This IS Japan

The reviews are in! "you're incredibly invested in antiblackness” - Anon .  A blog about racism, xenophobia, and other social justice/human rights issues in Japan and Yamato Japanese privilege in Japan. Social justice blog. I have trauma due to victimization in...

[keiraknightleyperiodpiece]

So many men in art like to mask their hatred of women as appreciation. Don’t be fooled. Misogyny is misogyny.

[thisizjapan]

The Apa Group finds itself once again facing international criticism, this time for anti-Semitic comments made in a magazine distributed to hotels it owns and runs in Canada.

In the February edition of the group’s magazine Apple Town, provided to guests at Canada’s Coast Hotels, Apa Hotels founder Toshio Motoya is quoted as saying: “Jewish people control American information, finance, and laws, and they benefit greatly from globalization because they move their massive profits to tax havens so they don’t have to pay any taxes. Many Jewish people support the Democratic Party.”

The real estate entrepreneur made the comments in an article bearing the subtitle: “An American counteroffensive against Jewish globalism.” This was part of an interview under the broader title of “Trump’s Presidency is an Opportunity for Constitutional Reform,” focused on the election of U.S. president Donald Trump and what it means for Japan.

The controversy in Canada comes less than a month after the Apa Group came under fire for placing in its hotel rooms in Japan books written by Motoya that claim that the 1937 Nanking Massacre by the Imperial Japanese Army was a fabrication. The furor led to calls in China to boycott the group’s hotels.

While the Apa Group said late last month that it has no plans to withdraw the book, it may consider removing copies from a Sapporo hotel where participants in the Asian Winter Games, which start February 19th, will be staying.

[thisizjapan]

Did you know the Japanese are actually white?

[thisizjapan]

nopsop:

lol “Did you know the Japanese are actually white?” Is literally what Hitler said. Hitler used the existence of the colonized Ainu in order to justify the Japanese as honorary Aryans based on a false understanding of the origins of Ainu people.

[thisizjapan]

Ok, so this Logan Paul guy sure does seem like an absolute POS and a sociopath and I’d be happy to see him get banned for all the illegal (though minor as far as I can tell) things he did in Japan, since plenty of people get banned for that stuff or less, but acting like him joking about suicides in Aokigahara is totally culturally insensitive/disrespectful*/something a Japanese person would never do is totally ridiculous.

Case in point: Hard Gay also goofing around in the Aokigahara forest, messing with dead people’s personal belongings they left there (including playing audio recordings), making jokes about gay people committing suicide there, all while a whole panel of other Japanese people laugh along with him.

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v15251153pBxbsAhN

*it obviously is insensitive and disrespectful to the individuals, but not culturally so since the same humor is found in the culture

[thisizjapan]

Controversy over Japan blackface comedy

Opinion is divided over whether it was racist for a comedian to use makeup to mimic Eddie Murphy.

You don’t have to do blackface to do a good impression of a black celebrity. Just look at Naomi Watanabe!

[thisizjapan]

Did you know the Japanese are actually white?

[rcah]

“Donald Trump is in the news again today because-”

[thisizjapan]

Japan forces a harsh choice on children of migrant families

Born in Japan, Gursewak Singh considers himself Japanese. The government doesn't. But it offers children like him a chance to stay - if their parents leave.

Gursewak’s parents, who are Sikhs, fled to Japan from India in the 1990s. For several years, they lived without visas under the radar of the authorities until they were put on a status known as “provisional release” in 2001. It means they can stay in Japan as long as their asylum application is under review.

Asylum seekers are building Japan’s roads and sewers But it also means they can’t work, they don’t have health insurance and they need permission to travel outside the prefecture where they live. They are also subject to unannounced inspections by immigration officers at their home and they face detention at any time. There are currently some 4,700 people with this status living in Japan.

Gursewak, who has never left Japan, has inherited his parents’ provisional release status and all the restrictions that go with it. That fate has exposed him and more than 500 other children who share his predicament to lives of perpetual uncertainty. They can go to government-run schools, where tuition is largely free, but university is out of reach for most because they and their parents aren’t allowed to work and so can’t afford the fees. These children, many of whom are asylum seekers, will soon face a stark choice between forced unemployment and working illegally.

“Since I was born I’ve only ever interacted with Japanese people,” said Gursewak, who is now 17, speaks the language with native fluency and considers himself Japanese. “I don’t get why Japan won’t accept me.”

While there were almost 14,000 asylum cases under review at the end of 2015, Japan accepted only 27 refugees last year. The year before that, the number was 11.

