custody, it will be written in your child section on Koseki that you have the custody.
I think Debito should have responded to the question rather than suggesting to buy his book.
And I am not sure this kind of answer is in his book and I am not sure either if Debito undestands the system.
nigelboy
“Whites Only”
http://blog.livedoor.jp/tonchamon/archives/51920900.html
Gerbilbastard
The reason I didn’t pick up the kidnapping issue is because I didn’t understand how it related to Koseki.
Suppose a Japanese mother living in the U.S. takes her kid to Japan and an American father finds her and filed a complaint to the court. They will enter the process of the divorce. In the process the court decide which parent should custody. The description on Koseki does not decide which.
The court decides which, considering the best interest of the child.
And if he is a legal and biological father of the kid, he will be a legal and biological father of the kid no matter which takes the custody.
Suppose in passing that Japan accepts the relevant Hague convention.
Still considering Article 13,
it does not follow that the American father can take the kid back to U.S.A.
So in this regard, I think making the Diet to enact the law that makes it clear that under certain conditions, a parent has the visiting right is the right move.
Because Debito and his friend equates this problem with North Korean kidnapping of Japanese citizens, few Japanese would listen to them.
Because Debito manipulates the comments, the readers are not open to various perspectives.
Ponta, I don’t really know what the connection is to be honest. Your information makes the subject much clearer, though. The US Embassy’s website also makes it clear that foreign custody judgments aren’t applicable to Japan, so I suppose that means that currently only Japanese divorce laws are applicable to parents where one spouse is Japanese.
I was reading about the Hague Convention also, and I’m not sure if signing will have that much of an impact on the way things are done currently. From wiki:
The Convention does not provide any substantive rights. The Convention provides that the court in which a Hague Convention action is filed should not consider the merits of any underlying child custody dispute, but should determine only that country in which those issues should be heard. Return of the child is to the member nation rather than specifically to the left behind parent.
It would depend on the judge to make a decision as to where the custody battle should ensue.
Also, I wish you luck with Debito, but I’m afraid that you’re preaching to the choir here. We know who has been banned, and why, but I don’t think there’s going to be any changing that. Why don’t you form that new organization that you keep talking about to form better cooperation between Japanese and foreigners? You put more work into this topic than anyone I know already.
Gerbilbastard
The reason I don’t form new organization is that I don’t have any problems here in Japan. Of course, my poverty is a problem, but that is another story.
New organization we are talking about must be set up by the non-natives in Japan who are facing the problems unique to them. I can help them, I can give it advices, but the main force should come from the people facing problems who are willing to work together with natives.
Why not you, Gerbilbastard?
I’ll help you.
It’s an interesting idea and something I’ll have to think about. The biggest roadblock facing an organization like this is the simple fact that right now it’s being created as an alternative to Debito, and I don’t think anything like that would ever succeed. The organization would have to have some sort of purpose and serve some sort of function helpful to the foreign community in Japan but also bridge the gap with the Japanese community.
It’s kind of funny, because when I was thinking about what you said, I realized that you need someone pretty paranoid about the surrounding situation to want to fix it with such a passion. My life here is almost the same as it is in my home town. The only difference is that the convenience store I use here is called Sunkus and not AMPM.
Gerbilbastard
Well said. And I am happy to hear you are living as normal life as anybody else.
I’ll be flabbergasted if I find an American husband and Japanese wife without fingerprint like one of Debito’s friends because they’ll be fingerprinted at the airport in Japan and in USA.
I feel kinda sorry for the guys like Anonymous, Justin I mentioned on the comment #15, #40 and Mark in Yayoi.
Because they don’t understand the Japanese system, they feel confused and sometimes feel strong anger and hatred toward Japan. And Some people with Japanophobia project their prejudice into Japanese society and the Japanese people.
Debito org reinforces it.
That makes me feel sad. So I thought it might be convenient that they have another place to ask questions and analyze the real problems and the best solutions with as many people as possible from different backgrounds.
Debito org rejects muticulturism like that.
Talking of the real problems, I think there are real problems concerning race in Japan. Japanese society has a short history living with people from foreign countries other than Korea and China.
Japanese people as well as such people will have cultural shocks.
I think we need to send messages that “Hey these guys are just like us” .
(of course, that does not mean we have be exactly alike)
Debito org is sending the opposite message.
In any case, I think Debito fans are reading this post.
If somebody set up a blog for natives and non-natives to work together, let me know. And feel free to comment on my blog.
Keep in mind Debito org without revisions I mentioned on another post will just have negative effects on the relations between natives and non-natives.
Ponta, would you like me to send you the statistics (just brief numbers) and photos I’ve taken of the police? Is that really “oocidentalism” in your address, or “occidentalism”? I can get the Japanese part, but not the English (^_^;),
I’ve tried protesting through “regular” channels such as my landlord and university, but they can’t do anything. My landlord, who presumably pays a lot of property tax and should have a voice with the police, tried asking them to stop hassling the residents of her building, but the police basically said “too bad; please cooperate” because the space in front of the apartment is public space, and they have certain months where they have to crack down on bicycle theft. At least, these local ones will give their names occasionally and will not hassle me if they see me leaving my house and then coming back a few minutes later.
The Chiyoda cops — these are the ones who pulled Debito over three times in one night and me 63 times in one year — are another matter. I naively assumed when I began riding to work in that area that while I was being stopped often, eventually all the shifts would rotate through and all the cops in the area would eventually remember me. Then this incident occurred: I was at a crosswalk opposite the koban, about to cross, and I saw the same cop I’d seen a few days before, with a younger recruit. The younger one says something to the older one, and I imagine that the older one is answering something like, “You don’t need to check him; he rides past here every day at this time; he’s not a thief.” Imagine my surprise when the younger one comes right out of the koban, blocks the path, and starts questioning me! I look over to the older one, still in the koban and watching us, but he doesn’t say anything. It was clear that he’d done the opposite of what I had expected — he remembered that I wasn’t a thief and wanted to give his protege some risk-free training.
Each individual stoppage isn’t that miserable — most of these cops are just following orders. The problem is that the number of stoppages is so large, and there’s no accountability or recording being made, so eventually a really bad incident is going to occur — a cop might be really aggressive; I might mouth off too much; anything could happen.
What happens when/if I take citizenship, like Debito did? One cop might believe me, but will they all, almost weekly over many years? I’ll probably be arrested. Will I get an apology like that shy woman in Saitama?
And when you’re pulling people over that often, eventually something like this is going to happen.
Getting back to Debito, I don’t think he implied that this is rampant or a serious problem anywhere but in Tokyo; specifically, Chiyoda-ku. Here’s the first article he wrote about this problem:
http://www.debito.org/japantimestokyobikes.html
Checking someone once might be good community policing, but beyond that, it’s harassment. Why do we, the taxpayers and residents, have to bear the entire burden of complying with the police, while they have no responsibility for remembering who we are and not harassing us?
Mark in Yayoi
It is ponta_at_oocidentalism, not occidentalism.
Make sure you put “Mark in Yayoi” in subject(kenmei) section so that I may not delete it as a spam mail.
Here is an article that he supposedly cited your example.
debito.org/?p=1802
Let’s examine it together.
Wow
A beginner in Japanese law know foreigners have fundamental human rights except for the cases that is granted to Japanese only because of the nature of the right, such as the right to vote for
the diet members.
Google “外国人ã®äººæ¨©äº«æœ‰ä¸»ä½“性”
You will find explanation like
Presupposing this bit of knowledge, read the judgement in question.
http://www.courts.go.jp/hanrei/pdf/20080604174246.pdf
.
With a bit of knowledge above, it should be read, “Japanese citizenship is a qualification for the membership of our nation as well as an important legal status that grant fundamental human rights such as granting public qualification, and public grant.”
Isn’t it obvious that Debito distorted the judgment?
And here is a part that I think he is citing your case.
Let me ask you.
(1)I get the completely different impression from your story, but considering the number of stoppage and the name, I think it is your case. Is he citing your case correctly? Is he making up?
(2)why didn’t he tell this is exceptional case?
You said
If so, granted it is true, it is highly probable it is the problem of the specific place, chiyodaku.
(3)He is citing this as an example of racial profiling. Are you sure this happens only to foreigners in Chiyodaku?
Next he cites an incident of Narita.
I debunked the conspiracy theory that this was the case of GAIJIN AS GUINEA PIG.
http://pontasmemorandum.blogspot.com/2008/05/to-tornadoes28-on-debito-org.html
He blocked the comment.
Next he cites the case of a Swiss woman.
I don’t understand the point. Doesn’t he know the case where a foreigner is granted the bail in Japan , and a case where a foreigner was not granted a bail in the U.S.? And this is the case the court apologized to the woman. Was it better if the woman would have been sentenced guilty without receiving apology from the court? You can as well cite it as an example to show a foreigner is not a guinea pig.
I can go on but I’ll stop here.
I claim all of the cases he cites are inappropriate for his title GAIJIN AS GUINEA PIG , And if his examples show Japan is treating Gaijin as guinea pig, then by the same token I can cites similar examples to show, for instance, the U.S is treating Gaijin, for that matter, African Americans as guinea pig.
I think that Debito looks Pastor Jeremiah Wright at best, North Korean propagandist at worst, to the most of native Japanese.
Remeber, English is not secret code in Japan.
I hope non-Japanese and non-natives take Matt’s post seriously and start doing something about it for yourself and your children.
You are right, put in this way Japanese and non-Japanese can work together. Debito is not doing
that, but he is preaching , only to fuel the hatred, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
I’m sure others have noticed, but if not, the irony and hypocrisy is flowing fast and thick over at Debito’s site. His last 3 out of 4 postings have to do with:
Why he won’t debate on other sites where people pick on him (and he can’t control the message)
How the internet is turning “nasty”, and anyone can say anything without having to back it up, making it easy to propagate hatred and lies (like how the Japanese government and police sanction the murder of foreigners, or how Japanese don’t have brains, or a ballet school is racist, or… or… or…)
How Mainichi was out of line for dropping Wai Wai and its “translations” (if you can call complete rewrites seemingly done to make Japan and the Japanese look even dumber than the original Shukanshi articles did)
There are two standards at work apparently: the one that applies to Debito, and the one that he applies to the rest of the world.
LB
I can’t believe he is defending Hentai articles.　As I said on Japan Pobe,
Come to think of it, he is an social activist who fought for the right for gajin to flirt with girls in a place with a sign “Japanese only” and for the discount tickets for gaijin (only?) to play with Geisha.
And it seems he does not understand the fundamental
point that lies at the bottom of WaiWai: The editor
didn’t listen to the complaints from the Japanese.
I really hope Debito’s fans will revise his blog, making what was wrong with it clear, issuing apologies if necessary as Mainichi did. Mainichi would not have received the bashing it is getting now and the problem would not have become as big as
this if it had responded earlier, as it realizes now.
In case of Debito org, it is not just Debito org that will be affected, it will be somehow all the non-Japanese and non-natives and their relations with natives that will be affected albeit indirectly.
Mark in Yayoi
I’ve found a good article that explains tyuukakuha,
http://aki-akiaki.blogspot.com/2008/07/left-wing-extremists-plan-to-recruit.html
Housei is the center of tyuukakuha.
http://ameblo.jp/seiginokane/entry-10100921930.html
And let’s see what we can do for your case.
Let’s examine the case together and let’s think and
work together to find the best solution for your case.
I am looking forward.
