Osaka: 'like living in Alabama or Louisiana in the 50s'

[homesweethome]

[floatr][/floatr]
Court rejects African-American's damages claim over denied entry
Kyodo via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge
OSAKA, Jan. 30, 2006
The Osaka District Court rejected a damages suit Monday filed by a U.S. citizen living in Kyoto Prefecture who said he was denied entry to an Osaka optical shop in 2004 because he is black.
The 41-year-old man, a designer living in the town of Seika, had demanded the shop owner pay 5.5 million yen in damages.
"It was inappropriate for the owner to have asked (the man) who was in front of the shop to leave...but it cannot be recognized that (the owner) made remarks discriminating against black people," Judge Yoshifumi Saga said in handing down the ruling.
The man said after the ruling that it is a sad day and that he feels like he is living in Alabama or Louisiana in the 1950s...more...



http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20060131a3.htm

In a case that human rights lawyers and activists worry could condone racial discrimination against foreigners by Japanese businesses, the Osaka District Court rejected a lawsuit Monday that was filed by a black American man who was denied entry to a store apparently due to his color.

Steve McGowan, 41, a resident of Kyoto Prefecture, filed the 1.5 million yen suit after he was denied entry in September 2004 to a store in Osaka Prefecture that sells eyeglasses. He claimed the owner shouted at him to leave and told him he hated black people.

If this fellow had just had along a recording device of some kind, or TV camera crew, I am sure he could have better convinced the judge that what he says happened, actually happened. He has probably read Debito's issuances, but when the event happens, like witnessing a UFO, almost nobody can provide the proof.

The most depressing thing to me is an FG who doesn't understand what's going on around himself.

[Buraku]

The courts ain't an easy route, it took Debito a while to win his first case

[dimwit]

Osaka and Alabama are also linked via wrestling throws.
There is the 'Osaka Street Cutter' created by Hiroto Wakita



and the 'Alabama Slam' used by Hardcore Holly.

[AssKissinger]

One shop out of thousands denied the man service. That in no way compares to Alabama in '50's where just entering the wrong area or even glancing at the wrong person could easily have ended in a lynching.

[homesweethome]

One shop out of thousands denied the man service. That in no way compares to Alabama in '50's where just entering the wrong area or even glancing at the wrong person could easily have ended in a lynching.

Wait just a minute AK, I don't know what part of Alabama you grew up in but 'ending up in a lynching' just for looking at a white woman the wrong way was not the way it was, is, or ever has been in Alabama, Missippi, Lousiana, Arkansas or any other local in the US south. Maybe for some places and folks, this just might be the case, but the majority of people in Alabama were and still are black. This sort of generalization lacks a lot of common sense and street wisdom, just like living on the wrong side of the sento in Japan, it depends where you are, what you look like, and where your'e goin...not what floor you reside in in Roppongi Heights.

[AssKissinger]

http://faculty.berea.edu/browners/chesnutt/classroom/lynchings_table_state.html

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAlynching.htm

Even after the passing of the Civil Rights Act (1964) lynchings continued in the Deep South.

It is a story of contrasts: The murderer, a white man, grew up in a home filled with hate and violence. The victim was reared by a loving mother and doting older siblings.

Henry Hays knew what he was about that night, when he and a friend set out to kill a black man. Michael Donald, on the other hand, was innocently walking up the street on a spring evening in Mobile to buy some cigarettes, when fate delivered him into the white men's hands.

Most vivid, though, is the contrast between fiction and reality. Michael Donald was murdered -- beaten to death with a tree limb -- not in the 1930s or '40s, even in the 1960s, but in 1981. Such things weren't supposed to happen almost 30 years after the Supreme Court declared "separate but equal'' unconstitutional, and nearly 20 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

http://www.4littlegirls.com/

September 15, 1963

11-year-old Denise McNair and three 14-year-olds: Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins were killed when a dynamite bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The girls had been in a basement dressing room, discussing their first days at school and preparing for the 11:00am Adult Service. The church had been a center for many civil rights rallies and meetings, and after the tragedy, it became a focal point drawing many moderate whites into the civil rights movement.

By the end of the day, riots and fires had broken out throughout Birmingham and another 2 teenagers were dead.

You wait a minute. Comparing this incident to the deep south civil rights movement in the states is absurd.

[AssKissinger]

I tried to edit but it didn't seem to work.

Sure blacks who stayed around other blacks all the time didn't have as much reason to fear but blacks who for whatever reason had to venture around white people lived in constant terror for their lives. That is the way it was.

[homesweethome]

This is an interesting point by Debito on this issue in todays JT. I know this is not the American South, but that seems irrelevant and pointless to debate the parallels. This is Japan, which has it's own picadillos which need picking.

