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Childhood Sexual Assault Survivors Call For Action and Policy Changes Ahead of Hiroshima G7 Summit

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In a move considered well overdue, Japan is raising the national age of consent from 13 years old to 16. Japan has the lowest national age of consent among G7 countries, and has faced criticism for years, even being subject to a UN recommendation in 2008 that the penal codes should be revised.

It is worth noting that in most places in Japan, 13 years old is not the effective age of consent. There are overlapping laws, national and local, that make the actual age of consent higher in most of Japan. In Tokyo, for example, the Youth Protection Laws put the age of consent at 17. Other prefectures can determine their own ages for consent, usually around 16-18. National laws prohibit an adult to “cause a child to commit an obscene act,” with a child being defined as anyone under the age of 18. 

However, these laws can be vague in application. And age of consent laws are still not sufficient for protecting children or bringing justice to those who have experienced childhood sexual abuse (CSA). 

A March 2nd press conference hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ) was held with speakers currently advocating for CSA survivors. They have compiled recommendations to put forward for the upcoming G7 summit in Hiroshima this year – to amend the statute of limitations on sexual assault cases, and to establish a survivor council by 2025 to reflect survivors’ experience into Japanese government. 

Ikuko Ishida, the founder of Be Brave Japan, was groomed and sexually abused by her middle school teacher starting from when she was 15 years old. He had taken her out, told her that he was in love with her, and convinced her to start a relationship with him that continued until she was 19 years old. When she recognized it as childhood sexual abuse years later, she was met with little help from officials in her hometown of Sapporo.

The statute of limitations on sexual assault has been extended to 5 years in Japan, but it isn’t enough for cases of childhood sexual abuse. Robert Schilling, former Interpol head of the Crimes Against Children unit, co-founder of Brave Movement in the United States, and survivor of CSA, said “Based on the cases that I’ve investigated, victims come forward somewhere between the age of 28 and 32 years old because you’re trying to process what has happened to you, and you don’t even believe in yourself anymore.” 

It is common for survivors of CSA, like Ishida, to not recognize the experiences in their childhood as CSA for any number of reasons, and many are unable to seek help– or justice– until it is too late. 

This is why Ishida and members of Brave Japan are recommending that the statute of limitations for CSA should be at the very least extended, ideally to 30 years,  if not abolished altogether. 

Ishida faced pushback from the Sapporo authorities when she first sought help in her case. But she unexpectedly, she was also met with less than sympathetic responses from those closest to her, who believed that she couldn’t have been abused because it was a romantic relationship – despite her age and the age of the perpetrator.

The idea of sincere love between a child and an adult is ignorant of uneven power dynamics that come with such an age and developmental gap. Further, the positions that predators may take up to give them access to children – such as teaching or childcare – add yet another layer of inequality to their relationship.

Yet “sincere love” and “the self-determination of children” persist as a counterpoint even within the Japanese government. As recently as 2021, 56-year-old Representative Hiranao Honda (also of Sapporo) suggested that it would be “strange” if he were arrested for having a romantic and sexual relationship with a consenting 14-year-old child. 

It is clear that there is a disconnect between survivors’ lived experiences and the public perception of childhood sexual abuse and grooming cases. As Ishida noted, sexual assault is commonly viewed as something that is perpetrated by force by an adult man to an adult woman. Cases where the genders, scenarios, and ages are different are not so easily understood by those with a narrow understanding of sexual assault. 

The proposed survivor council aims to represent survivor perspectives in the lawmaking and regulatory process. Said Schilling, “They need to listen to what we need. Having a survivor’s council…that’s more helpful than the government telling us ‘This is what we’re going to do for you’”. 

The 49th G7 summit will be held in Hiroshima, Japan from May 19th to May 21st.

Books on Japan, Contemporary Culture, Dark Side of the Sun, Featured, News, Pop Culture

Samurai play soccer and other fairy tales: Japan and the world cup

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by Kaori Shoji

When the professional soccer league of Japan aka ‘J-League’ officially came into existence in 1993 it was a huge deal. Suddenly, everyone was talking about rules and bandying about phrases like ‘offside’ and ‘middle shoot.’ Suddenly, soccer players – from 13-year olds dutifully kicking the ball around on their school grounds during their extra-curriculars, to bona fide club players with their own harem of groupies (that’s what they were called back then) – were sizzling hot. Everyone it seems, wanted to be them, date them or use them for some kind of leverage. In the early naughts an older co-worker sidled up to me one afternoon in the company corridor and told me with a mix of swagger and sincerity that if I played my cards right, ie., slept with him–he was willing to take me to a J-league game. We could watch Kazuyoshi Miura who at the time, was playing for Vissel Kobe. I recall taking a full 2 minutes before coming to my senses and declining politely. What can I say, tickets for a J-League game were impossible to get and prohibitively expensive. Two minutes mulling it over was allowed, right? 

Kazuyoshi Miura’s name still strikes a chord with many Japanese regardless of their level of soccer passion. In our collective consciousness he was the first Japanese guy to leave these shores on his own and make a lasting, positive impact on the international pitch. 

Captain Tsubasa was the ideal Japanese soccer athlete in old Japan. “The ball is my friend.”

Now, more than 300 Japanese players are spread out over 57 nations across the globe. Seventy-four of them play for Europe’s most prestigious clubs. Nearly every one of them are English speakers and a sizable number can even give interviews. Not so in the 1990s when Miura was making his presence felt. Japanese men’s reputation overseas was dismal. They were deemed bad at communication, self-assertion, personal grooming. They hovered between bad and awful on the dating scale. Japanese soccer was dismal. The team seemed to have little strategy other than passing the ball around like a hot potato, waiting for something to give. It wasn’t until 1998 that Japan qualified to play in the World Cup. In 2002 when the host countries were Japan and South Korea, we made it to the knockout stage for the first time ever. 

Miura enjoyed being called ‘Kazu’ for most of his career but for the past decade he has insisted on the alias of ‘King Kazu.’ At 55, he’s the world’s oldest professional player and has a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. Last year he scored a goal in a J-1 match, among players less than half his age. 

Miura was the first Japanese soccer player with guts and bravado and a mouth to match his outsized ego. At his favorite cafe in Omotesando, the baristas have strict orders to inscribe ‘King Kazu’ on his customized lattes and god forbid they should ever forget. He never had the suave sophistication of Cristiano Ronaldo but he knew what it meant to be assertive on the global stage, how being hot was almost the equivalent of having talent, on or off the pitch. Kazu was the first Japanese male to show us that the worth of a Japanese male didn’t have to be found in stupidly long working hours but having a good time and looking great. His message was electrifying and soccer fans or not, we were hooked. 

Fast forward to 2022 and the World Cup in Qatar. If you’re anything like me the World Cup takes over a huge chunk of your waking hours or in this case, the hours (12 midnight and 4AM specifically) when people are usually in their beds. The day after a Japan game, the people I met at work walked around like zombies, bumping into file cabinets and yawning behind their masks. We would rub our eyes, laugh together and share that special rush of adrenaline shared by soccer fans. We won! We won! 

Call it escapism, defeatism, a refusal to face my personal problems. Call it what the hell you like, just don’t come between me and my game. When it comes to soccer, my mindset is similar to Renton’s in  Trainspotting when he says “Whew! I haven’t felt that good since Archie Gimmell scored against Holland in 1978!” 