[fed-detector-deactivated2018030]

Friendly reminder that Japanese human rights violations are way under-reported. The country is a fortress, hardly any immigrants or refugees are allowed in, and the few that are are exploited for cheap labor. The criminal justice system is notoriously corrupt, including numerous accusations of prosecutors and police straight up framing clients. The death penalty in Japan is also extra inhumane because inmates on death row are not told the date of their execution and essentially live in fear that every day could be their last.

[makiruz]

And only a few days ago I was watching this video on Japan’s Throwaway Children, children from abusive families are put in institutions where they get no real-world preparation and no proper social interaction, and they’re esentially abandoned. (Here’s a written article btw)

[thisizjapan]

Japan forces a harsh choice on children of migrant families

Born in Japan, Gursewak Singh considers himself Japanese. The government doesn't. But it offers children like him a chance to stay - if their parents leave.

Gursewak’s parents, who are Sikhs, fled to Japan from India in the 1990s. For several years, they lived without visas under the radar of the authorities until they were put on a status known as “provisional release” in 2001. It means they can stay in Japan as long as their asylum application is under review.

Asylum seekers are building Japan’s roads and sewers But it also means they can’t work, they don’t have health insurance and they need permission to travel outside the prefecture where they live. They are also subject to unannounced inspections by immigration officers at their home and they face detention at any time. There are currently some 4,700 people with this status living in Japan.

Gursewak, who has never left Japan, has inherited his parents’ provisional release status and all the restrictions that go with it. That fate has exposed him and more than 500 other children who share his predicament to lives of perpetual uncertainty. They can go to government-run schools, where tuition is largely free, but university is out of reach for most because they and their parents aren’t allowed to work and so can’t afford the fees. These children, many of whom are asylum seekers, will soon face a stark choice between forced unemployment and working illegally.

“Since I was born I’ve only ever interacted with Japanese people,” said Gursewak, who is now 17, speaks the language with native fluency and considers himself Japanese. “I don’t get why Japan won’t accept me.”

While there were almost 14,000 asylum cases under review at the end of 2015, Japan accepted only 27 refugees last year. The year before that, the number was 11.

[fed-detector-deactivated2018030]

Friendly reminder that Japanese human rights violations are way under-reported. The country is a fortress, hardly any immigrants or refugees are allowed in, and the few that are are exploited for cheap labor. The criminal justice system is notoriously corrupt, including numerous accusations of prosecutors and police straight up framing clients. The death penalty in Japan is also extra inhumane because inmates on death row are not told the date of their execution and essentially live in fear that every day could be their last.

[armedandgayngerous]

Everyone forgets America came in after WWII and remade Japan in their image (at the time) and then the Japanese got REALLY into it so a lot of their culture and policies are a mutation of America’s, but during the 40′s. 

[thisizjapan]

And how did America come to occupy Japan again? Oh yeah... Plus the US forced stuff like equal rights for women and pacifism in their constitution yet conveniently enough they never seemed so gung-ho about that stuff..

[devipotato]

i’m watching a sports

[devipotato]

the sports did good

[devipotato]

fuck dude it sure did

[thisizjapan]

Japan forces a harsh choice on children of migrant families

Born in Japan, Gursewak Singh considers himself Japanese. The government doesn't. But it offers children like him a chance to stay - if their parents leave.

Gursewak’s parents, who are Sikhs, fled to Japan from India in the 1990s. For several years, they lived without visas under the radar of the authorities until they were put on a status known as “provisional release” in 2001. It means they can stay in Japan as long as their asylum application is under review.

Asylum seekers are building Japan’s roads and sewers But it also means they can’t work, they don’t have health insurance and they need permission to travel outside the prefecture where they live. They are also subject to unannounced inspections by immigration officers at their home and they face detention at any time. There are currently some 4,700 people with this status living in Japan.

Gursewak, who has never left Japan, has inherited his parents’ provisional release status and all the restrictions that go with it. That fate has exposed him and more than 500 other children who share his predicament to lives of perpetual uncertainty. They can go to government-run schools, where tuition is largely free, but university is out of reach for most because they and their parents aren’t allowed to work and so can’t afford the fees. These children, many of whom are asylum seekers, will soon face a stark choice between forced unemployment and working illegally.

“Since I was born I’ve only ever interacted with Japanese people,” said Gursewak, who is now 17, speaks the language with native fluency and considers himself Japanese. “I don’t get why Japan won’t accept me.”

While there were almost 14,000 asylum cases under review at the end of 2015, Japan accepted only 27 refugees last year. The year before that, the number was 11.

[fed-detector-deactivated2018030]

Friendly reminder that Japanese human rights violations are way under-reported. The country is a fortress, hardly any immigrants or refugees are allowed in, and the few that are are exploited for cheap labor. The criminal justice system is notoriously corrupt, including numerous accusations of prosecutors and police straight up framing clients. The death penalty in Japan is also extra inhumane because inmates on death row are not told the date of their execution and essentially live in fear that every day could be their last.