What Debito doing is racism against racism.
His merchandise “Japanese Only” T shirt is offensive enough to all Japanese people.
“Welcome Non-Japanese customers” business sticker is virtually “No Japanese allowed”
At the point, Debito is same racist as the racists he hates.
Mark in Yayoi said
The Chiyoda cops — these are the ones who pulled Debito over three times in one night and me 63 times in one year
What are you and Debito doing in Chiyoda ward?
Thor, we’re committing the highly suspicious act of riding bicycles at night in areas where police officers have no real crime to solve, but still need to train young recruits, and impress locals with how tough they are on “foreign crime” — that’s it!
Ponta, thanks for the information about the Chukakuha. I’d never thought about them (only knew the name), but it probably explains why there were so many police around Hosei during the G8 summit, and why they wouldn’t bother a cyclist.
Yea, I am the person mentioned in Debito’s article. I talked with him as he was writing it, and gave him details about various times I’ve been stopped by police and some of the msot ridiculous justifications they gave me.
I’ll send you some of the photos I took with my cell phone. Regarding your point (3):
:(3)He is citing this as an example of racial
:profiling. Are you sure this happens only to
:foreigners in Chiyodaku?
I have never contended that it happens *only* to foreigners, only that it happens *more often* to foreigners. (I would also argue that their questioning is more aggressive and demeaning, but that’s a secondary issue.)
I think his “guinea pig” phrase is appropriate. As you know, guinea pigs are used in scientific experiments, and when people use the word figuratively, they’re referring to either of two things — Debito seems to be using it in both meanings; I hadn’t consciously noticed this until now.
“Guinea pig” testing can refer to both: (1) testing something on guinea pigs rather than humans because humans would never acquiesce to such testing (figuratively: “they’re using foreigners as guinea pigs to train police officers/drug officers because Japanese citizens would be outraged if this happened to themselves” or (2) testing something on animals with an eye towards someday being able to do the same thing with humans (figuratively: “the government is instituting term limits on academics first for foreigners to see what happens, and if it goes well, they’ll extend it to everyone”).
I read your argument that the Narita customs dog trainers were not *specifically* targeting foreigners only, and I agree with it, but at the same time I think they were being irresponsible — an additional irresponsiblity compounded with the massive one of doing this testing to begin with — by not specifically excluding non-Japanese-seeming people. Someone with a foreign name is more likely to be travelling onward to another country (where drug laws are harsher, and is more likely to be unable to defend themselves when in police custody or in a potential court case. And someone who doesn’t live in Japan would have a very hard time suing the customs officials for any malfeasance on their part, whereas a Japanese person could take them to court for their actions much more easily.
We will never know if the dog trainer specifically chose a foreign bag, or if they chose a bag that was likely to be non-Japanese, or if it was just a coincidence. But they were certainly using passengers as “guinea pigs” for their dog training. There is no excuse for involving innocent people in their training exercises, and putting these innocent people’s safety at risk.
“And if his examples show Japan is treating Gaijin as guinea pig, then by the same token I can cites similar examples to show, for instance, the U.S is treating Gaijin, for that matter, African Americans as guinea pig.”
You can and you should — the phrase “cycling while white” was chosen specifically to imitate the ironic phrase “driving while black” (which in turn was created in parody of the genuine violation “driving while intoxicated”, etc.). In New Jersey, my home state, there were instances of cops stopping cars driven by otherwise-unsuspicious young black men in hopes that the young black men would have outstanding warrants, be carrying drugs, etc. There was no basis for the suspicion.
http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Race/R_Casestudy/R_Casestudy1.htm
“Drawing from 1997-98 data, state officials found that forty percent of traffic stops involved black and Hispanic motorists (who were only about thirteen percent of all drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike). Eighty percent of those arrested during traffic stops were people of color. The profiling debate brought the problem of racial profiling to national attention, led to the resignation of the state’s top police official, and prompted state governments in New Jersey and elsewhere to rewrite regulations to forbid police officers from singling out drivers because of their race or ethnicity.”
I would not be surprised if police stoppage numbers for Asian-looking and non-Asian-looking people in Central Tokyo are similar to those quoted above for white and non-white people.
Unfortunately, it will be difficult to do any studies, because no official records are being kept of who the police stop. (Thus you can’t even complain that the same cops got you the previous day — there’s no proof!)
Can you imagine the head of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police resigning because the people working for him harassed foreigners too much? It would never happen. Yet the New Jersey police, despite their previous behavior, reformed themselves in just this way.
Ponta,
Thanks for your kind words. But I think I will be less active on debito.org from now on. I have quite a bit of work to do, and the fact that he often dismisses well-reasoned comments like those made by Randy while allowing racist thugs to spread their venom on his site unchallenged has convinced me that he is not really worth it.
Debito - if you are reading this, get your act together on this front.
Mark,
Good to see you talking about this issue on a different blog and giving us a fuller picture of the situation. I have to agree with Ponta that the way your predicament was presented on debito.org gave me the impression that the stops were either random or at some well-policed area on your way home. Now I see they regularly take place outside your home. This is a serious problem and I hope something is done about it eventually. You’ve mentioned that you have told your University and your landlord, but I’m not shocked to find that the police don’t pay much attention to either. Have you tried complainng to the human rights office in the Ministry of Justice?* When I suggested this on debito.org, I was “shown” that the office generally did nothing about complaints by foreigners, as Debito had dealt with the office over an incident where the police asked him for his address (an action he claims is illegal, but I think he and his lawyers are mistaken in that regard). Although they paid attention to debito’s (frivolous, IMO) complaint they did eventually (and quite rightly, IMO) blow him off. They may have more sympathy for your predicament, a clear display of harrassment by local police officers. Why not give it a go?
As for the dope in the bag incident, I’m still fully convinced this is the story of a couple of law enforcement officers taking liberties with the law in order to do what they think is
“right”. It sucks, but it happens everywhere. You’re not going to get guarantees that they won’t search foreigners’ bags, because they are doing something illegal anyway. The best you can hope for is that they will be exposed and punished for their badly-placed “good intentions”. Which, as it turns out, is what happened.
So are you from the U.S. “political Pygmy” to use
Debito’s word on the same criteria, which treats Japanese as guinea pig?
And the people on Debito org from the countries that treat Japanese as guinea pig say majority of Japanese are brainless, Japan is Nazi state, etc?
(Keep in mind Debito blocks the comments that debunk lies)
It makes sense, and very interesting. I’ll remember that.
But I for one think describing your country and their countries like that is very inappropriate.
We can agree to disagree here, but I think Debito and you sounds very much like Pastor Jeremiah Wright
As for Narita, of course the guy is unforgivable.
But as you say,
And yet Debito distort the fact to jump to the conclusion.
Debito distorted/twisted the judgment of Supreme court, your case(in the sense the reader didn’t think it was exceptional case to the special place) , Narita incident, and Swidish woman’s case to jump to the conclusion to say what is , for me at least, inappropriate, probably offensive for some people.
And drawing the conclusion to bash Japan based on the distortions sounds very much like North Korean
propagandists.
Hmmm. Interesting in several points.
(1) Have you heard the people working for him harassed foreinger too much ?
(2)According to your article, the police in NJ are harassing blacks, and blacks s are not foreigners. Do you still have an idea African Americans are “others “who should be called foreigners?
I think you need to put the case in wider perspective.
In U.S.A.
In U.K.
In Canada
。
Yet the police says
Racial profiling is relatively new subject in Japan ,because almost all the people are native Japanese , and you cannot tell Koreans and Chinese from the Japanese. Few people know even the concept.
Your question disregards the context and history.
And the way you put makes the readers suspect that you talk down to the Japanese while whitewashing your own counrty. That is why, couples with the hateful comments Debito approved while blocking the comments that debunk lies, there are some people like thor56 who even think debito org is racist.
I think you can play very important role in the research on this subject. I haven’t received e-mail from you yet.
I am looking forward.
(1) Have you heard the people working for him harassed foreinger too much ?
→
(1) Have you heard the people working for him harassed foreinger too much ,say,outside of Debito’s cirlce?
Big B, actually the stops take place in both random areas around the koban in Chiyoda-ku and elsewhere, and also in a specific spot outside my home. I had just about resigned myself to being pulled over every once in a while when riding home through Chiyoda, and taking solace in the fact that the police in my own neighborhood in Bunkyo had never bothered me in the least, when some officers from another station started, as part of some kind of safety campaign, to stand right outside my building, checking people’s bicycles.
And this is what really makes me angry, because my bicycle clearly has my address printed right on it, and I’m just parking it in front of the building with that exact number, where there’s a well-defined space for my bicycle to be parked, and they still stopped me, blocking the entrance to my own home until they were done questioning me. It’s a different officer each time, and while some will give their names when I ask upon departing my house (and then not bother me when I return), it’s a different officer each day.
So far I’ve been hesitant to make any official complaints, because (1) this might cause them to “unofficially” harass me more (this advice from a police officer in the family!), and (2) I’m applying for PR in a few months and a complaint to the MOJ wouldn’t help matters.
The university said that they can’t complain about the police unless the police actually enter the university grounds, and that the road between parts of the campus (where these incidents happen) is technically not their domain. OK, I suppose, but my landlords (a couple in their 80s and their daughter, around 45) have owned this land since long before the war. I was surprised that they got so little respect from the police, and couldn’t prevent police from actually stepping on to their property for something as trivial as the registration of a bicycle!
Ponta, I must confess that your latest post confuses me. From where are you getting these conclusions:
So are you from the U.S. “political Pygmy†to use
Debito’s word on the same criteria, which treats Japanese as guinea pig?
And the people on Debito org from the countries that treat Japanese as guinea pig say majority of Japanese are brainless, Japan is Nazi state, etc?
…? The majority of Japanese are brainless? Nazis? I’m a “political pygmy”?
People with power — in either country — are treating ordinary people as guinea pigs for law enforcement or political activity, or whatever. I mentioned Japan and the US, and you’ve got some examples from the US and UK.
And the way you put makes the readers suspect that you talk down to the Japanese while whitewashing your own counrty.
Whitewashing my own country? Talking down to the Japanese? I did the exact opposite — I made a direct comparison between police behavior in Japan and police behavior in my own home state, in my own country. In both cases police treated innocent people as potential criminals, with no justification. If I’m talking down to anyone, it’s to the police in both countries for their reprehensible behavior and their simplistic thinking in which they wrongly assume people from a non-majority race to be potential criminals.
I think you can play very important role in the research on this subject. I haven’t received e-mail from you yet.
I am looking forward.
As you might remember from the Debito article, I work at night, and sleep during the day. After replying to you last night, I’ve only been awake for two hours so far! I’ll send you the e-mail this evening.
Mark, when the same guys keep pulling you over, what did say to them?
Mark
I don’t know who you really are but 63 times is abnormal number.
Possibly your name is on some kind of watch list.
Have you attended any human rights activist meeting with Debito?
Or have you visited any North Korea related facility include IMADR?
Do you know what kind of place Chiyoda ward is?
There is the Imperial palace and……. Chongryon!
Ponta, I have to admit that I was confused by your last post as well. I think you may have misinterpreted the word “guinea pig” to mean something else. I think what Mark was trying to get across was that perhaps the police are preparing with foreigners to implement some kind of new procedure towards Japanese nationals.
At the same time, comparing black people with foreigners is kind of a bad analogy. I know Mark is trying to focus on profiling, but black people in the US are for the most part US citizens whereas non-Japanese-looking people are for the most part not Japanese citizens.
And Thor, I don’t know who you are either, but 56 seems like an abnormal number. Have you ever attended any comic book conventions dressed in costume? Do you know what kind of image Thor exemplifies? There is Loki and……Zeus!
Gerbilbastard
I am not asking you anything, if you just want to make fun of people please just go somewhere.
Seriously Shokumushitsumon 63 times a year is not normal number.
What thor56 is saying could be true. If Mark had attended a meeting with Debito, and that included extreme left wing groups or foreign agitation groups, he might have been put on a watch list (hell, even Ted Kennedy had his name on the no fly list in the US). 63 times in a year is quite abnormal, so it might be a good idea to follow this angle up.
I suppose it’s worth following up, but I *seriously* doubt there’s any kind of conspiracy theory here. The simpler explanation is probably the more realistic one: as thor pointed out, Chiyoda Ward is the home of both the Imperial Palace and the HQ of Chongryon. If there was any place where police presence was going to be stepped up, this is the place. The police probably wouldn’t care if Mark was stopped 1000 times - it makes their job easier to keep things running smoothly.
I used to live in a city with a police academy and their daily presence was ridiculous. Police were everywhere, and I saw them stopping people every day. The funny thing was that they almost always stopped people on bikes. This is probably the easiest thing to stop someone for because they can do a quick check to see if you are the registered owner and then quickly judge if you are up to no good.
If anything, I would suggest to Mark to stop riding a bike.
Big B
Well said. I really appreciate your comments on Debito org. Kansya m(_ _)m
On the one hand, I thinks posters like you are important to show balanced comments for gaijin who can’t read Japanese and to show for native Japanese that not all zanichi non-natives are like the most posters on Debito org　
On the other hand, I sympathize. I am not updating my blog not because there is nothing to say about Debito org, but I am kinda getting sick and tired of biting the silly remarks on Debito org.
It is pathetic to see how Debito is trying to nitpick balanced comments like HO’s while blocking the comments that debunk lies and spreading racist comments.
The link is in English. And Debito himself often just copies and paste articles from newspaper.
Mark in Yayoi
Thank you. I have received e-mail. I am getting a picture. From your e-mail, supposing that the number of stoppage is true, I can tell that the residences of your building and your neighbor including Japanese are stopped more often. I am wondering what made you think that gaijin were stopped more often? when you yourself said,
And notice also that Debito is writing an article about Japan in general and racial profiling in Japan in his article “GAIJIN AS GUINEA PIG”
Wasn’t it misleading?
I don’t see why. Is the cop in your family American cop? You know, Japanese cops omawari-san, are generally friendly. And this is just asking what is the best solution for the cops and the residences. It is no big matter. Aren’t you mislead by the image of evil Japanese cops described on Debito org?
I debunked the lie about Japanese police.
http://pontasmemorandum.blogspot.com/2008/04/mr-arudou-japanese-police-system-today.html
Debito blocked it.
The Japanese police can be nasty sometimes when a incident take place, but generally they are more restraint in using violence, and they are friendly.
Mark said;
From the photos you send me, it looks a public road where bicycles are located. An apartment usually has a private place for the residences to put the bicycles. The police can not enter the private space without permission.
I have been stopped riding a bicycle, at one time when I was riding without a light at night, at other times, for what seems no reason. So I asked the cop why I was stopped so often. He said　the lock on my bicycle was broken and doubted if the bicycle was a stolen bicycle. (I broke the lock when I lost the key). Note also I was not stopped in other places with the same bicycle. It depends on the place. When I park the bicycle on the private space (jitensya okiba) behind the building, no police checked it.
In my neighbor there is a restaurant called “Jonathan”. The neighbors complained that the customers put bicycles on the road in front of the restaurant and the bicycles were in the way of walking through. The police and Jonathan worked together to get rid of the bicycles. So there can be many kinds of reasons. But I’ll ask Bukyouku what’s happening in your area. I think I need your statistics. Could you send it to me? It might be that I need more specific location, but anyway I’ll try. Yayoi in Bunkyou-ku, right?
From Debito’s article and debito org and your comment.
I am not saying you are political Pygmy, I am saying that if Japan is political pygmy as Debito says, by the same token, the U.S. is political pygmy. BTW, I don’t think the his choice of the word is appropriate for the reason I stated before for the word “guinea pig” in addition to the fact it insinuates something about black people. And also keep in mind that the Japanese people are sometimes ridiculed for being short.
Mark said:
If that was your intention, your comment might have been misleading.
You said
Each time I balanced by citing cases in other “developed” nations. My comments would have been blocked if this was on Debito org.
Debito org cannot use the excuse pretending as if they were fighting against all racism in any country or as if they are radical leftists when Debito does not comment to the claim,
while blocking the comments that debunks lies and nitpicking the balanced comments like BigB’s , Randy’s and HO’s
If racism is marked by the sense of superiority and the ungrounded lumping together, surely Debito org strongly partakes of racism, No?
Ignorance about their own mother nation is okay.
It is most likely they belonged to the majority in their own country but they are minority here in Japan, so it is natural that they knew little about the situation of the minority in their own country.
But what drive them to conclude from their ignorance that their own nations are better in this regard is just their own prejudice. Prejudice with the sense of superiority is typical case of racism.
Debito org is reinforcing, strengthening, spreading the prejudice. And they are creating the victims like the woman on this post and monster like a guy I talked with on Japan Probe.
I’ve been insisting that criticizing Japan is okay but criticize her just as you criticize your own mother nation. And as I said, I welcome new perspectives.
Gerbilbastard
　Guinea pig is subhuman and the implication is that Japan is treating gaijin and will be treating its people as subhuman.
My point is that it is okay if they want to say every developed country is treating foreigners and will be treating its people as Guinea pig/ subhuman. It sounds like the radical leftists and the radical revolutionists to me, but
as an argument, it is not completely without legitimacy. But for the reason I stated above, I don’t think they are implying it but they smack of something else.
I forgot to cite LB’s balanced comment about the Japanese police Debito blocked.
pontasmemorandum.blogspot.com/2008/05/voices-surpressed-on-debito-org.html
Surely gajin who read Debito org for their information about Japan will be misled, no?
Ponta, I e-mailed you some photos — taken from my mobile phone; sorry about the low quality –, so please look at them when you have the time. I wanted to send you some numbers I compiled from watching the police from my window, but ran out of time. I’ll send you those in the next few days (busy tomorrow).
Matt, I usually say things like this to them:
(In Chiyoda:)
「田ä¸ã•ã‚“ã€ã”å˜çŸ¥ã§ã—ょã†ã‹ï¼ŸäºŒæ—¥å‰ã‚‚ã“ã®äº¤ç•ªã§èª¿ã¹ã¾ã—ãŸã‘ã‚Œã©ã‚‚…今日もåŒã˜ã‚ˆã†ã«èª¿ã¹ã‚‹ã®ãŒå¿…è¦ãªã„ã§ã—ょã†ã‹ï¼Ÿã€ (”Do you know Mr. Tanaka? He looked up my bicycle at this same koban two days ago. Do we really have to do it again today?”)
「明日も早æœã«ã“ã®è¾ºã«é€šã‚Šã¾ã™ã®ã§ã€æ¢ã‚ãªã„ã§ã„ãŸã ã‘ã¾ã™ã‹ï¼Ÿã€ (”I’ll be passing by here early tomorrow morning too, so could you please not stop me then?”)
(In front of my own house, I’ll point at the address label on my bicycle:)
「ã”らんã®é€šã‚Šã“ã“ã«ä½ã‚“ã§ã„ã¾ã™ã€‚自宅ã®å‰ã«è‡ªè»¢è»Šã‹ã‚‰ãŠã‚Šã‚‹ã®ã¯ã‘ã£ã—ã¦ã€Œä¸å¯©ã€ã§ã¯ãªã„ã§ã—ょã†ã？〠“As you can see, this is my own house. Surely there’s nothing ’suspicious’ about parking my bicycle here?”
(When I invite them to investigate the bicycle and to allow me to go up into my own home, without detaining me:) 「ã“ã®ãƒ“ルã®äºŒéšŽã«ä½ã‚“ã§ã„ã¦ã€åå‰ã‚‚ãƒã‚¹ãƒˆã«æ›¸ã„ã¦ã‚ã‚‹ã—ã€ä½•ã‹å•é¡ŒãŒã‚ã£ãŸã‚‰ã©ã†ãžå‘¼ã‚“ã§ãã ã•ã„。〔I live on the 2nd floor, and that’s my name there on the post box, so if there’s a problem, go ahead and call up to me.”
You can’t get much less suspicious than parking a bicycle in front of the building where it belongs, but I imagine that whoever sent these officers out there didn’t tell them to make an exception for residents of the building.
Regarding “watch lists”: I have indeed attended meetings with Debito, and have participated in some of his activism (such as the “Tama-chan” movement to integrate foreign and Japanese ä½æ°‘票 resident certicficates). But I don’t think I’m on any “watch list” — most of the time, they’re only interested in making sure that the name I give them matches what they hear from the person on the other side of the radio when they give my bicycle’s registration number. Sometimes, when I’m riding a bike registered to my company, they don’t even ask for my own name. Gerbilbastard’s explanation is the right one — the police aren’t interested in the rights or quality of life of the people they’re stopping; they just have orders to follow, and if those orders are to stopp cyclists, or to look busy and impress the locals with how they’re keeping Chiyoda safe by interrogating passers-by, that’s what they’ll do.
I disagree with this part, though:
At the same time, comparing black people with foreigners is kind of a bad analogy. I know Mark is trying to focus on profiling, but black people in the US are for the most part US citizens whereas non-Japanese-looking people are for the most part not Japanese citizens.
Whether you’re a citizen (or look like one) has nothing to do with whether you’re a bicycle thief. The few additional crimes that a non-citizen can commit (illegal entry? visa overstaying?) can hardly be enough to justify such a greater degree of suspicion, and indeed would already have been weeded out at the border with the passport and visa check, coupled with the new fingerprint program. The specific thing they’re accusing people of — namely, bicycle theft — is no more common among white/black people than it is among Japanese.
If a specific crime had been committed by someone matching my description, I would of course willingly cooperate with their questions. But they’re not looking for any specific suspect; rather, they’re on a fishing expedition, hoping that one of their innumerable arbitrary checks will result in a “hit”. They could accomplish as much by going door-to-door and searching people’s houses for fake Louis Vuitton bags, or pirated music, or whatever.
I think this is just the kind of social problem that can be solved with things like peaceful requests for changes in policy, and with editorial columns like Debito’s. I am open to suggestions on how to get this issue solved peacefully. Ponta, what do you recommend?
Ponta, looks like you posted as I was preparing mine — yes, I spent an hour typing all that!
I think you’re really misunderstanding the word “guinea pig”. Though it can be insulting, it’s not racist in the least. If Matt were to redesign Occidentalism.org, and ask regular posters like yourself, “I need some guinea pigs to make posts there and test my new forum,” nobody would be upset. In Debito’s case, he’s using it to mean people who are the subjects of testing or experimenting, against their will. In this case, cyclists and airport passengers and such, like animals used in laboratory testing, have no way to protest their treatment. “Second-class”, maybe, but certainly not “sub-human”. The fact that guinea pigs are nonhuman isn’t the relevant part.
