Japanese Only

ALBANY — A speech presentation by Debito Arudou, who challenged the “Japanese Only/No Foreigners Allowed” practices at many Japanese businesses and garnered international support for confronting Japan’s xenophobia, will take place on Saturday, Aug. 23, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the University Village Community Center Gym, 1123 Jackson St. in Albany.

The entrance is at the intersection of San Pablo Avenue and Monroe Avenue, one block south of Marin Avenue.

This is a rare opportunity to meet Arudou in person and hear his account of his experience as a Caucasian living in in Hokkaido. Born David Aldwinckle, Arudou is a naturalized Japanese citizen. He changed his name so that it could be written in kanji.

A light reception will follow. Suggested donation: $7 and up. For more information, e-mail info@hisabetsunikkei.org or call (510) 823-9514.

The Otaru Onsen Lawsuit

Despite having ratified the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in 1995, Japan has yet to legislate a single bill that prohibits racial discrimination, according to Arudou.

Today, numerous facilities throughout the country intended for public use, such as bath houses, storefronts, bars, restaurants and hotels, conspicuously post signage that says “No foreigners allowed.” An increasing number of private businesses are adopting marketing and sales policies that explicitly prohibit patronage by “foreigners.”

This term is applied to those whose appearances are judged to be “not Japanese enough,” and so Arudou, who is neither racially nor ethnically Japanese, has been denied entry to stores and facilities over the years.

In 1999, Arudou was barred from entering a public bathing facility that had a posted sign that said “Japanese Only” in English and “No foreigners allowed” in Japanese. He was there with his family — his wife and two daughters — and while his ethnically Japanese wife and their eldest daughter with stronger East Asian features were admitted, the entry of Arudou and their younger daughter, who has green eyes, was denied.

In 2000, Arudou revisited the facility after he attained Japanese citizenship, only to be denied entry once again, due to the fact that he is “still Caucasian, and therefore his appearance raises questions about whether or not he is Japanese.”

In 2001, he filed a suit against the facility in Sapporo, Hokkaido. This widely publicized legal battle propelled Arudou into the public eye as an activist and commentator on the state of xenophobia in Japan. He has extensively investigated and written about discriminatory practices of Japan’s businesses.

He is the author of “Japanese Only,” which chronicles his experience with the Otaru Hot Springs and other instances of discrimination in Japan.

Currently assistant professor of Hokkaido Information University, Arudou was born in upstate New York in 1965. He first visited Japan in 1986 as a Cornell University student,
His English and Japanese language website and blog are at www.debito.org.

The event is co-sponsored by Japan-Pacific Resource Network (JPRN) and the U.S. branch of Trans-Pacific Research & Action Institute for Hi-sabetsu Nikkei (TRAI), with support from Masataka Okamoto, vice secretary of the Migrant Workers Network (Iju-ren) in Japan and visiting scholar at San Francisco State University, and Wesley Ueunten, assistant professor of Asian American studies at SFSU.