News headlines that disturb

"Foreigner busted for record ecstasy haul"

This is a very common type of headline in Japan, with no mention of
the perp's nationality, just that he/she is foreign. Sigh. It's more
disturbing that it's in the English press, meaning there's someone
more or less fluent in English doing the editing and letting such
biased headlines go through.

John W.

Probably you are suffering from Issho Kikaku mental disease.
That is because the man's nationality (allegedly Russian) is not confirmed.
In Japanese news reports, the man is said to be "allegedly Russian." The
fact that the man is a foreigner is most probably correct, hence the
description of "a foreigner."
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

I don't have issho Kikaku disease; I never once mentioned human rights, onsen, or the Crusader.

John W.

:If he's allegedly Russian, say a man committed a crime, and he's allegedly Russian. The problem

How?

Since you wrote that a "man" has committed a crime, do you admit yourself as
a sexist then? This is the sick aspect of that PC mental disease.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

Okay, maybe would could write in and tell them to change the title to -
"Alleged Russian man busted for alleged record ecstasy haul"

Great headline.

What's wrong with it? I assume the suspect, is indeed, a foreigner so
where's the problem? Would you prefer criminals to be divided according to
nationality? race, length of genitilia?

Ed

>
> Hey Shuji, can you cite some references for that disorder in the
> relevant psychiatric journals in Japan?
>
> I didn't see it in the DSM-IV.

Oh, wow, that brings back memories. I read DSM-III back in
college. (Don't ask.) Great fun, I ended up convinced that i was
totally nuts. Turns out i was wrong.

--
Osugi Sakae

"E. Mills" wrote:

For starters -- and you know this to be true, or else you're not nearly as
observant as I thought you were -- foreigners in Japan are often, by the greater
population, lumped into one big group. This leads to many negative consequences
(such as the Crusaders issue with the onsen). I see nothing wrong with
classifying 'people' (criminal or not, positive story or not) as what they are.
Members of a nation, a social group, a town, etc. What's wrong with saying a
person living in a certain area (of Japan) committed a crime, and he is
susptected of being Russian? If he has no fixed address, say so, just like you
would for a Japanese of no fixed address.

It's a naive dream, I know, but the mainstream news media, in theory, is
supposed to present news with an even hand.

John W.

No, because he was a man. As a doctor, you should know the difference. That is a fact that isn't up for
debate. Most of us fit into either male or female.

John W.

The same thing goes with a "foreigner." What is your problem?
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

I think that you have been in Japan long enough to know that usual news
reports list the addresses of the suspects, "like XX ken XX shi XX chou,"
when it is possible. I do not think "somewhere in Russia" is much
different from them.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

It's a purely academic argument, because the media (anyplace, really) doesn't easily
or quickly change hard-boiled ways.

John W.

I did a masters thesis on how the Japanese media's portrayal of women enforces social stereotypes, so I
could make that argument here. But that's not the topic, and it really isn't important in this case. You're
taking (logically) a very Japanese view of this. "What's the difference between 'male/female' and
'Japanese/foreigner'" is a pretty typical Japanese question (and it isn't the first time I've had this
discussion). The difference is perhaps academic. Biologically a person can only be male and female. However,
a person can be both Japanese and a foreigner, which is to say a person can be both japanese and Korean,
Japanese and American, Japanese and Australian, etc. When referring to gender, we don't have much of a
choice. But when referring to Japanese or not Japanese, there is a clear choice. To take this one step
further, when referring to a criminal, why should it even matter, in most cases, if the person is Japanese
or not Japanese? For the population of a given area it should be more important to know that a crime was
comitted by someone residing in that area, regardless of their nationality.

IMHO

John W.

Because it is usually difficult to locate the address.
If the foreign suspects have permanent residency in Japan, as in the
cases of Zainichi Koreans, the addresses are often written in detail.

In article <3BDCC414...@deja.com>,
John Worth <worth...@deja.com> wrote:

:"What's the difference between 'male/female' and

Biomedically speaking, you are not correct.
Some rare persons who are not XY or XX are neither male or female
in a strict sense. If the suspects are both American and Japanese,
news reports will say as such.

:But when referring to Japanese or not Japanese, there is a clear choice. To take this one step

To provide the public with the background information, I assume.
For example, the police investigation of a Russian suspect would
be quite different from that of a Japanese suspect. The police might
need the cooperation with the Russian authority, and the help
of a Russian translator. To allocate the extra budget necessary for
the investigation, the public have to know the basic facts regarding
the crimes. If the cost of the budget exceeds the merit of the immigration,
the public might try to change the immigration policy and restrict
issuing of the visas.

In any case, I don't think you have a valid reason for your rejection.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

I'm glad you brought that up.

It's logical to take a Japanese view? Or is it logical that Shuji is taking
a Japanese view?

Oh, goody gum-drops. An academic.

Hermaphrodites?

Hmmm.... So you are saying that dual-citizenship is a possibility. And here
none of us were aware of that before now.

So I can be a guy and Shuji can be Japanese? Cooool!

Because Japanese like to make the distinction and Japanese watch news shows
and read Japanese newspapers.

But they were informed that a crime was committed. Whatcha bitchin' about?
That the non-Japaneseness of the perpetrator was made public? He wasn't
Japanese was he?

Ed

In the country I grew up in (the UK) a headline like "Foreigner busted for
record ecstasy haul" would be considered inappropriate by many people. Some
of the tabloids (the Daily Mail comes to mind) might possibly run such a
headline, but it would never get into the broadsheets (i.e., the
"respectable" papers).