Hi Mark in Yayoi
I am not sure what tama-chan movement is, but I remeber people on Debito org were ranting about the blue-eyed dolls†getting shiminken. debito.org/?p=1438
It was silly, wasn’t it? Frankly I thought it was so silly that I didn’t bring myself to write about it on my blog.
Note the word shiminken/citizenship is quoted, and
that was tokubetu/special juminhyou.
From the article , the readers who can read Japanese know that the author is not talking about the citizenship literally, and it is “special”, most likely because it was not real but rather like a toy which was made for the elementary school kids who asked for the registration as a symbol of friendship with the dolls.
Crying out for more rights is okay, but ranting based on a silly misinterpretation just makes them look silly.
My focus is rather different. I am asking if it is okay to call the United States of America as the nation that treat foreigners and will
be treating its people as guinea pig. You seem to imply yes. I am inclined to say no. We can agree to
disagree here.
As for the interpretation I offered,
You yourself said;
Does it not imply that Guinea pig is subhuman?Isn’t
the animal subject to testing because it is subhuman?
So the interpretation of guinea pig as subhuman is not without ground and hence imo, you couldn’t complain if many readers took it that way.
I recommend Japanese and non-Japanese work together, because Japanese have more influence on the administrators and especially because this seems to be the case where Japanese in the area are also harassed and so we share the common interest.
Debito’s columns won’t help, or will make things worse. It won’t be of much help because it is not written in Japanese, it makes things worse because it is written in such a way that antagonized the relations with Japan and Japanese.
Let’s examine the case carefully so that we understand the situation and make it better.
With your statistics about the number of the times and the location you are stopped , I think I can convince administrators to some extent how often you are stopped.
But I think I need more evidence to convince them that it was the case of racial profiling.
And as I said, from the photos you sent me, I am not sure the parking place is the private property of the owner of the building. It looks a public sidewalk.
I need more information.
Hello Debito and everyone,
In 1928, Japan sent fifty eight dolls to the U.S. as part of the friendship doll exchange program. The most skillful artisans in the land were chosen to make the national treasure class beautiful dolls. Each doll was 32 inches tall and was exquisitely dressed in the most luxurious silk to be found, embroidered in gold with the most elegant design. She was clad in a traditional Japanese or other proud ethnic fashion that represented the place where she was from. The places inclued Korea, Taiwan, Karafuto(Sakhalin) and Manchuria. In Idaho my friend Kayoko called in the Idaho Historical Museum and found out that the friendship doll was locked up in the basement of the museum in our town! For over half a century the doll was forgotten in the dark room. Her name is Miss Nara. She is an ambassador from Nara-ken. With cooperation of the museum staff we dug her up and restored her face and kimono. In the museum hall the museum staff and we held the Miss Nara welcome Idaho party. Then govenor Cecil Andreus and consulate-general of Japan from Portland, Oregon joined the gathering, promissing to fulfill the goodwill that Miss Nara was trying to convey to Idaho children. Miss Nara is among thirty eight lucky ambassadors who were discovered alive.
Miss Ehime’s whereabouts was tracked down only to be found that she had been destroyed years ago in a flood in Gulfport, Mississippi.
We learned that Miss Miyagi was blown out by a tornado in Topeka, Kansas in 1966. Miss Yokohama was sold to an unknown man in SanFrancisco in 1980.
Twenty babies are still missing. Twenty babies! God knows how many American blue-eyed babies are missing in Japan! I am so glad to hear that my home prefecture, Ehime-ken kids are taking care of the American dolls very well in the school.
Dear Debito,
Last time I checked no exchanged dolls from Japan have ever demanded American citizenship.
Goodness me.
It seems I have been “outted” and banned on Debito.org. That’ll teach me for “going through the trouble” of monkeying around with my I.P. address.
Whatever.
Mark, I really do feel sorry for you, and I doubt that if I were in the same situation as you I would want to take it to a higher level. After you get PR though, I would try to do something about it.
I hate nagging on such a silly point that’s mostly just a tangent to the real conversation, but I’m including a link to the definition of the word “guinea pig”:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/guinea+pig
Ponta, take a look at the 2nd definition of the word:
2. Informal A person who is used as a subject for experimentation or research.
It really has no derogatory meaning other than the fact that you are being used for testing purposes. I’ve never heard of it being used to emphasize the ’subhuman’ meaning.
And I’m very critical of a number of directives by the American government. Politicians routinely create new legislation on a small scale to set precedent which then can be used on a larger scale with the population in general. The concept is to see how much people are willing to accept and to constantly push the limits of what is considered within the bounds of administrative limitations. This small scale ‘testing’ to create precedent is exactly how the term guinea pig can be applied.
We’ve been seeing a lot of this lately. Giving up rights to catch terrorist usually starts with something small and seemingly mundane like being fingerprinted or submitting for questioning, and eventually turns into a wide-scale program of abuse targeted at all people. Foreigners are especially easy targets because to a lot of Americans they are foreign so they have less rights.
Debito’s true colors are showing once again.
That didn’t take long, did it?
Ponta, I agree with Gerbilbastard and others in that the term “guinea pig” in of itself is not derogatory.
The point we should be debating is whether or not foreigners are being treated as “guinea pig” to which the answer is NO specifically to the cases mentioned on Debito.org.
Yes, I think we can pretty much close the book on the “guinea pig as derogatory term” argument. It’s common to hear people to use the term to refer to themselves, i.e. “He used me as a guinea pig!”
@Big B - welcome to the club! Don’t you love how he puts up “mail(will not be published)”, but then uses that one unique piece of information that only he has access to to “out” people by publishing their name, place of employment, where they live etc.? And then tries to weasel out of it saying “that information is in the public domain!”
Technically true, but the key that linked poster A to that real-world “public domain” information was not public domain, and by connecting the dots for his followers he is giving them what they need to find the e-mail address that “won’t be published”. Not that that is his responsibility, oh no! *sigh*
Can we vote him off the island? Please?
Gerbilbastard ,nigelboy,Big B
Sure we can close the book on the guinea pig”
My main point was not if the word is derogatory.
My first point was asking if it is okay to call the US as a nation that treats foreigners and its people as guinea pig. Some people seem to think so. I don’t think so. We can agree to disagree.
My second point was asking if Debito’s cases showed that Japan treated foreigners as guinea pig.
I claimed they didn’t.
And finally—and this is a really minor point —I claimed that it is nor unreasonable to
interpret guinea pig as subhuman.
Gerbilbastard’s link says that
Thus I think someone is justified in interpreting it as subhuman. Isn’t experimental animal subhuman? But we can agree to disagree;besides, you guys are natives, I am not. It is likely I don’t get the nuanced connotation.
But originally I was not accusing them for using the word in a derogatory sense. I was saying that people on Debito org look to be using the extreme words for Japan while refraining from using the words to their mother nations, and/or whitewashing and praising their mother country when the words/state of affairs should apply to the both on their own criteria.
And when they use their own criteria fairly, they look radical leftists, when they use it only in case of Japan, they look racist. Coupled with the racist comments on Debito, org, the latter looks more probable. That is basically what I was saying .
Look at my comment, I asked Mark if he comes from the U.S., a political Pygmy which uses Japanese as guinea pig.
Then some complains from Americans that they didn’t understand my comment followed….. Oh well.
Mark
I forgot to ask you to give me the name of Koban you are taken to.
I need it when I complain and I might visit Koban to hear their side of story.
This conversation is getting more and more difficult to follow, so let me try to recap what is going on:
Ponta -
1)Feels that Debito continues to mislead visitors to his blog by purposely hiding all of the facts.
2)Believes that posters on Debito’s blog have shown a pattern of using extreme language only towards Japan and ignore similar practices in their own country.
3)Wants Debito to open his blog up to both sides of the debate to break down stereotypes and create more understanding between Japanese people and foreigners.
Is this correct so far?
There still seems to be some disagreement over the term guinea pig, but I’ll leave it at that. It’s not an extreme word at all, but I can understand how Ponta feels this word is overly generalizing Japan as it has no set policy targeting only foreigners.
And while I don’t think the US uses Japanese as guinea pigs to test anything, I do think race relations between whites/Hispanics/blacks are a hotbed of political controversy and that people in power in the US have a history of targeting racial groups for setting new policies. Strangely, Asians don’t really have any kind of vocal presence in the US so they are rarely targeted or considered for anything – this includes Japanese people who I consider to be a nationality and not a race.
Also, Mark, what are the responses to your statements to the police officers? Do they say anything to you when you are not riding your bike? Also, is there any official policy about police response when asked for their name/badge number? Are they required to provide that information?
First, let me add to #88.
when they use it only in case of Japan, they look racist　
→when they use it only in case of Japan, they look racist　just as a white cop looks racist if he arrests blacks for the crime while not arresting whites for the same crime.
Coupled with the racist comments on Debito, org, the latter looks more probable.
→
Coupled with the racist comments on Debito, org and Debito’s selective sanctions to the comments, the latter looks more probable.
Gerbilbastard
Thanks to every participants, I enjoy the discussion. I especially thank Matt for providing us the opportunity.I don’t see any troll here, and I think natives and non-natives can engage in a useful discussion. If only Debito and more of his friends participated!
Yes, basically that’s about it,and I tried my best
for my argument to be convincing.
At the risk of sounding sophistical, ….
Japanese nationals are foreigners entering and leaving the U.S. and there are Japanese nationals with green card in the U.S. If the Japanese police’s stopping the residences including gajin in Bukyou-ku and Chiyoda-ku counts as treating gaijin as guinea pig—that is about all we have from Debito’s argument in the article , by the same token, I think we can say the U.S. is treating Japanese as guinea pig. If the conclusion sounds misleading, the premise is also misleading in my opinion.
We just have to look at the reasons why the police are stopping people to determine if someone can be referred to as a guinea pig. The act of stopping someone itself has nothing to do with the term.
If there is some larger purpose for the stopping, and if the person being stopped is being used as some sort of test for something else, that is where the word guinea pig comes into play.
For example, let’s say a government wants to implement IC chips in the ID cards of all of its citizens. However, the citizens don’t approve of this. The government wants to start a test program to determine the safety and success of using IC chips, so it installs IC chips in the ID cards of its foreign community. The justification is stated as being for immigration purposes but the real goal is to test if using IC chips is successful. The foreign community would be considered the guinea pig in this situation because they are the test subject.
In terms of Debito’s use of the word, you would have to find the purpose of stopping foreigners to figure out why he was using the term. The inherent reference is that by stopping the foreigners, the police are practicing something to implement on the Japanese public at large. So, like I said before, the actual meaning of guinea pig is neither negative nor positive. It is just a test for something. If you think that the purpose that Debito is referring to is false or absurd, then you can take objection to his use of the word.
I personally can’t figure out what he is referring to - maybe the general erosion of personal rights - but I’m stretching here. The police don’t seem to stop foreigners any more than Japanese people from what I’ve seen so I don’t really see us as being any kind of test - hence, not guinea pigs.
Gerbilbastard
Right　That is why I think his cases in the article are absurd.
The first case was about the case in which Filipino kids were granted Japanese citizenship. I don’t see how it related to testing. (note in passing it related to guinea pig as a subhuman vicim, as Debito related it wrongly to the lack of fundamental human right to non-nationals.)
The second case was about Mark. Mark said on this blog that
And he said Japanese were also stopped in the area. Whether foreigners are stopped more is yet to be proved. But granted that they were stopped more, it sounds a conspiracy theory that they are doing it to spread the stopping over Japanese.
