Japan urged to sign accord against parental abductions

 

It seems like the US and a few other countries are FINALLY getting serious about making Japan take responsibility in “allowing” Japanese previously in international marriages to kidnap their kid(s). Check out my previous posts on parental abductions are posted here. 

The United States and three other western nations Thursday urged Japan to sign an accord against parental child abductions, saying scores of children are being held in the country.

U.S., French, British and Canadian diplomats launched the rare joint appeal at a U.S. Embassy press conference, listing cases of foreign parents who have been unable to see their children in Japan after a breakup or divorce.

“We do feel a sense of urgency because the number of cases is increasing very dramatically,” said acting U.S. ambassador to Japan James Zumwalt.

“I think because we have more and more international marriages, we can expect in the future a further increase in the number of these cases.”

The United States had received reports of 73 cases of parental abductions involving 104 children in Japan, said Michele Bond, the U.S. State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for overseas citizen services.

In 29 more cases, all family members were in Japan, but the U.S. parent was denied access to a child after a separation or divorce, she said. Click here for the rest of the story. (Note: the child in the picture has not been abducted)

Click here to read the Joint Statement (English, Japanese and French languages) issued at the US Embassy Tokyo.

 

From the US Embassy webpage:

日本にハーグ条約加盟を求め、4カ国で共同記者会見

　

カナダ、フランス、英国、米国の４カ国は5月21日、在日米国大使館で「1980年国際的な子の奪取の民事面に関するハーグ条約」に関して、記者会見を行い、共同声明を発表した。その中で、４カ国は、日本に対し、同条約に加盟すること、さらに、子供と引き離された親が、子供と接触を保ち、子供を訪問することができるようにするための措置を実施することを、求めた。会見には、ジェームス・ズムワルト駐日米国臨時代理大使、ミッシェル・ボンド米国国務次官補代理、クリストフ・プノ在日フランス大使館公使、ドナルド・ボビアッシュ在日カナダ大使館公使、デーヴィッド・フィットン駐日英国大使館公使、マウラ・ハーティー児童失踪・児童虐待国際センター政策部長の６名が参加した。

Japan Fears Spread of Swine Flu as Cases Rise

 

It seems like the Japanese Government once again treated a disease as a foreign problem. Was the GOJ a day late and a yen short or is it business as usual if you examine the mentality and the steps taken to educate and combat STDs and the HIV/AIDS virus in Japan? In any case, I am waiting for the H1N1 to hit Tokyo to see how the GOJ and the media either aids in educating or causing mass panic in one of the most populous cities in the world.

From the  Washington Post: To stop swine flu before it could sneak off airplanes arriving from North America, Japan dispatched masked health inspectors with fever-sensing guns to walk among passengers.

But the flu has taken hold on this island nation anyway, with fast-increasing numbers of confirmed cases in western Japan. It is now inevitable, experts said, that the infection will spread to Tokyo, where about 35 million people live in the world’s largest metropolis and where commuters pack cheek to jowl on a vast network of commuter trains.

Excepting the United States, Mexico and Canada, Japan now has more confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus than any other country, according to the World Health Organization. The government here reported 178 cases Tuesday.

What’s in your wallet?: The Zairyuu Kaado with IC chip

Debito Arudou’s article, “IC you: bugging the alien” brings up the debate on privacy, immigration, Big Brother, the use and/or abuse of technology, and well, possibly for some, unfounded fears. Debito states “new gaijin id cards could allow police to remotely track foreigners.” I sort of sat on the fence on the new “gaijin (gaikokujin),” or foreigner, identification card debate but you know, the argument that cell phones can also be used for tracking is just as valid. I have carried various ID cards embedded with various chips that hold a variety of information.

I could just as easily track various people just by using their Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Loopt and other social networks. it “seems” that some people online are not too caring about who tracks them (as long as it isn’t Big Brother, I guess). What stops the GOJ from requesting copies of the cell phone applications or cell phone registries of foreigners in Japan? This is used in criminal and national security investigations. Oh! And in divorce or cases were one of the spouses is cheating (or possibly cheating) on the other. What stops the GOJ for requesting the utility, bank or other records of foreigners in Japan. Would it be easier for the Immigration Bureau to “require” Ward Offices to submit a list of “registered” foreigners that could be used to track them (to a certain degree)?  I wonder if the RFID “tracking” argument still valid? 

