Visible Minorities: Japan’s Census Shenanigans
Include foreign residents as part of the official Japan population and give us official data for just how diverse Japan actually is.
Include foreign residents as part of the official Japan population and give us official data for just how diverse Japan actually is.
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.
Authoritarians are once again trying to racialize citizenship. In Asia, that’s quite normal. The problem is that conservative movements worldwide are similarly trying to shore up their dwindling popularity by undemocratically disenfranchising the very immigrants they had once invited over.
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.
A long-term Non-Japanese resident friend, married with a Japanese husband and adult kids, recently told me about a new development in their relationship: Christmas was no longer to be celebrated in their household.
Japan’s human rights reports to the United Nations are a case study in official dishonesty.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are now past. This is a postmortem.
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?
With the possibility of the first “Japanese Only” Olympic Games, Japan looks likely to take the Gold Medal for Discrimination.
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.