Nisei Denied Role As Probation Officer

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Brazilian can't be probation officer
The Shizuoka Probation Office has given up its bid to appoint a second-generation Brazilian of Japanese descent as a probation officer after it received a Justice Ministry opinion indicating that foreigners may not be commissioned to exercise public authority, according to sources...Language barriers pose a hurdle when it comes to support the rehabilitation of delinquent young Brazilians. In an attempt to tackle the problem, the Shizuoka Probation Office in April asked karate school operator Tetsuyoshi Kodama, a second-generation Brazilian of Japanese descent who is experienced in dealing with non-Japanese youths, to become a probation officer. Kodama, 41, who moved to Shizuoka from Brazil 16 years ago, agreed, saying he wanted to contribute to the rehabilitation of Brazilian youths. He said he thought he could do this by approaching them in a different way than Japanese would tend to do. But when the probation office contacted the Justice Ministry's Rehabilitation Bureau to get approval for Kodama's appointment, the ministry rejected the idea, saying it would be problematic to offer the post of probation officer to a foreigner because the exercising of public authority would be involved in cases such as when a probation officer informs the chief of the probation office if a youth breaks a promise with a probation officer, which could result in the chief applying for parole to be canceled...more...

[bolt_krank]

This is typical of Japanese beauracracy.
The laws a very xenophobically biased, based in a world where citizenship is considered more appropriate than ability to do the job.

Even if he was very appropriate for the job, and tried to take citizenship - he'd get a shitload of problems there too.

I can see these narrowminded views being detrimental to the country in the near future.

[Behan]

foreigners may not be commissioned to exercise public authority

..it would be problematic to offer the post of probation officer to a foreigner because the exercising of public authority would be involved..[/I][/URL]

Maybe I'm oversimplifying this, but it sounds like a case of 'I aint gonna let no FG tell me what to do!'

[TennoChinko]

If you ask some Japanese, they'll tell you their fear is that if they make an exception to the 'no foreigner' rule, then they'll have to admit pro-North Korean residents. A reasonable concern but ironic -- they in fact do discriminate against them -- so why not in these cases as well?

Sometimes in the inability of Japanese to differentiate bugs the fuck out of me. I have a friend who teaches at a school -- and he was told he couldn't drink coke even in the teachers' room because if he were spotted, the students would want to also and that wouldn't be fair. If they told him it might set a bad example etc., that might make sense but definitely not this reason. He told them he was a bloody adult - and to fuck off and mind their own business.

[xenomorph42]

This is typical of Japanese beauracracy.
The laws a very xenophobically biased, based in a world where citizenship is considered more appropriate than ability to do the job.

Even if he was very appropriate for the job, and tried to take citizenship - he'd get a shitload of problems there too.

I can see these narrowminded views being detrimental to the country in the near future.

All of a sudden, I`m getting WWII flashbacks of Berlin. This is so bullshit! So in the states, we can`t have black, hispanic, asian, jewish police or probation officers...for crying out, what kind of crap is that???

[Mulboyne]

...So in the states, we can`t have black, hispanic, asian, jewish police or probation officers...for crying out, what kind of crap is that???

I know where you are coming from but you are confusing race and nationality there.

[amdg]

I don’t have too much to say against the nationality requirement, at least its an understandable requirement. Although in cases where its applied against non-citizens who were born here and don’t know anything else other than a Japanese way of life, I think it’s overkill.

In this case the guy has only been here 16 years, so although he may speak Japanese, and look Japanese, I would hesitate to count him as being Japanese through and through, since he grew up and spent his formative years in a very different country.

In any event, this ‘job’ was an unpaid volunteer position that he is uniquely qualified for, and carries with it very little real power, - so I think they could have cut him some slack.

[xenomorph42]

I know where you are coming from but you are confusing race and nationality there.

No, I was not, this all ties in together!

[blackcat]

" 'I aint gonna let no FG tell me what to do!'"

Thats very accurate.

In a nutshell most Japanese are prejudice because they are so fucking dumb.

The rote learning bullshit allows them to be pushed around by ultranatonalist pricks and very few have the brains to question them, the ones with the brains to keep quiet.

[Mulboyne]

I think the story shows that the rules are just as rigid as before at the top but they are increasingly out of touch with the reality on the ground. It's unlikely that the Shizuoka Probation Office is a bastion of liberalism and yet they approached this guy to deal with a problem they confront on a daily basis. I'm curious whether they thought appointing him would be a formality or whether they were hoping to use his case to open things up a bit. It's possible that they weren't even aware of the legislation about foreigners in public positions but alternatively they may have chosen the best possible candidate to challenge the MoJ. You could hardly get someone less "foreign" than a bloke called Tetsuyoshi Kodama who has spent much of his adult life in Japan and runs a karate school. I wonder who told the press.

[amdg]

I think the story shows that the rules are just as rigid as before at the top but they are increasingly out of touch with the reality on the ground. It's unlikely that the Shizuoka Probation Office is a bastion of liberalism and yet they approached this guy to deal with a problem they confront on a daily basis. I'm curious whether they thought appointing him would be a formality or whether they were hoping to use his case to open things up a bit. It's possible that they weren't even aware of the legislation about foreigners in public positions but alternatively they may have chosen the best possible candidate to challenge the MoJ. You could hardly get someone less "foreign" than a bloke called Tetsuyoshi Kodama who has spent much of his adult life in Japan and runs a karate school. I wonder who told the press.

All good questions.

However, as I have said before, you can find many non-citizens who are more Japanese than this guy. I am talking about people who were born in Japan, schooled in Japan, only speak Japanese, run Japanese businesses, use Japanese names (even on their passports), and who refer to themselves as Japanese in daily conversation, but do not have Japanese nationality. Compared to them, this guy is a johnny-come-lately.

My money is betting that Shizuoka pref had no idea that this position would be regarded as ‘exercising public authority’ since his only power would have been to interview children and then report to his boss.