Visible Minorities: Retrospective on 25 Years of Activism
Debito.org turned 25 years old last week. What, if anything, has it contributed to help make conditions for Non-Japanese residents and Visible Minorities better?
Category Archives: Column
Bread & Roses: Needless Death of a Sri Lankan Detainee
The Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau opened its Facebook page with a cute koala mascot at the same time that its refusal to provide medical treatment to a Sri Lankan detainee cost her life.
Visible Minorities: The World’s First “Japanese Only” Olympics?
With the possibility of the first “Japanese Only” Olympic Games, Japan looks likely to take the Gold Medal for Discrimination.
Bread & Roses: Osaka Court Overturns Welfare Cut
A Japanese court overturned a welfare reduction for the first time ever on February 22, 2021.
Visible Minorities: Yoshiro Mori’s Overdue Comeuppance
Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori represents the worst of Japan’s politics, melding misogyny with racism.
Bread & Roses: Foreigners Wander the Streets in the Age of Covid
My family and I often patronized a Chinese restaurant a couple of minutes away from our apartment. It’s open late at night and serves great food at decent prices. It just went out of business.
Visible Minorities: Latest Visa Rules Could Purge Any Foreigner
Even after political leadership has finally shed Shinzo Abe, the Japanese government has found new ways to discriminate against foreign residents of Japan.
Bread & Roses: Scenes from a Coronavirus Crisis Village
The coronavirus continues to rampage through society, but 2021 has begun. Unnoticed by some, several coronavirus crisis villages (sodan mura) sprang up around Japan’s capital city in recent weeks. The pandemic has devastated people’s livelihoods as well as public health.
Visible Minorities: Nike Japan Does Some Good
Nike’s television advertisement depicting a multiethnic Japan stands out as a bright spot to close out the dreadful year of 2020.
Bread & Roses: Love and Money for a Japanese Princess
I wear two hats. My day job is teaching social security and labor law at a university. I also serve as executive president of a labor union. In this installment of the column, I will discuss my recent musings about welfare and the Imperial household.
