Debito Arudou, with his July 9 article, "Police 'foreign crime wave' falsehoods fuel racism,'" manages as ever to confuse apples and oranges. Anyone knowing anything about Japan realizes that the large majority of foreigners in Japan are law-abiding, if only because they do not want to lose their visas or status.
By the same token, no one can deny that there is a small minority of crime-minded foreigners in Japan, most connected to Asian crime gangs. Japan has every right to be concerned about these people, since they operate in ways difficult to counter. Fortunately strict police and visa action in recent years has eased the problem somewhat as National Police Agency figures show.
But Arudou bizarrely uses this highly justified concern and action to claim that the NPA is guilty of a racist and distorted attack on all foreigners in Japan.
I would suggest that if anyone is guilty of racism and distortion, it is Arudou rather than the NPA.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.