Waging a War on Anti-Americanism

Racism is bad business

The Community Page has commented at length on socially-sanctioned exclusionary practices in Japan. However, it has rarely touched upon their quantifiable, longer-term effects. Exclusionism is bad for business. Why? Because non-Japanese residents are not the only ones affected by “no-foreigner” policies. So are visiting representatives of international corporations. This makes for unfavorable overseas impressions, not only of northern Japan (famous for its decade displaying “JAPANESE ONLY” signs), but also of the entire country.

The author of this article, Arudou Debito, explains further, that the extent of this over the past couple of years has reached 12 cities in Japan.

And this was just all over some Germans, Italians, and British men getting a little rowdy in the bars during the World Cup 2002 which had caused the police to appear on the scene. It is believed that the Japanese had wanted to keep foreigners out of shops, restaurants, bars, doctors offices, salons, and the like the whole time and that the World Cup 2002 just gave them the perfect excuse for them to pull this off.

“In Nagoya this year, I was invited to the Suzuka Formula One auto races as a guest of a Western company supporting this event for a long time,” Jackson recalled. “Walking down the street in Nagoya’s nightlife district with senior reps of this company, people on the street passing out flyers to their bars pulled their hands back when they saw us. We even got refused rides in taxis. That’s pretty stupid. What kind of an image is that supposed to create?”Jackson said this company is considering changing its support to the Shanghai Formula One because of this and other ill-feelings incurred.

“And Nagoya is going to be hosting the 2005 Aichi World’s Fair? You’re joking. Just more people to come to Japan and leave with a sour taste,” he said.

Amazing, isn’t it? A WORLD’S FAIR??? A Homogeneous World’s Fair? Oh no, wait a minute. Foreigners can come, but they can’t stay in a hotel, can’t use the public baths, can’t get into any of the shops or attractions, (God forbid they get sick) they can’t get in a hospital anywhere, and can’t use public transportation except for the trains.

Furthermore, it’s not only visitors or residents who feel the alienation. Japan spends millions annually bringing people over on Ministry of Education Scholarships, and through organizations like The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).Just how long does the Japanese government think it can get away with no redresses for discrimination, including a law against racial discrimination? Can it merely coast along on half-measures while prejudicial policies spread nationwide?

As lawsuits rack up involving refusals at a jewelry store, bathhouses, a real estate broker, a bar, and now an optician, the problem is getting worse.

Oh my. I had no idea the problem was getting this bad. I lived in Japan for 6.5 years, and I never once saw anything like this. I am appalled by the recent change, and stunned that this has reached all the way to Tokyo — of all places. Tokyo, the most metropolitan, modernized, and one of the largest cities in the world is beginning to follow suit in slamming the doors on the faces of foreigners. I am so glad I am not there to witness this. I don’t know what I would do. Racism and discrimination is so very sad, and “sad” is an understatement. It actually makes me sick to my stomach to hear what is going on over there.

Granted, I always knew they had no laws over there regarding discrimination. I had always known that, even in Tokyo, foreigners were denied housing in certain apartment complexes. That was a norm that all foreigners had gotten used to over there. If there’s a brawl between a drunken foreign guy and a drunken Japanese guy outside a bar and the police arrive, it’s normal for the police to side with the Japanese guy. We don’t raise our eyebrows over this stuff. It’s Japan. And naturally, we’re there because we want to be there. However, now (gaijin) or non-Japanese people are given the the x-sign with the arms if seen approaching a shop or any place of business in some areas. The hatred spreading is almost surreal.

Look at this:

HAIR SALON KITAMURA (barbershop)

(Wakkanai Minato 1 chome 1-19, Ph 0162-24-5045)

Roy had also been excluded from this place at the door and despite speaking Japanese. I decided to try my luck. The place was open and the proprietor was halfway through a head of hair. He left to come to the door, where he made an X-gesture with his hands. I spoke in Japanese, “Do you refuse foreigners?” (gaikokujin, okotowari desu ka). He paused, surprised that I spoke in Nihongo, and left his X-ed hands up. I repeated the question, and he said “That’s right.” (sou desu), indicating that he understood me. He went back to his head of hair and I stepped outside, thinking it best not to inquire further.

Says I:”What in heaven’s name would make him want to refuse foreigners? Onsens claim a hygiene problem. Regular stores claim a pilfering problem. But what here? People aren’t getting naked and sharing a bath, and the only thing to pilfer would be shampoo and scissors. What goes?” It goes further.” Reported by By ARUDOU DEBITO

And yet another lame excuse for discrimination….

“HIKOKUSAIKA”(”anti-internationalization”):NON-JAPANESE NOW OFFICIALLY SEEN AS PART OF JAPAN’S SOCIAL ILLS AND CANNOT BE TRUSTED IN THE EVENT OF A DISASTER

WIRE:04/09/2000 03:44:00 ET Japan Troops Told ‘Foreigners’ Likely to Loot, Riot

“TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese troops were told on Sunday to target foreigners to prevent looting and rioting in the event of a major earthquake, Kyodo News Agency reported.

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said in an address to Ground Self-Defense Force troops that foreigners were likely to riot and commit crimes because of the breakdown in order.

“Atrocious crimes have been committed again and again by sangokujin and other foreigners”, he was quoted as saying.

“We can expect them to riot in the event of a disastrous earthquake.”

The Japanese slang term “sangokujin” means “people from Third World countries” and was used in post World War Two Japan as an insult for residents from the former Japanese colonies of Korea and Taiwan.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials could not be reached immediately for comment due to the weekend holiday.

A fervent nationalist, Ishihara has angered China by doubting its accounts of Japanese wartime atrocities and referring to it by the derogatory term “Shina.”

After the Great Tokyo Earthquake of 1923, which killed about 100,000 people, unfounded rumors about riots among Tokyo’s Korean residents led to Japanese mobs attacking and killing several hundred Koreans, many of whom were brought to Japan as slave labor.

Thus Japan is starting to feel the tugs of a pluralist, multicultural society. Some degree of social hesitancy is natural. One of our jobs in this society will be helping make the transition smoother–by urging a more representative legal infrastructure and a more tolerant social policy approach. We do this in hopes that the future will herald a better place for everyone–citizen, immigrant, or visitor–to live. More to come.”

Dave Aldwinckle
Sapporo

Oh, okay. Now, I see where the racism is stemming from — the 1923 Tokyo Earthquake. How many years ago was this? The hate continues….

In another article in The Japan Times written again by Arudou Debito, an African American man accompanied by his wife and his African American friend were told by an eyeglass shop owner, “Move to the other side of the street! Don’t touch my store window!”

To read further regarding “information for people concerned with social issues who want to help make life better for everyone in Japan”, I highly recommend Arudou Debito/Dave Aldwincle’s ACTIVISTS’ PAGE

You’d be surprised how much this man has accomplished so far. Also be sure to read up on PHOTOS OF PLACES IN JAPAN WHICH EXCLUDE OR RESTRICT NON-JAPANESE CUSTOMERS

You will get a lot more information here. It’s very interesting. You will also see the improvements that Mr. Debito has made with his lawsuits as well. Mr. Debito, by the way, is American. You can find his autobiography here! His real name is David Christopher Aldwinckle.

There are still foreigners all over the place in Japan - especially in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. Now, as racism isn’t happening everywhere in Japan, if it happens in a couple of public places, it’s already happened too much. For all those who love Japan, (including myself), let’s all hope that the hatred stops over there sometime soon, and that Mr. Debito progresses even more than he already has. I have a feeling that he will.