About six or seven years ago the Japanese press was having a field day about
a supposed huge surge in crimes by foreigners. Just out of interest, I got
one of my current affairs discussion groups to write down, secretly, the
percentage of crime they thought was committed by foreigners at that time.
Then they read a newspaper article on the subject that gave the true figure.
Virtually everyone in the class had overestimated the figure, some wildly.
One student cheerfully confessed he'd estimated over 50%! I can't remember
the true figure now, but it was less than the gaijin percentage of the
population, i.e., despite the hoo-hah in the press the crime rate among
foreigners was actually lower than that among Japanese, especially for
serious crimes (murder and suchlike).

Now, if a headline like this provoked Japanese readers into thinking, "Oh,
how weird! Overall, foreigners are more law-abiding than the rest of the
population [although I don't know if this is actually the case any longer],
so this is really quite an unusual situation," I guess it would be one
thing. But of course such headlines do not provoke such a response. Quite
the reverse.

Glekichi is quite right, though. The headline as it stands does a great job.
It sensationalises, it scandalises, it feeds and reinforces
prejudices...It's great gutter-press journalism.

As long as you are aware that that is what it is - gutter-press quality - it
doesn't really matter whether you think it's appropriate or not. The problem
lies with people who think it's "real" journalism - which would, of course,
be very insulting to journalists who take their profession seriously.

--
John

How do they write when they know the suspect is clearly a foreigner, but
does not have an identification to prove it?

:the true figure now, but it was less than the gaijin percentage of the

Are you Eric?

Here I repost the statistics.

http://www.npa.go.jp/toukei/keiji3/index.htm
The total number of serious offenses in Japan. (1-6) means "January to June".
The annual murders are about 1,300 in Japan. The US counterpart is 20 times
more.
99(1-6) 00(1-6)
murder offenses 626 653
offenders 617 628
robbery offenses 1,868 2,313
offenders 1,793 1,866
arson offenses 838 881
offenders 394 410
rape offenses 826 873
offenders 601 694

http://www.npa.go.jp/toukei/keiji3/index.htm
The number of murders committed by juveniles in Japan.
They are around 100 per year (~8% of total murders).
96 97 98 99 99(1-6) 00(1-6)
junior high school 3 7 12 8 1 4
high school 25 23 22 37 5 14
college/univ 0 1 1 2 2 1
job-training school 4 2 1 1 1 0
working juvenile 38 25 42 31 11 16
jobless juvenile 26 16 37 31 7 18
total 96 74 115 110 27 53

http://www.npa.go.jp/toukei/keiji3/index.htm
The number of serious offenses committed by visiting foreigners.
Foreigners commit roughly 50 murders per year (~4%), but the weight
is more on growing robbery, roughly 200 (~5%-~7%).
96 97 98 99 99(1-6) 00(1-6)
murder offenses 53 69 52 41 15 20
offenders 73 83 62 50 20 22
robbery offenses 84 87 130 195 85 81
offenders 114 103 160 278 130 112
arson offenses 7 14 3 12 1 4
offenders 7 11 3 1 1 4
rape offenses 18 17 43 19 10 14
offenders 18 16 26 18 13 10

http://www.npa.go.jp/toukei/keiji3/index.htm
The number of offenses committed by visiting foreigners according to
their nationality.
It is evident that about half of offenses are committed by mainland
Chinese, followed by Brazilians (16-18%). These two countries constitute
more than 60 % of total foreign offenses. If one adds Korea, Peru,
Philippine, Vietnam and Malaysia, the seven countries makes 91 %.
Other countries, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, are practically negligible.

99(1-6) % 00(1-6) %
North/South Korea 752 7.1 1,162 10.2
China 4,989 47.0 6,232 54.7
China (Taiwan) 88 0.8 63 0.6
China (Hong Kong) 28 0.3 49 0.4
Iran 36 0.3 67 0.6
Indonesia 44 0.4 55 0.5
Sri Lanka 8 0.1 9 0.1
Thailand 62 0.6 87 0.8
Pakistan 24 0.2 40 0.4
Philippine 531 5.0 250 2.2
Vietnam 545 5.1 216 1.9
Malaysia 371 3.5 108 1.0
Burma 47 0.4 13 0.1
England 8 0.1 13 0.1
France 3 0.0 9 0.1
Russia 81 0.8 66 0.6
USA 46 0.4 84 0.7
Columbia 178 1.7 17 0.1
Brazil 1,723 16.2 2,062 18.1
Peru 759 7.1 297 2.6
African countries 16 0.2 25 0.2
Oceanian countries 15 0.1 19 0.2
Total including others 10,633 100.0 11,394 100.0

http://www.moj.go.jp/TOUKEI/toukei.htm
The numbers of visiting foreigners according to their nationality (1999).
Note that three times more Taiwanese than mainland Chinese are visiting
Japan, but mainland Chinese commits about 60 times more offenses than
visiting Taiwanese. This clearly shows that the problem does not lie
in the language or race, but more in the society they belong to.
%
South Korea 1,160,034 23.7
China (Taiwan) 963,701 19.7
USA 720,142 14.7
China 327,005 6.7
China (Hong Kong) 208,172 4.2
England 188,036 3.8
Philippine 144,305 2.9
Others 24.3
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

Why would you think this? I had no idea this was the theory behind
news media, particularly if one examines the history of newspapers.
When was the day when the news media was evenhanded?

>John W.

Kevin R. Gowen, II
Florida State University College of Law
仏勒里達州立大学法学部
Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war,
and my fingers for battle- Psalms 144:1
My opinions are mine own and may not be interpreted as
representing Florida State University or any of its schools.

