Just Be Cause is back on form!

Posted by Ken Y-N on May 14, 2013 45 comments

After a few months of disappointingly uncontroversial JBC’s, Mr Arudou is back on form with more ill-thought through material. The basic premise that 外国人風 is a useless and offensive term in police reports is one that I hope all my readers would agree with, however.

This is why judiciaries provide mechanisms to keep media accountable.

Hmm, that doesn’t seem quite right to me; I would say they provide mechanisms to provide redress from irresponsible media.

But what about broadcasting misleading or false information about groups? That’s a different issue, because Japan has no laws against "hate speech" (ken’o hatsugen).

We have two different issues conflated here; "All foreigners hate natto" is most certainly false, but it’s not hate speech. Furthermore, hate speech seems to be 憎悪発言, 差別発言 or just ヘイトスピーチ.

If there is a crime where the perpetrator might be a non-Japanese (NJ), the National Police Agency (and by extension the media, which often parrots police reports without analysis) tends to use racialized typology in its search for suspects.

I expect VK to pop up and explain why this use of "racialized typology" is all wrong!

Typology such as this has long been criticized by scholars of racism for lacking objectivity and scientific rigor.

:headdesk: The police and press are passing on witness descriptions, not carrying out a scientific analysis.

One might see [...] the occasional chūgokujin-kei, firipin-kei, etc., for suspects involved in organized crime or the "water trade."

Tut-tut Mr Arudou. Shall I report you to your censorship police for suggesting Chinese and Filipinos are Triads and prostitutes?

1) When there is a suspect on the run, and the public is being alerted to be on the lookout, then give phenotypical details (e.g., gender, height, hair color) — the same as you would for any Japanese fugitive.

Does Mr Arudou believe that skin colour or indeed nose size is a phenotypical detail?

2) When there is a suspect in custody for interrogation (as in, not yet charged for prosecution), then it is not necessary to give phenotypical or nationality details.

3) When there is an arrest, giving out details on specific nationality is permissible

A suspect in custody by definition has been arrested. I think in 2) he means a person of interest, someone the police want to eliminate from their enquiries.

2) [...]it is not necessary to give phenotypical or nationality details. Why? [...] It is also not yet a fact of the case that this particular crime has been committed by this particular person — innocent before proven guilty, remember.

3) When there is an arrest, giving out details on specific nationality is permissible

3) contradicts 2).

when there is an acquittal, the police and media should mention the nationality of the former suspect in a public statement, to counteract the social damage caused by any media coverage that may have inadvertently linked criminality to a nationality.

I’m getting reminded of the Monty Python News for Parrots sketch…

In addition, the police should repeatedly caution the media against any tone associating nationality with criminality.

NO, NO, and thrice NO!

Because the media must not only watch the watchers; it must watch itself.

I thought you just said that was the police’s job?

I also know that policymakers read the Japan Times Community pages and this column, because they have changed their policies after withering criticisms here.

:roll: :roll: :roll:

Anyone ready to say in public "He’s a criminal because he’s from Osaka"?

Didn’t the Asahi Weekly imply Hashimoto was a criminal because of his Burakumin roots? And people seem quite happy to ask similar questions on Q&A sites. You’ll also see similar broad brushes on Japan Today and, dare I say it, Debito.org.

Japan Times on anti-nuclear groups leave questions unanswered

Posted by Ken Y-N on May 6, 2013 28 comments

The article "Antinuclear drive in search of new strategies" is, as is common with many anti-nuclear articles, a bit of a mixed bag of interesting reporting but with important information left out, and too much of the writer’s opinion slipped in. It starts from the sub-heading, "Reactor foes risk burnout unless LDP stonewalling can be overcome"; surely they should have chosen meltdown for maximal effect? And the stonewalling appears to be the LDP not wanting to rush into a decision like the DPJ did.

they are struggling to get their views reflected in the policies of the LDP-led administration.

Isn’t that just how democracy works? They were on the losing side, so they should be struggling!

after the Fukushima meltdowns tainted the northeast with radiation.

:roll:

Hiroyuki Kawai, who represents the commission’s [Citizens’ Commission on Nuclear Energy] main sponsor, a private group.

"A private group"? Can we not get a name? The guy appears to be an anti-nuclear campaigner and lawyer.

"We need to draft a policy that everyone will have no choice but to accept," [Kawai] said.

Hmm, that sounds ominous!

Kondo claimed this prevented atomic energy from becoming an issue in the race [April 28 Upper House by-election in Yamaguchi Prefecture], allowing Ejima to trounce his antinuclear opponents.

