On December 4, 20o9, a Korean school in Kyoto was attacked by members of xenophobic groups.
Youtube video with English subtitles:
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/video/youtube/2szx-WWR0rw
"Zaitokukai," the same group as one that sabotaged the exhibit on the "comfort women" issue in Mitaka this summer, is involved with this incident.
See the Kyodo News report below.
I feel enraged to find out such racist acts are being tolerated and not reported widely enough in my country of origin. Can you imagine, if something like this happened in Canada or in the US, what the consequences would be?
Here is the link to the Japan Today news.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/men-yell-children-of-spies-at-korean-school-in-kyoto
They may cut the link soon, so I pasted the whole news below.
(Kyodo News)
> KYOTO
> A group of around 10 men yelled ‘‘children of spies’’ through a bullhorn at the main gate of a Korean elementary school in the city of Kyoto earlier this month, sources with knowledge of the matter said Friday. Around 170 children were at the school at the time. Regarding the act as a hate crime, the school will file a criminal complaint against the men with the Kyoto prefectural police next week, the sources said.
>
> As the school was keeping some of its equipment in a municipal government-controlled park in front of its building, the group went to protest against ‘‘the illegal occupation,’’ according to its leader, Makoto Sakurai.
>
> Since the school does not have a schoolyard, it uses the park for gym classes. While the municipal government has allowed the school to use the park, the school and neighboring residents were expected to discuss the matter early next year.
>
> Video footage shot by the school showed some of the men carrying the equipment and asking school officials to open the gate. The officials told the men, ‘‘This is a school,’’ but they yelled, ‘‘This is not a school,’’ and, ‘‘Let’s push Korean schools out of Japan.’’
It is never comfortable for me to dislose these shameful acts happening in my country of origin, but I still do this, because these people need to know they cannot get away with what they are doing and that the international community is watching.
何とも悲しく、腹立たしい事件でしょうか。
ReplyDelete日本の憲兵隊も、ドイツのゲスタポも、ここカナダでは１００年以上前から第二次大戦が終わったその後までも中国・日本・インド出身のアジア人を攻撃した白人レイシストも、必ずその背後には憎しみを人の心に植え付け、戦争を起こしては儲ける「ドン」がいます。「満州事変」の背後に三井がいたのと同様に。今回の事件で学校の前でプラカを持って子どもたちを脅かしていたのは、そういったドンの手先にすぎません。命令に従って「ナンボ」のお猿芸です。
こんな「やらせ」の事件が発生した時にこそ忘れてはならないのは、こういったチンピラたちも、更に言うならチンピラどもを黙って見ていたヒラ警官も、弱い立場の人。ドンの命令を聞かなければ「キャリア」にひびく、そしてもっと「もの聞きの良い」者と交替させられる。もちろんチンピラのやってる事は、どこの文明国の文化・法・宗教と照り合わせても「人道に反する行為」と見なされるものであり、それを見て見ぬ振りをする警察の（非）行為も「義務の放棄」てす。でも最大の悪党どもは、８０年前に儲けたさのあまり自国民を騙して戦争で殺させ、死なせたような奴ら。東京裁判で不思議にも問われなかったような奴ら。麻生太郎あたりに聞けば、名前の一つや二つは知ってるでしょう。
今の日本をこういった無法者の手から取り返したければ、命令を聞かなくてはならない立場にある人たちより、命令を下す大無法者に焦点を当てなくてはなりません。私の提案は、京都県警長官、外務大臣、文部大臣などに「今回の事件の仕掛人が誰であり、違法行為を見過ごすよう警察官に命令を下したのは誰であり、誰がこれらについて調査するのか」との趣旨の連名公開書簡を送付する事。これは、事件の被害者ではなく、日本の市民がやるべきです。
平和あれ
お元気で活躍のことと思います。さ
ReplyDeleteて、こうした日本人の外国人排斥は、今に始まった事
ではなく、日本固有の問題でも無いとは思うが、あな
たが言われるように，日本人が（カネその他）で操ら
れているばかりではないと思う。こうした人達の論
理、例えば，ここで語られている朝鮮人の子供達が
「スパイの。。」という北朝鮮人を全てスパイと看做
すなどということには何の根拠もない。やはり問題
は、誰か後ろで糸を引く人間がいるにしろいないにし
ろ、現実行動（右翼とそれに迎合する警察の）が法律
違反であることを多くの日本人が指摘して警察内部の
良心ある部分が適当な処置をするように要求するべき
でしょう。このあたりが、日本人の事なかれ主義的態
度の問題ですね。それにしても最近の日本は、右翼的
暴力の威嚇がおおぴっらになり、言論の自由を盾に相
手側を黙らせる雰囲気が強くなっている。今のうち
に、こうした芽を取り締まらないと、ファシズム的雰
囲気が出来てしまう危険が感じられる。
Thank you for informing us about this issue. This kind of coward behavior should not be tolerated.
