Job Discussion Forums

[luckyloser700]

[luckyloser700]

sorry about posting the same reply several times. Won't happen again

[PAULH]

Officially-sponsored "foreigner bashing" increases with Immigration and Police "Illegal Foreigner Snitch Sites"
On February 16, 2004, the Ministry of Justice's Department of Immigration unveiled a website http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/zyouhou/index.html for the public to notify authorities of the whereabouts of foreign "illegal overstayers". While at first glance this measure may seem sensible, further inspection of the site reveals three flaws: 1) There are no clear criteria delineated for what constitutes an "illegal" foreigner, 2) Preset reasons for informing on foreigners include "hatred", "fear", and "no reason at all", and 3) Informants need not give any verifiable details about themselves, alleviating them of the burden of responsibility for their comments. More than a dozen domestic human rights groups, including Amnesty International, decried this site as "racist", "xenophobic", and "discriminatory". After over a thousand complaints, the site was amended at the end of March to remove the preset reasons and tone down the rhetoric. Given that the National Police Agency and related organs of law enforcement are surprisingly unaccountable to public opinion and press scrutiny, and have been shamelessly discriminatory when dealing with issues of internationalization and foreign residents, this backpedaling is quite remarkable--and demonstrates that activism can bring about positive results. The site, however, as of this writing, remains up. Looking forward to a similar site where you can rat on people for more serious crimes, such as drug dealing, domestic violence, child abuse, motorcycle ganging, etc. Not just for being here and causing "public anxiety" by looking foreign. Articles substantiating these events at http://www.debito.org/immigrationsnitchsite.html

[luckyloser700]

[PAULH]

[Jazz1975]

[PAULH]

[Jazz1975]

[Sour Grape]

Slightly off-topic, but not too much.

About a year ago I was asked to check something for the thrid years' school trip to Nara. They were supposed to interview (in English) any foreigners they saw in the park. I had to check the note that they were to give to the interviewees afterwards. It was something along the lines of:

Dear Foreigner,

Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to Japanese junior high school students. They don't get many chances to practise their English, so we are sure they enjoyed talking to you.

We hope you enjoy your time in Japan,

Name, name and name,

Teachers at xxxx school

I suggested some alterations, one of which was that Dear Foreigner be replaced with Dear Foreign Visitor, which sounded politer to me. The Japanese teachers looked surprised, but they changed it.

Was this pedantic, or does it indeed sound politer? And how could it have been put better?

[PAULH]

[Sour Grape]

Good point. So how could it have been better put? Leaving out the Dear.... completely? That also sounded a bit brusk to me, and Dear Foreign Visitor seemed like the best bet to me.

[PAULH]

[Sour Grape]

Dear Sir or Madam seems a bit stuffy to me for the occasion. The Dear Visitor to Japan sounds good though - if it happens again I'll use that.

Ta for your time.

[Like a Rolling Stone]

Wow! Lots of food for thought. I think there are loads of different ideas about this one. The poll says almost 50-50, so we can't draw any conclusions. I thik it is interesting alot of people says "gaijin" is a bad word depending on who you are but I think I shouldn't start saying gaijin to Japanese and then say "don't say it!" to them because maybe I just shouldn't use the word if it makes them uncomfortable. But I think it is strange for none-Japanese to say "gaijin this gaijin that" but some of them say "I bought a new keitai at the combini". Is that ok?

[PAULH]