Many people have heard about the anti-fingerprinting movement and wondered what all the fuss is about.  After all, Japan is not the only country to fingerprint foreign residents.   Fingerprinting, however, has been a symbol of systematic discrimination against ethnic minorities and immigrants by the government. In fact, the name "foreign resident" itself is misleading.  Many such people have lived here all their lives, and some have never lived anywhere else.  While the movement has its origins in Japan's treatment of it colonial subjects prior to World War Two, it has gradually expanded to include those people who, seeking a better life, have migrated here and found they are not welcome. In this section you can hear the voices of "foreign" residents and Japanese citizens demanding justice for those whose lives are regulated by these two laws. Most are from a rally held 18 April 1999 in Tokyo.  All opinions expressed are those of the speakers/writers.  Click on the yellow, underlined text to read the texts and listen to some related songs.

(1) KIM Jeong-yi Key note address
(2) NAKAMURA Toshiya No to the Alien Registration Bill
(3) WATANABE Hidetoshi No to New Immigration Bill
(4) KIM Soo-il The Alien Pass: A Meaningless Instrument of Police Control
(5) KIM Po-myong Divide and Conquer: Real Meaning of the Alien Registration Bill
(6) CHOE Son-hae The Victory is Ours

(7) HIRAOKA EmikoAppeal from a Japanese with a Pakistani Partner
(8) MURAYAMA Satoshi Appeal for Migrant Workers
(9) KIM Yong Stop Harassing Korean School Students!
 

NOTE THAT THE LATEST REVISIONS TO THE ALIEN REGISTRATION LAW WERE MADE ON 21 MAY, 1999.  WHILE A NUMBER OF REFORMS ARE IMMINENT, INCLUDING THE ABOLITION OF FINGERPRINTING ITSELF AND THE REINSTATEMENT OF PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS FOR CHOE SON-AE (see my song below), FAILURE TO CARRY THE CARD IS STILL PUNISHABLE BY FINE.  UPDATES WILL BE PUBLISHED AS SOON AS THEY ARE AVAILABLE. MEANWHILE,PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE IMMIGRATION LAW ARE RETROGRESSIVE IN NATURE.
 
 

KEY NOTE ADDRESS by   KIM Jeong-yi

Today, we are gathered here from across Japan to express our opposition to the government's proposed revision of the Alien Registration Law (ARL) and the Immigration Control and RefugeeRecognition Law (Immigration Law). We are also here to express our determination to cooperate in building a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society where people of all ethnic backgrounds, nationalities and cultures can live together in harmony.

On March 9, the government announced its proposed revisions of the ARL and Immigration Law, and on March 10, it submitted the bills to the National Diet. On April 14, it formally presented the bills to the full session of the Upper House. The government and ruling party hope to have these bills passed with limited deliberation and debate.

The Alien Registration Bill abolishes fingerprinting for all foreign residents, but the stated purpose of the law remains the same: to control foreigners. For that reason, the Bill keeps the requirement to carry an Alien pass card at all times and the relatively harsh criminal penalties for ARL violations. In other words, the proposed changes to the ARL are not an improvement. The Bill forces foreign residents to carry a pass card or face prison and a fine. In its essence, the proposed revision treats non-Japanese as potential criminals and objects of police surveillance and control. Like the current ARL, it will compell them to live daily in fear of the law. