おお・・・初「憎悪発言」のコメント！ ・ Woot! My First Hate Speech Comment!

You'd better believe there's gonna be English for this one...

今日は以下の匿名のコメントをもらいました：

「糞外人は日本から出て行け。」

日本にいるの8年間の間に初めてだ。運が向いてきたようだね。(笑)

返事した方が良い？消した方が良い？仕方ない・・・返事しましょう:


匿名さんへ、

わざわざこのブログを読んでくれて、そしてコメントを書いてくれてありがとうございます。

しかし、貴方のコメントに応えて、あいにくですがそんなのは問題外です。

信じないかもしれないけど実は日本が大好きです。そうじゃなかったら何故もうそろそろ8年間日本に住んで、日本の女性と結婚をしますか？

いやが応でも、外国人と「○○系日本人」はますます現代日本社会の一部です。

それに人間は人間です。顔や肌色は違うかも知れないけど骨身は皆同じでしょう？

個人的に人種差別を許さないから「驚愕の外人犯罪裏ファイル」を見た時に腹を立っていました。人種差別主義はだれも助かりません。同意しないでしょうか？

改めて、コメントを書いてくれてありがとうございます。日本語でも英語でも、お返事を待ちしています。

敬具

コメントは下へ　・　ホーム　・　メール

=============================================

Earlier today I found the following anonymous comment on my previous post about the foreign crime mook (translation mine):

"Get the hell outta Japan you fucking foreigner"

In the nearly 8 years that I've been in Japan this is defo a first. Guess it's my lucky day. *grin*

Should I write back? Should I just delete it and not give this guy the satisfaction of a reply?

Ah, what the hell, let's give this dude a response:


Dear Anonymous,

First off, thank you for going out of your way to find this blog and go so far as to make a comment.

However, in response to your comment, I'm afraid that's somewhat out of the question.

You may not believe it, but I actually love Japan. Why would I have lived here for nearly 8 years and married a Japanese woman otherwise?

Whether you like it or not, foreigners and foreign-born naturalized Japanese are more and more a part of modern Japanese society.

Besides, people are people. Faces and skin color may differ, but underneath we are all flesh and bone, are we not?

Personally, I abhor racism and as such became quite upset when I viewed "Hidden Files of Unspeakable Foreign Crime". Racism benefits no one, would you not agree?

Once again, thank you for your comment, and be it in Japanese or English, I look forward to hearing from you again.

Sincerely,



Hokkaido Hillbilly

驚愕の外人犯罪裏ファイルと「ブログの力」 ・ Hidden Files of Unspeakable Foreign Crime & "Blog Power"

English down below somewhere...

この間、「驚愕の外人犯罪裏ファイル」と言うムックについて色々な日記を書きました。なぜそんなに怒っていた?

まず、ここにクリックしたらすぐ分かると思う。

ひどいでしょう?

「外人は日本語が読めないから日本語だったら何でも書いていいんじゃない？」

違います。日本の英知出版たち・・・今度こういう風な人種差別的な報道を出版したいなら覚えてください。

ありがたいことにもう販売していないけど売り切れたのせいじゃなくて、「ブログの力」だから。

terrette.blogspot.comの「Blog Power Strikes In Japan」（ブログの力が日本に到着）と言う記事で僕より上手く説明しているけど（英語のみすみません）一般的に、在日外国人はこのムックについて激怒してて、沢山のブログで情報交換をして、コンビニの販売を止めさせた。

ブログってすごくない？ちゃんと使えばかなり力がありますね。

コメントは下へ　・　ホーム　・　メール

===================================================

Near the beginning of the month, I made a few posts about the "Hidden Files of Unspeakable Foreign Crime" mook, but some of you may be wondering why I was so pissed off about it.

Well, thanks to a fastidious Flickr user, you can now click here & see why.

Pretty nasty, huh?

"Ah...foreigners are incapable of reading Japanese, so as long as it's in Nihongo, they'll never know the difference!"

Um, wrong guys. To all the Eichi Publishers of Japan: please remember what's happened here the next time you wanna publish racist crap like this.

There's a great article on "Blog Power Strikes Japan" over at terrette.blogspot.com that explains this whole flap about 10 million times better than I ever could, but the gist of it is that once the foreign community in Japan got wind of it, a ton of bloggers started exchanging information and getting the word out, and before you could say "Holy J-Racism, Batman!", sales of this little piece of hate speech were stopped.

