Visible Minorities: “Overtourism” As Racism
Some Japanese need to stop blaming the tourists for doing what they asked them to do—come here and enjoy themselves.
Tag Archives: Asahi Shinbun
Visible Minorities: Judges Strip Equal Protection from Naturalized Citizens
It’s the next stage of evolution in Japan’s variant of racial discrimination: a naturalized Japanese citizen was last year denied membership at a golf course—explicitly for being a former foreigner.
Visible Minorities: Salute to the Author of Cartels of the Mind
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.
Japan’s Widening Olympic Scandal
Well over a year since its closing ceremony, the Tokyo Olympics continue to find a place among Japan’s newspaper headlines, this time in connection with a widening bribery scandal which has touched even a former prime minister.
Visible Minorities: Torture and Murder in Japan Detention Centers
News Headline: “Prosecutors drop case over death of detained Sri Lankan woman.”
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.
SEALDs: Where Are They Now?
SEALDs, short for Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy, was a student activist organization in Japan that provided an important spark to the large-scale protests against then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s 2015 “Legislation for Peace and Security” (i.e. the Abe War Law), deemed by the vast majority of Japan’s legal scholars in the field to be unconstitutional.
The Olympics as a Nationalist Loyalty Test
Sports fans around the planet are beginning to sit around their televisions to watch the world’s greatest athletes compete head-to-head in Japan’s capital. However, as the Olympic Games launch, the linkages between this international sports event and nationalism must be discussed, especially in the context of promoting a vibrant culture of democracy.
Working Timeline of the Moritomo Gakuen Scandal
The Moritomo Gakuen school affair was the first of the major scandals that shook the government of Shinzo Abe beginning in February 2017. This a working timeline which the Shingetsu News Agency intends to fill out and update in the weeks and months ahead.
Bread & Roses: Covid, Not Olympics, Requires Our National Effort
The Japanese government is demanding a national effort to host the Olympics. But it’s time to cancel the Games and put the national effort into supporting nurses and other healthcare professionals who are now working to save lives.
