Debito's article and Global Voices Online

Oiwan Lam introduced Debito's article to her readers on Global Voices Online But in respond to the comments, she edidted her article. I think
she has been fair on this issue.
魚拓
Note Debito has banned the innocent comments contradictory to Debito's account which Oiwan Lam rightly let publicized.

Nanjing massacre and Korea

1937.12.24 Donga ilblo report the big cities such as Daegu, Busan, Incheon,celebrate the fall of Nanjing to Japanese army.

via 杉野洋明 極東亜細亜研究所

The Dong-a Ilbo (literally East Asia Daily) was founded in 1920 by Kim Sung-soo who also founded Korea University during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Later, Kim also served as the second vice-president of South Korea in 1951. DongA Ilbo started as a nationalist paper

Timeline
DongA Ilbo's Traditional Logo
DongA Ilbo's Traditional Logo

* 1920-04-01 : Published the first issue along with the civilization policy of Governor-General of Korea
* 1920-09-25 : The first suspension for indefinite period of time: for printing the article "Discussing the Problems with Rituals" which were critical of three items sacred to Japan
* 1926-03-06 : The second suspension for printing a message celebrating the March 1 uprising (Civil Movement)
* 1930-04-16 : The third suspension for printing "The Dong-A Ilbo Plays an Important Role in Chosun's Current Situation" which was a letter sent by a press in US in support of Korea
* 1931-03-21 : Held the 1st Dong-A Marathon Games, Korea's first marathon race
* 1936-08-29 : The fourth suspension: for erasing the Japanese flag from Korean born Olympic gold medalist
# 1940-08-10 : Forced closure by the Japanese government
# 1945-12-01 : Re-opening of DongA Ilbowiki

A girl from Norway in Japanese

youtube
Wow, she is so cute, and she speaks Japanese.
I am sure she will be popular in Japan.

Evil Japan---the videos from North Korea.

link1
link2
via日本の評判（the way people look at Japan)

The Japanese are mixture of many races?

Oniazuma
has an answer.

Japanese Robot walks like monkey

It may walk like a Japanese robot, but it's thinking like a monkey in the United States. Japanese and US researchers said Wednesday they have created a humanoid robot that acts according to the brain activity of a monkey all the way across the Pacific.

The experiment was part of efforts to develop prosthetic limbs which can be mentally controlled by people with disabilities.

A laboratory in the western Japanese city of Kyoto unveiled a 155-centimetre (62-inch) tall humanoid, with a friendly-looking face including bulging black eyes, who walked via signals coming into its legs through wires.

Researchers said the robot was responding to the cortical brain activity of a monkey that was walking attached to wires on a treadmill at Duke University in North Carolina. The signal was sent via the Internet.

"We were able to detect the monkey's brain activity while walking on the treadmill and relay the data from the United States to Japan," the state-backed Japan Science and Technology Agency said in a statement.

"For the first time in the world, we were then able to make our humanoid robot in Japan walk in real-time in a similar manner as the monkey," it said.

The robot was designed by the Japanese agency and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to move by responding to brain activity signals. AFP

Does the author mean what the title literally means, or does he suggest more than what it literally means?

Is the robot just Japanese Robot or isn't it Japanese and American robot?

"Yankee robot thinks like monkey?" might be okay as well?

Culture of comfort women still alive in Korea

U.S. Still Rates S.Korea as Sex Tourism Destination

The U.S. Congressional Research Service still rates South Korea as a major Asian destination for organized sex tours in a recent report entitled "Trafficking in Persons: U.S. Policy and Issues for Congress.魚拓

Korean sex workers are moving abroad after new anti-prostitution laws made the world’s oldest profession more difficult at home, police say.
They are heading for the U.S., Canada and Australia, but some settle for countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan better known for export rather than import of sex workers. In North America, they apparently work in smaller cities and towns as well as big urban centers like Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC and Toronto. Hong Kong and Europe have recently been added to the list of destinations魚拓

Hige change

Do you want to know how you look with beard or mustache?
Try this site.It is fun to see your face move with mustache.

Sony--- because caucasian is too damn tall

Sony-- because Caucasian is too damn tall(youtube)
Discuss whether it is racist video or not.


Incidentally discuss why being 3 cm taller than Japanese matters to Korean people.

Japanese kids thinking up the solutions to troubles Gaijin are having.

I came across this video.日本で暮らす外国人 スピーキング・アウト授業
This is about en elementary school classroom in Japan, trying to make Japanese students think up the solutions to the troubles Foreigners have in Japan.

A Chinese woman; People sometimes look down on me saying, you are Chinese, I am Japanese.

an Argentine man:When I disagree with Japanese, some Japanese say, you are an Argentine, so you don't understand.

