Opinion
Doudou Diène UN Special Rapporteur’s Mission to Japan
As a change for today, I’ll have a look at the recent report (note: Microsoft Word document) released by the UN’s Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Doudou Diène, on his mission to Japan, casting my eye in particular over some of the statistics that appear in this report. This seems to be a draft, so hopefully it gets rewritten before the official release.
Note that of course I am in favour of Japanese legislation against most forms of racial discrimination, but I am a bit sceptical of some of the methods employed by some of the activists, and I can see in this document hints of these tactics that I dislike.
Note also that I am a white guy with a full-time æ£ç¤¾å“¡, seishain post at a major Japanese firm and a Permenant Residency permit, so feel free to take that into account when reading my position.
Finally note that calling into doubt the exact scale or shape of various forms of discrimination does not mean I am denying that it exists at all or that it is a problem. In particular, the description of the Koreans’ living conditions in Utoro is shocking!
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