Issues | JUST BE CAUSE Apr 26, 2017

Time to act on insights from landmark survey of Japan's foreign residents

by Debito Arudou

Government's attempt to understand the foreign experience of Japan produces valuable data despite some blind spots.

Issues | JUST BE CAUSE Mar 5, 2017

Government of Japan, survey thyself

Something landmark happened late last year. Japan's government undertook a nationwide survey of discrimination toward Japan's long-term non-Japanese (NJ) residents. The Foreign Residents Survey (FRS), drawn up in 13 languages, was randomly mailed last November to 18,500 NJ residents. It was widely dispersed — to ...

Issues | JUST BE CAUSE Feb 19, 2017

Media outside Japan must stop normalizing sumo as an ethno-sport

by Debito Arudou

Foreign correspondents should not pander to stereotypes, passing overt racism off as "tradition" practiced by those mystical, hidebound, inscrutable Japanese.

Issues | JUST BE CAUSE Jan 8, 2017

Japan's human rights issues fared better in 2016

by Debito Arudou

Welcome back to JBC's annual countdown of the top issues as they affected Non-Japanese (NJ) residents of Japan. We had some brighter spots this year than in previous years, because Japan's government has been so embarrassed by hate speech toward Japan's minorities that they ...

Issues | JUST BE CAUSE Nov 16, 2016

Trump's lesson: You can lie your way to the very top

by Debito Arudou

As the Republican victory in the U.S. threatens to undo eight years of progress, a silver lining in Donald Trump's success proves hard to pin down.

Issues | JUST BE CAUSE Oct 30, 2016

U.S. and Japan elections: scary in their own ways

by Debito Arudou

American political campaigns can be frighteningly tribal while fear of the foreign permeates polls here.

Issues | JUST BE CAUSE Oct 2, 2016

Comparing elections in the U.S. and Japan: the good, the bad and the ugly

by Debito Arudou

I love elections. Anywhere. It’s fascinating to see how politicians craft public appeals. No matter how flawed the process, it’s how nation-states recharge their legitimacy and publicly reaffirm their leaders’ mandate to govern.

Issues | JUST BE CAUSE Sep 4, 2016

JBC marks 100 columns and a million page views

by Debito Arudou

Column has been shining a critical light on issues affecting Japan's foreign residents since 2008.

Issues | JUST BE CAUSE Jul 31, 2016

For Abe, it will always be about the Constitution

by Debito Arudou

Nobody here on the Community page has weighed in on Japan's Upper House election last July 10, so JBC will have a go. The conclusion first: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe scored a hat trick this election, and it reaffirmed his mandate to do whatever he ...