I remember at the Yamaguchi governor election last year the green lobby also made excuses when they got defeated then.

They [the LDP] said they will review the DPJ’s policy (of ending nuclear power by 2040), but didn’t say if they will promote nuclear power, so it’s very vague

Well, that’s because they don’t want to bias the review (or at least make it too obvious that they are biasing the review!)

activists launched the advocacy group Ryokucha Kai (Green Tea Party) on April 24 to provide financial support to antinuclear candidates running in national elections.

Hideaki Takemura, an executive at Tokyo-based Energy Green Co. and head of Ryokucha Kai

Looking up Energy Green Co., as you have probably guessed, I see that they are a renewable energy supplier, so no conflict of interest there. :roll: They also seem to have a curious market where you can buy (or should that be "buy") 100 kWh lots of green energy; looking at this page it appears that it is a voluntary carbon offset type of idea, and for your money you get a certificate to download and print off. I cannot find anywhere on the site any information about what they do with your money, though, and considering that they can sell back the generated power at 21 yen/kWh, they are making an extra 50% or even more, if they get over-subscribed! Is some of the money being directed towards sponsoring candidates? How the money is being used should be clearly stated!

it won’t be backing anyone running for the LDP or New Komeito.

New Komeito had a manifesto pledge for phasing out nuclear power.

NHK on changing the Japanese constitution

Posted by Ken Y-N on May 3, 2013 8 comments

Here is a post I made on What Japan Thinks about the NHK survey on the proposed amendments to the constitution:

NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, today, the 2nd of May 2013, published the results of survey on changing the Japanese constitution. For reference, here is the current constitution.

If you read the foreign press on the amendment plans, I would forgive you for thinking the new draft constitution is:

  1. Nuke China and North Korea
  2. Err
  3. That’s it

However, the reality is of course quite different, and the will of the people quite different from the will of the politicians, as this survey demonstrates.

Demographics

Between the 19th and 21st of April 2013 2,685 people were called by computer-selected random digit dialling (RDD); from that 1,615 people (60%) aged 18 or older from all over the country replied to the survey. No further demographic breakdown was given. Note that this RDD methodology calls mainly fixed-line phones during weekdays, so there is going to be a bias in the sample. Also note that “No answer” was an acceptable reply to some questions, so the percentages below sometimes don’t add up to 100% as the “No answer” figure is not noted.

The need for constitutional amendment

Does the constitution need to be amended? graph of japanese statisticsThe first question was about the need for constitutional amendments. 42% thought it was necessary to do so, 16% that it was unnecessary, and 39% couldn’t say one way or the other. However, when NHK previously asked the question six years ago, the numbers were 41%, 24% and 30%, so it would appear that all the recent talk about external threats like China in the Senkaku islands and North Korea have not convinced a significant number of people of the necessity of change.

When asked why they thought the change was necessary, 75% said that times have changed and problems that cannot be dealt with have occured, up just two percentage points in six years. Next, 15% said that changes are needed so that Japan can play its role in international society, down from 18% six years ago. For those who thought the changes were unnecessary, the top reason given by 53% was that they want to protect Article Nine, the Renunciation of War Article, down nine percentage points, then 36% saying that there are some problems with the current constitution, but not enough to merit amending it, up ten percentage points.

Article Nine, the Renunciation of War Article

Does the Renunciation of War Article need to be amended? graph of japanese statisticsLooking specifically at Article Nine, just 33% thought it was necessary to amend it, 30% thought it was unnecessary, and 32% couldn’t say either way. Six years ago, the numbers for and against were 28% and 41% respectively.

When asked why they were in favour of amending it, 47% said that it should be clearly written in the constitution that Japan can have a defence force, and 32% that Japan should be able to participate in military operations of the United Nations and others. 66% of those against amending said that in the Peace Constitution, Article 9 is the most important article, and 16% said that even without amendment, we can change how the Article is interpreted.

Article 96, the Amendment Article

Does Article 96 need to be amended? graph of japanese statisticsThis article spells out how the constitution may be amended, namely that a two-thirds majority of all members (not just those present for the vote) of both Houses, and then a national referendum where a simple majority of the votes cast will be sufficient to ratify the amendment. The proposed amendment to the Amendment Article is that both houses need just a simple majority of all members of each House.

First of all, people were asked if they knew about the proposed amendment to Article 96; 17% said they knew it well, 36% knew something about it, 30% didn’t really know much, and 15% knew nothing at all. Regarding the specific amendment, reducing from a two-thirds to a simple majority, 26% said they agreed, 24% disagreed, and 47% couldn’t say.