Why don't we split hairs a bit more? You know that we're not talking
about biomedical evidence; if we were, then nationality wouldn't even
be mentioned from the start.

Thank you. This is exactly my point. Why does the public need such
general background information? If you want to give the public
specific information, then give it in the headline. Remember: I'm
talking about the headline, not the article; it's the headline that
forms the first impression for a reader, and it's the headline that
determines whether or not the person actually reads the article. You'd
be surprised how many people get their news *only* from headlines.

I'm sure you're right. In this case, they'll actually go to the
consulate; the police doesn't depend on the news media to alert the
consulate there is a Russian suspected of a crime. That might be how
it works sometimes, but it's not the standard procedure.

That's because you've taken the argument well beyond my original
point, which was that the media shouldn't create such a bias in the
headline of a news story.

John W.

I didn't say I was an academic. I sincerely hope you're being
intentionally hyper sarcastic; otherwise, I sincerely hope you have no
job related to teaching and explaining the English language.

Thanks for pointing out my mistake. I meant to say 'Foreigner and
American' etc. Apologies for confusing you.

And that's the real problem, isn't it, when it comes to foreigners, as
in the larger foreign population, getting a fair shake in Japan.

You're taking this to the silly level. My 'complaint' is that the
media enforces the 'us' and 'them' mentality that exists in Japan.
Does this happen everywhere? Sure.

I don't know how else it can be explained.

John W.

John W.

> &#8226;§èÓ&#8212;¢&#8217;B B&#8212;§&#8216;å&#352;w&#8211;@&#352;w&#8226;&#8221;

> IWhen you compare Japan vs. the US, you will find that there are about
> 20 murders per 100,000 population in the US, and about 20 suicides per
> 100,000 population in Japan.
>
> I've asked this before: which country is sicker?

The morality of most Western countries is rooted in Christianity.

God said suicide is naughty so we view it with distaste..

Is it sick to have non Christian morals?
Mukade

Where is Mike Fester? It is your turn to add something more juvenile.

:You're taking this to the silly level. My 'complaint' is that the

Your "complaint" is the typical US/THEM mentality. DSD is simply its
juvenile caricature. What you are saying is "It (the way things
are represented in Japan) would be inappropriate in UK (or in USA)"
or in the case of Issho Kikaku or in the previous post by Ed Mills,
"The rest of the world does not think in that way, or is not like Japan."
In short, you are saying "We are more PC than you are."

That is the reason you cannot explain why it is okay to write "a man"
but not to write "a foreigner," since what is PC is by definition socially
and relatively defined in a value structure of the society. Just only
100 years ago, it was okay to hang niggers in USA, alright? The
situations are quite different today. Just several centuries ago, it was
your religious duty to rob the land of the natives and massacre them.
Such are the way "human rights" and "human" are historically and socially
defined. You are preaching me what the public should know. No, thank you.
We will define what we should know.

The really deceptive part of the Issho Kikaku disease such as yours
is it tries to negate US/THEM mentality, based on the US/THEM mentality
in the reverse direction: Japanese (THEY) and US (Echlon network countries)
are different.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

I have been thinking that your god also ordered not to kill people.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

If the Japan really has to treat foreigners equally, then we have
to treat them as mentally retarded imbeciles because most of them cannot
speak Japanese properly. Is that what you want? Probably no. You are
simply picking up things that make GAIJINs look good.

The media is treating individuals differently based on their difference.
Have you ever thought why they can list the correct addresses of
suspects? It is because the police identifies the suspects and locates their
address through registration system. If they have Juminhyo or a GAIJIN
card, then it is easy job for them. To locate the address of visiting
foreigners is not.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

That's the only side I have. I apologize if my sarcasm got a bit out of
hand. It's just that you took the long way home to get to a point that was
pointless.

And what is wrong with this? Foreigners can't get a fair shake when we are
all lumped together in one gaijin-sized lump? What about all the Russians
who will be lumped together in one giant Russian-sized lump? Do they have a
valid complaint that, even though they are Russian, they didn't do anything.
Hell, most of them don't even live in Japan.

Ed

matsuda wrote:

Don't assume he is my God Shuji.

After all, he belongs to Cindy.

Mukade

I dont think it really does matter that much.
But, if foreigner is not written, the default would be to think the criminal
was Japanese.
Japanese dont just lump foreigners into groups, they lump themselves into
groups too. By region, race, age, you name it.
I dont think it is bad.

because many Japanese categorise themselves, is not explaination enough to
understand why Australians and Argentinian should be considered the same.

Recently I was invited by a company I work with to dinner. It seemed that
there was another gaigin there who was a client, and they wanted another
gaijin along to speak with him.

Yep, he was Argentinian, I don't speak Portugese, or Spanish, and he didn't
speak English or Australian.... I guess we just got by in Gaijin-go

Perhaps many Japanese nationals could benefit from the realisation that
there is more of the world OUTSIDE japan than inside japan.

the Japanese grouping of gaijin just needs a few more categorys being
included.

See Ya

--
(when bandwidth gets better ;-)

Chris Eastwood
Photographer, Programmer, Motorcyclist and dingbat

please remove u n d i e s for reply

Why should the news be evenhanded?

>> &#8226;ßË”&#8212;¢&#8217;BèB&#8212;ß&#8216;Â&#352;w&#8211;@&#352;w&#8226;&#8221;

Kevin R. Gowen, II

ïßË”ó¢íBèBóßëÂäwñ@äwïî

Nope, not at all. For starters, I'm not saying it is inappropriate in
the US/UK/etc.; I used that as an example, but what I'm saying is that
it is inappropriate in Japan.