In the past, I fought against fingerprinting when I received my first “civilian” identification card in Japan. It was an interesting battle that I will share when my book is released. There were/are legal ways around the system that I used to “blend” within Japan’s society. Of course, when I ventured to various places and was approached by the police during the “excuse me, show me you passport” or “let me practice my English on the foreigner” exercises, I had fun -when I had time on my hands – or ended up frustrated other times when I passed by the same koban (police box) on my way to/from work only to be stopped and questioned again. In the end, I ended up giving a group of cops in Osaka a case of American beer and a case of macadamia nuts that I brought back from Hawaii. This stopped the questioning/harassment  and actually allowed me to learn more about the “system” I choose to live in and the “system” that the local guys on the beat were required to enforce. 

With that said, please read the article and provide feedback. By the way, please stick to attacking the article and not the writer! Here is Debito’s argument: “On the proposed legislation to make things more “convenient” and “protected” for NJ residents: the New Zairyuu Kaado with biometric data stored on IC Chips. Convenient? Yeah, for the police, not NJ. I make the case that, if the legislation is passed, policing and punishments will only get stricter, and the chipped cards will act as “bugs” encouraging further police checkpoints and racial profiling.”

Here is Debito’s article: “When the Japanese government first issued alien registration cards (aka gaijin cards) in 1952, it had one basic aim in mind: to track “foreigners” (at that time, mostly Korean and Taiwanese stripped of Japanese colonial citizenship) who decided to stay in postwar Japan.

Gaijin cards put foreigners in their place: Registry is from age 16, so from a young age they were psychologically alienated from the rest of Japanese society. So what if they were born and acculturated here over many generations? Still foreigners, full stop.

Even today, when emigrant non-Japanese far outnumber the native-born, the government tends to see them all less as residents, more as something untrustworthy to police and control. Noncitizens are not properly listed on residency registries. Moreover, only foreigners must carry personal information (name and address, personal particulars, duration of visa status, photo, and — for a time — fingerprints) at all times. Gaijin cards must also be available for public inspection under threat of arrest, one year in jail and ¥200,000 in fines.

However, the Diet is considering a bill abolishing those gaijin cards.”

Click here to read the complete article. Further information is on Debito’s blog.

Illustration by Chris McKenzie

Changes to the Gaijin Card?

Check out the latest on the “Gaijin Card” from Metropolis. I remember refusing to provide my fingerprint for my identification card when I first moved to Osaka. Lot’s of drama back then. It was almost as bad when I went to register my Japanese name.

All foreigners in Japan know him. The 62-year-old isn’t particularly loved — he’s a bit of a square — but we’ve all had to live with him and even take him out with us every day. Like many of his generation, he could keep on working, but he’s recently learned that he may have to settle for his pipe and slippers sooner rather than later.

The Baby Boomer in question is the Certificate of Alien Registration, or gaijin card, a form of ID that non-Japanese residents have been required to carry since the enactment of the Alien Registration Order in May 1947.

It may come as a surprise to learn that, if the government gets its way, the card will be consigned to the bureaucratic scrapheap. The Diet is currently debating bills to replace “gaikokujin torokusho” with a new residency (“zairyu”) card, which would shift administration of alien registration from municipal offices to the Immigration Bureau.

So what are the government’s plans? And, more importantly, what are the implications for foreigners?

Tokyo population nears 13 million

The Mainichi Shimbun reports that old Edo is close to hitting the 13 million strong mark. Here is the lastest:

“The population of Tokyo stood at 12,942,366 people as of April 1, an increase of 33,510 over the previous month, according to a metropolitan government estimate.

According to the estimate, women significantly outnumber men, with 6,502,937 women in the area versus 6,439,429 men.