Stupid, little ol' blogs sure are somethin', huh? It just goes to show the power of blogs for social change when used correctly. It kinda boggles the mind at what they could be used for next.

ファミリー・マートへ、ようこそ！ / Howzit Hangin' There Family Mart?

English below...

奇蹟の復興を遂げなくて、まだ具合が悪いのに、今朝ちゃんと学校に行きました・・・

・・・が

すぐ「今日の授業は来週ができるから帰りなさい！」と言われちゃったから今日もまだ風邪、また休みました。仕方がないけど、楽しい3連休に「バイバイ！」と言った方がいいかな。

とにかく、30分前くらい、サイトメータのアカウントをチェックした時に面白いデータを見つけた：

Domain Name: Unknown
IP Address: ***.***.***.# (FamilyMart Co., Ltd)
Time of Visit: Feb 9, 2007 2:14PM
Referring URL: (長いリンクだからここをクリックしてください)

そしてその前、

Domain Name: Unkown
IP Address: ***.***.***.# (FamilyMart Co., Ltd)
Time of Visit: Feb 9, 2007 11:43AM
Referring URL: (長いリンクだからここをクリックしてください)

問題です：　＊チャージャッ＊

第一問) 何でファミリー・マートは「外人犯罪」と「外人犯罪裏ファイル」を検索している？
第二問) 何で僕のブログを読んでいる？
第三問) 何でコメントを書いてくれなかった？ ;)

でも冗談抜きには、ボイコットの脅威が分かったから、ファミリー・マートは自主的に「驚愕の外人犯罪裏ファイル2007」の販売を中止した。かれらは「このずうずうしい外人達は本当にボイコットをするかはったりを言っているか？」と思って、確認しているかな？さあね・・・さっぱり分からないけどファミリー・マートさん、今度少なくてもコメントを書いてください。

そうですね・・・忘れちゃった。このムックはamazon.jpで、まだ販売中だから昨夜「何でこういう風な人種差別的な本を売りたいですか？」のメールを送った。残念ながら僕の日本語能力は足りないし、ちゃんと敬語的な手紙が書けないから英語でメールしましたが今日はお返事が届いた。

「お客様の為にできるだけ幅広いセレクションと色々な観点を提供したい」と答えたから結局販売を続きます。お返事ありがとうございますが納得できない。人種差別は最低だ、そしてそういう風な本を販売している店を応援したくないから、しばらくamazon.jpから何も買わないと思う。

最後に、JapanProbeとJapan Todayと毎日新聞（英語版）によると「外国人犯罪」は2005年度に比べて16.2％に減少したが毎日新聞日本語版の記事はかなり違う見出しがありました。

おーい！毎日新聞！「我々ずうずうし外人」も日本語が読めるよ。

コメントで説明してくれませんか？


Unfortunately I didn't have any kind of miraculous recovery upon waking up this morning and even though I still felt like absolute crap, I still dragged my ass into work...

...where I was promptly told "Um...we can re-schedule your classes for next week. Go home!" So I'm still sick and home once again. Guess I can kiss my funfilled 3-day weekend "bye-bye!"

Anyhoo, looking at my sitemeter account a while ago, I found the most peculiar entries:

Domain Name: Unknown
IP Address: ***.***.***.# (FamilyMart Co., Ltd)
Time of Visit: Feb 9, 2007 2:14PM
Referring URL: (the link is obnoxiously long, so click here)

and previous to that,

Domain Name: Unkown
IP Address: ***.***.***.# (FamilyMart Co., Ltd)
Time of Visit: Feb 9, 2007 11:43AM
Referring URL: (another obnoxiously long link, so click here)

Ok kids, question time.

1) Why is FamilyMart searching for the English equivalent of "foreign crime" and "hidden foreign crime files"?
2) Why is FamilyMart reading my pitiful little blog?
3) Why the hell did FamilyMart not have the common courtesy to at least leave me a comment?

All joking aside, when FamilyMart caught on to the fact that they might be subject to a boycott, they (eventually & supposedly) voluntarily pulled "Hidden Files of Unspeakable Foreign Crime 2007" from the shelves across Japan. Who knows...maybe they're thinking, "Were those uppity foreigners really gonna boycott us or just pulling our leg?" and decided to find out for themselves. Beats me, but FamilyMart, if you're reading this, leave a friggin' comment next time, huh?

