Debito Arudou

Template:Nihongo is an American-born Japanese writer, blogger, and human rights activist. He was born in the United States and became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 2000. Arudou has since left Japan after living in the country for over 20 years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Arudou currently is employed as a part-time lecturer in political science at California State University, Long Beach.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Background

Early life and academic career

Arudou was born David Christopher Schofill<ref name=Schofill>Template:Cite web</ref> in California in 1965.<ref name="Background">Template:Cite web</ref> He was raised in Geneva, New York,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and became "David Christopher Aldwinckle" when his stepfather adopted him in the 1970s.<ref name=Schofill/> He graduated from Cornell University in 1987,<ref name="Cornell">Template:Cite journal ()</ref> dedicating his senior year to studying Japanese after visiting his pen pal and future wife in Japan.<ref name="NanporoJournal">"Template:Cite news</ref> Aldwinckle moved to Japan for one year where he taught English in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and later spent one year at the Japan Management Academy in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, before returning to complete a Master's of Pacific International Affairs (MPIA) at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).<ref name="IRPS">A brief biographical sketch of Aldwinckle and other 1991 UCSD IR/PS alumni is available at the official university website. See: Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1993, Arudou joined the faculty of Business Administration and Information Science at the Hokkaido Information University, a private university in Ebetsu, Hokkaido, where he taught courses in business English and debate. He was an associate professor until 2011 when he left the university.<ref>"Template:Cite web" Hokkaido Information University. October 25, 2011. Retrieved on October 25, 2011.</ref> From 2012 to 2013, Arudou was an Affiliate Scholar at the East–West Center in Honolulu, Hawai'i.<ref>"[1]". Editorial statement by The Japan Times, 07 February 2012</ref><ref>"[2]" East–West Center. Retrieved on March 6, 2015.</ref> Meiji Gakuin University awarded him a Doctorate in Philosophy (International Studies) in 2014.<ref>"[3] Template:Webarchive" Meiji Gakuin University Retrieved on 6 March 2015</ref>

Family and Japanese naturalization

Aldwinckle married a Japanese citizen<ref name="NanporoJournal"/> in 1989,<ref name=Wife>Template:Cite web ()</ref> and they have two daughters.<ref name="NanporoJournal"/> Aldwinckle became a permanent resident of Japan in 1996. He became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 2000.<ref name="NanporoJournal"/><ref name="naturalization1">Template:Cite web</ref> On becoming Japanese, he changed his name to Template:Nihongo, taking his wife's surname.<ref name="NanporoJournal"/> They divorced in 2006.<ref name="divorce">Template:Cite web</ref>

Activism

Arudou v. Earth Cure

File:Japanese only sign.jpg

The "Japanese only" sign at the Yunohana Onsen, as it appeared in 1999

Arudou objected to the policies of three bathhouses in Hokkaido, Japan, in the late 1990s that had posted "No Foreigners" or "Japanese Only" signs on their doors.<ref name= Reconstituting>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Arudou led a multinational group of 17 people of various nationalities (United States, Chinese, German, and Japanese) to enter the Yunohana bathhouse in Otaru<ref name=Reconstituting/> and test the firmness of the "No Foreigners" policy posted on its door.<ref name="Arudou v. Earth Cure"/> The group attempted the walk-ins twice.<ref name=Reconstituting/>

Arudou returned to Yunohana in October 2000 for a third time as a naturalized Japanese citizen, but again was refused entry. The manager accepted that Arudou was a Japanese national, but refused him entry on the grounds that his foreign appearance could drive Japanese customers to take their business elsewhere.<ref name="NanporoJournal"/> Yunohana had previously closed its bathhouse due to a decline in Japanese customers caused by the poor bathing habits of Russian sailors, and to prevent a repeat of this situation, the company refused entry to anyone who appeared to be a foreign national.<ref name="hanketsu5p"> Sapporo District Court, pp.3-5, 11 November 2002, 判例検索システム平成13(ワ)206</ref>

In February 2001, Arudou and two co-plaintiffs, Kenneth Lee Sutherland and Olaf Karthaus, sued Earth Cure in district court pleading racial discrimination, and the City of Otaru for violation of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, a treaty which Japan ratified in 1996. On November 11, 2002, the Sapporo District Court ordered Earth Cure to pay the plaintiffs ¥1 million each in damages.<ref>"THE WORLD; Japanese Court Ruling Favors Foreigners; Bathhouse must pay three men who were denied entry", Los Angeles Times. November 12, 2002.</ref> The court stated that "categorically refusing all foreigners constitutes irrational discrimination, exceeds social norms, and amounts to an illegal act".<ref name="Arudou v. Earth Cure">Template:Cite journal</ref> The Sapporo District and High Courts both dismissed Arudou's claim against the city of Otaru for not creating an anti-discrimination ordinance.<ref name=Otaru_Case>Template:Cite news According to the Sapporo High Court ruling, "The convention has only general, abstract provisions recommending appropriate measures to eliminate racial discrimination, and the Otaru government does not have any obligation to institute ordinances to ban such discrimination."</ref> It stated that "issues such as which measures to take, and how to implement them, are properly left to the discretion of Otaru".<ref name= Reconstituting/> The Sapporo High Court upheld these rulings on September 16, 2004,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the Supreme Court of Japan denied review on April 7, 2005.<ref name="Otaru_Case"/>