The third case was about Narita. Even Mark says
A conspiracy theory hardly works.
The fourth case was about a Swedish woman to whom the court apologized. Does Debito go so far as to say Japanese police and court are testing her to spread the wrong arrests and apologies after that over Japanese people?
Nonetheless, Debito’s thesis seems clear. He wants to say Japan treats gaijin very badly, as badly as you can’t imagine. And then Japan is trying to spread this evil practice over Japanese. Just a conspiracy theory in my opinion, but for some reason when it comes to Japan, some gaijin believe it.
And the way he presents Japan reflects the way he see Japan. And when , influenced by it, gaijin look at Japan this way, there will be backlashes from the Japanese. That is the woman on the video above.
(umaku matomatta?)
The case concerning the dog trainers can be looked at this way - they were using foreigners to test the ability of the drug-finding dogs. The test in this case is to find out whether the dogs would be successful or not. This is how the explanation of the word guinea pig can be used, but I don’t believe that they were specifically targeting the bags of foreigners.
A better headline for the topic would have been - “Narita staff using passengers as guinea pigs,” because based on the evidence we currently have, it was only clear that they were planting drugs in the bags of passengers, but not necessarily only in the bags of foreigners.
To jump back to bike stops - a Japanese collegue who recently moved from our Shinagawa office to Osaka and who is a regular bike commuter commented how the police now don’t bother him when riding here. He’s just a faceless salaryman with a road racer-type bike, not some dodgy-looking character.
About Debito, I’m not convinced his English is that good either, and he abuses his thesaurus every time he writes an article. At least he’s stopped using “putsch”, which made me cringe every time he misused it.
Just for the record how unfair Debito bans people, and he does not debate even on his own blog.
BTW How did he get Big B’s full name?
Well it’s quite obvious that when Debito is about to get schooled, his response is to ban them by labeling the person as a troll.
And this is sad considering that he still gets “owned” even though he controls his messages.
Tangent: Why I don’t debate outside of Debito.org.
See above.
Was this added after the original post? I don’t remember reading this part. Either way, it makes me really fucking mad. He goes to great lengths to talk about how the internet is turning nasty and how it is full of holes but yet he takes advantage of the fact that he can immediately delete libelous content that he writes, he considers nearly all conflicting posts as trolls banning them at the slightest bit of provocation and supports a very anti-Japan atmosphere with the posts that he lets slip under the radar. Big B, as his original identity was originally more confrontational with Debito, but this time around he has brought a lot of balance to the conversations. Revealing his name and EMAIL ADDRESS (which Debito says he will NOT do) as a countermeasure to someone providing balance to the negative rhetoric is just a big slap to the face.
The world is full of activists, there are people working for positive change, and there are those who create feelings of resentment and push their agenda by demonstrating how evil everything is. As far as I’m concerned, Debito is proving himself more and more of a Sea Shepard-like brand of activist, i.e. irresponsible and negligent, and this is coming from someone who used to believe he had an important role in the future of Japan. His leadership is very much unwanted and it makes me sick to think he’s influencing others involved with shaping our future.
@gerbilbastard: Yes, that second paragraph was added later. It was not part of the “original outing” Debito put up yesterday. He escalated, and mangled English yet again. Big B was not a “sock puppet”, if he was posting under multiple identities and having conversations with himself, or using one character to cheer on the other one to make it look like he enjoyed widespread support that would be a “sock puppet”, merely posting under a single assumed identity is not a “sock puppet”.
Anyway, this was exactly my point above: Debito’s corner of the internet IS turning nasty, because he is making it so. He puts up unfounded and sometimes ludicrous “facts”, libels and slanders others, crushes any POV that goes against His Lordship’s, manipulates posts to discredit people. the list goes on and on. He goes too far - his attacks on Japan are attacks on my home, his attacks on Japanese are attacks on my family. He needs to be shut down.
Is that threat to reveal personal information actionable? Is it illegal to carry out under personal data protection laws?
That is him stooping really low and that needs wider coverage. I wonder how many of the Debitologists are “willfully deceptive about who you are” by posting with pseudonyms and null@example.com mail addresses? Big B is one of the few voices of reason on Debito, so not surprisingly he had to go.
I can’t really think of anywhere else to post this, so if someone here wants to make a story of this:
debito.org/?p=1861#comment-166128
Is that a Japanese person telling a foreigner to go home since he doesn’t like it here? Sure looks like it to me. Oh, and the guy posting had previously said:
debito.org/?p=217#comment-138114
Not that I want to defend the public image of Japanese, but his comments strongly suggests this guy is not Japanese.
I am not sure if Debito org created this sort of man or this sort of man is just a typical supporter of Debito org. In any case, the fact remains that Debito org has left this sort of man free on his blog while it has banned highly intelligent posters like LB and Big B etc
I must confess, though, that I finally agree with Debito. This guy needs a consult with a mental health professional.
Hi, Mark.
I haven’t received your second e-mail yet.
Did I delete it by mistake?
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
For instance, if you are concerned about your identity revealed, don’t worry. I am not a detective, nor am I familiar with the Internet, so I have no way to get your identity.
All I need is your statistics of the location and the time you are stopped, and the location of Koban you were taken to and the information whether your parking is really the owner’s property—the parking place on the photo looked like a public sidewalk
And if you want to make the claim the police are doing racial profiling, I need your statistics that compare the stoppage of gaijin with that of Japanese.
I need them to understand the situation, complain, and find the solution that is best of the police and the residences. I think they are necessary and I don’t think it is unfair to ask for the information.
Or,am I asking too much?
I am not the kind of person who trusts the police and the administration entirely but I am the kind of person who wants to check the fact and present the strong argument before I complain.
If there is anything that worries you on this matter, please feel free to comment. Everyone is here to discuss for the best solution. If you want to drop the case for some reason, that is fine too.
Keep in mind that I am not the kind of person who wants to bash anybody related to Debito org but I am rather —or at least I try to be—-the kind of person who wants to increase the number of gaijin who understand and love Japan.
“BTW How did he get Big B’s full name?”
It was quite simple, really. Debito knew my email address, because his blog asks for it on registration. He did a google search for my name and email and found my place of work.
I don’t mind that so much. Debito did ask for my email, so there was a reasonable expectation on my part that he would find out who I was. However, I submitted my address on the condition that it would it would not be revealed in public (says so on the registration). But all of a sudden he reveals my place of work and country of residence (which, let’s face it, is not the largest nation in the world). This information coupled with the fact that I have a less than usual first name has allowed anyone to find me by way of a google search, and I have already received malicious email from Debito supporters. In other words, Debito allowed others to use information garnered from my email address in order to find it out for themselves. It was the same as publishing it on his blog.
I am no fan of meiwaku mail, so initially I asked Debito to delete my personal information from public view on his site. To his credit, he agreed and did so. But because I kept disagreeing with his views, he then decided to drop the ‘identity bomb’ on me once again, claiming that my identity was in the public domain anyway. It sure is, but the email address connected to the commenter whose name was “Bryce” on Debito.org was not. It was Debito as administrator of his blog that put the two together, identified me and then made a whole load of (false) assumptions about my connections to Japan.
Given that I sent him an email explicitly requesting that he remove information that he had acquired by searching for my email address, which I had handed to him in confidence, and given that he agreed in that email that it was an action he should not be undertaking, one might say that Debito has absolutely no respect for blog etiqutte. I was therefore not under the impression that such etiquette was needed at debito.org. Hence the multiple identities.
As an aside, if I were not banned from his site the first time, I might have pointed out that it is a bit rich for someone who compares himself and his struggle in Japan to Martin Luther King and the U.S. civil rights struggle to criticise an academic living overseas pointing out that other academics have analysed Japan while living overseas. But I’m sure Debito would have had some dry, unwitty risposte.
Bryce (Formerly known as Big B)
place of work=profession
I thought about this some time ago: Maybe someone should suggest Debito to go work as an activist in South Korea, where the anti-foreigner sentiments are a little more tangible. Who knows, his less-than-subtle tactics just might be more appropriate (and possibly successful) there!
Bryce
I don’t think you did something wrong by using another handle. You were banned and I applaud you for making balanced comments under another handle for the sake of Japanese and non-Japanese. And I see nothing offensive about your comments.
The readership of Occidentalism knows the evil use of sock. See “The net is a permanent record”"The Nora Challenge” on this blog.
I just wonder why there are still supporters of Debito org.
As it is, Debito org has no chance of winning supports from the Japanese. For instance, Debito org has campaigned for a gaijin who was later convicted of rape , blaming the Japanese victim for telling a lie , by covering up the important fact that he admitted at the court that he inserted his finger into her genitals, and linked itself to the website that is an counterpart of a racist magazine,” gaijin crime ura file”, which NJ as well as J protested. It can’t gain reliability unless Debito org acknowledge its wrongs just as Tsukiji shop with “Japanese only” sign acknowledged its wrong. Is it difficult?
I think anybody with a bit of intelligence understand that such website has no chance of success.
Why are there people who still support it? Are they
just letting off steam ? But they should realize that by letting off steam like that, they are promoting negative image of gaijin in Japan.
fh, they would eat Debito for breakfast there. Japanese people are fairly easy going (or rather apathetic) so he can continue is activities without garnering too much negative attention. Koreans are the opposite, and Debito would find himself under constant pressure with very little help from foreigners living in Korea, because most of them are already cowed and worried about attracting negative Korean attention.
A rhetorical suggestion, of course. But it seems like Debito thrives on that sort of attention. The more he feels victimized, the more he would use it to assert his misguided views. Moreover, one might imagine that there could be so strong an opposition (from Koreans) that it could even serve as a wake-up call to him that his methods are indeed problematic.
After all, if there is no opposition (as you say of Japanese being apathetic), he may simply believe that there actually isn’t anything wrong with what he’s doing: He’s not being forced to think twice about his actions, and he’s steadfastly ignored any suggestions of the sort.
Bryce, the internet is a scary place, as Debito continues to prove, and you are well within your rights to post anonymously. Especially on a blog like Debito’s where he promises to keep your identity hidden but then flaunts your personal details when convenient, you can never be too safe.
To be honest, I’m surprised you came back. I completely understand the need to post some balance to the tired complainers that frequent his blog, but the method of your previous ban would have left me steaming.
On a side note, we should all prepare ourselves for the worst. The thunderstorms in Tokyo won’t compare to the havoc wreaked by an unhappy community of foreign nationals who suddenly think that the word gaijin is the same as ni99er as Debito wants us to believe in his latest column. To be honest, I’m really surprised that the Japan Times let something like that slide.
Wikipedia does not match what Debito is saying about it (link). I don’t think Debito has made a reasonable case that those that use the word use it for any other reason than that of an abbreviation for “gaikokujin”.
Gerbilbastard, as you say there are going to be legions of gaijin out there that will suddenly think that Japanese people are calling them ni99ers. Gaijin is not a slur but Debito may yet succeed in turning it into one, engendering the word with a kind of negative empowerment to cause hurt and pain to those it is said to. Is this really what foreigners in Japan want? I don’t think so.
I think “Just Be Cause” should be retitled “Just Me, ‘Cause I’m Wonderful”. I decided to look over the last six:
March: Me, me, me, but he was setting out his stall, so I’ll let him away with it.
April: Rather good, and when I first read it I had hopes for the series.
May: “Big B” is a big b——-!
June: Starts out OK, then me, me, me!