A kid 1 : We should set up schools to teach different customs, culture.
A kid 2; We should not discriminate if we don't want to be discriminated when we go abroad.

Laws concerning pretection of the privacy

In 2007 the survey found surveillance "endemic" in nine countries - compared to five in 2006.

The nine were - England, Wales, Malaysia, China, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the US.

bbcEPIC

Japan
PHR2006 - Country Reports

Some references to the equality clause.

Article 14. All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.
Peers and peerage shall not be recognized.
No privilege shall accompany any award of honor, decoration or any distinction, nor shall any such award be valid beyond the lifetime of the individual who now holds or hereafter may receive it.Constitution

It is generally accepted that the protection of rights and freedoms under the Constitution extends to foreign nationals resident in Japan insofar as the nature of of the given right allows it. .....
Generally, Japanese nationality is a prerequisite to holding public office . Some local governments now allow foreign nationals to be appointed to public office which does not involve the exercise of prerogatory power......
.....The Supreme Court ruled that the Government is allowed to give priority to Japanese nationals in providing social welfare under limited sources.
It should be noted that after the ratification of the Treaty on the Status of Refugees, relevant laws on social security were amended and the requirement of Japanese nationality removed.
pp. 432-433 Japanese Law second edtion Hiroshi Oda, oxford

ryokan-gyou-hou (Hotel Business Law) Article 5.
“Article 5
Hoteliers may not refuse accommodation unless one of the following applies.
1. It is clearly recognized that the guest is infected with contagious disease.
2. The guest is likely to indulge in gambling or illegal or immoral activities.
3. The hotel has no vacancy or such condition as may be stipulated by local government ordinance holds.”

It is absolutely illegal to refuse accommodation because the guest is a foreigner.

If an hotelier does not comply with the law, the government may suspend hotel license, in addition to levying petty fine of 5000 yen.(stereo/japanprobe.com/?p=5874)

(Equal Treatment)
Article 3. An employer shall not engage in discriminatory treatment with respect to wages, working hours or other working conditions by reason of the nationality, creed or social status of any worker.
(Principle of Equal Wages for Men and Women)
Article 4. An employer shall not engage in discriminatory treatment of a woman as compared with a man with respect to wages by reason of the worker being a woman.Labour Standards Law,

Article 5.With regard to the recruitment and hiring of workers, employers shall provide women equal opportunity with men.

Assignment, Promotion, and Training

Article 6. With regard to the assignment, promotion, and training of workers, employers shall not discriminate against a woman worker as compared with a man by reason of her being a woman.

Fringe Benefits

Article 7. With regard to loans for housing and other similar fringe benefits as provided by ordinance of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, employers shall not discriminate against a woman worker as compared with a man by reason of her being a woman.

Mandatory Retirement Age, Retirement, and Dismissal

Article 8.With regard to the mandatory retirement age and dismissal of workers, employers shall not discriminate against a woman worker as compared with a man by reason of her being a woman. Law on Securing, Etc. of Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment

男女共同参画社会基本法　Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society

The supremecourt acknowledged that Article 1 of the Constitutionincluded a right not to be forced to have fingerprints taken butdound the fingerprinting under the Aliens' Resistration Law to be sufficiently reasonable and necessary. Page 126

Date of the judgment

1995.12.15

Case number

1990(A) No.848

Title

Ruling concerning impression of fingerprints

Case name

Violation of the Alien Registration Law

Result

Judgment of the Third Petty Bench; dismissed
[The Court of First Instance] Kobe District Court

Court of the Second Instance

Osaka High Court

Summary of the judgment

1. Any person shall have the freedom not to be forced to impress his fingerprints as one of the freedoms in individual private life, and it shall not be permitted according to the purpose of Article 13 of the Constitution for state organs to force people to impress fingerprints without any reasonable ground.

2. Article 14, para. 1 and Article 18, para. 1, item 8 of the Alien Registration Law (before revised by the Law number 75 of 1982) requiring aliens residing in Japan to impress fingerprints shall not violate Article 13 of the Constitution.

References

Article 13 of the Constitution, Article 14, para. 1 and Article 18, para. 1, item 8 of the Alien Registration Law (before revised by the Law number 75 of 1982)Judgments of the Supreme Court

男女同一賃金
同一労働同一賃金

HO Says:
July 24th, 2009 at 6:31 pm

debito.org/?p=3895#comment-180534

Wage disparity is hardly peculiar to Japan.
http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2008.pdf
According to the above report, ratio of women’s wage to men’s who do similar work is,
France 50%, Italy 54%, Germany 57%, Japan 59%, UK 62%, US 69%, Canada 71%.

Discrimination against foreigners at workplace is also prohibited by Labor Standards Act. The punishment is 6 months in prison per article 119.

Labor Standards Act
Article 3　An employer shall not engage in discriminatory treatment with respect to wages, working hours or other working conditions by reason of the nationality, creed or social status of any worker.

