debito.org

We've had plenty of reports in recent months of people being confrontational towards NJ (Resident and Tourist), or people who look like NJ, accusing them of all manner of cultural slights and fau...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17447

SNA: It has been one of Japan’s worst-kept secrets.  It has shattered lives and caused enormous international embarrassment to Japan’s reputation as a nation of laws.  It has caused untold ...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17443

Debito.org has been quiet on these developments until they actually came to fruition, and now that they have, it's time to cheer.  Japan has finally gotten around to fixing one of its worst-kept...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17432

Reuters: U.S. President Joe Biden included ally Japan along with rivals China and Russia in a list of countries he called "xenophobic” on Wednesday, in a speech at a campaign fundraising event ...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17409

BIO:  Jon Heese is becoming an old hand in Japanese politics, having served 13 years at various levels of government. He is presently one of five councilors representing Tsukuba (60 km NE of Tok...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17416

On a personal note, it's been the busiest semester for me ever, teaching around 250 students and 19.5 college credits.  Consequently, updating Debito.org has been slow since I've been devoting a...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17412

CSM: A former swimming instructor from Egypt is helping revive the sleepy mountain town of Shonai, Japan. About 200 miles away, a Canadian polyglot is singing the praises of Tsukuba city. And Orz...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17422

Intro: I teach Political Science at the university level.  In my first lecture every semester, I try to convince skeptical students why they should bother studying Political Science at all. I ar...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17392

Kyodo: "The number of foreign nationals residing in Japan hit a record high of over 3.4 million in 2023, government data has shown, with employment-related visas seeing significant growth amid th...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17390

Table of Contents: 1) My SNA Visible Minorities 54: “Non-Japanese Residents claim political power” (Mar 31, 2024), where I argue the power of the vote matters whether you are a candidate or p...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17402

Dr. Debito, I'm writing you because I'm experiencing a new type of discrimination by Rakuten Card. I've been a Rakuten Card owner since 2014, and it is the card I've hold the longest, making it t...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17382

SNA: You might have heard the big news last month about Shiino Karolina, a Ukrainian-born Japanese citizen who won the title of Miss Japan. You have also heard earlier this month that she lost he...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17378

Reuters: Three foreign-born residents of Japan filed a lawsuit on Monday against the national and local governments over alleged illegal questioning by police based on racial profiling. It is the...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17371

I know I should be talking about the Miss Japan 2024 debate, but I'll get to it. Meanwhile, my latest SNA VM col 52 excerpt: Last month SNA (and this column) went on vacation for Christmas and Ne...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17367

JT: Amid concerns over rapid depopulation, a private panel has proposed that Japan should aim to have a stable population of 80 million by 2100 in order to maintain economic growth. Last April, t...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17355

JT: The Fukuoka District Court ruled Wednesday that Japan’s law that bans dual nationality is constitutional, rejecting an argument by a Japan-born plaintiff who lost her Japanese citizenship a...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17349

Excerpt: Life is full of big emotions, many of them caused by you, others the product of your being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and some are just the cards you were dealt from birth and...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17344

Opening: For this, my 50th column for SNA, I’d like to take the reader on a little nostalgia trip through a project I’ve been working on for a quarter century:  "Japanese Only" signs.   I�...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17334

Here's the latest entry for the Rogues' Gallery of Exclusionary Establishments, where a bar in Okinawa refuses all "customers from overseas" (="Japanese Only") to enter the bar.  The difference ...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17322

Like it or not, Japan’s internationalization is happening.  There are fewer Japanese and more foreigners than ever.  In 2022, the population of Japanese citizens dropped below the 125 million...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17313

Subtitle: Authoritarians are once again trying to racialize citizenship. In Asia, that’s quite normal. The problem is that conservative movements worldwide are similarly trying to shore up thei...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17304

Looks like Japan's reputation for human rights abuses under its "Hostage Justice" criminal procedure is finally being recognized in legal circles overseas. Carlos Ghosn is no doubt having the las...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17301

The point of this quick blog post is to demonstrate that once again, in its official population tallies, Japan will only count "Japanese nationals" as actual people living in Japan.  Foreigners ...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17294

Excerpt: SNA Editor Michael Penn is now doing SNA from the United States. Inspired by his big move, my previous column was about my leaving Japan in middle age, where I suggested readers decide w...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17282

Table of Contents: 1) My SNA Visible Minorities 46: “Visible Minorities: Departing Japan at Middle Age” (May 15, 2023), where I make the case for deciding whether you're a "lifer" in Japan by...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17291

