Visible Minorities: On Naomi Osaka Heckling
At a recent tournament in Indian Wells, California, Japan tennis champion Naomi Osaka was heckled by some troll in the audience who shouted out “you suck!” while she was playing on court.
Tag Archives: Japan Times
Visible Minorities: US Military Should Combat Japan’s Xenophobia
US Forces Japan has the duty to recognize that what they do affects Visible Minorities in Japan, whether it be inspiring bigots to slam shop doors in their faces, or giving more ammunition to reactionaries who seek to seal off Japan’s borders.
Visible Minorities: Interrogating the Discriminatory Quarantine Scandal
The government’s new Covid self-quarantine policies are providing yet another opportunity to demonstrate that the lives, livelihoods, and investments of foreigners don’t really count in Japan.
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?
Japan’s Weak Response to Myanmar Coup
In comparison to other G7 nations, Japan has been taking a weak approach to the recent coup in Myanmar, led by the country’s Tatmadaw, or military forces. This includes Japan’s refusal to impose sanctions, official statements that have been widely viewed as being too soft, and a reference to the Myanmar military’s top diplomat as being the “foreign minister.”
Visible Minorities: New Covid Foreign Resident Re-Entry Rules Still Racist
Sometime during your life in Japan, you will probably feel a chilling attitude in Japan’s bureaucracy: as a foreign resident, you don’t really matter. To Japan’s policymakers, you’re at best an existence to be tolerated, at worst an unpredictable element that needs constant policing.
Visible Minorities: Weaponizing the Japanese Language
On August 28, Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan’s foreign minister, was giving an official press conference to reporters in Japanese. A foreign reporter for Japan Times, Magdalena Osumi, asked some questions in Japanese. When Osumi followed up on a point he left unclear, Motegi responded to her in English.
Visible Minorities: Japan’s Cult of Miserable Happy
These are sobering times for Japan fans. Thanks to the pandemic, even the most starry-eyed and enfranchised foreigners are having their bubbles burst, realizing that their status in Japan, no matter how hard-earned, matters not one whit to Japan’s policymakers.
Visible Minorities: The Guestists and the Collaborators
We shouldn’t wait for the government to deign to divvy out what it thinks foreigners want, as if it’s the omotenashi (hospitality) Japan offers any guest. Instead, NJ residents should be telling the government what they want, on their terms.
Tokyo Sinks into Covid-19 Crisis
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the last half of March 2020.
