Ishihara Shintaro's recent remarks

[Gardner, William]

Dear KineJapan readers,
Many of you have probably heard by now about Tokyo governor Ishihara
Shintaro's recent remarks warning of possible rioting by foreigners after a
major earthquake. The governor's remarks are particularly chilling in view
of the historical incident in which thousands of Koreans and Chinese were
lynched by mobs with the complicity of police after the Great Kanto
Earthquake of 1923.
With apologies for sending the list a message not directly related to film
(notwithstanding Ishihara's famous younger brother), I include below a
digest of information gleaned from a related list on Japanese literature,
and urge readers to e-mail Ishihara to condemn his remarks.

governor at metro.tokyo.jp  (FOR JAPANESE EMAILS)
kokusai at seikatubunka.metro.tokyo.jp (for English e-mails)

William Gardner
Visiting Assistant Professor
Japanese Department
Middlebury College
wgardner at middlebury.ed

P.S. The Asahi news service reports today that Governor Ishihara has
defended his remarks in a recent news conference:
http://iij.asahi.com/0412/news/politics12017.html


I am forwarding a recent message I received from a student regarding
Ishihara Shintaro's remarks to the Ground Self-Defence Force about possible
rioting by foreigners after a major earthquake.


LEAD: Ishihara says foriegners could
riot after major quake - TOKYO, April 9 2000

<EDS: ADDING RESEARCHERS' COMMENTS>
Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara called Sunday on the
Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) to control possible
rioting by foreigners in Japan following a major
earthquake.

"Atrocious crimes have been committed again and
again by sangokujin (people from Taiwan or Korea
or their descendants) and other foreigners. We can
expect them to riot in the event of a disastrous
earthquake," Ishihara said in an address to GSDF
members.
----------------------------------------------------------------
      Consise story from Kyodo World Service
       1999 Kyodo News (c) Established 1945
                     All Rights Reserved

                      www.kyodo.co.jp

On Sunday, April 9th, Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro identified those
labeled by Japanese society as 'foreign' (especially 'resident foreigners',
or those members of Japanese society born and raised in Japan but of mostly
Korean, Chinese and Taiwanese - or racially 'non-Japanese' - ancestry) as
being the probable instigators of violence and rioting in the event of a
major disaster in the Metropolitan Tokyo area. In doing so he has again
singled out those considered to be racially 'non-Japanese' as the element of
danger in contemporary Japanese society. Ishihara cites supposed
"[a]trocious crimes... committed again and again by sangokujin and other
foreigners" as evidence for this sweeping accusation. Both Ishihara's
accusation and his shamefully generalized, highly dubious 'evidence' are
clearly racially motivated and constitute discrimination of the worst kind.

Many of us are scholars of Asia and Japan. Some of us are past, present or
possibly future residents of Metropolitan Tokyo. All of us are connected in
some way to Japan and wish the nation and all of her people well. As such,
we have a responsibility to try to stop the racial discrimination which - at
mostly official and corporate levels - sadly continues to affect the lives
of all 'foreign' residents of Japan, particularily those so-called 'resident
foreigners' who have never known any other home.

Blatantly racist politicians such as Ishihara Shintaro must not be permitted
to contribute to the suffering of racial minorities within Japan by
slandering all 'non-Japanese' in such a blatant and sensationalist manner.
Discriminatory outbursts of the type displayed by Ishihara must be
challenged if racist ideologies and institutionalized discrimination are to
be stopped. Please join me in condemning Ishihara's remarks and demanding an
apology for not only criminalizing an entire section of Japanese society but
- as the Governor of Tokyo - for misrepresenting the beliefs of the tolerant
majority of Tokyo's (and Japan's) citizens, as well.

EMAIL ISHIHARA AT:     governor at metro.tokyo.jp  (FOR JAPANESE EMAILS)

				kokusai at seikatubunka.metro.tokyo.jp (for
English e-mails)

Thank you. Please forward this message to anyone who is in any way connected
with Japan.

Scott Aalgaard

If you would like to read about this in Japanese, I recommend the following
page:

http://www.annie.ne.jp/~ishn/ishihara_hatugen_yobikake.html

Some related information in English may be found on the following page:

http://www.egroups.com/message/kumamoto-i/764

Kirk Masden
Kumamoto Gakuen University