July: Me, me, me!
August: Some bad people are calling me a gaijin, wah, wah, wah!
Matt, but Debito sets out his stall by pointing out that Wikipedia is an “online wall for intellectual graffiti artists”.
Now I come to think of it, how many hits does Debito.org have on Rick Ross’s cult warning signs list?
Don’t use the word “foreigner” because it means the person “on the outside, exterior,” “outside,”
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=foreign&searchmode=none
It is a racist word!!!
Don’t use J and NJ for short for Japanese and non-Japanese, it is insulting.
I feel alienated and offended whenever gajins write and speak in English!! History tells us that English has always been used when invading other countries.
Somewhat strangely, I think there is something to what Debito is saying. Forget the etymological origins of the word (in contemporary discourse on meaning etymology means little these days) and forget that the Heike Monogatari (by way of Debito’s Kodansha) does not quite say that gaijin means ‘enemy’ (the correct reference is ‘one who should be regarded as an hostile’: 敵視ã™ã¹ã人). And forget for a second the rather ridiculous assertion that gaijin carries the same negative connotations as the ‘n’ word. Once we put all that behind us, I think he makes a fairly valid point.
By refering to me as ‘gaijin’ (some) Japanese people are labelling me and placing me in a group of people with whom I would not normally associate. He’s right. To be a gaijin is to be singled out as “non-Japanese” - a group that only exists in relationship to a Japanese “self”. I also would bristle (and have bristled) at people calling me a “foreigner” in English when they know more about me than “he’s not from here”. I’m sure no one intends it to be offensive, but that is not really the point. I doubt many Japanese would feel too happy if, when I heard them speaking Japanese in an English speaking country, I were to yell out in English “It’s a foreigner!”.
Sure, “gaijin” is not as inflammatory as “nigger” but it isn’t nice to be reminded by complete strangers that you are not like them every once and a while.
The thing is, though, that I have used the word in Japan to refer to myself (perhaps in the sense that balck people in the U.S. have appropriated the “n” word to talk about themselves). More often than not, when someone tells me off for doing so, that person is Japanese. In fact it seems to me that the term is offensive more to liberal minded Japanese than to many foreigners.
Also, the idea that categorisations of people in terms of whether or not they are “from” Japan are completely lost on poor old Debito. As Ponta has pointed out Debeto frequently refers to “non-Japanese” and claims to represent the foreign community at regular intervals. As noted previously, I am also no fan of his “welcome non-Japanese” signs. If G**jin=n*gger, then “Welcome non-Japanese” signs in Japan=”Welcome non-U.S. citizens” or “Welcome non-whites” signs in the United States. The latter would not be acceptable, so why is the former?
We have to take context into account to see why Debito is wrong. The ‘n’ word has an extremely negative/derogatory meaning that has caused controversy in the US for over 100 years (take a look a Huckleberry Finn as a good example - it’s still banned in some schools). Ni99er has maintained such a negative connotation that we can’t even comfortably write the word without feeling like a racist.
Gaijin, on the other hand, serves as an identifier with neutral intent - it’s the same as saying he’s white or black. The only difference is that in a country like the US with a large immigrant population (we’re all descendants of immigrants) it’s stupid to use the word foreigner as an identifier; hence, we use race to make that distinction. Debito, by trying to get rid of gaijin, is just trying to replace one identifier with another one. Japanese people can either say gaijin, or the can use things like black, white, etc. - but considering that most foreigners are Asian, gaijin is the most apt word for the circumstances. Can you seriously picture a Japanese person saying, “Check out that Asian guy over there!
The use of foreigner seems much more offensive in English because it’s used less frequently. Most people refer to a person based on their country of origin - he’s Japanese, he’s Irish, etc. - rather than the blunt, he’s not from here. There are a multitude of ways to say the same thing in English, and it basically comes down to the intent of the speaker as to which expression to use.
*disclaimer* My descriptions are of the US. Not sure how other countries do things.
>Can you seriously picture a Japanese person saying, “Check out that Asian guy over there!”
Actually, yes. “Asia” can refer to non-Japanese Asia in Japanese. Anyway, why not just, “check out that guy over there”?
Bryce
If you were to yell out to me in English “It’s Japanese” in English speaking country, I wouldn’t feel too happy too.
Actually I was yelled “Chinese!!!” by students on a school bus who thought I was Chinese . I didn’t feel too happy.
If I were to see someone from a foreign country and if I talked about him with a friend of mine, I would say, for instance, that foreigner(ano gaijin/gaikokujin(san)) is really big.
If it was clear that you were, for instance, American, I would say, ano amerika-jin is really big.
If a student working at a convenience store speaks Japanese in a Chinese accent, and if I talked about him later to someone , I would say, for instance, ano tyuugokujin ryuugakusei is polite.
If you were my customer, I would say, for instance, “Okyaku-sama, could you fill out the form.”
Debtio says:
He is right. People around him probably call him Arudou-san/sensei. I would probably call him Arudou-san when I met him.
If a Japanese visited the U.S. and thought people out there ate a lot, he would say, ” Ameriaka-jin eat a lot.” If the U.S.A. is THE gaikoku for him, then he would say,” gaijin/gaikokujin eat a lot.”
Debito’s theory does not work because what he says about “gaijin” also apply to “gaikokujin”, for that matter, “foreigner”.
Moreover,the words such as hito(people)amerika-jin(Americans) strip the world of diversity away and they are always hito, America-jin anytime anyplace.
Does he want to eliminate all such words?
Whatever you want to be called by people around you , they would be happy to call you by your favorite name. If you get Japanese citizenship , but if people still call you gaijin/gaikokujin, then the protest is valid.
You’re right about that first part.
As for the second part. I don’t really think there’s anything wrong with using skin color as an identifier. It’s the same thing as someone wearing glasses or who is balding, just a quick observation. For example, if there was a room full of white people and one Asian person, it would almost go counter to logic to refer to that one person as the one wearing glasses. As long as you’re not discriminating against someone based on their skin color you’re good to go.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nigger
There is no such connotations in the word “gaijin”/”gaikokujin”
Tangent
So how many people other than Debito think that Debito might be MLT junior?
Do Debtio’s fans really think he might be MLT junior? If that is the case, I think we really need
to do something about their situation and we really need a dialogue. Debito’s fans, sincerely, come join
us.
I think Debito is willfully obscuring different issues. The N-word is a　racial epithet precisely for the reason of its connection to the systematic subjugation and hardships endured by African Americans. I am unmoved by Debito’s own hardships (or whatever hardships he claims gaijin universally face in Japan) that would allow him to equate “gaijin” on the same level as “n*gger”. If anything, it has the same pragmatic effect as calling someone “black” or “white”. There are definitely instances where a foreigner does not want to be identified as such, or where the term is not appropriate.
An African American might say, “I am not a n*gger, I am black”. But what would the foreigner equivalent be? “I am not a gaijin, I am…” (well then what would you be?)
I think Debito is insecure in his own ethnicity, and is trying to convince others to feel the same way. Misery loves company?
“Kamakura Doug Says:
August 8th, 2008 at 1:39 am
The hardest thing for me is that I can’t understand WHY people have this block. Why doesn’t it occur to them that they are being rude to me by being surprised that my Japanese is higher than elementary school level? And I don’t want to hear the old “shimagumi†argument. It’s time that one was retired, too”
Jeez. Shimagumi arugment? Never heard of that one. Maybe it’s because of the fact that most gaijin’s don’t even take the time and effort to learn the language where they reside? You want examples? How about Mr. Debito himself??
What is the point of writing this stupid article where the reading audience themselves are J-illiterates? Shouldn’t the crusader from Hokkaido write this stuff on some Japanese media using the Japanese language, arguing his point to the Japanese audience?
The hardest thing for me is that I can’t understand WHY people have this block.Why doesn’t it occur to them that they are being rude to people —Japanese and non-Japanese—
by discussing in English banning the Japanese people,
by refusing to join a forum that is more open to everyone,
by constantly giving misinformation because Debito blocks comments.
by cursing Japan behind Japanese back,
by constantly keep changing their handles—why is it Debito’s close friends cannot use their handle on Debito’s blog?
THEY ARE REALLY SCARELY.
They are promoting an image of gaijin as constantly makng unjustified complaints in an unfairly method.
Mark in Yayoi,
How are you doing these days?
It seems you suddenly became so quiet. Did you quit replying to Ponta? Have you found out the name and location(address) of the koban yet?
It has been quite a while since Ponta asked you to tell him about the name and whereabouts of the koban from which the police were supposed to have charged onto your bicycle and assaulted you with the same old questions over one hundred times a year.
I’m a Boise Idaho resident now, but I miss Tokyo. I miss chuukakuha. I miss 70-ish air that was flavored with the Hosei anarchists groups and the police making cat and mouse games routinely.
Mark, which koban you were talking about? Please tell us about your koban story. Where is it? What is the name of it?
Was the koban in Shibuya?
Devo are playing there tonight. Click on this sentence to see a stepped up version of one of their old hits.
It seems that after the flurry of critical comments on the comparison of gaijin to n*gger (which perhaps to his credit he did not delete), Debito has reponsded to one apologetic comment:
http://www.debito.org/?p=1858#comment-166732
Perhaps the problem is that Debito himself is unsure of his meaning and is misunderstanding and overprojecting his own opinions.
Is “gaijin” derrogatory? In some cases, yes. But nowhere near to the extent of “n*gger”, due to the latter’s historical usage. It will be interesting to see how Debito crafts his next piece to claim that, because of a few instances where “gaijin” is used offensively, every other instance of the word must also be equally degrading to foreigners.
Hello Mark in Yayoi,
How is everything going these days?
As everyone knows please remenber that Ponta offered to help you with solving your koban police problem. He just needs the name and address of the koban so that he could hear from both sides.
Ponta and his web friends solved the “no foreigner” sushi shop problem before. The sushi shop owner took down the problematic sign boad with no fuss what so ever thanks to Ponta’s and his web friends’ fair approach toward him.
Mark in Yayoi, everyone would like to see your problem also get solved in an amicable manner.
As Ponta stated in his previous post please remenber that he is willing to help you out.
Mark in Yayoi, please come forward and tell us what is the name and address of the koban from which the police supposedly came out and stopped your bicycle over one hundred times a year.
Hmmm, I just noted that Debito edited his posting of that ridiculous Aly Rustom article. It now comes with a disclaimer at the top: “THOUGHTS ARE HIS ALONE. POSTED HERE TO STIMULATE DISCUSSION. THINK FOR YOURSELVES ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT YOU AGREE.”
That wasn’t there when Matt posted this article. I’m sure of it.
*sigh* Debito is such a weasel…. Still, “Think for yourselves” is hardly a condemnation of blatantly racist drivel, now is it?
LB, right on. Just change “Japanese” to “foreigner” in that article and Debito would be screaming racism.
And if you changed “Japanese” to “foreigner” in many of the comments left on Debito’s site (like the ones Kimpatsu and others like him post), Debito would also scream that those comments are racist. Seriously, those comments are no better than much of what is posted on 2ch news boards and yet Debito allows them?
LB, isn’t that Debito’s defence for everything second-hand controversal that he posts - rather than take a stand or have an opinion, it’s always “Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger”. Oh, and according to Google you’re correct about Debito adding the disclaimer to that post.