Oh yeah...almost forgot. The magazine is still available on Amazon.jp, so last night I wrote their PR Dept to ask why they would wanna sell a racist publication like this. Unfortunately, my written Japanese isn't quite up to the level of writing such a formal letter, so I banged a mail out in English, pressed "send" and hoped for the best (although I didn't really have very high expectations).

To my astonishment, I actually gotta mail back today from Amazon.jp in exceedingly good English...but stating that:

"As a retailer, our goal is to provide customers with the broadest
selection possible so they can find, discover, and buy any item
they might be seeking. That selection includes some items which
many people may find objectionable. Therefore, the items offered
on our web site represent a wide spectrum of opinions on a
variety of topics." Blah, blah, blah...

Well, thanks for the mail, but sorry guys...that doesn't quite cut it. Racism & discrimination plain ol' suck, and I don't particularly care to support a business that sells stuff like that. Guess it'll be a while before I buy anything on Amazon for a while.

Last but not least, I ran across a story on Japan Probe, Japan Today and the Mainichi Daily News (the English version of the Mainichi Shinbun) about how "foreign crime has diminished slightly over 16% from FY2005). Interesting timing on this one, eh?

Oh, but wait a tic...

On the Japanese version of Mainichi Shinbun, the headline is a whole lot different, i.e. it reads, "Foreign Crime: Increase In Outlying Areas, Chubu Area Sees Rates 35 Times Higher Than They Were 15 Years Ago".

WTF!? Wonder why this little gem didn't get put in the English edition...

Hey Mainichi Shinbun! Some of us dirty, uppity foreigners can read Japanese too, ya know...

Care to leave a comment and explain?

So...tired. Must...sleep.... / ちかれた・・・倒れ・・・そう・・・

日本語しか読めないみなさんへ、

すみませんが昨日と今日のスキー学習のせいで日本語の日記を書くエネルギーがないから許してください。orz

Ugh. Yesterday & today I went skiing with 5th & 6th graders for their ski lessons and hoo boy am I feelin' it. I seriously doubt if I'm gonna be able to move in the morning. Oh well...at least I don't have to go skiing again until Thursday.

WTF? When did I get to the point where I'm bitching about being paid to go skiing w/ a bunch of kids? How sad am I?

In other news, looks like the whole "Hidden Foreign Crime Files" flap has gotten more attention from the rest of the world, including a few articles in The Times (London) (as well as the now pissed off gaijin population in general), and as a result, FamilyMart's finally agreed to immediately pull this little hate speech mook from it's shelves. Huzzah for social activism!

Now if BoingBoing'll only pick up on my submission about the story... C'mon guys! Pick up on this story while it's still hot and before more British journalists write it off as nothing more than a shit-job journalism example of Japanese penis envy! ;)

BTW, Happy Waitangi Day to all you Kiwis!

「外人犯罪裏ファイル」の最新情報 / "Unspeakable Foreign Crime Files Update"

やった！ガーディアンと言うイギリス有力紙のウェブサイトで「驚愕の外人犯罪裏ファイル2007」についての記事を載っています ！

是非、http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan/story/0,,2004646,00.html　をチェックして見てください！



Sweet! This story's gone global, baby! As of yesterday, there's a piece in The Guardian (fairly influential British newspaper) that does a fairly balanced take on the "Hidden Files of Unspeakable Foreign Crime 2007" story. If you get a chance, make sure to check it out!

Man, if somebody ever decides that they wanna get the foreign population of Japan in a snit, this'd be a great case study...

ちょっと落ち着いて、考え見ると / Now That I've Calmed Down A Bit...

English below, 'cause it's too much of a pain in the ass to think of what I wanna say in English first...


先のポストが出来た後、正直に怒っていた。そして5分くらい前、有道出人（あるどうでびと）さんのブログで、またひどい漫画を見つけた。去年の件ですが、さぁね・・・

しかし、もう怒っていないです。ちょっとイライラしているけど怒っていない。理由は二つ：

1)　近くのコンビニ探しに行ったら、ありがたいことに「 驚愕の外人犯罪裏ファイル―外人犯罪白書2007」がなかった。

2)　きっと、こういう風な雑誌・漫画・本をよく読む人はキモイな「白い靴下と黒スーツ」を着る、完全にsheeple（従順で自分の意見がなく大勢に従う人々）だ。

・・・と信じたい。人種差別は最低だね。



To be perfectly honest, after my last post I was pretty livid. Then not 5 minutes ago, I found another nasty little comic over at Debito Arudo's blog. It was from last year, but still...

