Regarding Donald Seekins' Feb. 19 letter, "People who can revitalize Japan": "Give me a break!" is what I say to Seekins' complaint that by deporting the Calderon family back to the Philippines, Japan is ruining its ability to revitalize itself by not injecting itself with fresh foreign influences.
First, the Calderons came to Japan on false passports. They broke the law, egregiously, and are now finally paying for it. If anything, we should be annoyed at the Japanese government for taking more than 20 years to figure it out!
Second, can you blame Japan for kicking out the occasional foreigner? It seems that every time you open the paper, you find another foreigner breaking the law, whether it's a dope-smoking Russian wrestler or dope-running Chinese ne'er do well.
The Japanese frankly don't have much going for them now, save for the fact that they're one of the few developed countries not facing a complete collapse of social morality. The streets are still clean, crime is low, people are courteous, and the trains run on time. Even the most outrageous-looking punk rocker waits until he gets to an ashtray before lighting up.
Such niceties — which are either gone or fast disappearing in other developed countries, and don't exist in most — are a real treasure. I don't blame the Japanese a bit if they worry that too many foreigners will upset this delicate balance. Until foreigners as a group can start acting more worthily of Japanese trust, we ought to quit bitching about its absence so much.