And what on earth is the point of that rant today about the post office causing someone grief when getting a money order? I’ve noticed that a lot of the Debitologists have anger management issues…
KenYN - yep, that’s his standard defense. “I’m just the messenger, just because I post something to my site doesn’t mean I support or endorse it” - even as he refuses to post stuff he DOESN’T agree with, and bans people who don’t agree with him. He’s been pulling that same argument with folks over “outing” me on his site. He’s not responsible for that. He was the one who knew who I was from my e-mail address, and started calling me by my real name, linked that to a letter I wrote a newspaper, posted commentary from a Debitard about where I worked (which they would only have been able to work out once they knew my name)… but he’s not responsible for any of that.
Thanks for confirming that I wasn’t imagining Debito “altered the historical record” (a charge he loves to make about his nemesis Laszlo). Could you enlighten me on how to use Google’s caching feature to find the original? I can’t seem to figure that out, although I’ve heard wonderful things about Google’s ability to capture the past and preserve it.
Oh, the post office rant - I don’t know what backwater PO the writer went to, but I used to send PMO’s 2 and 3 times a month to the US, always converting from Yen to USD, and the fee was always the same: 500 yen. The only way I can see it going to 2000 yen was if the PO was sending the PMO by itself as registered mail (which they can do here, or you can just buy one and mail it yourself). That may have been what was happening, if so the writer needs to learn how to send PMOs.
Hint to anyone in Japan who needs to do this: bring in the envelope you will mail the PMO in with you to the post office, make certain the clerk understands “Jibun de tegami (seikyuusho) to issho ni okurimasu” (I will send it myself together with this letter (bill)). You have to give a reason why you are sending the money, that’s the law, and that reason must be written on the form. If you say “shouhindai” (payment for purchase of an item) they will probably ask “what kind of item”. Again, they are required by law to do this. As the writer discovered, you can’t buy things from North Korea. You can explain what the money is for, or if you are buying something from an acquaintance you can just say you’re sending him the money for his birthday or something.
Anyway, next up on Debito, the gripping story of a foreigner who tripped going up a flight of stairs because they were constructed with a pitch a full 1/2 inch shorter than US stairs. Clearly an anti-foreigner plot! Those racist bastards!
LB, here’s a link:
http://www.google.com/search?q=site:debito.org+%22ESSAY+FROM+ALY+RUSTOM%22
That gives me four hits, the first is the updated version, the other three are archives that haven’t updated yet. Click the “Cached” link to see Google’s cache.
*sigh*
I think it is time we stopped bothering with debito. He is just too pathetic. He claims that his detractors hide behind anonymity and then goes and publishes an anonymous email essentially claiming that the post office is out to get whitey and has the power to detain foreigners.
Joe, if you are reading this, I sympathise. Here is my tragic story:
I mailed a bank draft from my home town the other day. There was a charge of $25 in my local currency (which works out to about 2000 yen). The guy who served me told me that for an electronic transfer it would have cost five bucks more and I would need a code that I didn’t have. Seeing that I was writing the adressees name on the envelope in Japanese, he told me it was ‘amazing that I could write that stuff.’ He also wanted my full name (including my middle name) and had me show ID. He claimed that he needed to get the details perfect so the draft would not get lost, but I don’t believe him. He was Samoan, Tongan of some other Pacific Island stock. I am caucasian. He was obviously a racist.
Of course…. somebody could have just set up a fake email address and sent in a phoney story to see if debito would put it up on his site…
By the way, why doesn’t anybody call the d-meister on ripping entire articles from newspapers and pasting them on his site. He may have some sort of deal with the Japan Times, but I don’t think that papers like the IHT believe that debito is exempt from copyright law. When it comes to fair use, I believe the standard is whether the user has quoted part of the article for commentary, critism or education. Debito often just posts entire articles without comment. It’s obvious that he doesn’t use them for the edification of his students, so what’s up with that?
I don’t think “we” should ignore him, as he is influential in forming the opinions of certain segments of the gaijin population, and he is an easy rent-a-quote for foreign journalists.
A couple of months ago I did think of doing that fake story thing, but I didn’t feel it was the right thing to do.
He (and his lawyer friend!) does believe he is doing nothing wrong, according to the chapter of his book here:
And warez are legal if you delete them within 24 hours…
Actually, in some cases I agree that copying them for posterity is useful, regardless of the legality, but his usual “Here’s an interesting article” cut-and-paste is not useful.
Exactly,and that will make the relation between Japanese and non-Japanese bad.
So let me be in “we”.
Frankly I don’t understand people who support the , even respect the “messenger” accepting hateful misinformation about Japan while rejecting balancing comments.
The more and more Japanese are realizing the fact and that is the image of non-Japanese they are promoting.
On the other hand, I feel guilty to attack the website to speak out for non-Japanese, however its style and tactics might be evil.
So let me help if somebody set up a website for non-Japanese for information, advice, protest etc.
I’ll do what I can.
It is really regrettable they block useful comments
by knowledgeable and balanced people like LB, Bryce, etc.
I found this great letter from a guy who commonly posts on Japan Probe that debunks Debito’s article well.
http://victorymanual.com/2008/08/18/making-apples-of-plums/
The comments are also great.
A confession: I haven’t been reading this site lately (sorry Matt), but I just wanted to say this: I love Debito!
I love everything about him. The pure entertainment of it all is priceless.
He is the Lindsay Lohan of Japan (without the marginal acting skills). He is Paris Hilton (without the looks). He is Britney Spears (without the singing talent). He is the Kano Sisters (without the….well, you get the point). He is a celebrity without talent — and that’s what I love about him.
He is every paparrazo’s wet dream — self-confident to a fault, loving the camera, incapable of staying in his own room, constantly making wild (sometimes ill-informed) statements, and most importantly — being his own worst enemy.
I suspect that a lot of people tune in just to watch him get his comeuppance some day. Others want to read what crazy thing he’s going to write next. Nobody in positions of power truly gives this guy the time of day.
And that’s the point.
Does anyone here honestly think Prime Minister Fukuda or his Cabinet ministers or local politicians are calling up Debito for his deep thoughts on race relations. C’mon!
Just read the comments on his blog (if you have the time) to see who takes this guy seriously.
His audience is (mainly) a bunch of high school and twenty-something inexperienced English teachers with minimal Japanese language training, no interest in world history (let alone Asian history), no real professional backgrounds that I can discern, with an almost paranoid imagination about how Japan “sucks”, and a penchant for conspiracy theories.
Of course these guys will love Debito. He speaks their language!
Truth is: I love Debito, too. But I don’t read him to be informed. I read him to be entertained.
The day any decision-maker in positions of power takes Debito seriously is the day people on this blog should start to worry…but I doubt that will happen any time soon.
Debito will forever be Debito — that’s pretty much it.
Remind you of anyone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhxW40rkFrY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBI5j-jFs1U&feature=related
Jerry - naturally I know that, at present, no one with any real power is really listening to Debito. If they do, we would have a lot to worry about. But at that point, it is to late to start worrying. We need to make sure things never even get to the point where someone with the power to act on Debito’s “ideas” does so.
He already travels around speaking to city legislatures and civic groups. Do they actually listen to him or decide for themselves that he is someone to be ignored? I don’t really know - but anything that can be done to make sure they reach the latter conclusion and not the former should be done.
Some of us think there is a reason, aside from his limited Japanese ability, that his blog is English-only. If he ever posted that racist drivel in Japanese, no one in Japan would ever take him seriously ever again.
Some Japanese are realizing who and what he is. More Japanese, especially those he speaks to on “the plight of the foreigner” and “what Japan should do when dealing with foreigners”, need to be made aware of his true nature.
If his audience was truly just disgruntled fellow AETs (oh, sorry, he is a “university educator” with no degrees in education and shockingly sub-par English ability for a tertiary-level English professor), I wouldn’t be concerned at all. But he is actively trying to get people who matter to listen to him, and that does concern me and others.
I used to think that nobody took Debito org seriously, but that was wrong.
Like this woman on above, some people believe it, probably because
(1) His title is a university educator.
(2) some statements about the lJapanese laws are not false.
(3) it fits with their preconceived idea of Japan as a backward country and it satisfies their role as a superman from Krypton.
Some people who understand Japanese and Japanese system do not take Debito’s org seriously because they know that what is written is weird.
But they should understand that Debito org is creating and pandering to the prejudice about Japan and people from foreign country in Japan;
They are reinforcing the belief that when western people look at the non-western world, they see more a mirror image of themselves and their own assumptions than the reality of what is there.
And they are promoting the foreigners as the people with anger management issues.
By antagonizing Japanese, they are making it more difficult to tackle with the real issues facing the
non-Japanese in Japan.
Thanks to LB and Ponta for the thoughtful replies to my (let’s face it) innocent ode to Debito’s entertainment value.
I really don’t know what to say to convince either that Debito is not taken very seriously by serious people. There are a few telltale signs that you might want to consider, however.
If you read the small group of people over there now on debito.org ranting about the word “gaijin”, it’s obvious they’re part of a disorganized fringe with some really (ehem) “opinionated” theories about life in Japan. There’s not much measured evidence presented about why they think Japanese use the word maliciously (other than unverifiable anecdotes); there’s no appeal to logic or reason or consistent argumentation; there’s no consultation of dictionaries or history or anything else objective that can support their assertions about how intentionally malicious the word is. But that doesn’t stop anyone from offering an opinion.
It’s all about personal preferences and fringe political theories. Is that wrong? No, absolutely not. Japan is a free country — people should be allowed to rant and rave about whatever they want, whenever they want.
The question is: does it all matter? Well, this is where I grow skeptical — only if someone can demonstrate to me that Debito is *the* cause of some really serious race pandering with really bad side effects for Japan.
I take Ponta’s point about the young girl above. But she (God love her) is just a classic example of my earlier point on who Debito’s (ultimate?) target audience is. Young, inexperienced people with an idealistic “let’s-go-change-the-world-in-our-own-naive-image” attitude about life.
Academics, lobbyists, politicians, bureaucrats, mainstream book publishers, and analysts (add whatever other professionals to benchmark) — I’m not convinced yet that these professionals are truly turning to Debito for advice and consultation, let alone as an “authority” on discrimination in Japan.
Granted:
If a mainstream publisher accepts one of his cobbled together works…
If he manages to get published in a 1st or 2nd tier well-respected journal…
If his work gets reviewed (let alone endorsed) by the authorities in the field…
If he manages to win a prestigious award…
If he finally gets politicians’ and bureaucrats’ ears, yes, then I’d say he’s possibly “influential”.
Right now, he’s just a self-described “average guy with a bigger mouth than average.”
My God, even the people over at Japan Probe have trouble taking Debito seriously — and these were the same people advocating the removal of the Gaijin Hanzai File from store shelves a few months ago.
It’s not part of my pay-grade to psychoanalyze why the limited group of readers over at Debito.org want, need, or buy into the kind of material he has to sell them at Debito.org. All I can tell you with certainty is that currently, reading Debito is no different than reading a tabloid — and from an entertainment point of view, I’m okay with that.
What I find concerning is the continual lowering of standards at his site.
Some of you may remember that when I first came to this site, I was generally in favor of what he was doing. For me, the resources provided at his site outweighed the antagonizing approach he took to issues.
It wasn’t until the Japanese-Only sign at Tsukiji and the ballet school incident that I seriously lost all interest in his message. It was roughly at that time when his blog took on an overwhelmingly negative tone and his readership took to regular Japan bashing. I honestly don’t know what’s going on over there. I’ve seen a growing anti-Debito movement in the past few months, and his most recent column to the Japan Times about the word gaijin really hurt his already sinking credibility. He really his own worst enemy.