I only know Archie Gimmell from news archives but I feel the exact say way about Ritsu Doan who, on December 1st 2022, scored a goal against Spain that ultimately led Japan to the knock out stage. Spain! Let me repeat, that’s Spain, the country that won the World Cup in 2010 and owns the best club teams in the world. And before that, in the first game in the group league, Japan beat Germany in what can only be described as a miraculous wet dream come true. 

That kind of rush is rare though it’s just a thin trickle of joy compared to how Doan felt when he scored that goal. In a time-freeze, parallel, reincarnated universe (I have no idea what this means other than it sounds right) I am a 24-year old Japanese soccer player, beautiful and slender, with dyed blonde hair and no tattoos and impeccable locker room manners and a disarming, lopsided smile I reserve for my girlfriend and mom. 

I don’t see myself as a forward. No, I think I’m a center mid-fielder who shoots out like a star when the going gets tough and work my magic to turn the game around. I am there, in Qatar. Every single fiber of my body is concentrating on the ball and the geometry of connecting the passes to outwit the enemy, pushing the game to gain a little more distance and secure a little more space. I can feel every stride of my long legs as the ball jumps and rolls just a few feet away. I can hear the crowds scream and cheer in ecstasy. It’s in this moment that I know – there is nothing else than this and nothing else matters. I know, with a shock of unwavering certainty, that this is what I exist for and what I’m meant to do with my one wild and precious life. 

Of course I know it’s futile to try and coax non-soccer enthusiasts to enter this zone. Jake Adelstein, who owns and runs this site and who very, very reluctantly agreed to assign this essay, said: “Who cares about the World Cup? I think it’s a sham. You better hand this in before the year is out because in a few more weeks it will be a distant memory, if that.”  (Editor’s note: Did this happen in the same year as the 2020 Olympics? I can’t remember anymore)

But. And still. My retort is that if the World Cup is a sham, it’s a gorgeous one. Let me turn a blind eye to the white supremacist bullshit that reigns inside FIFA despite the fact that the majority of the most talented players are people of color. Or the fact that Qatar built its stadiums literally on the backs of imported slave laborers and has a financial vice-grip on some of Europe’s most revered club teams. Or that events like the World Cup and the Olympics are notorious for leaving behind a legacy of corrupted officials and ecological disasters. Football is a bad match with anything else. Any discussion other than the game and the players can lead to violence or destroyed relationships. 

As a Japanese, I’m privileged in that my country’s brand of soccer has been linked more to pop culture than politics. To the majority of Japanese over 15 and under 60, soccer will always be tied to the manga/anime series Captain Tsubasa penned by Yoichi Takahashi, in which the sweet, clear-eyed titular characters’s signature line is: “The ball is my friend!” After delivering this line Tsubasa runs onto a pitch that’s always green, under a sky that’s forever blue and cloudless. 

(Editor’s note: “The ball is my friend“? Only makes sense if Tsubasa had monorchism, or a terrbile soccer injury?)

Captain Tsubasa convinced generations of Japanese kids that playing soccer was a worthy life endeavor if not the only thing in their lives that will remain pure and unsullied well into adulthood. That’s a mirage in the desert but I know more than a few men who refer to  CTsubasa as the series is affectionately called, as the one manga that saved them in their darkest hours. 

With the World Cup in Qatar it was  Blue Lock, the definitive modern soccer manga now turned into an anime series, that so far has sold over 16 million copies. “Blue Lock” is much more attuned to today’s soccer and the World Cup than Captain Tsubasa–less innocent and more pragmatic. The author Muneyuki Kinjyo stresses that soccer calls for only one thing: victory. And for Japan to get past the knockout stage, the team must want that win and sacrifice everything to get it, even their personal integrity. This stuff moves me to tears, in much the same way that Maya Yoshida, captain of the Japan team, said in an interview after the win over Germany: “We’re here to win. That’s all we’re thinking about right now.” 

For many Japanese, soccer and soccer manga run together on the same pitch. The teams and players blur and blend into each other in a glorious, nerdy, pop-culture experience that has nothing to do with Hollywood and everything to do with growing up in Japan. This is ours. And we’ve finally come to a point where it’s okay to let it all hang out. 

https://blogs.loc.gov/catbird/2019/01/mary-olivers-wild-and-precious-life/https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ブルーロックhttps://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/キャプテン翼

Books on Japan, Coming Events, Dark Side of the Sun, Featured, Jake Adelstein, News, On the Record, Politics

Recent threats against FOreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ) and the history of media intimidation

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by Robert Whiting (reprinted with permission)

TOKYO — Over a recent early weekend, there were a series of threatening calls made in English and Japanese to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. The caller threatened to blow up the FCCJ and to harm two journalist members, including Jake Adelstein (author of Tokyo Vice and host of The Evaporated podcast series) for being ‘anti-Japanese’ and one other journalist, who’s name has been kept out of the press at her request. The FCCJ contacted the police, who responded swiftly. They traced the caller and quickly arrested the individual responsible — a woman with extreme right-wing and nationalist views.

The FCCJ issued a statement of gratitude to the police and instituted security measures for both staff and members. The organization thanked the police for their prompt and efficient response.

The FCCJ, established in 1945, exists, the statement said, “to provide foreign correspondents and other journalists with broad access to news sources in Japan and overseas, to defend the freedom of the press and the free exchange of information, and to promote friendship, harmony, and mutual welfare in both professional and social relations among foreign and Japanese journalists … We will not be swayed by terrorism or threats.”

This is not the first such incident for the FCCJ.　

Longtime FCCJ member Mary Corbett remembers the Club received calls not to show ‘The Sun,’ the 2005 Russian film about the meeting between MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito, when no other theater would dare screen it, for fear of violence from right wing extremist over its portrayal of Hirohito.

Andrew Horvat, FCCJ president 1988-1989 had his own problems with ultranationalists, as he recalled in a recent e-mail:

“When I was president in 1988/89 I also received threats from right wingers but they were cleverly worded so that the police could not take action as the threats were veiled but of course quite clear to both parties.

“One of our members, Bob Whymant, had written a piece on Emperor Hirohito, who at the time was on his deathbed. Whymant recalled in detail allegations against the emperor regarding his role in WWII that the Japanese right had found offensive. One of the national dailies contacted me for a comment and I naturally defended the right of foreign correspondents to raise issues of concern to their readers. (I said that even though I personally disagreed with Whymant’s piece.) After that came the cleverly worded messages from self-styled defenders of Japan’s honor. I believe I received more than one such message … One of mine encouraged me to pack up and return to my country. The message, however, came from an ultra-right group so it was quite obvious that they had other than my airline reservations in mind.

“In addition, you may recall the attempted murder at the Club of the Japanese translator of Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses. I was at this conference and saw Tokyo’s finest tackle the knife-wielding would-be killer to the ground, disarm him and remove him from the room in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, the translator, Professor Hitoshi Igarashi was later killed apparently by an assassin responding to a fatwah. 

“The police promised to step up surveillance of the Club and I think they did increase their patrols but of course they were conscious that in a democratic society you don’t want to see uniformed police standing around at the entrance of a news organization.”