No, it is okay to right 'a man' because that's one of two universally
accepted classifications of gender. I could really care less if the
media has in it's headlines a person committed a crime; this is your
argument, not mine. My argument is simply that saying a foreigner
committed a crime enforces a prejudice prevalent in Japanese society,
a prejudice that I (and many, many others, both Japanese and
non-Japnaese) believe is wrong.

Besides, it has occurred to me that your argument is backwards.
Writing a man is a specific classification of gender, but 'foreigner'
is a general form of 'nationality'. By your argument, if you believe
(and support) that it is okay to write 'a man committed a crime' then
you should also believe (and support) that it's okay to write 'a
Canadian committed a crime' as well.

<SNIPPED a bunch of irrelevant stuff>

Thank you again for clarifying my argument for me. The public first
needs to have accurate information in order to define what it should
know.

I'm really not sure I understand your argument here. So are you saying
that Japan and the way society treats foreigners today is ideal? How
about the way Japanese society treats women? Or ethnic minorities? You
might be taking this too personally; all's I'm saying is that if
you're going to present a story about a person committing a crime,
it's good journalism (no matter where you are) to give as much detail
as possible up front so that the reader can make an informed decision
about reading the article before the fact.

John W.

>

I type this while I'm at work. You can tell I'm seeking massive
diversion (read: bored) by the amount of text in my posts (and the
amount of posts).

If the Russians don't do anything with their Russian-sized lumps,
that's their business.

But back to the topic. We're at an impasse. I think most foreigners
are divided over this issue to some extent. For me it's just a good
topic of conversation; I love media studies, love Japan, love studying
Japanese media. But this issue is indicative of one of the major
problems in Japan, the 'us versus them' mentality, and is an obstacle
to Japan becoming a true global player.

John W.

And the problem is... what exactly?

It isn't bad for Japanese. But if Japan wants to join the rest of the
world as a true world power, the country needs to become a little more
open minded. It isn't about showing news from other countries, or
sprinkling foreign words in the vocabulary, or going to Starbucks.
There needs to be a radical change in the way people view the world
and their own society. I think Japan is at a crossroads right now; the
next decade we will see a trememdous change in Japan (and the world).
I hope it's a positive change, but that will require tremendous
effort.

John W.

John W.

Because that's an impossible target - the news is presented
by

::: Journalists (working for multi-national corporations,
webloggers etc)

::: Humans, not even affiliated with judiciaries.

They have their baggage -- political/cultural
overt/subconcious.

They make their cases for

::: "radical change in the way [Japanese] people view the

::: for a monoethnic Japan --

Those who chose to read a newspaper/Web site on the
assumption that the info is (or could ever be) even-handed;
who read it without questioning and contrasting each clause
deserve _The Yomiuri_ for ever --

"There has been an increasing number of burglaries and
robberies by organized gangs of foreigners, who have left the
country immediately after committing a crime"

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20011028wo81.htm

No, the better (and increasingly real) way to recieve news is
bundled/aggregated in opinionated/jaundiced/pregurgitated
packets.

Whether this will, as Sunstein propounds in his book
_Republic.com_, exacerbate extremism (and whether that's
baaad) or whether, as for Plastic.com, it gives on to a
greater range of approach ...

John Garside

--
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_The Japanese News Resource_

<http://www.japanacea.com>

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
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Yeah, Shuji and I love each other to death.

:Yeah, Shuji and I love each other to death.

We can start another one after reincarnation.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

In article <73fde4f0.01103...@posting.google.com>, worth...@yahoo.com (John W.) wrote:
:But this issue is indicative of one of the major

What you do not understand here is you are dividing the world as "Japan/
the rest of the world." This is nothing but US/THEM mentality, or rather
"USA/THEM" mentality.

You are repeatedly asserting that the word "foreigner" is a problem, because
it shows Japanese "us/them" mentality. A logical person could see that a
man without "us/them" mentality, in other words, a man who does not lump
things into a particular category would not ascribe the word in a news report
to "Japan," but to the particular person who wrote the sentence. This is
the core of your deceptive logic.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

[Regarding the word "foreigner"]
:I'm saying is that it is inappropriate in Japan.

[However, regarding the word "man"]

:No, it is okay to right 'a man' because that's one of two universally
:accepted classifications of gender.

If the reason of your argument is acceptability, then the word "foreigner"
is acceptable in Japan. It is a universally accepted classification of
nationality in Japan and also in USA. Recently, Congress has
passed the law that makes it possible to detain foreigners without
a court order. Of course, the foreigners violating the immigration law
can be detained indefinitely if they are in deportation process. These
do not apply to US citizens.

:By your argument, if you believe

Of course. In the NHK program of the other day (project X) they explicitly
stated the perpetrator who robbed 300 million Yen in 1986 is a French. It is
perfectly acceptable as long as it is correct.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

I disagree. In my seminars for teachers, I tell them that foreigner
means "not Japanese". Therefore when dividing people into Japanese and
not-Japanese is relevent to the topic, then foreigner (gaijin,
gaikokujin) is okay. For example, saying "Foreigners are not allowed
to vote in elections in Japan" or "Foreigners are not allowed to hold
public office in Japan" is quite alright because japanese or
not-japanese (citizenship in this case) is the defining
quality. Whether the foreigner in question is American or Thai really
is irrelevant.

However when the topic or comment has nothing to do with
whether or not someone is Japanese, then foreigner is not good because
it gives us a nearly meaningless piece of non-information, a bit like
saying "I read a purple book." Who cares about the color of the book?
The contents are what matter. So, in "A foreigner committed a crime",
which is more important, whether or not the suspect is Japanese, or
the fact that a crime was committed? Usually, it is the latter.

