Debito Arudou - The Japan Times

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Debito Arudou

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Debito Arudou

Debito is the Just Be Cause columnist for the Community Page and has been contributing to The Japan Times since 2002. Author of eight books, including "Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants and Immigrants" (2nd Ed.), "Japanese Only" and the novel "In Appropriate," his most recent work is "Embedded Racism: Japan's Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination" (Lexington Books). He has been a naturalized Japanese citizen since 2000, and his daily blog and archive is at www.debito.org.

For Debito Arudou's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Sep 3, 2014

Visible minorities are being caught in police dragnet

Around noon on Aug. 13, in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, a local apartment manager notified the police that a "suspicious foreigner" was hanging around the nearby JR train station.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Aug 13, 2014

Past victimhood blinds Japan to present-day racial discrimination

Until Japan gets over itself and accepts that racialization processes are intrinsic to every society, it will never resolve its constant and unwarranted exceptionalism.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Jul 2, 2014

Complexes continue to color Japan's ambivalent ties to the outside world

A sense of isolation gave rise to Japan's 'cult of uniqueness,' which still dominates Japan's self-image today, constantly vacillating between superiority and inferiority when dealing with foreigners.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Jun 4, 2014

Humanize the dry debate about immigration

Lost in the immigration narrative in Japan is the idea that when we import labor, we import people. With lives. And needs. And voices to be heard.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Apr 30, 2014

Tackling the 'empathy deficit' toward non-Japanese

Sympathy is not the same as empathy, and that is one reason why discrimination against foreigners and minorities is so hard to combat in Japan. Japanese society is good at sympathy, but empathy? Less so.

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Apr 2, 2014

Knowing your rights can protect against fake cops

Safeguard yourself against an unwarranted public shakedown

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Mar 12, 2014

J. League and media must show red card to racism

On Saturday, during their J. League match against Sagan Tosu at Saitama Stadium, some Urawa Reds fans hung a 'Japanese only' banner over an entrance to the stands.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Jan 24, 2014

Don't let ANA off the hook for that offensive ad

If ANA had really wanted to 'change the image of Japan,' it should have avoided racializing its product. Instead, it's just business as usual.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Jan 6, 2014

The empire strikes back: the top issues for non-Japanese in 2013

2013 saw the enfranchised elite consolidating their power further than has ever been seen in the postwar era, while Japan's disenfranchised peoples slipped ever lower down the totem pole, becoming targets of suspicion, fear and loathing.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Dec 4, 2013

In Japan, no escape from The Eye's perpetual policing glare

In Japan, The Eye compels you towards collective behavior: Mustn't be forceful or push back against the status quo, lest you get hairy-eyeballed.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Nov 6, 2013

Japan brings out the big guns to sell remilitarization in U.S.

With a probable nod and a wink from the Americans, there's not a lot we can do but watch Abe's military machinations march to fruition.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Sep 30, 2013

Triumph of Tokyo Olympic bid sends wrong signal to Japan's resurgent right

International events undermine Japan's democracy. Shame on the International Olympic Committee for being a party to it.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Sep 9, 2013

If you're jōzu and you know it, hold your ground

Communicating in Japanese is not all that difficult. What's difficult is communicating with Japanese people, writes Debito Arudou.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Aug 5, 2013

Ol' blue eyes isn't back: Tsurunen's tale offers lessons in microcosm for DPJ

Spare a thought for Marutei Tsurunen, Japan's first European-born naturalized immigrant parliamentarian, who was voted out in last month's House of Councilors election.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Jul 8, 2013

Police 'foreign crime wave' falsehoods fuel racism

These Community pages have reported many times on how the National Police Agency (NPA) has manufactured the illusion of a "foreign crime wave," depicting non-Japanese (NJ) as a threat to Japan's public safety (see "Upping the fear factor," Zeit Gist, Feb. 20, 2007; "Time to come clean on foreign crime," ZG, Oct. 7, 2003; "Foreigner crime stats cover up a real cop-out," ZG, Oct. 4, 2002, for just a few examples).

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Jun 4, 2013

By opening up the debate to the real experts, Hashimoto did history a favor

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto has been busy making headlines around the world with his controversial views on Japan's wartime sex slaves (or "comfort women," for those who like euphemisms with their history). Among other things, he claimed there is no evidence that the Japanese government sponsored the program, and suggested these exploited women were (and still are) a "necessary" outlet for a military's primal urges.

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

May 14, 2013

Police, media must consider plight of those caught in linguistic dragnet

A national media exerts a powerful influence over the lives of members of its society. For example, rumors or untruths disseminated through print or broadcast can destroy livelihoods and leave reputations in ruins.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Apr 2, 2013

Tweak the immigration debate and demand an upgrade to denizen class

Crucial to any public discussion is defining the terms of debate. However, often those terms must be redefined later because they don't reflect reality.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Mar 5, 2013

Child's quibble with U.S. 'poverty superpower' propaganda unravels a sobering story about insular Japan

Last November, a reader in Hokkaido named Stephanie sent me an article read in Japan's elementary schools. Featured in a sixth-grader magazine called Chagurin (from "child agricultural green") dated December 2012, it was titled "Children of America, the Poverty Superpower" (hinkon taikoku Amerika no kodomotachi), offering a sprawling review of America's social problems.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE

Feb 4, 2013

Keep Abe's hawks in check or Japan and Asia will suffer

On Jan. 1, The Japan Times' lead story was "Summer poll to keep Abe in check." It made the argument that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party alliance falls short of a majority in the Upper House, so until elections happen this summer he lacks a "full-fledged administration" to carry out a conservative agenda.

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Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

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