Introduction

In preparing for today's class, I have looked for recent Japan-related issues that have both "cultural" and "international" dimensions. On this page, I will provide a brief introduction to the news stories that I think are most relevant to our topic.

News Sources

My primary source for English-language news about Japan is NewsOnJapan.com.

I also find the JapanToday site to be useful. NewsOnJapan.com is a better source of extensive articles but JapanToday provides space for discussion that may interest you.

Assignment

Your assignment for today is to do the following:

• select an issue described in the following essay or another issue you feel is relevant
• use the Google search engine to find information relevant to your topic on the Internet
• post the URL and a short comment about why you are interested in this issue on our class bulletin board.

Foreigners in Japan

The number of foreigners living and working in Japan is rising. There are both positive and negative sides to the story of Japan's internationalization.

On the postivie side, I can list the following positive developments:

• There is serious discussion about granting permanent foreign residents the voting priviledges in local elections.
• A foreign-born Caucasion Japanese citizen (named Tsurunen) is now serving as a legislator in the Japanese Diet.
• National Universities now allow persons who have graduated from an ethnic high school in Japan to apply for admission.
• Some important legal battles have been won by foreigners in cases of discrimination (Ana Bortz in Hamamatsu and a group of three foreigners in Hokkaido led by Arudo Debito). These cases have raised awareness about the lack of a law racial discrimination and more Japanese people are calling for the establishment of such a law.
• Because Japan has a very low birth rate now, many Japanese leaders recognize the need to bring more foreign workers into Japanese society.

Unfortunately, there are many problems as well. Here is a list of some of the main ones:

• Foreigners, especially Chinese, are being blamed for increased crime in Japan. There are many problems with how this issue is presented to the public. The issue of how crime statistics are presented is important (the statistics are often presented in a misleading way). In regard to Chinese people in Japan, a large amount of coverage has been giving to groups of Chinese theives (lock pickers) and to Chinese students who are reported to have murdered a family in Fukuoka.
• There are many problems associated with illegal immigrants in Japan. They come to Japan to work. The Japanese people who use them (illegally) as cheap labor are rarely punished but the illegal workers are treated severely. They often lack access to medical services and must live and work in dangerous and difficult conditions.
• A teacher in Fukuoka is said to have abused a pupil because the pupil's great grandfather was American.
• It is still legal to exclude people from bars, spas, hotels, apartments, etc. on the basis of race or nationality. Such discrimination still occurs openly in some places.
• Foreigners cannot be listed on juminhyo ("certificate of residency"). My wife's juminhyo lists her and our two children but not my name. Nonetheless, the bottom of the document says that the document certifies that the above is a "complete listing of all the members of the household"! In addition, listing foreigners on juminhyo remain out of the question even when juminhyo are being made for animals and cartoon characters!
• Recent animosity to North Korea led some people to attack North Koreans living in Japan. Also, Ishihara Shintaro, Governor of Tokyo, condoned terrorism against a government official who was seen as being soft on North Korea.
• Japan rarely grants asylum to foreigners.

Abuse of women

• A recent "weekend-long orgy by 268 Japanese male tourists and upwards of 500 Chinese prostitutes in Zhuhai" China received much negative coverage in the news and became a diplomatic problem.
• Japan has received much criticism for being too lenient in dealing with the trafficking of women. Women are brought to Japan to work in the sex industry and kept i slavelike conditions.
• Japan continues to receive criticism for what is considered to be an inadequate response to revelations about the treatement of "comfort women" (ianfu) or "sex slaves" in World War II.
• Though it did not involve foreigners, a series of rapes by a group of students of Waseda Univesity has received international attention.

Finally, I should note that sexual promiscuity is on the rise in Japan and there is concern that the rate of HIV infection with increase dramatically in the near future.

Nationalism

Here are two issues related to nationalism in Japan:

• Prime Minister Koizumi has insisted on making official visits to Yasukuni Shrine. This has caused much protest and criticism from Asian countries. Yasukuni Shrine is considered by many to be a symbol of the mixture of religion and nationalism that led to Japan's aggresion in Asia.
• The government is calling for schools to hold ceremonies where students sign the national anthem and honor the Japanese flag. Students may also be graded on their "love of Japan" or the lack thereof. Teachers who do not cooperate with the official policy may be punished.

Whaling

Japan's support for whaling continues to receive criticism. Many in Japan consider the consumption of whale meet to be a cultural issue.

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