Debito

What follows is the Table of Contents for an information packet I will be presenting Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights of Migrants Jorge A. Bustamante, who will be visiting Japan and holding hearings on the state of discrimination in Japan. Presented on behalf of our NGO FRANCA (Sendai and Tokyo meetings on Sun Mar 21 and Sat Mar 27 respectively). It's a hefty packet of about 500 pages printed off or so, but I will keep a couple of pockets at the back for Debito.org Readers who would like to submit something about discrimination in Japan they think the UN should hear. It can be anonymous, but better would be people who provide contact details about themselves. Last call for that. Two pages A4 front and back, max (play with the fonts and margins if you like). Please send to debito@debito.org by NOON JST Thursday March 18, so I can print it on my laser printer and slip it in the back. Here's what I'll be giving as part of an information pack. I haven't written my 20-minute presentation for March 23 yet, but thanks for all your feedback on that last week, everyone...

Following up on some previous Debito.org posts (here and here) on how the debate on NJ PR suffrage has devolved into hate speech, here is how bad it's getting. We have anonymous flyers appearing in people's snailmailboxes accusing NJ of being criminals (and linking it to not granting suffrage), fomenting anti-Chinese sentiment with threats of invasion and takeover, and even a book capitalizing on the fear by saying that granting NJ the vote will make Japan disappear. Read on to see scans: This is why we need laws against hate speech in Japan -- to prevent the knock-on effects of fear by anonymous bullies being further fanned by the profit motive and marketing sharks.

FRANCA (Foreign Residents and Naturalized Citizens Association), an NGO founded last year and registered with the Japanese government to look out for the interests of long-term NJ and naturalized Japanese, will be having two meetings this month. FRANCA Sendai Meeting Sunday, March 21, 2010, 1:30-4:30PM. Place: AER Building next to Sendai station (El Solar Meeting Room 1, 28F), from 13:30 to 16:30. Please attend and bring a friend or the family! More details and contacts at FRANCA Sendai FRANCA Tokyo Meeting Saturday March 27, 2010; 6PM-9PM International House of Japan 5-11-16 Roppongi Minato-ku, Tokyo Meeting Name - FRANCA How to get there at http://www.i-house.or.jp/en/ihj/access.html Please consider attending and finding out more about what we can do for each other. I'll be giving a presentation on what FRANCA is, what it's done so far, and what we could have it do in future with your help.

Debito.org Reader BT commenting about culture once again being invoked as a defense: Here's an interview about Toyota recalls in the US, with "Hideo Kobayashi, a visiting professor at Yokohama National University's Center for Risk Management and Safety Sciences". I'm talking specifically about these two quotes: "Q: Wasn't Toyota's confidence in product quality one of the factors that led to its sloppy handling of the situation? A: Can what people in Japan consider "good quality" be also considered good in the United States, which has a more diversified population? Japanese people generally have high driving skills and similar physical features. But the United States, whose society was more or less built by immigrants, has people with various physical features and behavioral patterns. To get a driver's license, you don't need the sort of skills that are required in Japan.." (The "we're superior" routine) And, "Q: Some say the reaction to Toyota's problems has an aspect of "Japan bashing" about it. What is your view? A: With American companies such as General Motors Corp. going under and Toyota doing well in sales, there naturally is an aspect of Japan bashing. But this is something that has to be overcome." (The "poor, poor Japan" routine)...

Japan Times: At least 70 detainees at the West Japan Immigration Control Center, which has long been criticized by human rights groups and Diet members, have been on a hunger strike since Monday, center officials and volunteers helping them confirmed Thursday. Activist Sano-san reports: Our group decided not to use [name deleted's] name on articles that goes to public from now on. He has hepatitis B and has fever since December. Obviously bad health condition. But the center is not taking to him to the hospital, and also did I mention that they share the same razor to shave? We talked to Nishimura at the center, but they denied it , and said that each razor has the number so that the detainee will know which one is his. Detainees said there is no number on the razor. Nishimura also said that razors are sterilized after detainees use them.