Japanese Air Law, Article 105, Paragraph 2, clearly states that “no specific passenger or consigner will be unfairly discriminated against

更新

教育基本法第四条 　すべて国民は、ひとしく、その能力に応じた教育を受ける機会を与えられなければならず、人種、信条、性別、社会的身分、経済的地位又は門地によって、教育上差別されない。
労働基準法第三条 　使用者は、労働者の国籍、信条又は社会的身分を理由として、賃金、労働時間その他の労働条件について、差別的取扱をしてはならない。
地方公務員法
第十三条　すべて国民は、この法律の適用について、平等に取り扱われなければならず、人種、信条、性別、社会的身分若しくは門地によつて、又は第十六条第五号に規定する場合を除く外、政治的意見若しくは政治的所属関係によつて差別されてはならない。
生活保護法
第四十七条　２　保護施設は、要保護者の入所又は処遇に当たり、人種、信条、社会的身分又は門地により、差別的又は優先的な取扱いをしてはならない。
電気通信事業法
第六条　電気通信事業者は、電気通信役務の提供について、不当な差別的取扱いをしてはならない。
熱供給事業法
第十四条　四　特定の者に対し不当な差別的取扱いをするものでないこと。
石油パイプライン事業法
第二十条　四　特定の利用者に対して不当な差別的取扱いをするものでないこと。
有線テレビジョン放送法
第十四条　四　特定の者に対し不当な差別的取扱いをするものでないこと。
卸売市場法
第六十一条の二　開設者又は第五十八条第一項の許可を受けた者（以下この章において「卸売業者」という。）は、地方卸売市場における業務の運営に関し、出荷者、買受人その他地方卸売市場の利用者に対して、不当に差別的な取扱いをしてはならない。
貨物自動車運送事業法
第二十五条　３　一般貨物自動車運送事業者は、特定の荷主に対し、不当な差別的取扱いをしてはならない。
電気事業法
第十九条　２　四　特定の者に対して不当な差別的取扱いをするものでないこと。
下水道法
第二十条　２　四　特定の使用者に対し不当な差別的取扱をするものでないこと。
水道法
第十四条　２　四　特定の者に対して不当な差別的取扱いをするものでないこと。
ガス事業法
第十七条　２　四　特定の者に対し不当な差別的取扱いをするものでないこと。

The dignity of the Nation.

The book,
the dignity of the Nation is sometimes cited as an indication of Japan's resurgence of militarism. In particular, the rivial of Samurai spirit is said to be dangerous. Here are some quotes from the book.

Originally bushido comprised the rules of battle for the Kamakura period---a sort of declaration of the spirit of fair play on the battlefield. But in the course of the 260-year-long peace of the Edo period, bushido-was reined into the samurai spirit,...
From Buddhism , particularly Zen came the quiet acceptance of one's destiny , a disdain for life and friendless with death. From Confucianism bushido took the five moral relations---between the governing and the governed, father and son, husband and wife, older and younger brother, friend and friend ---as well as the merciful benevolence of the statesman for the people. From Shinto , bushido adopted the virtue of loyalty to one lord, respect for one's ancestors ,and piety toward one's parents.
Most central to bushido is sa way of thinking indigenous to Japan since days of old. Not just from era of Manyoshu, but even imagines from the Jomon period , the Japanese have instinctively possessed a moral view and code of conduct that decrees anything base to be wrong, and that the strong must not bully the weak....
The samurai spirit went into freefall after World War Ⅱ、but it was already starting to face at the start of Showa period. This decline was one of the primary factors behind Japan's beginning to behave basely, as it did invading China after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. The folly of forging an alliance with Hitler, the author of Mein Kampf, was another result of the samurai decline.
Seen in the historical context in which they occurred, the Russo0Japan War and the Pacific War against the United States had to be fought, I believe, for the sake of our independence and survival as a nation. It was wrong , however, to create situations in which war was the only option available to Japan.
The second sino-Japan War was different. Japan may have been egged on by the arch-schemer Stalin and by Mao Zedong, but invading China was nonetheless an utterly meaningless act of bullying. Contemplated in the light of samurai ethics, it is a wholly base and shameful act.....
Had Japan invaded China in respond to provocation, then it had no reason to lose. China , after all, did not even have an air force. had Japan taken advantage of its air supremacy to make aerial bombardments before sending in the army, it would have been sure to win in any engagement. .....The whole thing was a meaningless and embarrassing episode, with the Kanto Army simply running out of control. that is why the emperor,the government , and the army were all opposed to getting deeply involved.
Our having bullied a weak opponent like this is a stain on the history of Japan.
pp164-172)

What do you think? Is it a sign of revival of Japanese militarism?

See　also Hanami web