OTARU, Hokkaido -- The controversy over some "onsen" (hot spring) bathhouses banning foreigners from their facilities in this northern port town, which is frequented by Russian ships, lingers on more than a year after the issue was first raised.
Local proprietors, including bathhouse operators, shopkeepers and restaurateurs, claim they need to maintain a Japanese-only policy to avoid disruption from "bad foreigners."
But for Debito Arudo, a U.S.-born college lecturer who obtained Japanese citizenship, the practice reflects larger questions regarding Japan's general tolerance of discrimination against outsiders.