Activist Debito Arudou, who has long maintained one of the most informative websites for foreigners in Japan, is now blogging the updates which he previously only sent out by e-mail. A welcome development–be sure to add him to your newsreader so you can keep up with the politics of honkiness.
10 thoughts on “Debito: The Blog”
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I prefer “Honkitude.” Sounds cooler.
The blog is good, but I’m more impressed by the fact that he finally reorganized his formerly goddawful web page. It had excellent articles, but it was as poorly organized as a geocities fan-fiction archive ca. 1997. Now you can actually FIND the information you want!
I’m not too much of a fan of this guy. What does he actually set out to acheive? “Expose” racial discrimination in Japan? It’s already fairly well known that there are explicit forms of racism in Japan, as there are anywhere else. Some of his statements are also pretty questionable. Take his comment about the “spread” of anti-Japanese signage in his rogues gallery, for example, If you ask people to send in pictures of such signage, of course you are going to find examples around the country.
I don’t think anyone agrees with Debito 100 percent of the time, but that doesn’t stop his website from being a good resource.
So you’re saying that because there is racial discrimination in Japan and elsewhere, it should be left alone? You don’t think there’s value in bringing attention to those who discriminate?
It should be noted that Debito sued a public bath that refused him, and he didn’t race to the courthouse; he only sued after 17 months of negotiations (after which the bath of course wanted to settle, not having a legal leg to stand on).
“So you’re saying that because there is racial discrimination in Japan and elsewhere, it should be left alone? You don’t think there’s value in bringing attention to those who discriminate?”
Ah, that old chestnut.
No, I am not condoning racial discrimination in Japan. My problem with Debito is that he claims to be an activist out to affect political change, but instead of thinking of ways to lobby government or get the police to enforce such flimsy anti-discrimination legislation that does exist in Japan, the majority of his activities consist of going around to establishments asking them to take signs down in an attempt to “expose” fairly minor acts of discrimination that are in any case already fairly well documented.
In fairness though, I think he did sue relevant municipal authorities which could fall into the category of trying to change things at the political level. And there was that time when he dressed up as a seal, which if nothing else was kinda cool.
Debito has done a LOT of lobbying in Tokyo.
And honestly, if you think that putting pressure on the police is a way to get things done in Japan, try it sometime. I don’t want to put pressure on anyone who can lock me up for three weeks without probable cause.
When I spoke to Debito he said that he was planning some sort of project that would involve trying to interview every member of the Diet to get their official position on the passage of an anti-discrimination law that would comply with the UN treaty signed by Japan. I have no idea if it ever went anywhere, but I think it sounds like the sort of political activity that you suggest.
I think you are also making the mistake of thinking that because something is well documented in an academic setting it is also therefore well known among the general populace. This is clearly not always the case.
Here’s what MOFA has to say about the convention’s application in law.
“(2) With regard to status of both the Convention and provisions thereof in domestic law, Article 98, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution of Japan provides that “The treaties concluded by Japan and established laws of nations shall be faithfully observed.” Therefore, treaties, etc. which Japan concluded and published have effect as domestic law. There is no express provision concerning relation between treaties concluded by Japan and laws in the Constitution of Japan, however treaties are considered to be superior to laws.”
So why does Japan need separate legislation if the convention can presumably be used in court as domestic law – no scratch that – as legal ordinances ‘superior to laws’? It baffles me why this should be a point of contention. If, of course, you have heard of any court cases in Japan where the convention on racial discrimination (or any other convention or treaty, for that matter) was invoked but ruled inapplicable as it was not ‘domestic law’, I’d be interested to know.
“I think you are also making the mistake of thinking that because something is well documented in an academic setting it is also therefore well known among the general populace. This is clearly not always the case.”
Actually, I’ve changed my mind about this. You may be right that Japan’s xenophobic hotspring proprietors are not the focus of sustained media attention, but I’m not sure they really should be. Debito has called for readers of his site to send in pictures of ‘piss off foreigner’ signs and despite being a well known player in the Gaijinocybersphere he has recieved (or found himself) 20 or 30 such establishments in fewer locations around Japan.
However, it is one thing for someone to denounce little pieces of bigotry as they pop up here and there, but it is entirely another to hunt such shit down and then, to reiterate one of my original points, claim that the phenomenon of racism is an increasing national trend of the country where this kind of thing occasionally occurs, which is what Debito does in his “rogues gallery”. This sentence I find particularly reprehensible (not to mention a bit self-indulgent):
“Starting from 1993 in Otaru, Hokkaido, and now running unchecked throughout Japan, signs saying “JAPANESE ONLY” etc have gone up, making an unspoken undercurrent of fear of the outsider into clear, present, and brazen exclusionism–following the best traditions of segregation and apartheid.”
Um, excuse me? If Debito has at this point any evidence that the signs he claims are “now running unchecked” throughout Japan started with the one in Otaru, then it certainly isn’t mentioned anywhere on his website. True, he discovered them (or had others discover them) after he saw the Otani sign, but does that mean that they went up after the Otani sign, and even if they did does this mean there is some kind of connection between the signs besides their content as he implies? Does this all really prove that there is “an unspoken undercurrent of fear of the outsider” rampant in Japan?
No.
It doesn’t.
And a tenured academic should really be more careful in interpreting his evidence.
On the legal question, the treaty created a duty for the Japanese government to implement domestic legislation that would outlaw private racial discrimination. The treaty itself did not establish any private rights or responsibilities, and Debito’s lawsuit showed that Japanese courts are not willing to hold the government accountable for its treaty promise.
So basically, if you are discriminated against, your only recourse is to file a lawsuit, wait 5 years and get about $10,000 in nominal compensatory damages, which was the end result in Debito’s case. You can’t go to the police and you can’t request an injunction. There is nothing to enforce against a private party except normal emotional distress-type remedies.