An American journalist filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Asahi Bank after it refused his application for a housing loan because he does not have permanent residence status. The suit, filed with the Tokyo District Court, seeks 11 million yen in damages for the mental anguish inflicted by the bank's refusal. According to the documents filed with the court, Steven Herman, 40, current head of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, decided to purchase a condominium in Tokyo's Yoyogi district in June, making a down payment through a real estate agent. He then applied for a mortgage of 68.5 million yen from the bank, but its officials told him that the bank's internal rules did not allow loans to be extended to foreigners without permanent residence. Although Herman said he intended to live permanently in Japan and pointed out that he earns more than most salaried employees, the bank still refused, adding that the semigovernmental Housing Loan Corporation adopts the same policy, the documents said. The failure to secure the loan forced Herman, who has lived in Japan since 1990, to cancel the contract he had already signed, according to the documents. "This is discriminatory treatment based on nationality and violates both the International Covenants on Human Rights and the Constitution, which spells equality under law," Herman said. He added that he was shocked by the way he was treated at the bank, which does not even bother to screen foreign loan applicants but simply treats all foreigners in a uniform manner. Asahi Bank officials said the same day that they could not comment on the suit since they had not yet seen the documents.
