Search - discrimination-in-japan

 
 
EDITORIALS
Aug 2, 2018

Eliminate bias against sexual minorities

The controversy triggered by an LDP lawmaker's article on LGBT people should be turned into a broad public discussion on what policy steps to take to eliminate discrimination against sexual minorities.
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2016

Abe's promised new policy direction

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new plan to 'promote the dynamic engagement of all citizens' falls short when it comes to specifics on how it will achieve its ambitious goals.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jul 16, 2014

Ian Thorpe's coming-out: Yes, it does matter

Ian Thorpe's willingness to be open and honest and true to himself is a brave step, and it will make a difference in many people's lives. So yes, it does matter.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 16, 2012

Opening old wounds unhealed after decades

NISEI SOLDIERS BREAK THEIR SILENCE: Coming Home To Hood River, by Linda Tamura. University of Washington Press, 2012, 346 pp., $24.95 (paperback) A minority group enters a community and through hard work and perseverance gains a measure of financial security and grudging toleration from their neighbors....
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2009

State of the world's children

With the media paying so much attention to the casualties of the economic slowdown, it would be easy to overlook a vital report on the grave situation faced by the world's two most vulnerable classes of citizens — women and children in impoverished countries.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 8, 2008

Ainu artist, activist has spent a lifetime fighting prejudice

Shizue Ukaji was born in March 1933 in a small southern coastal area of Hokkaido known as Urakawa.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2008

Bar to kids' citizenship ruled illegal

In a ruling sure to affect thousands of others born out of wedlock to non-Japanese mothers, the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted 10 children of Filipino women the right to Japanese nationality.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2006

Courts refuse to hire lawyers on nationality

Three courts have refused to allow three Korean residents working as lawyers to assume commissioned jobs despite being nominated by their bar associations, because they are not Japanese, attorneys said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 16, 2006

'Conspiracies of silence' feign sympathies largely unfelt

Japanese people are known for their sense of propriety and decorum. Reserve and self-restraint are fine Japanese virtues, and they have afforded the society an enviable harmony and level of personal safety unparalleled in the developed world. Putting a damper on people's self-assertive instincts, and...
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2004

Discriminatory registry of child upheld

The Tokyo District Court said Tuesday that the way the daughter of an unmarried couple has been registered in their family registry infringed on their privacy because it clearly shows she was born out of wedlock.
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2003

Japanese play down foreigners' rights: survey

Japanese people are inclined to play down the rights that foreign residents of Japan are entitled to, according to a government survey released Saturday.
JAPAN
May 26, 2001

New panel proposal is criticized as soft on violations by state

Concern over freedom of the press has been the media's main focus in covering a government panel's proposal to launch an independent human rights watchdog, while other key aspects have been largely ignored.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 11, 2021

‘Lady Joker: Volume One’: A crime thriller opus’ weighty first half

Kaoru Takamura isn't playing around with “Lady Joker,” her two-part novel that reveals the social and economic inequities in Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 11, 2021

Lawsuit seeks return of Ryukyu remains nearly a century after they were brought to Kyoto

The suit has also prompted discussion over the status of Ryukyuans, whom the government has not recognized as indigenous.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Oct 16, 2020

BLM Tokyo continues the conversation on race with webinar series

Speakers Jamie Smith and Eric L. Robinson will participate in BLM Tokyo's online series that provides information on racial inequality and systemic injustice.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jul 25, 2020

Black Lives Matter prompts important conversations in Japanese sports

Despite its distant origins the movement has resonated in the nation, where a growing number of biracial athletes have faced racial issues.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Apr 16, 2018

Let's discuss women and sumo

A controversy over gender discrimination in sumo flared earlier this month after a referee urged two women to stay out of the ring as they tried to assist an unconscious official.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
May 8, 2016

Does the Japanese Constitution mean anything?

If the Liberal Democratic Party gets its way, the current charter, full of rights that are barely known, would be replaced with a constitution that's more about duties.
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Nov 22, 2015

Osaka group preps Kansai solution to Futenma base row

If a group of Osaka residents has its way, the U.S. Marine Corps base at Futenma in Okinawa may not end up in the northern part of the island, but in one of five spots in their prefecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 2, 2015

Investigating 'impurity' in Tokyo's marginalized leatherwork districts

Because of irrational fears of contamination, Japan's hibakusha — the survivors of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — suffered discrimination. Try to imagine having an atom bomb dropped on you by a foreign enemy, then to have your own people turn against you. There is another group...
COMMUNITY / Issues
Dec 18, 2013

A secrets law for whom? Look who gets a free pass

Ancient Confucian scholars regarded law as a necessary evil, something used on lower orders of people who lacked the moral refinement to act righteously without prompting. Yet this just states a basic truth about law: It is something we do to other people. You and I know how to act properly, right? It's...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 23, 2010

Both victims, perpetrators of sekuhara : responses

A selection of readers' responses to "Foreigners victims, perpetrators of sekuhara" (Zeit Gist, Oct. 26) by Steve Silver:
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2007

Foreigners still dogged by housing barriers

Having arrived in Tokyo from Seoul about a year ago, Im Yeong Eun, like many foreigners who come to Japan, soon encountered a major difficulty — housing discrimination.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2007

Foes of female reign bask in prince's birth

"It's a boy!" The news spread like wildfire on red-letter Sept. 6 with the birth of Prince Hisahito, the first male born into the Imperial family in 41 years.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 9, 2006

The Japanese Chrysanthemum Thrown

Congratulations to Princess Kiko and Prince Akishino on the birth of their baby! While the fact that it is a boy is even greater news for the royal family, it's a shame for Japan. Looking for excuses not to face modern realities, Japan may now wallow in its past of allowing only male heirs of male lineage...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 4, 2006

Travel firm rapped over foreigner ticket policy

The nation's largest discount travel agency, HIS, which also runs foreigner-friendly No.1 Travel, has based the price of some air tickets from Japan on the nationality of the traveler, possibly in breach of Japanese law, The Japan Times has learned.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.