(The sentence in bold type is my emphasis, otherwise the rest is origional).

Twisted legal logic deals rights blow to foreigners


McGowan ruling has set a very dangerous precedent
By DEBITO ARUDOU
Steve McGowan, an African-American resident of Kyoto, sued an eyeglass shop in Daito City, Osaka Prefecture, for refusing him entry in 2004 on the basis of the color of his skin.


Steve McGowan stands near the eyeglass shop at the center of his lawsuit, in Daito City, Osaka Prefecture.

It should have been a slam-dunk case.

The owner shooed McGowan away from his store, G. style, physically if not verbally. As reported previously by the Community Page, he was caught on tape admitting he barred McGowan from entry. He made it clear in court that he has a "thing" about black people, justifying it as merely part of his personality.

But Japan is a land of surprises. On Jan. 30, McGowan lost his case.

Judge Yoshifumi Saga of the Osaka District Court handed down a decision that worked backward from preformed conclusions.

Clearly McGowan had to lose, when you consider how petty the judge's justifications were.

Instead of questioning the responsibility of a shopkeep refusing customers he just happens to find racially repugnant, Saga decided to discredit the victims.

He disqualified McGowan and his wife as credible witnesses to any discrimination, by ruling:

1.) McGowan's testimony is inadmissible, as he apparently does not understand enough Japanese to reliably prove that the store-owner used discriminatory language toward him.

2.) In her follow up investigation, McGowan's wife didn't confirm whether the store-owner had excluded McGowan because he is black ("kokujin"); she apparently asked him if it was because her husband is foreign.

Therefore, Judge Saga concluded it unclear whether McGowan had been excluded specifically for being black.

Since McGowan's suit claimed discrimination against black people (as opposed to discrimination by race or nationality), case dismissed.

Let's put it another way: A guy gets struck by a motor vehicle. The driver refuses to apologize, even says hitting pedestrians is merely part of his personality. The pedestrian takes him to court, claiming that getting hit by a car hurt him. The judge says, "You weren't in fact hit by a car. It was a truck. Compensation denied."

Judge Saga avoided addressing the issue of why McGowan had been turned away.

Was there no discrimination here at all? It was a farcical judgment unbecoming to a trained mind entrusted with interpreting the laws of Japan.

But this is no laughing matter, given the damage this verdict could wreak.

The problem with a quibbling judge is that he still sets legal precedent. Judges are supposed to consider the ramifications of their decisions.

However, in his haste to kick McGowan's case out of his courtroom, Judge Saga deployed reasoning that could make it impossible to successfully seek legal redress for racial discrimination in Japan.

I'm talking about the fact that the judge invalidated McGowan's testimony simply because his language abilities are suspect.

Think about it. This gives incredible license to the chauvinists, as there will be no way to resolve a disagreement in favor of the foreigner.

Let's say you're in a dispute with somebody. How many times have you heard the following:

"Hey, the gaijin misunderstood my Japanese. After all, he's not a native speaker."

Claiming a language barrier will bring in a benefit of the doubt.

After all, Japanese is one of the world's most difficult languages, too difficult for a foreigner to understand fully, right?

Thus native speakers hold all the aces. It's a great way to delegitimize the gaijin's voice.

Thanks to Judge Saga, it is now a legitimate legal tactic. Just say the gaijin didn't understand your words, and you destroy the credibility of his testimony.

To avoid this pitfall, I usually advise people to return to the scene with a native speaker and reconfirm what happened. (Community Page, Nov. 30, 2004)

But Judge Saga must read this column, because he anticipated that. If the plaintiff's native speaking friend asks the defendant questions that don't satisfy the judge's sense of Sherlocking, pack your bags.

Hey, your friend wasn't there when the discrimination occurred anyway, so who can say what happened? The defendant again wins by default.

In other words, under the "Judge Saga Litmus Test for Racial Discrimination," to claim credible damages you must: Avoid being a foreigner.

* Avoid being a non-native speaker of Japanese.

* Have a native-speaker witness with you at all times.

* Record on tape or video every public interaction you have 24 hours a day.

* Hope your defendant admits he dislikes people for their race.

Actually, scratch the last one. The eyeglass shop owner did admit a distaste for black people, yet the judge still let him off.

So much for the government's claim to the U.N. that Japan doesn't need any laws against racial discrimination since our judiciary will protect us.

But does legal precedent like this really matter in Japan's judicial system?

Of course it does. Court decisions are not merely case-by-case. They cite something -- if not specific laws, then reasonings found in legal precedents.

But if there is no specific anti-racial discrimination law to ground a verdict upon, then you refer to the outcomes of related court cases.

