Visible Minorities: Memory-Holing the “Japanese Only” Signs
Exclusionary businesses have a long history in Japan, and people seem to be forgetting it. Here’s a reminder from somebody who has studied them more than anybody.
Tag Archives: Okinawa Prefecture
The Costs of the Shinzo Abe Legacy
It was exactly a month ago today that Shinzo Abe was assassinated in Nara by 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami. As the passions of that event begin to settle, this is an opportune occasion to reconsider both the benefits and the costs of an administration which lasted longer than any other in Japanese history.
Brutalizing Japan’s Foreign Worker Underclass
A broken rib, a chipped tooth—a worker kicked and beaten frequently over a period of two years. This is not a horror story of a survivor of a Chinese labor camp in Xinjiang, but rather that of a Vietnamese “technical intern” in Okayama, Japan.
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.
The Decline of the Soft Power Nation
The Covid pandemic has gradually unleashed political and social forces in Japan that have lifted its underlying xenophobia to the surface, and thus transformed its culture from one of attraction into one of repulsion for many of its previous admirers.
SNA Covid Variant Handbook (Revised Edition)
Less than two weeks after the Shingetsu News Agency issued its SNA Covid Variant Handbook, the World Health Organization finally stepped up to plate and belatedly offered its own new nomenclature.
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.
Working Timeline of the Casino Bribery Scandal
The 500 Dot Com casino bribery scandal was yet another instance of major corruption that first emerged in the Shinzo Abe era.
Working Timeline of Covid-19 in Japan
The Covid-19 crisis became a dominating issue for the world, and Japan is no exception. This is a timeline of the events so far.
Bread & Roses: Osaka Court Overturns Welfare Cut
A Japanese court overturned a welfare reduction for the first time ever on February 22, 2021.