And i am as offended and worried about that law as everyone else.

How worried are you about DCMA and its bastard brother the SSSSA
(or something like that)? There are a lot of bad laws out there, and
its just a matter of time till some of them come to Japan.

--
Osugi Sakae

"Yousho" and "Gensho" fall in a similar category.
"I read a French book." sounds quite okay.
I think it quite silly if you ask yourself "Which is more important,
'book' or 'French'?"
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

The "impasse" seems to be your demand that Japanese newspapers not take an
"us/them" attitude. Personally, I'd like to see newspapers report the news
according to what is known. You are complaining about a perceived bias in
the Japanese press which is promoting an us/them attitude, and yet, were not
the facts represented? You seem to be saying that the facts are biased in
favor of an us/them mentality. But facts are simply facts.

Ed

Actually, it isn't, because asking such a question assumes that the
proposition of "the news media should be evenhanded" is self-evident.

>John W.

仏勒里達州立大学法学部

John W.

No, I'm not necessarily saying that the word 'foreigner' is a problem,
and I honestly don't have much ofa problem with an 'us/them'
mentality; it's logical, natural, etc.

I'm really not certain why you don't understand this, but I'll explain
it one last time. The problem is the way the word foreigner is used.
Certainly all instances where the word is used are not bad. But saying
in a headline that a crime was committed by foreigners:

A) does not give the public the information they need up front (the
purpose of a headline)
B) enforces deeply held stereotypes some Japanese have of foreigners
C) creates an atmosphere where foreigner=criminal.

John W.

John W.

Thank you again for supporting my argument; if only you were aware you
were doing so. I read a French book sounds a heck of a lot better -- and
provides much more information -- than saying I read a foreign book.

John W.

But what if you were not sure where the book was from?
Would you just say book? I think a *lot* of people would say foreign book.

I doubt that, although i suppose many people would agree depending on
the actual words used in the conversation.

Right hand:
If the person doesn't know where the book is from, how would they know
it wasn't published by a company from their nation? Sort of like is
true now with many goods that people use daily - like japanese kids
asking me if we have mcdonalds in america. They don't know and so
assume it is a japanese company.

Left hand:
Having said that, it does seems that `foreign' would would be
acceptable if and only if:

1. you know or think that the book is not `native'.

2. you do not know where the book is from.

This fits in with with my definition of `foreigner' as ``not-[whatever
nation(ality)]''

later

--
Osugi Sakae

Not what i was talking about. The color of the book is irrelevant to
the contents, and the contents are usually more important. In the case
under discussion, the word foreigner provides information that is not
really important to the subject - that a crime has been committed.

In your example, `French' does convey information which might be
important for an informed listener. To me, french book suggests Hugo,
tale of two cities, fucault (sp?), braudel (sp?). Also it might make
me say "oh, i didn't know you knew french." German book would bring to
mind Faust, mein kampf and not much else i'm afraid.

So the french works. Just as russian would almost work. Thus it seems
that you have actually come full circle and are supporting those who
said that at the very least the newspapers should have identitied the
culprit as russian or allegedly russian. It does not convey as much
information as French book, but is much superior to foreigner.

All `foreigner commits crime' tells me is `non-Japanese commits
crime'. Makes me wonder why the newspaper decided to use the
word. I'd love so see them one day say `non-foreigner commits crime'.

later,

--
Osugi Sakae

They dont need to write it. It is assumed when you dont even say it.
Unless the crime involves lock picking that is.....

Yes, "foreign book" is fine in some situations. For instance, there is a
catalogue book seller named Schoenhoff's Foreign Books which sells
foreign-language books (mainly textbooks and dictionaries), and you might
imagine Amazon saying "we have expanded our selection of foreign books."

However, "I read a foreign book yesterday" sounds a bit odd... Perhaps not
to Glekichi though, who appears to speak Japanese better than English <g>

--
Regards,
Ryan Ginstrom

It does depend on the situation.
In Japan, for example, a foreign book would be very different to a Japanese
book.
In Australia if the book was English, American, Canadian etc. etc. it
probably wouldnt be much different to an Australian book, so i guess it
would be a little strange to say "foreign book"..

Gimme a couple more years.................

You wrote "one of the major problems in Japan, the 'us versus them'
mentality." See above.
You seem to be trying to retract your poinion that "us/them" mentality
is a major problem of Japan. Is my understanding correct?

:A) does not give the public the information they need up front (the

In short, you wish to make foreigners look better than they are,
but make Japanese look as they are. This is quite understandable
since most people try to make look themselves better. If this is
the case, the positive way to make foreigners look better is to
make foreigners better.

The core of your deceit, which is shared by Issho Kikaku, lies in the
fact that you disguse your wish as fake principle: open mindedness,
global standard, the rest of the world, human rights. However, the
world is not made in that way.

For example, Attorney General John Ashcroft was reported to say:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/01/national/01INQU.html
"It is difficult for a person in jail or under detention to murder
innocent people or to aid or abet in terrorism," Mr. Ashcroft said.
"As a nation of immigrants, America welcomes friends from other
countries who wish to visit, to study, to work. But as Sept. 11
vividly illustrates, aliens also come to our country with the intent
to do great evil."

What do you say to him? IMO, Tony Laszlo, Shin Sugok, Asahi Shinbun
ought to make a report of his "human right" violation and send it to
CERD. I do not see any difference between him and Ishihara Shintaro.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

"Aliens" did go to the US and did do a great evil. He did not say all and
he did not say most. He simply said "aliens", ie. more than one. Unless
you think that one or no terrorists went to America under the guise of being
a middle class worker, how could you criticise what was said? There has
been no human rights violation.