For example, two Zainichi Koreans won their case in Kobe District Court Amagasaki for wrongful housing refusal on Jan. 24; the judge cited verbatim the legal reasoning from the Otaru Onsens Case -- in which this writer was a plaintiff -- ie. that discrimination is illegal "if it transgresses socially accepted limits" ("shakaiteki ni kyoyou shiuru gendo o koeru").

However, we now have a precedent to disqualify a foreigner's testimony, denying him his rights, because he doesn't speak satisfactory Japanese. That can be great weapon for a provincial judge.

History shows it takes a long time to undo something like this. Even with the shortcomings of comparing legal systems, consider the U.S. precedent of "separate but equal" justified by Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896.

It took until 1964, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act, to cancel that one out.

It takes a lot more effort and a separate government branch to get a civil rights law passed.

So with no laws to rein them in, judicial precedents offer judges more prerogatives.

The McGowan Case has exposed an attitude unbecoming of a developed country. How can a judge, in the world's second-biggest economy, ignore racial discrimination through semantics and splitting hairs? What of the role of the judiciary to protect the weak, in the name of severance, deterrence, even simple justice?

I hope Steve McGowan appeals, as a ruling like this must not be left alone. He ran a risk by suing. He got a cracked judge. Now that the cracks are clear, the High Court (which does overturn and even admonish lower court decisions) must have a go at it.

Otherwise, the damage is done, and this decision will affect millions of people in Japan who will find themselves unprotected by either the laws or the courts.

I have used this "poor gaijin" tactic much to my own advantage (short of begging on the street however) so I really can't say the minuses outway the plusses.

[Mulboyne]

ZNet: On the Road to Apartheid? Japan and the Steve McGowan Case
...An international image of Japan practicing a form of apartheid against foreigner residents or visitors is about the last thing those pushing for the country to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council need right now....Nor is the court's decision on McGowan likely to be welcomed by the more thoughtful corporate titans, whose companies employ large numbers of foreign workers in Japan, or by the more enlightened politicians and bureaucrats in local municipalities, including Osaka, who are aggressively pushing to attract international conferences and tourists to their region...it will be interesting to see how officialdom reacts if, and when, an Asian resident foreigner files a similar claim...Over the past year or so, there has been much official hand-wringing in the media over how to address the twin problems of declining birthrate and aging society. But there has been a noticeable avoidance of discussion about foreign immigrants and how they might fit into Japan's future. If nothing else, the McGowan case shows that Japan's justice system remains as reluctant to address the roles, and legal rights, of non-Japanese in Japan as the media, the politicians, and the public at large...more...

[Mulboyne]

Ultra's comment from this thread:

I was in a position to see varying degrees of discrimination dozens of times daily, for years. A good part of my time was spent acting as a buffer between Japanese discrimination and foreign clients. And by foreigners, I don't just mean lily-white charisma men, but the whole range of hues from first world to third world, including, Asian, SE Asian, African, Arab, Indian, Pakistani, South American, Russian, in addition to European and North American. I experienced a deep-rooted, tiered hierarchy of discrimination, which generally ignored education, profession, diplomatic status and wealth (not to mention the individual's character) in favor of judgments made first by skin color and second by nationality.

Though I have directly experienced discrimination on numerous occassions, these experiences of constant discrimination against third parties left a lasting impression of the ugliness that can lurk beneath the superficial Japan that many foreigners imagine they live in.

Asahi: Roughing it

In 1981, a 12-year-old Cambodian was living in a refugee camp on the Thai border when he was given an airline ticket to go to Japan. For the boy, whose homeland had been decimated by civil war and who had been living in the camp for over a year, it seemed like he had been given a free ticket to the promised land. When he reached Japan, he was determined to start life over. He took a new name, Akira Nishimura, and became a Japanese citizen. But 25 years after his escape, Nishimura, a 37-year-old resident of Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, has decided he wants to make a second fresh start--this time back in Cambodia. For Nishimura, like many refugees who came to Japan from Indochina in the 1970s and '80s, Japan has not lived up to his dreams. The multicultural society that the arrival of the Indochinese refugees once promised never came into being... Nishimura, for instance, said he decided to move back to Cambodia when he realized that, being a foreigner, he would never get a senior job in a Japanese company. "I appreciate Japan as my second home, but many of my fellow Cambodians want to return home due to the language barriers and persistent discrimination against refugees," he said...more...

[Mulboyne]

[Buraku]

Japan faces shortage of almost a million foreign workers in 2040
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/ ... -shortage/

light the torch Naomi Osaka

the Jussie Hoax?

JussieSmollett
is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery.
https://x.com/KamalaHarris/status/1090361495119187969
This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.