UNITED NATIONS REVIEWS JAPAN 1) Kyodo: GOJ criticized by UN CERD (once again) for inaction towards racial discrim; GOJ stresses "discrim not rampant" 2) UN: Transcript of the Japanese Government CERD Review (76th Session), Feb 24 & 25, Geneva. Point: Same GOJ session tactics as before. 3) UNHCR CERD Recommendation 30 (2004): UN says non-citizens equally protected under treaty and domestic law as citizens 4) UN Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights of Migrants Jorge Bustamante visiting Japan 3/21 - 4/1 SOME ODD DEVELOPMENTS 5) DPJ backs down from suffrage bill for NJ Permanent Residents, as "postponement". Hah. 6) Emily Homma on Filipina nurses in Japan being abused by GOJ EPA visa program 7) MOJ removes "health insurance" as guideline for visa renewals SOME ODDER TANGENTS 8 ) Newsweek column: "Toyota and the End of Japan" 9) 2-Channel BBS downed by Korean cyberhackers 10) China Daily publishes snotty anti-laowai article DEBITO'S MARCH TOUR: 11) Tokyo-Sendai-Shiga Schedule March 19 to April 3 ... and finally ... 12) Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE column March 2, 2010 on Racist Sumo Kyoukai (full text)

Let me forward something to you about conditions in Japan's Immigration Detention Centers (better known as "Gaijin Tanks") -- an activist named Sano-san who wants to draw long-overdue attention to widespread abuse of NJ in these notorious extralegal prisons. Link to Japan Times article substantiating Sano-san's claims follows her email. Reporters, be in touch with her (or me at debito@debito.org) if you want more information. The extralegal powers of Japan's police forces are atrocious, and they are especially bad when people fall completely outside the legal system (as in, NJ detainees not tried and convicted criminals, with a term-limited sentence and minimum prison conditions as stipulated by law; these are people who can be held indefinitely in crowded conditions, without oversight, access to exercise, medical care, hygiene, etc.) They just happen to be NJ (because Gaijin Tanks cannot hold Japanese) and thus remain shrouded in even more secrecy than usual (as people assume they're full of riffraff trying to come in and take advantage of Rich Citadel Japan) and operate under the media radar. Trying to remedy that. Sano-san: Ibaraki Detention Center is a very brutal and abusive place to be. Since March 8th, about 80 male detainees are doing hunger strike. Japan Times: Detainees allege abuse at Kansai holding center Guards meting out harsh treatment behind the walls of Ibaraki immigration facility, say inmates

I just heard yesterday from NGOs concerned with human rights in Japan that I will be part of a group meeting with Mr Jorge Bustamante, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, on March 23 in Tokyo. I will have twenty minutes to make a presentation regarding exclusions of NJ in Japan in violation of UN CERD treaty. Is there anything you'd like me to say? I already have some ideas here (see Chapter 2). But I'm open to suggestions and feedback. If there is anything you would like me to present him, please send me at debito@debito.org. Please keep submissions concise, under 2 sides of A4 paper (meaning one sheet front and back) when formatted and printed. To give you some idea of format, I've given presentations to UN Rapporteurs before, particularly Dr Doudou Diene back in 2005 and 2006. The archive on that here. I will of course make the case that the GOJ is being intransigent and unreflective of reality when asserts, again and again, that Japan does not need a law against racial discrimination. And in violation of its international treaty promises. The floor is open, everyone. Thanks very much for your assistance. Arudou Debito, Chair, NGO Foreign Residents and Naturalized Citizens Association (FRANCA)

What follows is the full text of the GOJ's meeting Feb 24-25, 2010, with the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, something it faces for review every two years. Media-digested highlights of this meeting already up on Debito.org here. Although it was noteworthy for having 14 Japanese delegates from five different ministries (something the UN delegates remarked upon repeatedly), quite frankly, the 2010 session wasn't much different from the previous two reviews. In that: The CERD Committee tells the GOJ to do something, and the GOJ gives reasons why things can't change (or offers cosmetic changes as evidence that things are changing; it even cites numerous times the new Hatoyama Government as evidence of change, and as a reason why we can't say anything conclusive yet about where human rights improvements will happen). The 2008 review was particularly laughable, as it said that Japan was making "every conceivable measure to fight against racial discrimination". I guess an actual law against racial discrimination isn't a conceivable measure. As the GOJ delegates say below, it still isn't. But it is according to the CERD Committee below. In sum, the biannual to-and-fro has become Grand Kabuki. And while things got bogged down in the standard "minority" questions (Ainu, Ryukyuans, Burakumin, and Zainichis -- all worthy causes in themselves, of course), very little time was spent on "Newcomer" minorities, as in, the NJ (or former-NJ) immigrants who are now here long-term. People like me, as in racially-diverse Japanese, aren't seen as a minority yet, even though we very definitely are by any UN definition. Plus, hardly any time was devoted at all to discussing the "Japanese Only" signs extant throughout Japan for many UN sessions now, the most simple and glaring violation of the CERD yet. I haven't the time to critique the whole session text below, but you can look at the 2008 session here (which I did critique) and get much the same idea. I have put certain items of interest to Debito.org in boldface, and here are some pencil-dropping excerpted quotes:

Here's a valuable document I unearthed when doing research yesterday. One of the major arguments put forth by nativists seeking to justify discrimination against minorities (or rather, against foreigners in any society) is the argument that foreigners, since they are not citizens, ipso facto don't have the same rights as citizens, including domestic protections against discrimination. The GOJ has specifically argued this to the United Nations in the past, repeatedly (see for example GOJ 1999, page down to Introduction, section 3). However, the UN, in a clarification of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, has made it clear that non-citizens are supposed to be afforded the same protections under the CERD as citizens. To quote the most clear and concise bit: =========================== II. Measures of a general nature 7. Ensure that legislative guarantees against racial discrimination apply to non-citizens regardless of their immigration status, and that the implementation of legislation does not have a discriminatory effect on non-citizens; =========================== This was issued way back in 2004. I'm reading a transcript of the discussions between the GOJ and the CERD Committee review during their review Feb 24-25 2010 (in which it was referred, and even mentioned granting foreigners suffrage not beyond the pale of rights to be granted). I'll have the full text of that up on Debito.org tomorrow with some highlighting. Meanwhile, enjoy this gem. Something else for the GOJ to ignore.

Newsweek's Devin Stewart: Japan was morbidly fascinated by the spectacle of Toyota president Akio Toyoda apologizing to the U.S. Congress for the deadly defects that led to the recall of 10 million of its cars worldwide. The appearance of the "de facto captain of this nation's manufacturing industry," as Japan's largest newspaper referred to Toyoda, seemed to symbolize a new bottom for a nation in decline. Once feared and admired in the West, Japan has stumbled for decades through a series of lackluster leaders and dashed hopes of revival. This year, Japan will be overtaken by China as the world's second-largest economy. Through it all, though, Japan could cling to one vestige of its former prestige: Toyota—the global gold standard for manufacturing quality. And now this. Toyota is getting lampooned all over the world in cartoons about runaway cars. Japan's reputation for manufacturing excellence, nurtured for half a century, is now in question. Shielded by the U.S. defense umbrella after World War II, Japan focused its energy and money on building up only one aspect of national power: quality manufacturing. A foreign policy commensurate with Japan's economic strength was subordinated to industrial policies aimed at creating the world's best export factories. No matter how quickly Chinese and South Korean rivals grew, Japan could argue that its key competitive advantage was the quality of its brands. "Toyota was a symbol of recovery during our long recession," says Ryo Sahashi, a public-policy expert at the University of Tokyo. Now Toyota's trouble "has damaged confidence in Japanese business models and the economy at a time when China is surpassing us."...

Debito.org Reader R: I found this article in China Daily online the other day and thought: - there is discrimination in Japan, but hopefully it won't get as obvious as the tone of this article. Can you imagine this kind of article about "Gaijin" in Japan (FYI, Laowai means Gaijin in China) published in a serious english newspaper, like Japan Times for example ? - this article reminded me of your work. unfortunately we have nobody like you in China to prevent that kind of article from being published :-(Because the truth is I was very shocked by the tone if this article and how it pictures white people living in China. Well, I know it doesn't talk about Japan at all, but I thought you could be interested by what happens in our neighbour country...

As a Weekend Tangent, we have the lair of bullies and libelers, Internet BBS "2-Channel", getting something back for their nastiness -- a hack attack taking them down. Sometimes when legal channels are ineffective to stop illegal activity (such as libel), there is no choice but to use extralegal means, as the Koreans did below. Compare it with the Right-Wing J sound trucks that went after Brazilians at Homi Danchi, and got firebombed for their trouble. Couldn't have happened to nicer people, even though the big, big fish, Nishimura, has long since jumped ship. Here's hoping the Internet nits are stupid enough to attack some real domestic powers and finally have some laws against their activities created. More of my opinions about 2-Channel here. Debito.org's complete archive here.