Finally, there are a number of new rights, etc that it is being argued may require either new articles or amendments to existing ones. People were asked for their opinion on the following:

  Agree Disagree Can’t say
Right to live in a healthy environment 65% 3% 23%
Right to know government information (Freedom of Information) 62% 5% 20%
Rights of victims of crime 50% 11% 25%
Right to privacy 49% 15% 25%
Changing from a bicameral (two chambers) to a unicameral (single chamber) government 35% 29% 25%

Slag off Zainichi, get blackballed by Osaka TV stations?

Posted by Ken Y-N on April 28, 2013 33 comments

As I have a Google Alert set up to catch any mention of foreigners in Japanese news, I caught this interesting gossip article entitled 在日外国人批判で大阪のTV干された？ フィフィ「言い残すことも未練も無い」意味深発言. Fifi is apparently an Egyptian woman, and her Wikipedia page has more gory details of a Twitter flame war she seems to have got involved in.

Interestingly, her stance is that she too is a Zainichi Gaikokujin, and there seems to be something to do with her criticising the Korean Zainichi and their social security and preferential treatment for the North Korean schools compared to other foreigner schools. The Koreans she was arguing with tried to pull rank and say they were a minority, while she was just an immigrant.

Some depressing news regarding JETs

Posted by Ken Y-N on April 23, 2013 104 comments

Sadly, the government has announced a doubling of the gaijin dancing bear population.

Although I have it on good authority that the rewrite of the constitution to INTRODUCE CONSCRIPTION will also oblige these JETs to sign up as CANNON FODDER for the 4th ライヒ, so things aren’t really that bleak. Seriously, the real issue is that outsourcing is causing a lot of JETs to have illegal (or at least dubious) work contracts with the various dispatch companies. I’d like to see a tightening up in the policing of employment regulations to match the increased intake. UPDATE: Apparently I don’t know the difference between an ALT and a JET. :facepalm:

In other news, Colin Jones, who I don’t usually agree with but I respect his legal knowledge, had the following to say about protection from "No gaijin" renters:

The traditional view of a constitution is that it protects an individual against the government, but it doesn’t necessarily extend to discrimination by private individuals.

There is certainly an effort by the government to encourage people not to discriminate — it is almost badgering people and saying ‘discrimination is bad’ — but it has no teeth. There is no formal mechanism for challenging discrimination.

There are of course a number of cases where people have taken on The Man and won, but I think what is missing in Japan is not merely a statute, but the societal changes that would mean that such discrimination is promptly and publicly addressed.

SITYS: Race riots in Saitama

Posted by Ken Y-N on April 16, 2013 83 comments

Japan Today proves what I have been saying all along, the result of the LDP government and the shadow premier Adolf Ishihara ratcheting up the rhetoric against disenfranchised NJ such that some innocently minding their own business were lynch-mobbed by no doubt Zaitokukai brown-shirting bully-boys who…

…what, there was two drunken gangs and three Japanese were allegedly stabbed by a gaijin…

…well, how do we know that these Zaitokukai did not stab themselves then plant the knife on an innocent NJ? The historical record tells us that the fascist police are indoctrinated with the derightification of NJ and with the courts merely fait accompliing the trial, of course it would be all too easy to set them up!

Even if the NJ did do it, we at Japologism.com believe that the pressure of working as a slave for a Japanese task-master who longs for the return of the Imperial Army, and that burakumin Hashishita denying Nanking is full justification for his action, not that we condone it.

Look, if you all fail to mollify the binary, next time it will be your gaijin half-kid having his head chopped off and his assailant being awarded the Order of the Chrysanthemum!

Here we go again…

Posted by Ken Y-N on April 10, 2013 184 comments

Mr Gundlach brought to my attention that despite my pointing out to a poster that a claim against him had already been rebutted by Mr Gundlach himself, and then redacting said comment (and another), he is still not happy, and in fact quite clearly states that it was me that made the redacted comment:

image

(Well, if you were being pedantic, you could, I suppose, claim that the meaning of "assertion" is "allowance of comments to be freely published on his site" or "failure to read Mr Gundlach’s mind") But anyway, thank you for clearing up the point again.