If he said that, "a lot of foreigners come here with intent to do great
evil," then you would have a case.

Chris

> --
> shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

You wrote "one of the major problems in Japan, the 'us versus them'
mentality." See above.
You seem to be trying to retract your opinion that "us/them" mentality

:A) does not give the public the information they need up front (the

In short, you wish to make foreigners look better than they are,

fact that you disguise your wish as fake principle: open minded-ness,

For example, Attorney General John Ashcroft was reported to say:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/01/national/01INQU.html

countries who wish to visit, to study, to work. But as Sept. 11

--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

Firstly, why is it necessary to mention nationality at all? If the suspect
was Japanese would the headline have been, "Japanese busted for record
ecstasy haul"? I doubt it. There is a double standard operating here.

To answer your question, though, UK broadsheets would probably limit their
headline to the newsworthy information ("Record ecstasy haul") and then give
the relevant details concerning the suspect in the body of the article. The
tabloids *might* phrase their headline in the same way as the Japanese
headline, but I doubt it. The UK tabloids will of course cheerfully pander
to popular prejudices (that's how they sell copies), but the use of the term
"foreigner" might backfire, that is, there might be too many readers who
would see that it was too general to merit inclusion in the headline, and
that it was simply prejudiced and inflammatory. The British press would
probably need to be a little bit more sophisticated. Now, if the suspect
were Muslim or Arabic, for example, then in the present climate that might
be a lever for the tabloid press, but just being a foreigner probably
wouldn't cut it.

In general, the "quality" press will place as little emphasis as possible on
the racial identity of a criminal or suspect. It has been pointed out often
enough that when a crime was committed by a white person of Anglo-Saxon
origin the press don't make a big thing of that person's whiteness (probably
don't even mention it), so by the same token responsible journalism ought
not to be making a song and dance about the perpetrator's ethnic origin or
colour of skin if he/she was *not* white.

The basic reason for this is race relations. If a white person commits a
crime British people don't suddenly all go round looking suspiciously at
every white person in sight. That is, a crime committed by a white person
does not reflect on other whites. But if a big issue is made of the fact
that the criminal was (for example) black then it *does* reflect on other
blacks. This fans prejudice and is simply not helpful. As the number of
foreign residents in Japan continues to rise Japan will need to look closely
at this, perhaps (among other things) with a view to establishing some kind
of equivalent to the UK's Race Relations Act, which makes it illegal to
discriminate against people purely on the basis of ethnic origin.

> :the true figure now, but it was less than the gaijin percentage of the
> :population, i.e., despite the hoo-hah in the press the crime rate among
> :foreigners was actually lower than that among Japanese, especially for
> :serious crimes (murder and suchlike).
>
> Are you Eric?

No; why?

> Here I repost the statistics.

Thanks. I guess this means you must have posted them before (I missed it).
The figures for robbery have gone up quite a bit since the time (six or
seven years ago now) when the Japanese media were sensationalising about
crimes committed by foreigners. Still, 160 robberies by foreigners out of a
total of 4181, with 242 foreigners apprehended out of a total of 3659
people, doesn't seem a tremendous call for allarm. And with only 24 out of
1799 rapes and 5 out of 1719 cases of arson being committed by foreigners in
the 12 months for which you give figures it doesn't appear from the figures
you cite that imported crime is much of a problem in Japan. (Even if some of
these crimes were unsolved - your statistics don't make this clear - the
figures still show only 23 out of 1295 rapists and 5 out 814 arsonists were
foreigners.)

If your figures included such crimes as pimping, extortion and other types
of organised crime and bribery, expropriation of public funds, etc. by
public figures and prominent businessmen, then they would doubtless show
that, while certain types of crime and certain types of foreigners are
exceptions (for example, the figures for mainland Chinese committing
robberies and Japanese committing rape are disproportionately high), crime
rates among foreigners in Japan are not significantly higher than those
among the indigenous population, and may even be lower. This would be taken
for granted among the Japanese public in general if the press and other
media were doing their job properly, instead of feeding the popular fantasy
that the Japanese are essentially law-abiding and foreigners are often not.

I'm not trying to hold up the British press as any kind of paradigm. God
knows, they've stirred things up often enough. The recent high profile given
to British Muslim extremists, for example, has certainly been
disproportionate and extremely damaging to the British Muslim community as a
whole. But, as the countries with the highest readership of newspapers in
the world (again, I'm not sure if the figures are still valid), Japan and
the UK have a particular responsibility to uphold standards of decency and
accuracy. The original posting - which held that a headline that defines a
criminal as a "foreigner" is disturbing - is right, no matter what country
or what culture is involved. One would hope that humans could do a little
bit better than that.

John

Mine was a rhetorical question.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

Since residents in Japan are 99 % Japanese, the default is Japanese.
You can read those news articles every day. Actually, it is no news at all.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

I believe there is a code of conduct (after the Winston Silcott case,
I think?) that says that newspapers should not point out the race (or
other minority identification) of suspects, etc, when it has no
relevance to the story.

Here we go, from a Canadian web site:

http://www.ontpress.com/codes/uk.asp

"13. - Discrimination
The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to a person's
race, colour, religion, sex or sexual orientation or to any physical
or mental illness or disability. It must avoid publishing details of a
person's race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, physical or
mental illness or disability unless these are directly relevant to the
story."