Other protests

In 2003, Arudou and several other long-term foreign residents dressed up as seals to protest the granting of an honorary jūminhyō (residency registration) to Tama-chan, a male bearded seal, in Nishi Ward, Yokohama.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The protesters asserted that if the government could grant jūminhyō to animals and animation characters, as was the case in Niiza and Kasukabe Cities, Saitama Prefecture,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> then there was no need to deny foreign residents the same. At the time, non-Japanese residents were registered in a separate alien registration system.<ref>Asahi Shinbun, 22 February 2003</ref>

In February 2007, Arudou participated in a protest against an over-the-counter Japanese-language publication titled Kyōgaku no Gaijin Hanzai Ura File – Gaijin Hanzai Hakusho 2007 (Secret Files of Foreigners' Crimes).<ref name=Biggs>Template:Cite news</ref> The magazine highlighted crimes committed by foreigners. Arudou, calling the magazine "ignorant propaganda" that "focuses exclusively on the bad things that some foreigners do, but has absolutely nothing about crimes committed by Japanese".<ref name=Ryall>Template:Cite news</ref> Arudou posted a bilingual letter for readers to take to FamilyMart stores protesting discrimination against non-Japanese residents of Japan.<ref name=Biggs />

In June 2008, Arudou lodged a complaint with the Hokkaido Prefectural Police that its officers were targeting foreigners as part of a security sweep prior to the 34th G8 summit in Tōyako, Hokkaido.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This followed an incident where Arudou asserted his right under the Police Execution of Duties Law to not need to show identification when requested by a police officer at New Chitose Airport. After meeting with police representatives at their headquarters, Arudou held a press conference covered by a local television station.<ref>STV News. June 25, 2008.</ref>

In August 2009, Arudou—acting as the chair of FRANCA (the Foreign Residents and Naturalized Citizens Association)—began a letter-writing campaign to protest an advertisement by McDonald's Japan featuring a bespectacled, mildly geeky, 43-year-old American Japanophile known as Mr. James—a burger mascot who proclaims his love for the fast-food outlet in broken katakana Japanese.<ref name= Houpt >Template:Cite news</ref> Writing in The Japan Times, Arudou argued that the "Mr. James" campaign perpetuates negative stereotypes about non-Japanese Caucasian minorities living in Japan, and demanded that McDonald's Japan withdraw the advertisement<ref name=Yang>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Publications

Arudou had a book published about the 1999 Otaru hot springs incident, originally in Japanese, and then in 2004 in an expanded English version, Template:Nihongo.<ref name="OtaruCaseHonjoReview">Template:Cite web</ref> The book is listed in the Japan Policy Research Institute's recommended library on Japan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Arudou's next book, published in 2008, was coauthored with Template:Nihongo and titled Template:Nihongo. This bilingual book provides information on visas, starting businesses, securing jobs, resolving legal problems, and planning for the future from entry into Japan to death.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Handbook came out in 2012 in an updated 2nd Edition<ref name=2nd_Edition>Template:Cite book</ref> and an ebook version in 2013.<ref name=ebook>Template:Cite web</ref>

Arudou has written a monthly column for the Community section of The Japan Times titled "Just Be Cause" since 2008, and has contributed occasional opinion columns to the newspaper since 2002.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was also a columnist for the Japan Today<ref>[4]". Japan Today columns archive, accessed 21 August 2014</ref> website and has been featured in The Asahi Evening News.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2011, Arudou self-published his first novella titled In Appropriate: a novel of culture, kidnapping, and revenge in modern Japan. The novella tells the story of a transnational marriage, culture shock, and child abduction.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2015 he published Embedded Racism: Japan's Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination through the Lexington Books imprint of Rowman & Littlefield.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Arudou has published twice in Fodor's Japan Travel Guide, in 2012<ref>Template:Cite book.</ref> (Hokkaido Chapter) and 2014 (Hokkaido and Tohoku Chapters).<ref>Template:Cite book.</ref> He has also published academic papers in The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus<ref name=APJ>Template:Cite journal</ref> and other peer-reviewed journals in the interdisciplinary field of Asia-Pacific Studies, and has contributed chapters to academic books published by Akashi Shoten (Tokyo)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Springer.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

See also

• Ethnic issues in Japan
• Naturalization
• Yamato people

Further reading

• Patrick Rial (December 2005), "Arudou: Angelic Activist or Devilish Demonstrator?", JapanZine Template:Webarchive
• Bathroom blues, The Economist (February 8, 2001)

External links

• Debito.org – Debito Arudou's website and blog
• Template:Webarchive