[evil-gun-lobby-deactivated20200]

Also Japan skews crime statistic reporting by only reporting crimes that are solved, so they heavily undercut the actual numbers.

[thisizjapan]

Japan forces a harsh choice on children of migrant families

Born in Japan, Gursewak Singh considers himself Japanese. The government doesn't. But it offers children like him a chance to stay - if their parents leave.

Gursewak’s parents, who are Sikhs, fled to Japan from India in the 1990s. For several years, they lived without visas under the radar of the authorities until they were put on a status known as “provisional release” in 2001. It means they can stay in Japan as long as their asylum application is under review.

Asylum seekers are building Japan’s roads and sewers But it also means they can’t work, they don’t have health insurance and they need permission to travel outside the prefecture where they live. They are also subject to unannounced inspections by immigration officers at their home and they face detention at any time. There are currently some 4,700 people with this status living in Japan.

Gursewak, who has never left Japan, has inherited his parents’ provisional release status and all the restrictions that go with it. That fate has exposed him and more than 500 other children who share his predicament to lives of perpetual uncertainty. They can go to government-run schools, where tuition is largely free, but university is out of reach for most because they and their parents aren’t allowed to work and so can’t afford the fees. These children, many of whom are asylum seekers, will soon face a stark choice between forced unemployment and working illegally.

“Since I was born I’ve only ever interacted with Japanese people,” said Gursewak, who is now 17, speaks the language with native fluency and considers himself Japanese. “I don’t get why Japan won’t accept me.”

While there were almost 14,000 asylum cases under review at the end of 2015, Japan accepted only 27 refugees last year. The year before that, the number was 11.

[fed-detector-deactivated2018030]

Friendly reminder that Japanese human rights violations are way under-reported. The country is a fortress, hardly any immigrants or refugees are allowed in, and the few that are are exploited for cheap labor. The criminal justice system is notoriously corrupt, including numerous accusations of prosecutors and police straight up framing clients. The death penalty in Japan is also extra inhumane because inmates on death row are not told the date of their execution and essentially live in fear that every day could be their last.

[misskittyfantastico]

To add onto the comment, if you want a peek inside what the Japanese prison system is like, I highly suggest What is Obscenity? The Story of a Good For Nothing Artist and Her Pussy by Rokudenashiko. She was arrested and kept in jail twice under Japan’s ill defined obscenity laws for distributing a 3D printer file of her vulva for the purposes of art. It’s a fascinating read and the American translation from Massive/Koyama Press includes annotations on both the Japanese criminal justice system and the obscenity laws that lead to her arrests.

[disexplications]

[fed-detector-deactivated2018030]

I love republicans who are incapable of understanding population density. California is half the size of Alaska and has more than 30 times as many people.

[ranma-official]

This is Obama’s slam-dunk victory with a 10-million vote and almost 200 EC Δ.

Visually, McCaine absolutely pummeled him, no contest.

[thisizjapan]

Japan forces a harsh choice on children of migrant families

Born in Japan, Gursewak Singh considers himself Japanese. The government doesn't. But it offers children like him a chance to stay - if their parents leave.

Gursewak’s parents, who are Sikhs, fled to Japan from India in the 1990s. For several years, they lived without visas under the radar of the authorities until they were put on a status known as “provisional release” in 2001. It means they can stay in Japan as long as their asylum application is under review.

Asylum seekers are building Japan’s roads and sewers But it also means they can’t work, they don’t have health insurance and they need permission to travel outside the prefecture where they live. They are also subject to unannounced inspections by immigration officers at their home and they face detention at any time. There are currently some 4,700 people with this status living in Japan.

Gursewak, who has never left Japan, has inherited his parents’ provisional release status and all the restrictions that go with it. That fate has exposed him and more than 500 other children who share his predicament to lives of perpetual uncertainty. They can go to government-run schools, where tuition is largely free, but university is out of reach for most because they and their parents aren’t allowed to work and so can’t afford the fees. These children, many of whom are asylum seekers, will soon face a stark choice between forced unemployment and working illegally.

“Since I was born I’ve only ever interacted with Japanese people,” said Gursewak, who is now 17, speaks the language with native fluency and considers himself Japanese. “I don’t get why Japan won’t accept me.”

While there were almost 14,000 asylum cases under review at the end of 2015, Japan accepted only 27 refugees last year. The year before that, the number was 11.