>John

Ken

It will never cease to amaze me that you don't see the point. The
sentence you wrote above illustrates perfectly the perception Japanese
as a whole have about foreigners.

John W.

I think the discussion that others have made is good; there many, many
are situations where 'foreign' can be used with no problem (foreign
car is a popular usage). But I'd like to add that I understood Shuji's
argument to be that 'French book' and 'foreign book' could be used
interchangeably and provide an equal amount of information. Also,
inanimate objects are different from people, and even when dealing
with people there are situations where using the generic 'foreigner'
isn't a problem, but might even be preferred (foreign housing
assistance, and other such broader social issues where you want to
deal with the broader foreign population more or less equally).

John W.

Absolutely. Well, since the donkey work's all been done, now all we need is
to translate it and get Japanese journalists to abide by it! Piece of cake!

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com

> In article <3BDF43BE...@worldnet.att.net>,
> Cindy <cind...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
> :Yeah, Shuji and I love each other to death.
>
> We can start another one after reincarnation.

I wish Shuji had read First Corinthian Chapter 13. Then "All You
Need Is Love" will make more sense.

It is better to make foreign criminals abide by Japanese laws.
Then, there will be no problem at all.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

In article <73fde4f0.0111...@posting.google.com>,
worth...@yahoo.com (John W.) wrote:
:I understood Shuji's

Your understanding is wrong.
Nowere have I stated that "French book" and "foreign book" can be used
interchangeably and has the same amount of information.
The amount of information is clearly in this order: "French book" >
"foreign book" > "(a) book."

In article <73fde4f0.01110...@posting.google.com>, worth...@yahoo.com (John W.) wrote:
:> In short, you wish to make foreigners look better than they are,

How? I have written my perception of your argument.
I do not know why it illustrates the overall Japanese perception about
foreigners.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

Let's start with getting Japanese to abide by Japanese laws.

--
"Actually, the fastest growing white
collar profession is security guard." Chomsky

:Still, 160 robberies by foreigners out of a

Your wrote (1) the true figure now, but it was less than the gaijin percentage
of the population (2) the crime rate among foreigners was actually lower

See above.

Both are false.

Regarding (1), the percentage of foreign offenders (murder and robbery)
is 4 to 8 %, which is significantly higher than the GAIJIN percentage
of the population (~1 %).

However, your comparison of the percentage of foreign offenses and
offenders with the percentage of foreign population does not make much
sense, since most of foreign offenses are committed by visiting foreigners.
Given that 4 million foreigners visit Japan every year, most of whom
stay here for a short term, your assertion that the crime rate for
serious crimes (murder and such like) is less than the GAIJIN percentage
of the population." is false in this sense too.

I do not think "foreign crimes" draw tremendous attention of the public,
but it is not surprising that they draw the similar amount of attention as
the percentage of serious crimes (murder and robbery), that is, 4 to 8 %.

Another thing you have to take care is that the majority of the crimes
are larceny. Since the nationalities of the offenders are counted after
the cases are cleared, and the clearance rate of larceny is 30 %, the
estimated actual number larceny would be three times more than the number
of offenders in cleared cases.

:If your figures included such crimes as pimping, extortion and other types

Those involved in the recent ChouGin scandals are Zainichi Koreans. These
are not be the areas that visiting foreigners can be involved. Only
nationals or long term residents can.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

I would be very circumspect regarding larceny clearance rates, Cousin.
The police bureaucracy demands that detectives clear between 30 and 40
percent of cases, and the detectives have a very creative method of
achieving those goals.

When they have someone in custody whom they are about to send to the
prosecutor for larceny, they go through their backlog of higaitodoke
and search out ones with similar modus operandi which are about to
become unprosecutable due to the statute of limitations. When they
write up the paper which *reports* sending a case to the prosecutor
(not the actual papers which go to the prosecutor) they also write up
those old cases on the same suspect. They then send the papers to the
prosecutor *only* for the case they originally apprehended him for.
Nothing is sent regarding the old cases (since there is no evidence,
no investigation, no nothing anyway). The clearance rates are based on
the report chits the detectives send up through the police
bureaucracy, not on the number of cases actually and truly sent to the
prosecutors. The higaitodoke are stacked and bundled together, with
each bundle having in the front a sort of index of the cases contained
therein. When cases are actually sent for prosecution, the cases are
supposed to be crossed out. In actuality, only about 10% are crossed
out (actually "cleared", in other words). The 30% figure is Fantasy
Land book cooking.

My source for this was 赤木警部補、広島県警を斬る, published by
第三書館 ISBN4-8074-0015-0 published Nov. 2000.

Akagi retired from the Hiroshima Police after about 40 years on the
job. He says that you may safely disregard the numbers put out in the
MoJ White Paper.

--

Michael Cash

"No, Mr. Cash, I never said your girlfriend cut my hair for me.
I said Darcy gave me some trim."

Prof. Ernest T. Bass
Mount Pilot College

Japan from the Driver's Seat
http://www.sunfield.ne.jp/~mike/

fj.life.in-japan FAQ/Alt-FAQ
http://shortcut.to/fjlijfaq

Are the Yakuza foreign? Or are they no problem at all?

Thank you.
That is quite possible, since a thief will never remember some over 100
larceny cases. I wonder if they pay for the damage. I suspect that most
of the higaisha would never seek the reparation, since it is unrealistic
to expect the thief would pay the money.