The FCCJ was not be the only target of extremists over the years; The Mainichi Shimbun was attacked by yakuza for publishing reports detailing their activities. In 1994, a 44-year old captain in the Tosei-Kai, a Tokyo based ethnic Korean gang, named Hiroji Tashiro stormed into the Tokyo headquarters of the Mainichi and fired three .38 bullets into the ceiling. Tashiro was upset with an article published by the Mainichi’s weekly magazine that described the Tosei-kai as “over the hill.”

In 1987, a reporter for the Asahi Shimbun Kobe office was shot and killed by a right wing extremist who was angered by a story the reporter had written which described Japanese discrimination against members of the Korean minority in Japan. Another employee in the office was injured in the attack. Typed letters were later sent by the assailant’s group claiming responsibility.

There are thousands of right wing extremists active in Japan, many aligned with underworld gangs, and are notable for the use of black buses and loudspeakers which they use to espouse nationalistic causes. A favorite target is the Russian Embassy in Japan protesting over the Kuril Islands and other territories seized by Russia after WWII had ended. In 1990, a right wing fanatic hit the mayor of  Nagasaki Hitoshi Motoshima in the back after the mayor stated that recently deceased Emperor Hirohito supported the war.  

The largest ultranationalist group is Nihon Kaigi, which has approximately 40,000 members, including many prominent political figures. Nihon Kaigi denies Japan’s war guilt and aims to revise Japan’s Constitution, Article 9 of which forbids the maintenance of a standing army, among other things.

The assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July revealed the deep influence of the Unification Church on the Japanese conservative government, an anti-communist tool employed by the CIA/ KCIA/LDP alliance that helped shape post-war  politics in Japan. 

In the latest FCCJ episode, over the weekend of Dec. 10-11,  six separate calls were made in English and Japanese to the front desk reception.

Two days before the latest threats against the FCCJ, a press conference was held by Jake Adelstein and other reporters to announce the release of “The Evaporated”—a podcast about missing people in Japan.

“Their articles are rubbish,” she said in one call, according to a source, “and they should leave Japan or go to Korea. “

Said another, “I am personally against FCCJ activities because it was established by MacArthur in GHQ,”and still another went,“The staff members at the reception desk should quit because the FCCJ is an anti-Japanese organization.”

Police were able to identify the suspect because recordings left on the front desk answering machine showed the phone number from which the calls had been made. Under questioning, the suspect said she did not actually intend to blow up the Club.

Says Adelstein of the recent threat, “If you don’t address social problems or recognize they exist, nothing changes. I love Japan and many Japanese people are hard-working, honest, and polite. That doesn’t mean the society doesn’t have problems, such as child poverty, gender inequality, discrimination against: the handicapped, women, foreigners, especially Korean-Japanese — powerful organized crime, nuclear dangers, staggering injustice in the legal system, repression of the free press, sexual assault on women with impunity for many assailants, rampant labor exploitation, death by overwork, and political corruption. Ignoring the problems doesn’t make them better. If people are offended by that, they should rethink their love of Japan.”

SOURCES, FURTHER READING

Whiting, Robert Tokyo Underworld, Pantheon, New York, 1999

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E5%B0%BB%E7%9F%A5%E5%8D%9A

Samuels, Richard (December 2001). “Kishi and Corruption: An Anatomy of the 1955 System.  Japan Policy Research Institute. 

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/abe-murder-suspect-life-destroyed-mothers-religion-88880836

https://japantoday.com/category/politics/at-least-146-ldp-lawmakers-had-dealings-with-unification-church

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qzsBteZffImA-i1SpSVvDUOFoOVUA_Pi3r6ifLpWt-E/edit

Weiner, Tim (2007). Legacy of Ashes. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-51445-3.

https://howwelldoyouknowyourmoon.tumblr.com/post/147695217233/the-unification-church-and-the-kcia (Dr. Jeffrey M. Bale)

https://apjjf.org/2022/17/McGill.html

https://freepress.org/article/reverend-moon-cult-leader-cia-asset-and-bush-family-friend-dead#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20CIA%20was%20the%20agency%20primarily%20responsible,the%20U.S.%20intelligence%20agencies%20or%20the%20Korean%20government

 “Church Spends Millions On Its Image” by Michael Isikoff, The Washington Post, September 17, 1984; Page A01. (Wiki) https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/unification/image.htm

https://apjjf.org/2022/17/McGill.html

Contemporary Culture, Dark Side of the Sun, end of war, Featured, News, On the Record, Organized Crime, Work Culture, Yakuza

[嘘つきの安倍晋三には、こんな豪華な葬儀はふさわしくない」 殺された元総理は、日本を「真実を言えない国家」に改悪した

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メモ・原文の記事の抜粋は丁寧に訳されたので紹介しました

by chocolat viennois 

嘘つきの安倍晋三には、こんな豪華な葬儀はふさわしくない

デイリービーストの追悼記事「嘘つきの安倍晋三には、こんな豪華な葬儀はふさわしくない」 殺された元総理は、日本を「真実を伝えることを知らない国」にした責任がある。thedailybeast.com/former-japanes…

thedailybeast.com/former-japanes…Master Liar Shinzo Abe Doesn’t Deserve This Lavish Funeral

衝撃的な暗殺事件の直後、安倍晋三はその国際的な政治家としての手腕に賛辞を送られている。残念なことに、この賞賛は彼の国内的な遺産とは対照的である。公的な場における真実に対してとても冷ややかで、日本ではほとんどの人が政府の言うこと信じない。/2

安倍元首相と自民党の多くの議員が、韓国を拠点とする問題あるカルト集団、統一教会と密接な関係にあったことが死後に発覚し、自民党にダメージを与えている。現首相の岸田文雄氏の支持率は36％にまで落ち込んだ。奇妙なことに、安倍元首相を暗殺した犯人に対する国民の支持と共感さえ高まっている。/3

首相として、また自民党の党首として、安倍首相は日常的に行政に圧力をかけ、自分の望む結果を出させていた。特に、レーガノミクスを手本にした財政政策である「アベノミクス」の成功を証明することに熱心であった。/4

官僚たちは、その結果を改竄することに全力を尽くした。2018年12月労働省は長年に渡り雇用データを改竄していたことが暴露され、それにり日本の賃金は上昇しているように見えていたが実際は低下していた。/5

データの偽造は単なる見栄の問題ではなく、結果として2000万人以上の人々が労働に関するの手当を過少に支払われていたのである。/6

2019年1月、保守系新聞の日本経済新聞とテレビ東京が世論調査を行ったところ、5人に4人近くが公式統計を信用しなくなったことが判明。/7

そして2021年、安倍首相が大嫌いなリベラル派の朝日新聞が、国土交通省が安倍政権時代を中心に8年近くにわたって工事請負金額の数字を改ざんしていたことを明らかにした。この違法行為により、内閣府が発表する「月例経済報告」などの重要な指標を作成するための重要な経済統計が歪められた。/8

アベノミクスが実際に機能したかどうかは、膨大なデータを検証し、修正する必要があるため、わからないかもしれないが、彼の在任中に実質所得が減少、貧富の差が拡大したことは確かだ。/9

