Bathhouse Discrimination Case in Hokkaido

[GuyJean]

The Fight for Equal Protection of the Law

Around 1994, some bathhouses in the city, prompted by the bad behavior of some visiting sailors, decided to bar all foreigners from their premises. The owners justified their actions by citing foreign ignorance of Japanese bathing custom, complaints by Japanese customers, and poor foreign sanitary habits.

Unwilling to accept the bathhouse's policy, a group of foreign residents appealed to local, regional, and national authorities for clarification on their rights.

What they discovered was that Japan actually has no law in place outlawing discrimination on the grounds of race or appearance.

Oh, the joys of homogeneity.. I think Japan confuses 'wa' with 'law' most of the time.

GJ

[cstaylor]

$5 the court rules in their favor, but adds some sort of clause that makes it applicable to only this case.

[Steve Bildermann]

Much more info here:

http://www.debito.org/otarulawsuit.html

[GuyJean]

..but adds some sort of clause that makes it applicable to only this case.

Gotta love those clauses. Amendments are cool too..

Steve, thanks for the link.

GJ

[tokyojoe]

If the suit fails let`s all go poop in the local sento in protest.

[devicenull]

it makes sense. hell, if i was japanese, I sure as hell wouldn't want a bunch of smelly gaijin who didn't know how to bathe sharing the bath with me.

[GuyJean]

Pardon while I go puke my head off at you pukes.

Did it work?

I tend to agree with you on the overly zealous PC US right now. Although I DO have hope that the trends will swing back to 'common sense' in the near future.

Japan and the US are a great example of extremes. Somewhere in the middle is relative happiness for relatively all.

I was renting a small place in a college town in the States about 5 years ago. The owner said she would NEVER rent to Japanese. I was surprised at first but realized her point after she explained: "Japanese young men are worthless when it comes to cleaning. They're mothers take care of them until their 35. Then they get a wife to do their cleaning for them. They have no idea of how to live on their own, or keep their apartments clean."

Just plain common sense.

Gaisaradatsuraku: But I enjoy you whining about us whiners

GJ

[cstaylor]

In fact, if you guys weren't bigots I strongly speculate you wouldn't be in Japan. But, go on, keep fooling yourselves

That's a large brush you're using there. Of course, you include yourself in that group?

And I'd hesitate to use a phrase like "Expel the Barbarians" loosely like that... it has the same ring as "Segregation Now! Segregation Tomorrow! Segregation Forever!" Maybe you need to go back and take another look at the Meiji Restoration (or just wait for the upcoming Tom Cruise flick if you're too busy to read about it).

[cstaylor]

My good man, I wrote my Master's thesis on the subject (which is in fact why I chose the title I did)

Jesus, you studied Japanese as a major? Damn, you are f*cked... beyond these shores that language is about as useful as Latin.

[cstaylor]

I have been f#cked by Japan since before you had your first macha ice.

Ugh... matcha ice cream. bleach.

[GomiGirl]

I have been f#cked by Japan since before you had your first macha ice.

Explains a lot.....

Love your work....

[Andocrates]

People, by their very nature will tend to gravitate to their lowest level of human relations. In order for a society to exist a larger body must exert pressure on these individuals to conform to some basic levels of human decency, that's what we call goverment.

The pressure the goverment put on Americans over civil liberties may have felt extreme to some the end result is a better society. Despite the earlier post any Japanese can come to anywhere in America with the assurance they will not be singled out and discrimanated against because of the country of origin. That is goverments role.

Japan is simply a little behind in this area, but change will happen. I applaud these people who took the trouble to force this issue. While some Japanese may get angry in a few years they will see the inevitability and rewards of change.

[American Oyaji]

Here is an idea.

IGNORE THE FUCKING SIGN


Ive done that a couple times.

If someone tries to stop you.

Ignore them.

Get about 20 foreigners and just walk in en masse.

Cant stop all of us.

[tokyojoe]

So this ruling doesn`t set any kind of legal precedent, does it?

[cstaylor]

IANAL (I always wanted to say that...) but from what I understand about the Japanese legal system the personal whims of the big three boys on the bench outweigh any logical argument or precedent. Maybe Kamome could give us some guidance?

[kamome]

Gai, you are an ass. Of course those three gaijin can't open up their own sento. Due to the same discrimination practiced by the Japanese in this case, I suspect those gaijin wouldn't be allowed to open up their own onsen. So you basically contradict yourself: your "solution" can't work if one is to accept your premise that the Japanese should be able to practice discrimination against foreigners.

By the way, the gaijin that brought the suit have Japanese citizenship, so they definitely have standing to challenge a violation of the laws that they should be protected by as citizens. The "whining" you complain about is important to prevent further discrimination in the future. Letting this kind of treatment continue unchallenged would set a bad precedent for other gaijin in Japan (citizens or not).