Anti-Chinese Techno-Racism in Japan
In what may prove to be an escalating problem in Japan, young Chinese looking for employment in small startups and technology-related firms appear to be facing a wall of suspicion and sometimes outright racism.
Monthly Archives: December 2021
Visible Minorities: Human Rights Top Ten for 2021
Since 2008, I have always devoted my end-year columns to counting down the Top Ten human rights issues as they pertain to Non-Japanese residents of Japan. This year I’m moving this feature to the Shingetsu News Agency.
Speakeasy: US Military and Gender-Based Violence in Japan
In this SNA Speakeasy, Catherine Jane Fisher, award winning grassroots human rights activist, and Betsy Kawamura, founder of Women4Nonviolence in Peace+Conflict Zones speak about “US Military and Gender-Based Violence in Japan.”
Cannabis is the Medicine Japan Needs
Since California first legalized medical cannabis in 1996, and Colorado and Washington followed with adult-use cannabis legalization in 2012, there has been an increasing global movement towards medical legalization, relaxing cannabis laws in general, and in some cases full legalization of adult-use cannabis. Even Japan may now be taking notice.
Urban Renaissance (UR): Japan’s Public Housing Success Story
Public housing is problematic in many cities where the private housing market cannot serve low-income communities properly, but Japan has done much better than many others with its Urban Renaissance Agency.
Ghost of Fukushima Haunts Taiwan’s Nuclear Debate
Although more than ten years have passed, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster still haunts Taiwan’s debate on activating nuclear power plants.
Voices of Japan’s Stranded
Japan’s decision to exclude most foreigners, including many foreign residents, from entering or reentering the national borders during the Covid pandemic has had a human and reputational cost which the mainstream media has tended to either ignore or to downplay.
Bread & Roses: Pandemic Drives Women into “Nighttime Work”
On November 16, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced the disciplinary dismissal of a 28-year-old school nurse for moonlighting as a sex worker for more than a year.
The Inhumanity of Japan’s Travel Ban
The Japanese government is separating my children from me for no good reason, and I maintain that this is a violation of our human rights.
Shadow Banning the Independent News Media
Major social media companies are increasingly strangling independent news media with subtle shadow banning practices which threaten free speech and the flow of information vital to maintain democratic systems of government.