ここ数カ月の円安は、日本政府のデータにほとんど価値がないことを国際投資家がやっと認識したことと関係があるのかもしれない。/10

保守的な自民党のルーツは冷戦時代にさかのぼる。左翼政党が政権を取れないようにするため、CIAが日本に干渉し、財政的にも政治的にも大きな恩恵を受けていたのである。/11

自民党は数十年にわたり政府の主要政党であったが、決して統一された存在ではなかった。現在でも、中道右派から右翼民族派まで、さまざまな派閥が政権を争っている。各派閥はカリスマ的リーダーを中心に、末端のメンバーが忠誠を誓う。/12

安倍首相は細田派を実質的に率い、冷酷なまでの後援とライバルの排斥を繰り返して、細田派を支配的な派閥にした。2014年、2期目の首相就任時には、政府の重要な委員会や国家安全保障会議、日銀、原子力規制委員会などの主要機関のトップに側近を指名し、権力を強化した。/13

2014年には内閣人事局を創設、政府・公務員の人事権を拡大した。さらに国営放送のNHKの役員に取り巻きを任命、尊敬される公平な報道機関であったNHKを「安倍テレビ」と広く揶揄されるようなものに変え、メディアへの影響力を利用し自分の政党内の潜在的なライバルをその場にとどまらせたのである。/14

（森友文書の詳細の記述は割愛）2018年5月、大阪の山本真知子特捜部長が関与した38人の容疑者について不起訴処分と発表し彼女は詳細の説明や質問への回答を拒否。数ヵ月後、山本は昇進し別の地検に異動。疑問のある決定について尋問される可能性があったのに検察審査会の手が届かなくなった。/15

赤木正子さんは、夫の死をめぐって国に損害賠償を求め提訴した。昨年12月、政府は賠償請求に応じ、訴訟を打ち切った。/16

腐敗と不信の毒は日本企業にも回っている。安倍政権下の2015年に発覚した日本史上最大の不正会計問題で、東芝の関係者は誰も起訴されていない。/17

昨年、日本の経済産業大臣は、日本の原子力産業にとって重要な役割を果たす東芝と役人が結託し、外国人投資家に関する機密情報を共有したとき、自分の省は何も悪いことはしていないとあっさりと宣言した。/18

安倍元首相が「息を吐くようにウソをつく」という名言も登場。オリンピック招致の際「福島はアンダーコントロールされいてる」とうそをつき、首相就任8年目の2020年のクリスマスに桜を見る会で公費を不正に使用したことを認め、安倍は国会で118回も嘘をついたことを告白し、謝罪した。/19

しかし、安倍元首相は何ら責任を問われることはなかった。彼は犯罪者として訴追されることもなく、また彼をかばった人たちも訴追されることはなかった。/20

だから、真実を語れない日本政府が存在するのだ。嘘は報われ、真実を語ることは罰せられる。政府は都合の良い事実をでっち上げ、都合の悪い事実を隠し、信じてもらえることを望み続けるだろう。それが安倍元首相のレガシーである。/21

安倍元首相は、戦後憲法を破棄し、戦前の帝国憲法を基にした憲法を制定し、日本を再び軍事大国にする、という大望を抱いたまま首相を退いた。/22

それは、元法務大臣の長勢甚遠が2012年に宣言した、「基本的人権、国民主権、平和主義」を剥奪するものである。/23

法学者のローレンス・レペタは、安倍首相が採用しようとしている新憲法は、言論の自由の保護を排除し、普遍的人権を放棄し、個人の自由よりも公の秩序を重視し、首相に「非常事態」を宣言し憲法上の権利と法的手続きを停止する新しい権限を与えるだろうと指摘した。/24

退陣後も、安倍首相は党に絶大な影響力を行使し続けた。殺害された時も、自民党と自分の派閥のために選挙活動を行い、その影響力を行使していた。その影響力は、安倍首相の死後間もなく行われた総選挙の結果によって、さらに増幅された。/25

自民党はついに、安倍元首相の夢であった憲法改正を実現するための参議院の議席を確保したのである。しかし、果たしてそうだろうか。墓の向こうでも、安倍首相は自民党を支配しているように見える。/endchocolat viennois ☕

chocolat viennois 

@la_neige_fleur

Medical worker. My partner holds Ph.D. in immunology and can give me advice. ショコラ・ヴィエノワです。長いんでノワで。誤字多めですのでご容赦を。日本のインフォデミックがひどいので海外のツイートを雑に訳したり。たまにお料理やハムスターの写真も。Follow on Twitter

Contemporary Culture, Dark Side of the Sun, Featured, News, On the Record, Photo Essays, Politics

In peaceful Nara, The violent Death of ex-Prime minister Abe leaves residents shocked and saddened

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The people of Nara mourn the senseless death of Shinzo Abe

Many mourned the violent death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Japan yesterday–whether they supported him or not, the people of Nara recognized that the loss of human life is always tragic. 

reporting by Himari Shimanz, Beni Adelstein. Cameron Seeley also contributed to this report.

 

Flowers, tea and beers, as is customary in Japanese culture, laid by the public mark the site where Shinzo Abe was fatally shot. Yesterday, we paid a visit to the site ourselves to see all those who made trips from near and far to commemorate Abe’s passing. The overwhelming feeling on the day was that of sadness, with flowers periodically being taken away to make room for the endless flow of offerings. Even for those unfamiliar with his political work, many were sad to hear the news of his passing.  One of the many who stopped to add to his growing memorial told us, “I’ve known Mr. Abe as the leader of Japan for most of my lifetime. Because of that, regardless of how his politics were, whether his politics were good or bad, it is really sad for someone who had taken on such responsibility and come this far to pass away. I know every person has their own opinions but I think that it comes down to an individual having passed away.”

  A young girl, fighting back tears, expressed a similar sentiment noting how such a tragic incident could come out of nowhere, and she felt it was her obligation to pay her respects.

In Nara, a prayer for the departed Shinzo Abe photo by Beni Adelstein

Many expressed shock at hearing the incident had taken place in Nara, a small Japanese city with significantly under 500,000 residents. One man from Osaka told us: “Nara is generally a safe place. Incidents don’t usually happen much in Nara. Places like Osaka, where we’re from, is where you see more incidents. We’ve never heard of any incident as big as this happening here in Nara.” Another local resident felt similarly; “I grew up in Nara and for anything like this to happen here is a shock to me.”   

It was a shock to everyone when the unthinkable occured.  

Man on motorcycle drives up to the scene of the crime to lay flowers down for the deceased
photo by Beni Adelstein

At 11:30 am July 8th, former Prime Minister Abe was shot from behind at a campaign rally outside the Yamato Saidai-ji Station in Nara. He went into cardiac arrest and showed no vital signs. After four and a half hours of medics trying to resuscitate him, Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest serving Prime Minister, at age 67, was officially pronounced dead at 5:03 pm yesterday as the result of two gunshot wounds. The alleged attacker, 41 year old Tetsuya Yamagami, was arrested on site and was found with a handmade firearm.  In Japan, a country with some of the world’s strictest gun’s laws, gun violence is extremely rare, let alone political assasination attempts; the most recent one having occurred in  2007 when Nagasaki mayor Icho Ito was shot by a member of a yakuza group, the Yamaguchi gumi. This is actually not the first incident Abe has been the recipient of violence from the yakuza, and in 2000, the Kudo Kai perpetrated an attack by throwing firebombs at the former prime minister’s office . At this point, it is unclear whether or not Yamagami has affiliations with the yakuza but it is a possibility worth being looked into.