MARCH-APRIL 2010 SCHEDULE FRI MAR 19 MORIOKA SAT MAR 20 MORIOKA SUN MAR 21 SENDAI FRANCA MEETING 1PM MON MAR 22 TOKYO TUES MAR 23 TOKYO INTERNING JPN IMMIG POLICY INSTITUTE WED MAR 24 INTERNING JIPI, MEETING 7PM THURS MAR 25 SHIGA UNIVERSITY SPEECH 1:30PM-5PM FRI MAR 26 INTERNING JIPI SAT MAR 27 TOKYO FRANCA MEETING 6PM-9PM SUN MAR 28 free day as yet MON MAR 29 INTERNING JIPI, JIPI SPEECH 7PM-9:30 PM TUES MAR 30 INTERNING JIPI WEDS MAR 31 INTERNING JIPI THURS APR 1 INTERNING JIPI FRI APR 2 INTERNING JIPI last day SAT APR 3 return to Sapporo If you are in the area and have time, do stop by or get in touch (debito@debito.org) for some beers etc. Still open for speeches (I'm doing all this at my own expense) if something can be thrown together at short notice.

Time for some good news, for a change. After some negotiations, the MOJ has dropped the requirement that people be enrolled in Japanese health insurance programs. So sez Freechoice.jp below. Now, while I acknowledge that this source has a conflict of interest (being funded by the very overseas agencies that want to sell health insurance, meaning their motives are not altruistic; its claim that they are the only news source on this is a bit suss too, given the Japan Times reported this development last February), this requirement for visas would have forced many people, who hadn't paid in due to negligent employers, to back pay a lot of money just for a visa renewal. That it is no longer a requirement is good news, and now that we have formal acknowledgment of such in writing from the GOJ is the final nail.

Mainichi: The government has abandoned proposing a bill to grant local voting rights to permanent foreign residents in Japan during the current Diet session, in the face of intense opposition from coalition partner People's New Party (PNP). "It's extremely difficult for the government to sponsor such a bill due to differences over the issue between the ruling coalition partners," said Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi... PNP leader and Minister of State for Financial Services Shizuka Kamei stressed his strong opposition against the measure, saying his party would not allow the enactment of the suffrage bill. Moreover, the DPJ itself seems to be split over the issue. Although the foreign suffrage bill is an "important bill" that DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa has been promoting, a forceful submission of the bill could cause a rift within the party, and the discussion over the matter has stalled.

The Japan Sumo Association announced on Feb. 23 that it would limit sumo stables to one foreign wrestler each. Since there are only 52 stables, and only about 800 sumo wrestlers in total registered with the JSA, this funnels things down considerably. Worse, the JSA will now define "foreign" as "foreign-born" (gaikoku shusshin), meaning even naturalized Japanese citizens will be counted as "foreign." This, according to the Yomiuri, closes a "loophole" (nukemichi). Sorry folks, but this rule is unlawful under Japan's Nationality Law, not to mention the Constitution. Neither allows distinctions between foreign-born and Japanese-born citizens. Under the law, a Japanese is a Japanese — otherwise, what is the point of naturalizing? OK then, how about unleveling the playing field overseas for sports that Japanese are good at? Limit, say, American Major League Baseball teams to one Japanese player — even if they take American citizenship? If you really want to get pernickety, you can say that Americans of Japanese extraction are also "Japanese," kinda like two governments famously did for Japanese- Americans and Japanese-Canadians during World War II when deciding whom to send to internment camps. No doubt that would occasion outcries of racism by the Japanese media, the watchdogs for how Japanese are treated overseas (yet significantly less so regarding how NJ are treated in Japan). But that wouldn't be good for the sport. Talent in athletes spans borders. More than a quarter of all active baseball players in the U.S. (28.4 percent) were foreign-born in 2009. That's a good thing. If you want to have a healthy sport, you get the best of the best competing in it. Everyone given a sporting chance, regardless of nationality or birth. But hey, that's not the concern of now-bona-fide certified racist institutions like the JSA. All they want is for Japanese to win.

