Tag Archives: Osaka

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Japan News | Koreans & Chinese

Growing scandal over ultra-nationalist kindergarten exposes battle over education in Japan
  • The Tsukamoto Kindergarten has drawn attention for promoting notions of Japanese “purity” and “uniformity” and racist statements made about Koreans and Chinese.
  • Ideological education has become a growing point of contention between liberals and conservatives, with the former worrying that so-called “traditional education” indoctrinates young children with the same ultranationalist spirit that fueled Japanese imperial expansion and led to World War II.
  • The school sits at the center of an expanding political scandal involving Japan’s First Lady and a suspicious deal that allowed the land on which the school was built to be purchased from the government at a steep discount.
Read

“Nationalist Osaka preschool draws heat for distributing slurs against Koreans and Chinese” (The Japan Times | February 2017)

“Bigotry and Fraud Scandal at Kindergarten Linked to Japan’s First Lady” (The New York Times | February 2017)

“Shinzo Abe and wife under pressure over ties to ultra-nationalist school” (The Guardian | February 2017)

(Image Credit: Ha Kwiyeon/Reuters, via The New York Times)

Nationality + Migration

Japan News | Korean Immigrants

Japanese study finds anti-Korean demonstrations subsiding but still ongoing
  • The government study found that Zaitokukai, an anti-Korean nationalist organization, and other ultraconservative groups held 347 rallies in 2013, 378 in 2014, and 190 through September 2015.
  • Anti-Korean sentiment has been fueled by territorial disputes, North Korea, and ongoing disagreements over the Korean woman enslaved as “comfort women” for the Japanese in WWII .
  • In 2014, the Osaka High Court ordered Zaitukukai to pay ¥12 million following hate rallies in front of a Korean school in Kyoto.

Read more:
“Japan’s first-ever hate speech probe finds rallies are fewer but still a problem” (The Japan Times)
“Abe eager to tackle hate speech” (The Japan News)
“Osaka assembly passes nation’s first ordinance against hate speech” (The Japan Times, January 2016)

(Image Credit: Satoko Kawasaki/The Japan Times)

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity
Osaka delays decision on establishment of ordinance banning hate speech, which would be the first of its kind in Japan
  • The municipal council of Japan’s third-largest city has been considering an ordinance that would criminalize hate speech motivated by race or national origin.
  • It has delayed its final decision as some assembly members have expressed concerns over free speech infringement, choosing instead to join the more than 100 other local governments who have issued legally nonbinding statements.
  • If approved, the ordinance would likely establish a five-member council to review hate speech allegations; if found guilty, perpetrators would be named on the city website and victims could receive financial assistance for legal aid.

“In recent years, hate speech directed at foreigners in Japan with a specific nationality has taken place, creating concern about human rights problems involving foreigners. In the streets of Osaka as well, demonstrations involving hate speech have frequently occurred.”

More on this story at The Japan Times.