 Regardless of the motive, this incident is unexpected and quite perplexing. As one Japanese reporter puts it, “Guns are rarely the weapon of choice, let alone a handmade one. The use of guns is uncommon even among yakuza related incidents.”  Officers who raided the man’s residence later that day found more crude electrically fired weaponry, including explosives and what appear to be nine and five barreled shotguns. All nearby residents were evacuated. Yamgami has confessed to the assasination of Abe and is awaiting prosecution.

Not only has the shooter left us with many unsolved questions, but also the security team for Abe is an issue being raised. Abe’s security, one passerby noted there was less security presence on the day than when Abe had been the sitting Prime Minister. “Mr. Abe visited my hometown too. That time he had a lot more bodyguards surrounding him because he was still prime minister. But now that he’s stepped down, his security team has gotten much smaller.” Another Osaka native pointed out, little to no security presence is not uncommon for politicians in Japan, “If it had been a politician without as much fame, there wouldn’t have been much security at all. At most you might see supporters standing by a no-name politician. It was only because it was Mr. Abe that there was even the smallest presence of security guards and police.” 

While events unfolded on the day in only a matter of minutes, the significance of his death is likely to send ripples through the Japanese political system that will stand the test of time.  Shu Kanazawa spoke to us after leaving flowers on Abe’s memorial. He expressed  thanks to Abe for his work in politics and concern regarding the efficacy of his contemporaries policies. “As prime minister of Japan, you aren’t doing your job right if you don’t have your foreign policy together. Until now, the only prime ministers who were competent in foreign diplomacy were Mr. Koizumi and Mr. Abe. In that sense, I am really grateful for his work.” On the other hand, Abe’s control of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party as well as his deep ties to extremists right-wing groups have made him a controversial figure. He is also reviled by some for the role he played in largely limiting freedom of press rights in Japan. Views on “Abenomics” his fiscal policies aren’t singular either and he has been linked with questionable political and financial scandals.  Yet, at the end of this eventful day, people came together to commemorate and mourn the loss of a leader who made a substantial impact in Japan and on a global scale.  How Abe’s death might alter the climate of Japanese politics is not certain, however, the mourning and gift-giving are certain to continue for days, if not weeks.  

The once peaceful and ordinary square around Yamato Saidai-ji station now marks a historical event that has left the nation with disbelief, grief, and shock.

Nara, once the capital of Japan, is a city known for its greenery, rolling hills,  ancient Buddhist temples, friendly residents, slow-paced, languid, and peaceful life. It’s the last place one would expect Japan’s longest reigning Prime Minister to meet a violent end. The two shots fired that day will echo in the minds of the people there for many months or years to come. 

In the peaceful city of Nara, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, met a violent end. Whether they supported him or despised him, many of the residents mourned his loss.
Coming Events, Contemporary Culture, Featured, News, Pop Culture, Uncategorized, Work Culture

Tokyo Comedy Bar Opens In Shibuya

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Tokyo Comedy Bar launches in Shibuya by Phoebe Amoroso

After the past couple of years, we could all do with more laughs. Yet when Ben “BJ” Fox proposed opening a comedy venue in the middle of a pandemic, many people thought he was having a laugh – and not the right kind. It’s a fact he acknowledged at the venue’s opening night last Friday, describing the project self-deprecatingly as a midlife crisis. 

There’s nothing sexier than a hard tall and thick hot mike.

The audience, however, was gleeful and, as comedy-lovers, presumably grateful too. Tokyo Comedy Bar becomes the city’s only stand-up comedy club, bringing shows nightly to the heart of Shibuya. From roast battles and improv to hosting international comedians, the venue has big ambitions, impressively offering shows in both English and Japanese. As the name cunningly suggests, it’s also a bar, boasting craft beers on tap, and there’s no obligation to stay for a show.

We caught the late show of Tokyo Comedy Bar’s English two-part opening event, with BJ Fox MC-ing a line-up of six comedians. Admittedly, we were a little sceptical whether they could all deliver, but we were proved wrong; the laugh-a-minute from the audience was evidence enough that these performers knew their crowd, tackling everything from politics to sexuality, and especially life in Japan. 

Jon Sabay kicked off the evening, riffing on expats versus immigrants drawing on his own family history, and then educating us on the true signs of whether someone is a gaijin. Up next, Bill Miller began his set by taking on Japanese apartment sizes in some near-the-bone humour that definitely wouldn’t make it onto NHK. A shout-out must also go to the musically talented Ruben VM for highlighting the most endangered species in the world in his song “Extinction,” and getting us all to sing a truly heart-warming song about nationalism. 

Good beer, good cheer

With both opening shows sold out, it’s going to be exciting to see how Tokyo Comedy Bar will develop the city’s stand-up scene and whether it’ll bring fresh comedic talent to the stage. One thing, however, is for certain: after two years of almost all events being cancelled in the city, the venture couldn’t be further from a midlife crisis. It’s post-pandemic therapy, and long may it continue. 
For the full event schedule, check Tokyo Comedy Bar’s website or Instagram.

BJ Fox Welcomes you!
Coming Events, Contemporary Culture, Featured, Jake Adelstein, News, On the Record, Politics, Uncategorized, Work Culture

Japan: The Shape Of Things To Come? Find out this Sunday (May 15)

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Join some of the greatest experts on Japan to discuss the future of this island nation.

This coming Sunday (May 15, starting 10am), sees a unique event at the Yokohama campus of Meiji Gakuin University and online via Zoom, called THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME, marking the international departmen’s ten years of teaching global and transcultural studies.

Predicting the future is a lot harder than learning to make sushi

This one-day symposium features a panel of star speakers who will try to predict what will happen in the next ten years in Japan, East Asia, and the World. The star speaker is MUHAMMAD YUNUS, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, known as “banker to the poor”, live by Zoom link from the Yunus Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh . The event also features Alex Kerr, author of books such as Lost Japan and Dogs and Demons: The Fall of Modern Japan, noted professional economic journalist, Rick Katz, Hiroko Takeda author of The Political Economy of Reproduction: Between Nation-State and Everyday Life (2005) and co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Japan (2021) along with Kyoko Hatakeyama(Professor of International Relations, University of Niigata Prefecture), David Leheny, Masafumi Iida, Eric Zusman, Mika Ohbayashi and Hiroshi Ohta.

It will be an interactive event, with 15-minute presentations and equal time for free discussion. This is a great chance to get into conversation with some elite experts on Japan and broaden your own knowledge of the country and Asia. Admission is free and open to all, but prior registration is required.