Jerry
Thank you for the thoughtful comment.
Point taken. However,
(1)Average Japanese don’t tell classy people like overthinker,LB ….of course, Jerry bellows and other people. That might be the problem on the part of the Japanese and you are justified in complaining about it but that is the reality.
That will create and/or strengthen xenophobia.
(2)It is not just young, inexperienced people with an idealistic let’s-go-change-the-world-in-our-own-naive-image†attitude about life but journalism like The Sydney Morning Herald)Sunday. I also remember Debito bragging about being interviewed by foreign journalists on his blog.
Gerbilbastard S
What I can’t understand is why they want to be exclusive when they want to “open up” Japanese society.
Why do they block balancing comments while keeping hateful comment alive?
Why do they not discuss on other forums?
why are they constantly changing their handle?
If they are not scary, who are?
Jerry bellows and other people.
→Jerry bellows from other people.
FYR
The Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/japan-rails-at-australians-tabloid-trash/2008/07/04/1214951041660.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
I just want to make four quick comments in response to Ponta’s posting of the Sydney Morning Herald article.
1. Journalism is something of a business nowadays. They sell product. Attracting readers with stories that contain all kinds of juicy, off-the-wall, or inflammatory quotes to meet the needs of their readership demographic and sell newspapers is what it’s come to nowadays. The journalist doesn’t necessarily buy into Debito’s comments.
2. These same quotes from Debito can be a double-edge sword. I noticed just the other day that Wikiquote — forget about Wikipedia — has been dutifully recording his public comments for posterity. I suspect that Debito will come to regret those comments in the future, along with so many others.
See:
3. I suspect that the Japan Times gave Debito his own column because the newspaper was in deep financial trouble and needed a new strategy. The editors probably knew that Debito’s inflammatory, off-the-wall stuff would attract new readers (and hence revenues). Whether the column enhances their image (and a profit) in the long-run is another matter. We’ll see.
4. The letters-to-the-editor suggest that not many readers agree with Debito’s perspective on many issue. I could be wrong.
Ponta, long time no talk! As you have probably guessed, I was on vacation — doing research on an isolated Okinawan island, where there are no police boxes and even no government (the town hall is on a different island). So even though I rented a bicycle to get around, it was very relaxing! ^_^;
Then, of course, when I returned to Tokyo, the police were in front of my house again two days in a row. This time there were three, one on each corner, and I spent some time observing them and taking a few photos, which I’d be happy to send to you.
No foreign-looking people passed by while I watched, but it was interesting that while 6 of 13 men were pulled over in about 30 minutes, 0 of 13 women were. It looks like gender-based discrimination is much stronger than foreigner discrimination!
If you ever have a chance to come to Bunkyo-ku and have ideas for meeting with the police and making some progress in stopping this situation, I’d love your help. The odds are against us when dealing with the police, but I’d love to get this solved just like with the Tsukiji fish restaurant.
If the cops doing this aren’t the same ones who have my green resident card (I forget the Japanese name… you write in your family members’ names and the like), can I make a second one for another koban? I would be happy to write my bicycle number on that file. Maybe police officers who are sent out to check bicycles could be given a list of people who live on that block and thus don’t need to be checked?
Ponta, it’s not really about opening up Japan anymore. The reason he blocks comments and discourages opposing views is because his livelihood is based on propagating the so-called negative treatment of foreigners in Japan. He makes money giving speeches, selling his books, etc. If all of that were to go away, that would leave him with zero income (well, there is the university stuff). At this point in the game he has a vested interest in making sure that people feel negatively about life in this country.
Gerbilbastard - it goes back further than that. He has a long history of banning people he considers “trolls”, which he interprets as pretty much anyone who contests his world view. He is simply unwilling to deal with the possibility that there may be a valid argument that opposes his, and unwilling to talk to people who do not agree with him (which is why he banned Bryce, and he said so himself). Even before his blog, when he was one of the moderators on another “foreigners in Japan” online group, he was known for banning people and deleting their comments if they had a different view of things than he did.
“Does not play well with others” - that should be the warning sign on his door.
True. I’m sure it does go further back than his blog, but that was also before he had a book published and went on whirlwind tours spreading his special version of tolerance.
But we can’t really blame him, since he’s only acting the role of activist messenger, after all.
“‘Does not play well with others’ - that should be the warning sign on his door.”
True.
I often wondered if Debito could even last a few rounds in a serious televised debate in Japanese, then it occurred to me that just being on the show would probably elevate his standing in the foreign community. No one would really notice how he did.
There are a lot of foreign journalists, respected business people and academics who speak excellent Japanese that I often watch on TV here. Really impressive people that give “non-Japanese” a good name. Strange how Debito is never invited to these TV talk shows…or maybe he does get invited, but declines. Does anyone happen to know?
Funny how
Jerry - I understand he once appeared on an episode of “Koko ga hen da yo Nihonjin”, but since I stopped watching that train wreck of a program after a couple of episodes once it became clear that Beat Takeshi was up to his usual “who needs serious debate when we can throw whoopee pies at each other” style of running a show I didn’t see it.
I don’t think he would do well on TV. He is bumbling and inarticulate in English a lot of the time, I doubt his Japanese would enable him to carry on a debate even if he could somehow avoid getting ruffled at the first challenge to an argument of his. I think it would devolve into a yelling match really, really quickly. There’s a reason why Laszlo is much, much more successful than Debito, you know.
LB, that is right. Also, there are foreigners out there that think that Debito’s Japanese is “good” or “fluent”. I have had a chance to review what little I could find of him speaking Japanese, and my impression is that for someone that has been in Japan for nearly 20 years, his Japanese is extremely poor. Some people are calling him the Reverend Wright of Japan, but at least Reverend Wright can speak the common language of his country properly, unlike Debito.
BTW, it is funny listening to the cops tell him “nihongo jouzu desune”. For somebody supposedly fluent in Japanese that comment is a slap in the face. Japanese people basically stop saying “jouzu desune” once your Japanese is truly fluent.
Mark in Yayoi
Hi Mark in Yayoi.
Ohisashiburi desu. I am glad you had a good time in Okinawa.
Yes, I want to know the location of Koban and the location and the (rough) time you are stopped.Other wise I can’t complain to the office:for,I cannot convince them without the data. And when I have time, I want to visit the Koban. That’s not a big deal. I live in Tokyo, if you want, we can meet somewhere.(You speak Japanese, right? I don’t speak English well.)
If you have any concern(sinpaigoto), just let us know.
Let’s work together, the more people,the more ideas the wiser solution. And we are trying to be fair, and we are examining what the problem is and what the best solution is.
Matt
Agreed.Not that just because his Japanese is poor means something as a Japanese, but if he wants to send message to the Japanese to change the society , he should at least write in Japanese.
Benjamin Fulford writes and speaks perfect Japanese, there are Japanese fans of him, and there are Japanese who look upon him as a just conspiracy theorist, but he is fair in that he writes in Japanese and he is criticized in Japanese.
In case of Debit org, they cannot.
If it is translated into Japanese, it will cause huge negative reactions from Japanese just like the video above because Debito org is filled with hatred, prejudice, unfairness.
What I want to say to the people on Debito org, is “come out of the exclusionary space called Debito org protected by a dictator, and let’s discuss the issue in an open forum.” if they really want to make living in Japan more comfortable. I don’t see why they can’t. If they just want to let steam out, that is another story, though.
[...] counteropinion for the latter, here and lot [...]
Mark
I haven’t received e mail detailing the location of Koaban and the (rough) time and the location of the stoppage.
Did I delete it by accident?
I would be interested in knowing how this koban cop thing goes actually. The location intrigues me - I was talking with an African guy last week, and when he said he used to get pulled over all the time in Tokyo, I actually asked if it was in Chiyoda, and he said it was. So perhaps the Chiyoda cops have a special need to make a quota or something: number of shokumu shitsumon per day, etc.
Regarding Debito’s blog, I think it’s pretty clear what’s going on: the decline and his divorce and estrangement from his family happened about the same time. He’s bitter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82J-TDASyY0
Is there an outrage in Japan over the issue? I’m asking for real, or is there more to it than the info I was able to get online? Ya’ll seem to be pretty knowledged so…
Ponta, sorry; I haven’t sent anything to you yet. I’m still adjusting to working at night again and have been sleeping all day long instead of just from 6 AM to 2 PM like I usually do. Very unpleasant; like jetlag.
Anyway, please tell me what it is you want. A breakdown of how often I’ve been stopped at each koban? (There are also roughly 8 stoppages by passing patrol cars. These cops don’t say where they came from.)
The ones stopping me in front of my own house are from Motofuji in Hongo 7-chome.
Mark
Thanks.
It depends on what you want me to do.
Imagine someone who has rarely stopped by the police trying to help the one who complain of the frequent stoppage.
For instance, if you want to settle the problem of the stoppage near your house, I think I need to know the location of the parking and which police is checking the bicycle.
Is that 本郷本富士è¦å¯Ÿç½²ï¼Ÿ
Can you spot the place on the google map?
I’ll ask
1)why they are checking the bicycles so often and
2)if they are checking foreigners in particular
and
3)if there is ways you will not be bothered by the check.
To ask (1) I need the place of stoppage and how often you are stopped(roughly) and I also need to know if the place is really the owners property, which I have a doubt from your photos. But even if that is not owner’s property, it makes sense to ask (1).
To complain of (2), I need (rough) statistics that foreigners are more often stopped. But according to your report, it seems to be the check point where Japanese as well as non-Japanese are stopped.
And I can ask general question why someone is so often stopped. If possible, can you send me the photo of your bicycle? I was stopped often when I was riding with a broken lock, or without light.
I’ll ask how to avoid the stoppage.
If you want me to settle the stoppage at chiyodaku,that is another story.
I think I need the rough location and the time of the stoppage. First I’ll ask chiyoda-ku to which police to complain based on that.
Anyway please imagine you are in my shoe trying to make the strongest case against the administration to settle the issue. I’ll do the best I can.
Typical Debitards.
“Tony Kehoe Says:
August 30th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
The government has long held that Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality under the law, makes any antidiscrimination legislation superfluous…
The point here being that in the Japanese version of the constitution, which always takes precedence over the English version, the word used for “people†is “minzokuâ€, which is defined as people of Japanese ethnicity (sic). IOW, it explicitly rules OUT NJ residents of Japan.
The real reason the GOJ won’t pass an antidiscrimination law is because they are racists who see nothing wrong with discriminating against those of us from “lesser†races. This is also why Taro Aso won’t apologise for his family’s use of slave labour, and why Ishihara can say that the purpose of fingerprinting is to “keep stupid black people out of Tokyoâ€. To them, we really are inferior by virtue of our skin colour–and it is this point that the UN needs to understand in depth if it is ever to pressure the GOJ into making improvements.”
Where do I start. Ahh. Nevermind.
Garbage in, Garbage out. There will always be Debitards in Japan…
And the supposed correction is not even right.
I recommend them to read just one book in Japanese on Japanese constitution for university freshman.
Did Kimpatsu just invent that quote from Ishihara? Google’s never heard of it. I tried a quick search on “ishihara fingerprints” and the best I found was the same guy inventing more quotes:
http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2014900.0.routine_fingerprinting_at_heathrow_provokes_outrage.php