:Akagi retired from the Hiroshima Police after about 40 years on the

Do you know even that clearance rate is rapidly decreasing in last ten
years? IIRC, it fell from over 50 % to 30 %, or something similar.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

>In article <f8u7utomrvm8jvbho...@4ax.com>,

I doubt that they pay for the damage. I don't think the suspect even
knows that this process is happening. It is strictly an internal
police memo. The cases falsely reported as being cleared are all old
時効寸前 ones that the victims long ago gave up on ever being solved.
Of course, they aren't notified about it because the case hasn't
actually been cleared and nobody is actually going to be prosecuted
for it. It is strictly a device used to make the clearance rates look
better.

They're probably trying to gradually approach some more realistic
numbers. I just tried scanning the chapter which contains all this,
but I every setting I tried looked like it would result in eyestrain
for the reader. Anyway, I've just gotten the book out again. Here is
the subtitle for the section dealing with this:

窃盗犯検挙件数のデタラメ水増しはアタリマエ

with a further sub-subtitle of:

ドロボーを捕まえられなくなった日本の警察

I'll include some excerpts from the chapter:

たしかに公表された数字では、日本の警察によるドロボー　（窃盗犯）の検挙率は
近年下がったとはいえ、まだ外国より高い。
ところが、この検挙率そのものが、日本中の警察署でインチキな数字操作によって
作り出されたものなのである。このことは警察署の中でも知る人ぞ知る　「基本的
なデタラメ」の一つなのだ。

subtitle: 時効になる前に、だれかの余罪にして、事件は「解決」してしまう

時効寸前の窃盗事件がいくつもある。これらの全てではないが、実際は検挙しても
いないのに犯人が未検挙になることを見越して、あたかもその事件が解決したかの
ような検挙票を作成する、という操作を警察署の中で行う。こうして見せかけの
検挙率を上げるインチキを、日常的にやっているのだ。

...本当は事件は何の解決していないのに.....本人も知らないうちに余罪をいくつ
もかぶせられて、書類上だけ検挙されたことになり、検挙率は上がっていく。

一人の犯人に未解決の事件を三つかぶせてしまうと、合計四つの事件が解決したこと
になる。１０件の窃盗事件のうち１件しか解決していなくても４件解決したことに
なり、検挙率４０％達成できるわけだ。

next subtitle: ウソで固めた犯罪統計を広島県警本部が見て見ぬふり

考えてみてください。窃盗事件が四十パーセントも五十パーセントも検挙されるはず
がない。皆さｎのまわりでも、泥棒の被害にあった時、自転車やバイクが盗まれた場合
の１０件に４件、５件に２件が犯人がつかまって解決していますか？本当の数字を
出したなら、とても二十パーセントも検挙していないのではないかと思う。

私も正確な数字は統計をとっていないので分からないが、広島県下の各警察署の刑事課
に保管してある盗難届が綴ってある分厚い簿冊は、いつまで経っても分厚いまま
残っている。

検挙したならば、被害届等の関係書類は検察庁へ送致するため抜き取り、目次を赤線
で消して、検挙した被疑者の氏名を記載するようになっている。目次を見ても、この
ようになっているのは、ほんの僅かでしかないのが、現実である。とても四十パーセント
という数字ではない。

窃盗犯については、検挙率の他に、逮捕人員も年間のノルマとして各警察署に課せらる。
驚くなかれ、この逮捕人員も各警察署でゴマ化すのである。

万引犯人等についても、逮捕せず任意で処理したにもかかわらず、現行犯逮捕したように
警察本部の捜査第三課に書面で逮捕報告する。さすがに留置したようにはせず、逮捕
して釈放したように細工をする。こうして逮捕者の数のノルマを達成したように見せかけ
ていく。実績を上げるためには手段を選ばない、まったくデタラメなやり方がまかり
通っている。

Take those White Paper figures with a grain of salt.

Japanese don't break laws. Japanese are honest. The only reason Japan
had a police force (until all the gaijin showed up) was to give
directions and direct traffic. One million gaijin are the sole reason
Japan needs 220,000 police. With a ratio like that, they should give
up patrolling and just assign them to us like parole officers.

--
Regards,
Ryan Ginstrom

"Michael Cash" <mike...@sunfield.ne.jp> wrote in message
news:1328ut0n1i34rvojc...@4ax.com...

There is a really cute female police officer I saw on my last trip to
Kobe. I claim dibs on her as my parole officer.

John W.

Without exception the foreigners I knew in Japan were exceedingly law
abiding. How many criminal foreigners do you know? Now, compare that
with the number of criminal Japanese you know.

John W.

Mike...you rip me up with your biting cynicism.

BTW...I am wondering if anyone has had a visit from Mr. Omawari-san
recently?

I had a Sgt. [3 bars?] come to my place and interview BYJW last month.

And, one of my co-workers reported that an English-speaking plainclothes
officer came to their apartment, asked to be let inside, asked to see
all of their documents [Passport, Cert. of Alientation, etc...] and then
laid this line on them:

"We will be returning every week to visit you, and it would be better
for your safety if you cooperated with us."

What do you make of that?

How do you know that for sure?

________________________________________________________________________
Louise Bremner (log at gol dot com)
If you want a reply by e-mail, don't write to my Yahoo address!

According to John W., all foreigners are law abiding.
To put these together, nobody breaks laws in Japan.
Now I understand why Japan is safe.
--
shuji matsuda <smat...@med.keio.ac.jp>

And lots of the gaijin I know, or friends of friends, knowingly break
lots of laws without getting caught too often - vehicular (more than
the petty no-lights-on-pushbikes/jaywalking), drugs, drink-related
(mind you, lots of J friends drink-drive too), etc, etc.

Neither of our samples are statistically valid, however.

>John W.

Ken

>In article <0d78utovahbg8b2bl...@4ax.com>,

See? The math is very simple.