Visible Minorities: Japan’s Rightward Swing is Overblown
Yes, there is a new far-right party in Japan. But at this point, the media hype about Sanseito is sensationalism, as what it’s offering is neither new nor well-planned.
Tag Archives: National Diet
Visible Minorities: An Obituary for Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori
What Fujimori did with power became a cautionary tale—of how an outsider, once let in, can corrupt everything.
Visible Minorities: Addressing Japan’s Child Abduction Problem
It has been one of Japan’s worst-kept secrets. It has shattered lives and caused enormous international embarrassment to Japan’s reputation as a nation of laws. It has caused untold misery to countless children and families worldwide. And among all the G7 “developed” nations, it only happens like this in Japan.
Visible Minorities: Non-Japanese Residents Claim Political Power
Non-Japanese politicians find that they must be the change which they hope to bring to the country.
Japan’s LGBT Law Pleases No One
Both sides of the political spectrum are disappointed by the newly passed anti-LGBT discrimination law, but for different reasons.
Visible Minorities: Life Lessons from a Naturalized Japanese Politician
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.
Visible Minorities: Abe’s Assassination and the Revenge of History
The assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has occasioned a lot of valuable, eye-opening discussions in the media, but few if any have focused upon how Abe’s death could be seen as a form of karmic payback–what happens when you ignore the lessons of history in the pursuit of raw political power.
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.
Dim Prospects for Japan Immigration Rights Improvement
Although there have been calls for immigration reform following the death of Sri Lankan national Wishma Sandamali in a detention center, the actual prospects for improvement in Japan’s controversial refugee and immigration system are not particularly bright.
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.