ReplyDeleteWatching the Youtube video made me cry.
ReplyDeleteOnce again I'm reminded of many stories of the Japanese racism and brutalities against Koreans for many decades. Especially, I think of those Koreans who were forcibly taken to Japan for labor during WW II and couldn't return home.I heard some horrible stories what happened to them and their children. In some cases, they were brutally massacred or murdered. And many of their children tried to hide their
Korean identity, not because they were ashamed but frightened.
While I'm outraged and distressed that such shameful acts of racism
still go on in Japan, I am still hopeful because of those Japanese
people such as you and your colleagues in Japan and abroad who continue striving to change the world.
I think because you are so conscientious and live in Vancouver
ReplyDeletewhich is a relatively liberal place--although white supremacists
(neo-Nazis, Skinheads) live there as well as in Seattle and Portland.
After all, the Pacific Northwest is one of the major areas where
Japanese North Americans were driven out and imprisoned (as well
as Chinese North Americans--as Jean Pfaelzer has written about in
her great book: "Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese
Americans." (http://www.udel.edu/PR/drivenout/)
I think because you grew up in Japan, your field of vision is able
to see a widespread perspective in Japan that tolerates hate. However,
because you have not lived throughout North America, you don't as
readily see the equally hate-tolerant widespread perspectives
in N. America. I have lived throughout the US and have been shocked
repeatedly by
widespread and common racism - especially against Native Americans,
Americans
and immigrants of Mexican, Latino, Middle Eastern, South Asian, East
Asian heritage, as well as ongoing discrimination against African
Americans who are not from elite backgrounds.
There is widespread tolerance of racism on talk radio, FOX and CNN,
especially towards Mexican and Latino immigrants). In Japan, you
see this kind of inflammatory racism on Channel 2, but not on NHK,
which is liberal, educated, and high-minded--even if it has submitted
to censorship in highly publicized instances.
Racism in North America is worse than in Japan. While the
mentally disturbed right-wingers yelled at elementary school children
in Kyoto, in the US there have been violent attacks
on school children. It was only a forty decades ago that American
Ku Klux Klan members bombed and lynched African
American schoolchildren. I hear about verbal assaults on children
of color happening frequently in the US today. A postal clerk called
a friend's son a "monkey," in the same way Republicans have
created cartoons of Obama recently.
Just a few years ago, there was a television show in that came
from the UK to the US where Japanese people were made to look
buck-toothed, squinty-eyed, and stupid. This is a common caricature
of Asians in the UK and North America. And I can't even go near
European racism which is deep-rooted and the source of North
American and other imperialistic forms of colonial racism. We should
not forget that it was only decades ago that Australians and North
Americans removed aboriginal children from their homes to be schooled
as "whites"--in physically, sexually, emotionally, as well as culturally
violent environments. The last Canadian "residential school" only
closed in 1996!
With this comparative background, I am not excusing the right-wing
verbal
attack in Kyoto.
It's grotesque and bizarre. But I don't think it compares with the
systematic abuse of children of color and ongoing discrimination in
North America.
To deal with them, I suggest compassion and empathy that that would
be so mentally and emotionally sick (similarly to North American
white supremacist culture), that they would target children. That is
the opposite
of what they expect -- it's what Dr. King did with the white people
in Chicago who spit on him, threw rocks at him, and what thousands
of Civil Rights marchers did to the white supremacists in the American
South who lynched them, burned their churches, and bombed their
children.
It's important to send out love towards their hate, while condemning
their
acts, and expressing attention towards all the wonderful Japanese
who watch Korean television, eat Korean food, marry Koreans, and
try to express normal humanity in everyday terms. There are plenty
of healthy, good, decent Japanese people -- just as there are in the
UK, Europe,
and North America despite their sick, racist histories -- and we need
to put on spotlight on these healthy people of good will if we want
to amplify and support their agency in our world.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments and for educating me with your wide-ranging knowledge of racism in North America. I think it makes sense that I see Japan as a more hate-tolerant society than North America because I know Japan better than I know North America. I also appreciate your introduction of compassionate approach to hate. I know people who hate, people who commit crimes are deprived of love. This is the kind of message I got from this film Power of Forgiveness. While the wrong deed should be prosecuted and the perpetrator should be held responsible, love and forgiveness can be granted at the same time. Justice and forgiveness can go hand-in-hand. It is easier said than done. How do we approach these zaitokukai people with love and compassion? I will keep that question in mind while I travel... thank you again.
ReplyDeleteThere will be an Emergency meeting in Kyoto to protest against the Zaitokukais' action and the police ambivalence. Information in Japanese here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~mingakko/sasaeruki091204c.htm
In English here:
http://tenthousandthingsfromkyoto.blogspot.com/2009/12/emergency-meeting-to-protest-aggression.html
and here:
http://liralen42.xanga.com/718646664/emergency-gathering-stop-aggression-towards-korean-schools-kyoto-tues-dec-22nd-7pm/