Hi Blog. I want to tell you a bit about what's on my mind.  I've been researching and commenting on Debito.org for nearly thirty years.  I'm not tired of writing, but my writing here has become...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17262

My latest column offers a frank assessment of living your life out in Japan as an immigrant. It of course can be done, but most of you will find that even after decades swimming against the curre...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17259

My Debito.org post from yesterday has become a full-blown column at the Shingetsu News Agency. Here's the opening: SNA (Tokyo) — It’s the next stage of evolution in Japan’s variant of racia...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17250

In a stunning decision, a Japanese court in Mie Prefecture has ruled that a foreigner... excuse me, a JAPANESE CITIZEN who naturalized from being a Zainichi Korean, may be denied membership to a ...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17240

Kyodo: The government in the western Japan prefecture of Kagawa has called on local hotel operators to stop asking foreign residents for identification when they check in, local officials said Th...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17228

My latest SNA VM column 44, which came out today, is an interview with Jon Heese (pronounced Hayes), a naturalized Canadian-Japanese and elected Tsukuba City Councillor of twelve years. A Caucasi...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17223

Ivan Parker Hall, author of landmark book Cartels of the Mind: Japan’s Intellectual Closed Shop, died in Berlin on February 1, 2023, at age 90. Before I start writing another obituary, please l...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17215

It is with great sadness that I heard this morning of the passing of an old friend, Ivan Hall, aged 90, scholar of Japan and the world, and author of "Cartels of the Mind" and "Bamboozled".  Not...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17200

SNA — News item: Cheered on by the United States for its “bold leadership,” last month “Japan unveiled a dramatic revamping of its security strategy and defense policy, including a plan t...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17191

As regular Readers know, the second half of 2022 was particularly quiet for me as a blogger.  Not as an author, of course, as I still put out my regular monthly Shingetsu News Agency "Visible Mi...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17188

SNA excerpt: A long-term Non-Japanese resident friend, married with a Japanese husband and adult kids, recently told me about a new development in their relationship: Christmas was no longer to b...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17181

First off, bravo the Japan team for its upset victory over Germany in their first match of the 2022 World Cup! It was a game where the Samurai Blue showed world-class skill against a lackluster t...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17175

SNA (Tokyo) — This month Japan finally lifted its Covid restrictions and reopened its borders to tourists. Well, whoop-de-doo. For now, foreigners will no longer suffer entry caps, or go throug...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17168

SNA: On the death of Queen Elizabeth II, let’s talk about monarchies. Why do they still exist, and should they still be allowed to exist? Monarchies are as old as civilization. Kings and heredi...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17162

Just to let you know:  My semester has started, and I have more classes than ever before (more than half of them new).  So I'm quite busy: When I'm not giving lectures, I'm preparing those lect...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17159

Debito is speaking at Amnesty International Japan on Sunday via Zoom. Details on posters within this blog entry.

https://www.debito.org/?p=17153

SNA -- News Item: video footage surfaced in 2020 of a Vietnamese “trainee” being physically abused by Japanese co-workers at a construction company in Okayama Prefecture, resulting in injurie...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17147

Table of Contents: REVISIONISM AND RECIDIVISM 1) Asahi: Okayama public prosecutors drop co-worker violence claim by Vietnamese “Trainee” despite video evidence. No wonder Japan’s violent bu...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17149

GoEMON (from Asahi): Two years ago, a 41-year-old male Vietnamese technical trainee was abused by his four Japanese coworkers while working. The act was then discreetly recorded by another Vietna...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17138

JT: “Bathhouses are a space where I can ground myself,” says Sam Holden, who first found solace in sentō when he was a graduate student in Tokyo. Holden, who labels himself an urban activist...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17132

Migrant Integration Policy Index: "Japan scores 47/100 , slightly below the average MIPEX country (49/100) because Japanese policies still refuse to recognise that Japan is a country of immigrati...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17123

Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has put up a website that enables anyone to submit to the government "information about any accounts in overseas relating to our country that is based on mis...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17115

SNA: The assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has occasioned a lot of valuable, eye-opening discussions in the media, but few if any have focused upon how Abe’s death could be seen...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17107

Table of Contents: 1) Tokyo Musashino City fails to get local referenda voting rights for its NJ Residents (Dec 2021). Absorb the arguments of the national-level xenophobic campaign against it. 2...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17109

Here's yet another example of a local government, a suburb of Tokyo called Musashino, trying to do what's right for ALL of its residents (including those without Japanese citizenship) by getting ...

https://www.debito.org/?p=17101