In the spirit of trying to keep my blood pressure from skyrocketing any further though, I'm not mad anymore. A bit annoyed, yes. Pissed off, no, and for 2 reasons:

1) I went to all of the local convenience stores (well, all 3 in Tohma, in anycase) tonight after practice, and thankfully none of 'em had any copies of "Hidden Files of Unspeakable Foreign Crime 2007".

2) Surely, the only people buying magazines/comics/books like this are bottom of the barrel of society rejects that probably wear white socks with black suits and are total sheeple.

...or at least I really want to believe that.

Man, racism sucks big ol' donkey dicks.

ふざけてるんでしょう？ / You've gotta be kidding me...

No doubt slightly different English rant below...

今日は膝の怪我について日記を書きたかったがミクシィ経由にて「外人犯罪裏ファイル」についての日
記を見つけた・・・



全国のコンビ二で今発売中


・・・勘弁してくれよ。


日本は大好きだけどこの「我々島国日本人」と「外人＝犯罪や社会問題」の考え方は信じられないほどムカツクです。 もちろん、アメリカや他の国でも人種問題がありますし、人種差別主義者もいるけど殆どの国でこういう風な雑誌は許さないことじゃない？それより許せない。

もう一つの問題は、この雑誌に載っている記事は大体欧米人について、何も書いていないのに、「外人」と言う言葉を聞くと日本人のイメージは何でしょうか？中国人？違う。在日韓国人？ブブー。黒人と白人でしょう？この考え方はすごく危ないですが日本では普通みたい。

鎖国時代は150年前に終わりましたよ。好きかどうかかかわらず、2007年の人間は国際社会です。 一番心をかき乱すようなことは要望がなければコンビニや本屋さんの発売ができないはず。言いづらいですが僕の日本人友達も、僕の「外人さ」は関係ないと思ったのに、本当にそういう風に考えていますか？

すごく少ないですが、たまに「何でここに住みたい？」と思う。

日本人の皆さんは今「Hillbillyさん・・・ただ考え過ぎているだろ。」と思っているかもしれないですが逆だったらどうですか？



I was gonna write about my bum knee today, but that's sorta been put on hold. Thanks to Coal at Mixi, I found an article here & here describing a new "expose" on the "foreign crime wave" currently happening in Japan.




(translation: "The Hidden Foreign Crime Files")

Yes, this is now on sale at convenience & book stores throughout Japan.


Give me a fucking break...


I love Japan (why would I choose to live here for the last 7 years otherwise?), but this whole "We, the island bound Japanese race" and "foreigner = crime and social problems" mind set pisses me off to no end. Sure, America and other countries have their own racial problems and you're gonna find a few racist assholes no matter where you go, but I would think that in most countries that finding this kind of thing in a convenience store magazine rack would be unthinkable, not to mention illegal for the overall hate speech tones. Oh yeah, that's right...Japan is a "homogeneous and genetically pure society" so it has no need for any laws against discrimination.

The other problem I see with this is that while they never really mention Americans, Canadians, Brits, Aussies, Kiwis or any citizens of the supposed "good", i.e. mainly white countries, what is the typical image of a "foreigner" to most Japanese? Chinese? Nope. Koreans with permanent residence in Japan? Huh uh...they're Asian, so their Japanese, right? Blacks & whites? You sir win the $64 prize! This kind of thinking is just dangerous, but seems to be the status quo in Japan.

Somewhat similar to rednecks in the US and the whole Civil War thing, Japan's period when it shut itself off from the rest of the world is over. Like 150 years ago over, guys. Regardless of whether you like it or not, we live in an international society, so get over it. What's most disturbing to me is that this kind of bullshit wouldn't even get shelf space in convenience & book stores if there wasn't a demand for it, right? I hate to say it, but is this the way my Japanese friends really feel? The ones I thought looked past my "foreignness" and became friends with me because of the person I am?

It doesn't happen very often, but every now & then (like right now), there're times when I really have to ask myself, "Why the hell do I want to live in a country like this?"

Sure, some of you are probably thinking, "Hillbilly...you're being paranoid", but how would you feel if you were Japanese and something like this about "Nip Criminals Terrorize America" came out in the US?