[fed-detector-deactivated2018030]

Friendly reminder that Japanese human rights violations are way under-reported. The country is a fortress, hardly any immigrants or refugees are allowed in, and the few that are are exploited for cheap labor. The criminal justice system is notoriously corrupt, including numerous accusations of prosecutors and police straight up framing clients. The death penalty in Japan is also extra inhumane because inmates on death row are not told the date of their execution and essentially live in fear that every day could be their last.

[acetatetape]

Despite the fact he was born there, he’s not Japanese. He has no right to live in Japan. He and his family are there because the Japanese people and government allow it. Do you live in Japan? Can you vote in Japan?  No? Then don’t criticize Japanese domestic policies. Worry about your own country. Chances are, there are many issues much closer to home than some refugees living in Japan. 

[missalsfromiram-deactivated2020]

Well, hello again -

1. Just to preempt an argument that I feel might get thrown out, no, this is not like saying a cow born in a kennel is a dog. There’s no genetic test you can run on a person to find out if they’re Japanese (or any other nationality/ethnicity). So he certainly COULD be Japanese. But, I won’t argue that. By the definition of many Japanese people, he may very well not be - after all, ethnicity and nationality are social constructs.

What I personally would argue is that whether or not he is technically Japanese, it would be exceedingly cruel to separate him from the only home and neighbors he has ever known and deport him to a country that is essentially alien to him, and that he thus ought to be accorded the right to stay in Japan, especially given that he is fluent in the language and personally identifies with the country*. I think that it would be very generous for the Japanese government to let his parents stay, and that perhaps it ought to opt for that course of action, but I wouldn’t describe it as a right, since they are from India and would likely be able to get along sufficiently fine there. If it is the case that the Japanese government is offering them a “parents leave, you stay” deal, I would consider that minimally fair, but it seems the legal situation is highly ambiguous about what’s actually going to happen to them, which is definitely wrong.

2. That’s absurd; I and anyone else are perfectly free to read about, comment on, and criticize the affairs of any country anywhere in the world. I guess I should just turn off the news when reports about the Syrian civil war are on, or skip any article about the maltreatment of LGBT people in Uganda? It’s possible to care about more than one thing at a time.

* This is, after all, a frequent criticism lobbied by those who advocate against immigration - “They won’t learn the language! They don’t even consider themselves part of our country! They just live in ethnic enclaves and collect welfare!” - And this case here excludes every one of those criticisms! This individual considers his Japanese neighbors to be his fellow countrymen; in fact, from what the article states, it appears that a primary concern of the small refugee population in Japan is inability to access further integration into Japanese society (e.g. education and employment).

[thisizjapan]

spot on commentary, and I’d like to add in regard to #2 that acetatetape must also think this family are the only “non-Japanese” people to ever step foot in Japan, and that no one reblogging or commenting has been personally affected by these policies as well. 

[thisizjapan]

Ad giant Dentsu declared Most Evil Corporation of the Year | The Japan Times

Advertising giant Dentsu Inc. has won the Most Evil Corporation of the Year Award in recognition of its culture of overwork and harassment, journalists and rights activists announce.

[thesociologicalcinema]

People in many western countries greatly overestimate their current Muslim population… Responses to the question: “Out of every 100 people in your country about how many do you think are Muslim?” Source: The Guardian

[thisizjapan]

Japan forces a harsh choice on children of migrant families

Born in Japan, Gursewak Singh considers himself Japanese. The government doesn't. But it offers children like him a chance to stay - if their parents leave.

Gursewak’s parents, who are Sikhs, fled to Japan from India in the 1990s. For several years, they lived without visas under the radar of the authorities until they were put on a status known as “provisional release” in 2001. It means they can stay in Japan as long as their asylum application is under review.

Asylum seekers are building Japan’s roads and sewers But it also means they can’t work, they don’t have health insurance and they need permission to travel outside the prefecture where they live. They are also subject to unannounced inspections by immigration officers at their home and they face detention at any time. There are currently some 4,700 people with this status living in Japan.

Gursewak, who has never left Japan, has inherited his parents’ provisional release status and all the restrictions that go with it. That fate has exposed him and more than 500 other children who share his predicament to lives of perpetual uncertainty. They can go to government-run schools, where tuition is largely free, but university is out of reach for most because they and their parents aren’t allowed to work and so can’t afford the fees. These children, many of whom are asylum seekers, will soon face a stark choice between forced unemployment and working illegally.

“Since I was born I’ve only ever interacted with Japanese people,” said Gursewak, who is now 17, speaks the language with native fluency and considers himself Japanese. “I don’t get why Japan won’t accept me.”

While there were almost 14,000 asylum cases under review at the end of 2015, Japan accepted only 27 refugees last year. The year before that, the number was 11.