Click here for the Online program here:


Click here for the Online registration

The full press release is below:

A Symposium commemorating the Tenth Anniversary of the Foundation of the Department of Global and Transcultural Studies, Meiji Gakuin University

SUNDAY MAY 15, 2022, MEIJI GAKUIN UNIVERSITY YOKOHAMA CAMPUS

As our department marks ten years of teaching global and transcultural studies, the world appears to be balanced on a knife edge. Internationalism is locked with nationalism, secularism with religious fundamentalism, democracy with authoritarianism, tolerance with intolerance. The Corona Pandemic has ushered in a new and frightening era of massive biohazards, while Russia’s attempted invasion of Ukraine has raised the specter of a return to Cold War type confrontation. Casting a long shadow over these massive ideological struggles is climate change, thought by many experts to be close to a tipping point from which will flow disastrous consequences for humanity and the natural environment.

This symposium will commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Department of Global and Transcultural Studies. It will be an opportunity to step back, take a deep breath, and survey the world and the prospects for the ten years to come. Each of our speakers will be invited to gaze into their crystal ball and forecast how global affairs will develop in the next ten years. We hope to examine their predictions ten years later, when the department celebrates its 20thanniversary.

Keynote speaker

Muhammad Yunus (2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner)

PROGRAM

9:30am: Doors Open; Registration

9:50am: Welcome and Opening Remarks by Leo Murata (president of Meiji Gakuin University)

10am

Panel 1: Prospects for Japan

Chair: Prof. Tom Gill (Meiji Gakuin Dept. of Global and Transcultural Studies)

Japan’s economic, social and demographic challenges for the next decade.

Alex Kerr (long-term resident of Kyoto, known for books such as Lost Japan and Dogs and Demons: The Fall of Modern Japan)

Richard Katz (economist, New York correspondent of Toyo Keizai; will join online)

Hiroko Takeda (Professor of Political Science, Nagoya University)

11:45am

Panel 2: Peace and Security

Chair: Prof. Kōki Abe (Meiji Gakuin Department of International Studies)

Prospects for peace and security in East Asia in the shadow of China-US competition.

Masafumi Iida (Professor, National Institute of Defense Studies)

Kyoko Hatakeyama (Professor of International Relations, University of Niigata Prefecture)

David Leheny (Professor of Political Science, Waseda University)

1:15pm: Lunch (Please bring your own lunch. Alternatively, there are two convenience stores and one small restaurant near the campus.)

2:15pm

Panel 3: Renewable Energy/Environment

Can Japan meet its ambitious carbon reduction targets for 2030, and if so, how?

Chair: Prof. Paul Midford (Meiji Gakuin Dept. of Global and Transcultural Studies)

Eric Zusman (Senior Researcher, Institute for Global Environmental Studies)

Mika Ohbayashi (Director, Renewable Energy Institute, Tokyo)

Hiroshi Ohta (Professor, Waseda University School of International Liberal Studies)

4:00pm

Panel 4: Careers in the Coming Decade

Chair: Prof. Takayuki Sakamoto (Meiji Gakuin Dept. of Global and Transcultural Studies)

Seven of our graduates will discuss prospects for the fields in which they are working.

11KC1020 Rina Takeda, Sony Music Solutions Inc.

13KC1031 Kaji Deane, automotive distributor

13KC1045 Megumi Miura, project manager, Amazon Japan

14KC1018 Ruxin Wei, systems engineer, Intelligent Wave Inc.

15KC1025 Jinzaburo Tasaka, web designer, SoftBank

15KC1026 Yumi Tajima, fashion merchandiser

15KC1504 Vladislav Lushchikov, restaurant manager

5:45pm

Introduction of Prof. Muhammad Yunus by Prajakta Khare (Associate Professor, Meiji Gakuin Dept. of Global and Transcultural Studies)

6:00pm

Keynote Address

Professor Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, “banker to the poor”, live by Zoom link from the Yunus Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh

“Global Economic Inequality: Now is the Time to Redesign”

Q&A moderated by Prajakta Khare

6:45pm

Yokohama International Study Association (YISA) – Officers of the Meiji Gakuin alumni association will explain the association’s activities and how to get involved in them.

7pm

Vote of thanks by Prof. Aoi Mori, Dean of the Faculty of International Studies, Meiji Gakuin University

Jake Adelstein, News, On the Record, Pop Culture, Tokyo Vice, Yakuza

Response to The Hollywood Reporter Article

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The Hollywood Reporter recently published an article written by a reporter named Gavin Blair, about Tokyo Vice and my career. It contains numerous inaccuracies. Roughly one fourth of Mr. Blair’s article relates to a 2011 lawsuit involving a film director, Philip Day. In 2011, I was hired to work with Mr. Day on a documentary about the yakuza. In the course of filming, Mr. Day breached his agreement to protect sources and this resulted in a lawsuit that I am not free to comment about.  My lawyer’s statement is here for your reference. 

In my book, Tokyo Vice, I have taken great pains to explain why events were altered to protect people who confided in me, especially from retaliation by organized crime. 

Standard Practices in Japan 

In his article, Mr. Blair brings up the fact that I use anonymous sources in my work as an issue. Any competent journalist here knows that the civil servant laws here (公務員法) and the State Secrets Law make it a crime for government officials to divulge confidential information to third parties. He seems to have seized on my refusal to disclose the identity of my sources, especially to him, as a basis to attack my character and reputation. 

In other words, there is nothing unusual about the fact that I keep the identity of my sources carefully concealed.  This is standard practice in this country. To the contrary, the fact that I have been good about respecting the confidentiality of my sources is one of the reasons that I have been able to work in Japan for so long.  

In Japan, the law forbids public officials from disclosing confidential information to third-parties, including journalists. The media therefore must keep many sources anonymous to protect them. A US special agent who has worked with Japan’s National Police Agency told The Hollywood Reporter, “There’s one very different thing about Japan that you should know. When government officials and police leak information, that’s a crime. Their names do not appear as sources in a story about a case in progress because that is against the law.” With the yakuza, a source who speaks out of turn risks losing a finger or much more. Any long-term reporter in Japan who does not know this is ignorant or can’t read a Japanese newspaper.

Sins Of Omission

In writing his article, Mr. Blair deliberately left out or ignored correspondences testifying to my credibility or verifying my reporting.  My colleague and friend, Naoki Tsujii, who is incorrectly quoted in the article, contacted Mr. Blair after their interview because he had concerns he had been misunderstood because of the language barrier, but his efforts to clarify were completely ignored. He disputes Mr. Blair’s version of their conversation. He feels his words were taken out of context and maliciously used to generate a click-bait headline.

Decide For Yourself 

I have posted a folder of source materials I’ve used to write Tokyo Vice, taking care to redact materials to protect sources. It’s been nearly 14 years since the book was finished—some of my sources have died. Some were friends who I miss.  Some were reprehensible people but still sources I had to protect. 

Generally speaking, when a source dies, so does the confidentiality agreement—and so I have revealed some of my sources in the folder. I have done this reluctantly, but I also feel that when possible it is best to share information about my work to deepen public understanding. 

In the last ten years, my book has been fact-checked and examined by The Washington Post, The LA Times, 60 Minutes and The New Yorker. In that process, while no harm was intended by the fact-checkers, sources have almost been compromised or fired. I will not put them at risk again.

