JTO: Japan, U.N. share blind spot on 'migrants'

[Clark Kent]

Japan, U.N. share blind spot on 'migrants'
By - 04-05-2010 04:10 PM
Originally Posted at: The Japan Times Online
====================

On March 23, I gave a speech to Jorge Bustamante, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, for NGO FRANCA regarding racial discrimination in Japan. Text follows:
I wish to speak about the treatment of those of "foreign" origin and appearance in Japan, such as white and non-Asian people. Simply put, we are not officially registered — or even counted sometimes — as genuine residents. We are not treated as taxpayers, not protected as consumers, not seen as ethnicities even in the national census. According to government polls and surveys, we do not even deserve the same human rights as Japanese. The view of "foreigner" as "only temporary in Japan" is a blind spot even the United Nations seems to share, but I will get to that later.

Read More...


------------------------------------
The Japan Times Online

 

[David43515]

I wish I`d seen this at the time it was posted, although I probably read the original on the Japan Times website. As I write this there are riots in London and several people are wondering if this is just a matter of disenfranchised minorities lashing out. It certainly doesn`t seem to be the case in London. People of every stripe are rioting, and people of all backgrounds are uniting together to protect one another and to help clean up.

I live in Japan and deal with this 2nd class treatment daily. Most days I have no problems other than the occational one with the language barrier. But I always remember that unlike a Japanese I have to carry my ID at all times in case a policeman asks for it. (Fair enough. Foreign residents in the US are under the same requirment.) If I check into a hotel they`re required to copy either my passport or in my case my alien registration card. If I were Japanese all I need to do is sign the register. As a foreigner, if I were ever to be arrested I`m not eligable for bail in any way shape or form so I would have to sit in jail for monthes waiting for the trial. If my friends want to go to a hotspring, I have to call ahead and double check that they allow foreigners because many public bathes don`t allow foreigners and have large signs saying just that. And the courts say that while racial discrimination is unconstitutional, it isn`t technically illegal because there are no laws against it. So local commercial groups often get together to print the "no foreigners" signs for their members. The ruling LDP party doesn`t help matters when they push police to crack down on crime by telling them to crack down on foreigners. In fact the anticrime posters they print and post everywhere actually say "watch out for foreign criminals" and have the cops leading away a blonde in handcuffs.
Japan has been my home for 8 years so far, and I really love most of the people I`ve met. But like any mildly disfunctional family there are members who really need to pull their heads out of their backsides.
Rant over. Nothing to see here.