For the record, it was not me (I find that suggestion most offensive) nor to the best of my knowledge my regular visitors (well, it could be remotely possible that someone I know is commenting off their own bat) who made these comments either here, on Mr Gundlach’s site, or on Mr Arudou’s, and in fact I wasn’t even aware of the phoning-up incident until the commenter posted it. Indeed, even the most cursory examination reveals a commonality in style (short lines, random CAPITALISATION, repeating the same assertion multiple times, etc) between Mr Gundlach’s "John" (Google him yourself) and Mr Arudou’s "Anonymous". Furthermore, my commenter with the every-changing handle is, I am all but certain, the same "Anonymous", who usually uses open proxies, making determining who he all is more difficult.

This Anonymous has been chased off here and Tepido at least twice, once for refusing to provide evidence for his 2 million Japanese train-jins, and another time for cutting and pasting stuff from 2ch without full understanding of what he was doing (posting as "Bob"), and in fact a third time he caused a bit of a kerfuffle with Debito.org by copy-pasting a comment on a topic the regulars here were getting quite fed up hearing about (it looks like I purged it from Japologism!), so Occam’s Razor would say that he’s not one of us sock-puppeting.

Talking of sock-puppets, I have never really understood the whole obsession with them. It’s pretty obvious to me that Japan Probe’s 24 contributors are all different people, and quite frankly going on and on about it makes these people’s stances seem all the more ridiculous. :facepalm: I have pointed out above how "Anonymous" has an individual and consistent style despite his many handles; the sock-puppet-obsessed have failed to demonstrate anything above "they all talk about the same thing".

Probable Fookooshimar nonsense on infant thyroid issues

Posted by Ken Y-N on April 5, 2013 13 comments

There has been a lot of buzz in the tinfoil hat community about a paper entitled "Elevated airborne beta levels in Pacific/West Coast US States and trends in hypothyroidism among newborns after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown", published in a newish journal, Open Journal of Pediatrics, and written by Joseph J. Mangano and Janette D. Sherman, who have Fookooshimar form. Furthermore, the publisher, Scientific Research Publishing, does not get a terribly good write-up on Wikipedia.

I’m not able to comment on the content of their paper, but I see that the Alaska Dispatch has already questioned the validity, and from a simple sniff test if there really was a 20% increase in hypothyroidism from just one week’s worth of minimal exposure, I would have expected the recent surveys of Fukushima thyroids to have shown something statistically significant.

BTW, RT (Russia Today) gets its headline spectacularly scaremongeringly wrong!

First Tuesday, Just Be Cause, blah blah blah

Posted by Ken Y-N on April 2, 2013 99 comments

I commented elsewhere on the site that I was losing interest in Debito.org, so now I must admit to having the same feelings about his JT column. Someone might have something more interesting to say on it, but for me it is tortured metaphors – check; thesaurus abuse – check; lack of anything positive – check. In a little more detail:

America has a Green Card as a well-known denizen (even uglier word than gaijin!) indicator but I cannot think of an equivalent in the UK. I would guess most Japanese assume we have always had a juminhyo.

If you’re planning on living in Japan indefinitely, I suggest you get your neighbors warmed up to the fact that you as a non-Japanese (let’s at least avoid the dislocated, transient trappings of the generic word “foreigner”) are not merely gaikokujin. And as of 2012, most of you now have a jūminhyō (residency certificate) to prove it.

If people are planning on staying long-term, I’d certainly hope they would have advanced from talking in English to the neighbours. So, we should call ourselves 非日本人? :facepalm:

Then spread the word through the grass roots, such as they are. Upgrade your status and mollify the binary.

Are we supposed to carry our juminhyo and wave it at people at the least provocation? And WTF is "mollify the binary"? :headdesk:

Truth stranger than fiction: From Gaijin Gulag to Stalag Sheepshagger

Posted by Ken Y-N on March 29, 2013 12 comments

Picking up some gossip from Fucked Gaijin, I see that Michael Q Todd has this to say on Facebook:

Michael Q Todd The tax department say I owe them money Luigi so I was not allowed on the plane. May be here a while as they have no inclination to sort out their mistakes. Will probably have to take them to court

It seems that he has been refused permission to depart from New Zealand until he sorts out some tax issues. I’m sure it’s all a big mistake, as he said previously on Japan Probe (my emphasis):

4. I do do some social media related work but online and pay tax in New Zealand (we have a reciprocal agreement with Japan). Lots of people are getting paid from work done in other countries while on visitor visas in Japan.
As you have suggested who would be stupid enough to go to Taiji or work in Japan without a valid visa.

:facepalm:

PS: Guys (in particular Mr Dolphins), please leave the character assassination to Fucked Gaijin, thanks!

PPS: For any lawyers reading, obviously Mr Todd has not been detained, but the whole of New Zealand is metaphorically a prison preventing returning to where he feels his true home is, Tokyo.