I have no further statement to make. I would like to say thank you to everyone who has read the book and would like to say an additional thank you to everyone who has given me their support. 感謝しております。以上

Jake Adelstein

May 5th 2022

Contemporary Culture, Featured, Jake Adelstein, News, On the Record, Tokyo Vice, Work Culture

The 11 Rules Of Being A Good Journalist In Japan

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When I was just starting as a reporter in 1992, a veteran reporter at the Yomiuri Shimbun gave me some valuable advice on being a good journalist, specifically being a good investigative journalist. I’ve never forgotten it but in the 30 years since then, times have changed. This is the first revision I’ve ever done of the rules. Think of this as the 2022 edition, a three decade late update.

The job is hard but often rewarding.

One thing that hasn’t changed in Japan are the laws related to civil servants.

The laws here in Japan basically state that if a public official (police officer, bureaucrat etc) shares confidential information with a third party, they are committing a crime. They can be fired or prosecuted. This happens. If it’s a state secret they may be sentenced to five years or more in jail.  This is why newspaper articles in Japan abound with anonymous sources dressed up with phrases like, “according to someone close to the investigation” or “government sources”.  Japan’s press freedom ranking in 2010 was 11th in the world, now 66th out of 180 countries. Protecting sources gets harder all the time.

So keeping that in mind, here’s the list again with three new rules and here’s a little background. 

I interned at the Yomiuri Newspaper briefly in 1992 before starting as a regular staff reporter in 1993. When I was visiting legendary crime reporter, Inoue Ansei at the police press club, took me up to the coffee shop, ordered us some green tea, and asked what I wanted to do at the Yomiuri.

“Well,” I said, “I’m interested in investigative journalism and the side of Japan I don’t know much about. The seamy side. The underworld.” I told him that my father was a country coroner and that crime and the police beat had always interested me.

He recommended I shoot for Shakaibu (社会部), the national news section, which was responsible for covering crime, social problems, and national news. 

Inoue put it this way: “It’s the soul of the newspaper. Everything else is just flesh on the bones. Real journalism, journalism that can change the world, that’s what we do.”

I asked him for some advice as a reporter. 

“Newspaper reporting isn’t rocket science,” he said. “The pattern is set. You remember the patterns and build from there. It’s like martial arts. You have kata [the form] that you memorize and repeat, and that’s how you learn the basic moves. It’s the same here. There are about three or four basic ways to write up a violent crime, so you have to be able to remember the style, fill in the blanks, and get the facts straight. The rest will come.

“There are eight rules of being a good reporter, Jake.

Let me tell you kid. There are eight rules you gotta know to be a good reporter in this town (1992)

One. Don’t ever burn your sources. If you can’t protect your sources, no one will trust you. All scoops are based on the understanding that you will protect the person who gave you the information. That’s the alpha and omega of reporting. Your source is your friend, your lover, your wife, and your soul. Betray your source and you betray yourself. If you don’t protect your source, you’re not a journalist. You’re not even a man.

Two. Finish a story as soon as possible. The life of news is short. Miss the chance and the story is dead or the scoop is gone.

Three. Never believe anyone. People lie, police lie, even your fellow reporters lie. Assume that you are being lied to and proceed with caution.

Four. Take any information you can get. People are good and bad. Information is not. Information is what it is, and it doesn’t matter who gives it to you or where you steal it. The quality, the truth of the information, is what’s important.

Five. Remember and persist. Stories that people forget come back to haunt them. What may seem like an insignificant case can later turn into a major story. Keep paying attention to an unfolding investigation and see where it goes. Don’t let the constant flow of breaking news make you forget about the unfinished news.

Six. Triangulate your stories, especially if they aren’t an official announcement from the authorities. If you can verify information from three different sources, odds are good that the information is good.

Seven. Write everything in a reverse pyramid. Editors cut from the bottom up. The important stuff goes on top, the trivial details go to the bottom. If you want your story to make it to the final edition, make it easy to cut.

Eight. Never put your personal opinions into a story; let someone else do it. That’s why experts and commentators exist. Objectivity is a subjective thing.

And that was it. I haven’t grown much wiser over the years but as the media landscape and technology have changed, I think it’s time to add three more rules.

“But 30 years later, in 2022, I think we need three more rules in addition to the big 8.”

And here they are:

Nine: Share your data. The internet is a vast and endless storage hub. If you’ve written something the world should know–put up supporting data and documents on the web, maybe in a dropbox file that anyone can access. Use hyperlinks. Knowledge empowers everyone. Be sure not to reveal sources but share the intel you have;  some of your readers may even return the favor. 

Ten: Seek information. Learn every means possible of ferreting information from the web and from public sources. Social media can be a cesspool but it can also be a wonderful way to find information, collaborators and whistleblowers. Ask questions. Post your query and post a way to contact you, and welcome what comes.

Eleven: Protect Your Sources–And Protect Yourself.  In the modern world, when people don’t like the message, they attack the messenger. This wasn’t the case back in 1992 when Yomiuri reporters didn’t get bylines. Individual reporters were rarely attacked because no one knew who wrote the stories. Now they do. You will make enemies because of this.  To paraphrase a detective I admired, “An investigative journalist without enemies, isn’t investigating hard enough”. 

You’ll find that enemies (people who wish you harm) include people who don’t like what you’ve written, or what you are going to write, and sadly,  other journalists who are professionally jealous or hold a grudge.  Protect your reputation.  It’s not just a matter of your big fat ego: if people don’t feel you’re credible,  the good work you do won’t be read or won’t be taken seriously. 

When you know someone is gunning for you, be proactive. The person on the defensive always looks guilty. Anticipate attacks, undercut them, and prepare your rebuttal.

A few footnotes and some final advice. 

There are many interesting ways to share data and also learn to collect information more efficiently. Please have a look at the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) website. “IRE is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of journalism”–they say and they’re worth joining. The AAJA (Asian American Journalists Association) also offers valuable training and advice.  Another great source for learning how to get your message out and get read by many people is The Journalists’ Resource, which has a self-explanatory name. 

And some final advice. There are many types of journalism in the world: sports journalism, entertainment journalism, gaming journalism and they’re all valid forms of the art and wonderful vocations. Investigative journalism, by its very nature, involves writing things that the powers that be don’t want written. This will make people angry. You can’t avoid it. You should always try and weigh the public’s right to know something versus the damage that it will do to the life of an individual. If you’re not a full-time staffer, who’s assigned to cover this or that story, then you have the ability to decide what is and what is not worth writing. So choose wisely but if it’s important, write it.

Hidetoshi Kiyotake, my former supervisor at the Yomiuri, gave me some good advice which I will share with you. 

If you’re going to be an investigative journalist here, you have to make up your mind and be ready [for what comes]. You must endure unreasonable criticism, and continue to fight. 

In Japan, reporters who reveal their sources are scorned and cannot continue to do proper and decent reporting. That’s why you must keep your important sources anonymous. This often leads to investigative journalists having to go it alone, feeling isolated. You just have to believe in yourself and your friends and hang in there.