The estimate is based on increases and decreases in the Tokyo residency register as compared with national census figures from Oct. 1, 2005. The estimate pegs the population of Tokyo’s 23 wards at 8,772,826, that of the cities at 4,083,610 and that of rural districts and counties at 58,540. The islands under Tokyo jurisdiction had an estimated population of 27,390.

The area with the greatest population increase as compared with both the previous month and the previous year was Koto Ward, a trend the metropolitan government said was related to a rapid increase in housing construction in the ward.”

Is PM Aso half-stepping on collective self-defense?

The Yomiuri Shimbun ran a story on Prime Minister Taro Aso half-stepping or playing politics when it comes to discussing Japan’s right to (re)militarize. Aso remains unable to begin discussion to alter the government’s constitutional interpretation that prohibits the country from exercising the right to collective self-defense. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has urged Aso, his close friend, to make the issue the party’s campaign pledge for the next House of Representatives election, and changing the government’s interpretation has been Aso’s stock argument, as well. Aso, however, apparently does not want to create any source of contention before the next Lower House election.

 

 On April 23, Aso held a meeting at his office with former Ambassador to the United States Shunji Yanai, who also the chair of the Council for Rebuilding the Legal Foundation for National Defense, an advisory panel to the prime minister established when Abe was premier. In the meeting, Aso was briefed on a report produced by the council last June. The report calls the government to allow exercising the right to collective self-defense for strengthening the Japan-U.S. alliance and playing an active role in international contributions. It was produced during the tenure of Yasuo Fukuda, Abe’s successor. Fukuda was dismissive about changing the interpretation, and the matter has been left unaddressed since.

Good News for Japan’s Young Families?

Many Japanese women who want to work after giving birth are stymied by a matrix of government rules and private-sector policies that block access to government child care. Has change really come to women in Japan?

The Washington Post reports: “Rolling out Japan’s largest-ever economic stimulus plan, Prime Minister Taro Aso gave a much-needed gift last week to young families in the world’s oldest society.

“Amid this economic crisis, it is of paramount importance that we should protect the future of our children,” he said, while more than doubling proposed spending on child care for the coming year.

But his pledge did little to alter a long-standing consensus among business groups, social scientists and parents that Japan remains stingy and unaccommodating when it comes to encouraging women to have more children.”

Dr. Joseph Nye confirmed as next U.S. Ambassador to Japan

I previously posted about Harvard University professor and Japan expert Dr. Joseph Nye and now it seems that is finally confirmed as the next US Ambassador to Japan.

The Mainichi Shimbun reports: “Harvard University Professor and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph Nye has been confirmed as the next U.S. ambassador to Japan, a senior Japanese government official has revealed.

Immigration Regulations Softening?

A Democratic Party of Japan legal affairs panel has drafted proposals to soften the rules and punishments stipulated in government-sponsored bills to tighten immigration regulations on foreign residents, DPJ lawmaker Ritsuo Hosokawa said Thursday.

The panel called for eliminating eight provisions in the bills, including one that would oblige foreigners to always carry residency cards, Hosokawa told The Japan Times.

Piracy and Japan’s Constitution

In a special to the Japan Times, Craig Martin, a Canadian lawyer currently working on a doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania on the relationship between constitutional and international law constraints on the use of armed force, writes about piracy and Japan’s constitution. I enjoy reading, discussing and debating the many insightful articles found on Mr. Martin’s blog and in the Japan Times. As I stated in my Japan Times article, “This time around with the global war on terror, Japan got its fingernails dirty, so the next logical move is to lend a hand.” Check out Mr. Martin’s latest below:

“Once again the issue of Japanese contributions to international security efforts is the subject of tortured debate. And once again the proposed government policy, and aspects of the debate itself, reveals fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between Article 9 of the Constitution and the relevant principles of international law.

This time, the issue relates to maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia, and the proposed deployment of Japanese naval vessels to the area. Predictably, the issue has triggered debate over the effect of the war-renouncing provision of the Constitution. A careful analysis, however, would suggest that the Article 9 prohibition on the use of force would not apply to the deployment of naval forces, or their use of weapons, to protect shipping from pirates in international waters.