Fight the Pawaa

I've recently become aware of a fierce activist here in Japan named Debito Arudou, an American-born university professor in Hokkaido who became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 1996. He's garnered quite a reputation here as a gaijin-defense activist: protesting Japanese-only establishments, helping foreigners know how to deal with discrimination, all that jazz. Here's his website.

I've heard some pretty conflicting stuff about this guy, which makes it pretty hard to form an opinion. In his own words (well, word), he's written "hundreds" of essays about the experience of the foreign-born or non-racially-Japanese Japanese citizen. In short, as previously mentioned, it's tough for anyone who lives in Japan who doesn't look Japanese. It's even worse for someone who wants to make their life here, who marries a Japanese citizen and wants to do seemingly simple life tasks like get a driver's license or own a home. And yes, this goes even for people of racial groups that Westerners think look Japanese -- Japanese citizens of Chinese or Korean ancestry get a ton of shit here. So on the one hand, I'm all about this Debito guy inasmuch as they take away my liberal card if I don't dig human rights activism.

On the other hand, though...well, after reading more than one of his articles, he comes off as awfully entitled, don't you think? I mean, can you believe it? A heterosexual white man being denied preferential treatment, having to undergo some frustration before getting service at a restaurant or onsen? Tragic! Additionally, one of my coworkers has given me another perspective on the "No Foreigners" bathhouses in Hokkaido: essentially, there are a lot of onsen (public baths) in the North that get visited by Russian sailors semi-frequently. Every time the sailors visit, they trash the place, break a lot of the equipment, vandalize buildings, and intimidate everyone in town. So, recently, those establishments have decided to only serve Japanese customers. My coworker believes that, while racism isn't exactly the shiniest practice in the world, in the case of these onsen it's a way to protect their business from being ruined by a group that has repeatedly proven itself untrustworthy. Not sure what I think about this one myself...

I also wanted to see what you all out there thought about this article by Debito that sprang up a few months ago. Again, seems a little harsh, but...well, honestly, I agreed with pretty much all of his points. On the commuter train in the morning, I see students drilling advanced vocabulary words for upcoming English tests, words like mandate and utility, but in my experience these same students are probably incapable of having anything but the simplest of conversations in English. Without repeating any unfounded rumors, I will say that the JET Program has been under fire in Osaka lately, largely because of the ineffectiveness of bringing over untrained twentysomethings to teach English. But this is why I'm so fond of Debito's central point that JETs aren't meant to be good classroom teachers, they're meant to give their students the experience of interacting with foreigners. I've seen that smile of relief when Japanese shopkeepers realize that I can speak a little Japanese and that I'm not going to wreck their day. I've seen that same smile on old ladies on the train when we share a few simple words of complaint about the weather. Jenn and I can regularly see the look of amazement on a student's face when they hear that we have problems with things like reading our mail or buying groceries, that expression of "Wow, I've never thought about how your life might be different from my own. Crazy!" In short, I think we're both doing something generally positive for the world by being here. Still, is it fair to write off an entire country's culture of teaching as ineffective and imbecilic? I mean, it's not like the American school system is all that great, either, right?

I'd love to hear what any of you in the Web-o-tubes have to say about this guy's article(s)! Flame on!