Emily Homma reports: "EPA Foreign Nurses and Caregivers Working in Japan Urgently Need Help The Economic Partnership Agreement of Japan (EPA) with other countries, especially with the Philippines (JPEPA), has placed many Filipino nurses and caregivers working in Japan in a miserable situation where they are subjected to unfair labor practices, extreme pressure to study kanji, and poor salaries. When they arrived in Japan in May 2009, the Filipino nurses and caregivers were glad to be finally given the opportunity to serve Japanese society as hospital workers. However, after only six months of Nihongo study and three months of hospital work in hospital, the Filipino nurses along with their Indonesian counterparts have been suffering from various hardships not only from unfair work policies, low salaries, and local workers’ rejection but also from strong pressure to master medical-nursing kanji and the Japan nursing system. It is a system that, unfortunately for the foreign workers, only those with high level-Grade 12 Japanese training or nursing graduates could understand. Specifically, the Filipino nurses find themselves in the following extremely frustrating situations that leave them no choice but contemplate leaving Japan soon:...

Just a quick word today to let people know my latest Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE column comes out tomorrow morning (Weds in the provinces), on the racist decision by the Japan Sumo Association to limit sumo stables to one "foreigner", and determine "foreigner" by place of birth (regardless of naturalization). It's a more sophisticated version of the angry blog entry I did on this last week. Get a copy!

Here we have some preliminary reports coming out of Geneva regarding the UN CERD Committee's review of Japan's human rights record vis-a-vis racial discrimination. We have the GOJ claiming no "rampant discrimination", and stressing that we still need no law against RD for the same old reasons. This despite the rampant discrimination that NGOs are pointing out in independent reports. Read on. Excerpts: (Kyodo)—Japan does not need laws to combat racial discrimination, a Japanese official said Thursday as Japan's racism record was examined by the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. "Punitive legislation on racial discrimination may hamper legitimate discourse," Mitsuko Shino of the Japanese Foreign Ministry told a session in Geneva. "And I don't think the situation in Japan is one of rampant discrimination, so we will not be examining this now."... [UN official] Thornberry particularly criticized Japan's lack of laws to combat hate speech, saying "in international law, freedom of expression is not unlimited." The convention commits states to fight racial discrimination by taking such steps as restricting racist speech and criminalizing membership in racist organizations. Japan has expressed reservations about some of the provisions, which it says go against its commitment to freedom of expression and assembly. Prior to the review, Japanese nongovernmental organizations presented various examples they say highlight the need for legislative action to fight racism in their country. "There seems to have been little progress since 2001," when the last review was held, committee member Regis de Gouttes said. "There is no new legislation, even though in 2001 the committee said prohibiting hate speech is compatible with freedom of expression." UPDATES: Correspondence with the UN reveals that the CERD Committee is doing a lot more than Kyodo reports.

For Sunday easy listening (well, maybe not), here's my most recent DEBITO.ORG PODCAST dated March 1, 2010. Contents: Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 9, "Truth Octane and the Dilution of Debate" (November 4, 2008) Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 10, "Stray thoughts on Obama's election" (December 2, 2008) Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Column 11, "Human Rights in Japan: A Review of 2008" (January 6, 2009) Listen here or subscribe for free via iTunes (search term: Debito.org).