****

(調査報道記者として不公平に叩かれる宿命について）腹を据えて、理由のない批判に耐え、戦わなければならない。日本では情報源を明かすような記者は軽蔑され、まともな取材を続けられない。だから、重要な情報源は匿名にならざるを得ないのだ。そのために調査報道にあたる記者はしばしば孤立する傾向にある。自分や友人を信じて、頑張るしかないよ。

Featured, Jake Adelstein, News, On the Record, Organized Crime, Politics, Uncategorized, Yakuza

Protecting Sources & Risking Lives: The Ethical Dilemmas of Japanese Journalism

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“1. Write the truth by any means possible.  2. Protect your sources. 3. If you can’t write the story, without protecting your sources, find new or different sources– or drop the story. There’s always another news story, people only have one life. That’s Japanese Journalism Ethics 101”—senior national news editor, 1999 

(This article was originally published in September of 2012)

In 2012, Japan’s largest newspaper, the Yomiuri Shinbun, forced a national news reporter to resign after he mistakenly sent an email which revealed the identity of his police contact. The police officer had been an informant on links between the Fukuoka Police and the yakuza. The detective who was outed  later tried to kill himself. Here are the details:

“At the Fukuoka bureau of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper in July, a reporter resigned after leaking confidential information related to an assistant inspector who had been arrested for accepting bribes from organized crime members.

Shukan Bunshun (Aug. 30) reveals that a police superintendent who served as the reporter’s source attempted suicide the following month.

On July 20, reporter Masahiro Goto, 33, disclosed the identities of his sources after he mistakenly sent an email containing his reporting to multiple news organizations while he was attempting to contact his editorial colleagues.” –English translation from Tokyo Reporter

The reporter made a careless mistake.  The cost was great for himself and for the courageous officer that was speaking to him. You might ask yourself, but why would the whistle-blowing cop try to commit suicide?

The answer isn’t as simple as fearing reprisals from his fellow policemen or great shame; the answer is because he may possibly face criminal charges for talking to the reporter. Because in Japan, if you are a public servant, and this includes police officers, leaking information to the press can be prosecuted as a crime. It’s a violation of the Civil Servants Act (国家公務員法100条また109条 and possibly 公務員法60条−62条).　The law states that a public servant may not release secrets gained during the course of his work, and he/she can be sentenced to up to a year in jail and or a 500,000 yen fine if they violate the law. (国家公務員に対し、「職務上知ることのできた秘… … 守秘義務に背いた者には、1年以下の懲役または50万円以下の罰金が科されます) What is considered “secret” is pretty much whatever the government wants to consider “secret”. The Japanese courts and prosecution have some latitude in disputing the classification.

If a public official talks to reporters or releases information without permission they can be lose their jobs and be prosecuted for violations of the civil servants laws.  In other words, if I named my all my sources, I could cost them their jobs and get them thrown into jail. I’m not willing to do that. Source confidentiality is an even more sensitive issue when involving articles about the yakuza. Revealing a source could cost them their job, their finger, or maybe even their life.

Even whistleblowers are subject to possible prosecution. Here is one example. Fortunately it did not end in actual criminal prosecution but this is one of the few cases reported in English.

 Senkaku video leak probed as a crime/Kan offers apology as prosecutors open investigation (11/09/2010) 

In the case above a Coast Guard officer who leaked footage of a Chinese “fishing vessel” attacking or ramming into a Japanese Coast  boat, was under a criminal investigation for a violation of the laws mentioned above. The officer released the footage out of good conscience, because he felt the Japanese public wasn’t getting the true story of what happened because the Japanese government was kowtowing to China. He even reportedly sent a copy of the video to CNN on a memory stick, but CNN didn’t examine the data or choose to ignore it.

For releasing the video, the Coast Guard officer was put under criminal investigation. It was only because of massive public support and sympathy that the case was dropped. Technically, it’s illegal to share any secrets or information that a public servant has access to in the course of this work. This law applies to police officers and all government employees. Violators of the law, those who have talked to the press on the record, or off the record, and then been exposed—have been fired, prosecuted or both.

Thus in Japan, many news reports read, “The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said…” “Sources close to the investigation revealed…”  The number of cases where a police officer makes a comment on the record, in his own name ,are extremely rare. Essentially, in less an individual receives approval at the highest levels,  to make a comment on the record is risky. Comments made on background can be career destroyers if the source is found out, and may also subject them to criminal charges.

Even when a source is willing to go on the record, as in the case of a whistleblower, an experienced reporter knows that they may be subjecting their source to vicious reprisals. This is not unique to Japan. This happened to my own father, who refused to keep quiet about what appear to have been a nurse who was a serial killer at the Veteran’s hospital where he worked.  It was a shock to me that the world worked like this but sometimes good deeds really are punished.  I’d like to see that courage and the pursuit for justice are rewarded and that the people with a conscience in the world don’t suffer. Of course, I know that’s idealistic.

Whenever possible, I try to name sources and put as much factual data into a story as I can but I’m always aware that the costs for the source are almost always greater than my own. It’s not a crime to name a public official as your source; the person named may become a criminal under Japanese law. That doesn’t seem like justice to me nor does it seem like ethical journalism.

Journalists aren’t saints and I’ve known a number of them who’ve betrayed their sources for “a really big story.” Sometimes they’ve claimed that the public right to know outweighs the safety and welfare of the individual. I’ve known other journalists who bitterly complain when scooped and demand from the officials to know who leaked information to their rival reporter. Usually the journalists that do these things are border-line sociopaths. I don’t know what the US standard is on this but in Japan, if you’re any kind of a responsible journalist you don’t burn your sources nor do you ask others to do the same.

I’ve been writing about the Japanese underworld since 1993. I’m very well aware of what can happen to someone who writes the wrong thing or someone who has their cover blown. Sometimes they get hurt, sometimes they get fired, sometimes they suffer punitive damages, sometimes they go to jail,  sometimes they “commit suicide”, and sometimes they just vanish.

That’s another high cost of being an investigative journalist in Japan–if the bad guys don’t like the message, they attack the messenger. If they can’t attack the messenger, they attack the people he loves. In January of 2006, the son of an investigative reporter, Atsushi Mizoguchi, was stabbed by members of the yakuza. The court found two of the yakuza involved guilty and sentenced them to hard labor for assault, noting, ” (they) attempted to violate the right to free speech and expression through the cowardly means of attacking a family member. It had a major impact on society.” Mr. Mizoguchi had written articles critical of their boss. Mr. Mizoguchi himself was literally stabbed in the back in 1990 after writing a book about the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s largest crime group,  that was not well received. The assailants were never caught.

If you’re going to write about crime or corporate malfeasance in Japan, you always have to consider the risks to your sources, your friends, and yourself. And then you do the best you can. You try to do as much good as you can and as little harm as possible. As I get older, I often seem to find that when I weigh the value of writing a “scoop” versus the damage that it might do to an innocent person, and the relevance to public welfare, that I often drop the story. As my mentor said many years ago, there are many, many stories; people only have one life.

I don’t know why other people continue to be investigative journalists in Japan. It’s an increasingly difficult and painful occupation. You stand to lose much personally and gain little.  The case of Minoru Tanaka is a sad reminder of how the court hammer is increasingly used to bludgeon journalists into silence. Write the truth, and be sued into oblivion. That’s the reality independent journalists here are facing.

Why do I continue? I do it because I love the work and because I like Japan. This is my home. And I continue to be an investigative journalist because I believe that the role of journalism–at its best–is to uncover the truth that people should know, to see that justice is done when the authorities fail to carry it out, to protect the weak from the strong, and by doing this, make our society a better place to live.