Jon Heese is becoming an old hand in Japanese politics, having served thirteen years at various levels of government. He is the first foreign-born politician to ever serve at the regional level. He sat down for an interview with Debito Arudou.
This month’s column will offer my impressions about how much Japan has changed regarding the issues that have always been on my radar screen—society’s openness to newcomers. On that score, I have some positive developments to report.
An interview with Jon Heese, a naturalized Canadian-Japanese and elected Tsukuba City Councillor of twelve years. A Caucasian Visible Minority of Japan, Heese has long been advocating that other Non-Japanese Residents naturalize and run for office.
One of the reasons why the Left, particularly the Progressives who have not enjoyed much power worldwide for more than a century, keeps losing is because of their fractiousness.
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?
A statement has been issued by a group of foreign journalists in the wake of the recent controversy between the Tokyo Olympic Organising Committee and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.
This SNA Speakeasy features Debito Arudou on the theme of “Foreign Residents in the Coronavirus Era.”
I have to admit more than a twinge of sympathy for Carlos Ghosn’s Great Escape.
In a shocking series of exposés at the beginning of this month, the Mainichi Shinbun reported that minority children of workers in Japanese schools were being segregated from their Japanese peers, put in classes for the mentally disabled, and systematically denied an education.
I look forward to writing for a Shingetsu News Agency that challenges the stale conventions and speaks truth to power. The point is to increase the visibility of minorities, and to assist Japanese of goodwill in dismantling the systems that keep them disenfranchised.