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 27, 2010 Table of Contents: WHY THINGS DON'T CHANGE 1) Dejima Award for racist Sumo Kyoukai: Decides to count naturalized Japanese as foreigners and limit stables to one "foreigner" (this will be the subject of my next JAPAN TIMES JUST BE CAUSE column, due out March 2, 2010) 2) Colin Jones and Daily Yomiuri on J judiciary's usurpingly paternal attitudes re families post-divorce 3) SMJ/NGO combined report for UN CERD Committee regarding Japan's human rights record 4) Kyodo & Mainichi: 14 prefectures now oppose NJ PR suffrage (Debito.org names them) WHY THINGS ARE CHANGING 5) International community serves demarche to MOFA re Int'l Child Abductions Issue, Jan 30 2010 6) Int'l Child Abductions Issue: USG formally links support to GOJ re DPRK abductions with GOJ's signing of Hague Treaty 7) Japan Times: Foreign press pulling out of Japan in favor of China 8 ) Kyodo: NJ "Trainees" win Y17 million for trainee abuses by employer and "broker" 9) DailyFinance.com: McDonald's Japan loses big, shutting 430 outlets, thanks in part to "Mr James" campaign 10) Japan Times: Immigration dropping social insurance requirement for visa renewal 11) Comfort Hotel Nagoya unlawfully tries Gaijin Card check on NJ resident, admits being confused by GOJ directives THEN THERE IS OUTRIGHT NASTINESS 12) Tokyo Edogawa-ku LDP flyer, likens granting NJ PR suffrage to UFO alien invasion. Seriously. 13) Mainichi: Rwandan Refugee applicant jailed for weeks for not having photograph on GOJ-issued document 14) Ariel updates experience with not-random Gaijin Card and Passport Checks by Narita cops 15) Day Care Center in Tokorozawa, Saitama teaches toddlers "Little Black Sambo", complete with the epithets 16) Kyodo et.al falls for NPA spins once again, headlines NJ "white collar crime" rise despite NJ crime fall overall 17) Laura Petrescu, MEXT Scholar, update: Bowing out of Japan, reasons why. TANGENTS 18) Olympic Tangent: US-born Reed siblings skate for "Team Japan" despite one being too old to have dual nationality 19) UK Independent: Toyota's problems being pinned on foreign parts. 20) Debito.org Poll: "Are you rooting for Team Japan in the Vancouver Olympics?" Vote on any blog page http://www.debito.org 21) LA Times: "Korea activists target foreign English teachers" 22) Odd treatment of "naturalized" people (guess who) by Air Canada/Canadian Government at Narita Airport 23) Dentistry in Canada, wow, what a difference! ... and finally ... 24) SAPPORO SOURCE DEBITO column on Middle Age (full text)

It's that time of year again. Time for the National Police Agency (NPA) Spring Offensive and Media Blitz against foreign crime. Article, then comment, then some original Japanese articles, to observe yet again how NJ are being criminalized by Japanese law enforcement and our domestic media: No. of white-collar crimes by foreigners up by 31.2% in 2009 Thursday 25th February, 2010 Kyodo News TOKYO — The National Police Agency detected 964 white-collar crimes by visiting foreigners in Japan last year, up 31.2% from the previous year, it said Thursday. The number of visiting foreigners charged with such crimes came to 546, up 7.9%, according to the NPA. It said notable among the crimes was teams using faked credit cards. The overall number of crimes committed by all foreigners in the reporting year fell 11.1% to 27,790, with 13,282 people, down 4.3%, charged, the NPA said. COMMENT: Yep. Same old same old. Parrot the NPA: Highlight the NJ crime rises, and play down the fact that NJ crime overall has gone down. And of course no depiction of J "white collar" (whatever that means) crime numbers, nor their ups or downs to give a sense of scale.

Pursuant to the discussions we've had on Debito.org about exclusionary hotels, here's an email I got last month regarding Comfort Hotel Nagoya's treatment of a NJ customer, and how Debito.org empowered her to stand up for herself. Well done. Even the management says the administrative guidance offered by the authorities, as in the law requiring ID from NJ tourists vs. the official (but erroneous) demands that all NJ show ID, is confusing them. And since I've pointed this out several times both in print and to the authorities (and the US Government itself has also asked for clarification) to no avail, one can only conclude that the GOJ is willfully bending the law to target NJ (or people who look foreign) clients just because they think they can. Don't let them. Do what SM did below and carry the law with you.

In one more step to define Japan's slide into international irrelevance, the national sport (kokugi) has decided to turn not only exclusionary, but also undeniably racist. The Japan Sumo Association announced this week that it will no longer count naturalized Japanese sumo wrestlers as "real Japanese". Then it will limit each stable to one "foreign" wrestler, meaning "foreignness" is a matter of birth, not a legal status. This is a move, we are told by the media, to stop sumo from being "overrun with foreign wrestlers". That means that if I wanted to become a sumo wrestler, I would become a foreigner again. Even though I've spent nearly a quarter of my life (as in close to ten years) as a Japanese citizen in Japan. Well, fuck you very much, Sumo Kyoukai. You are the shame of Japan.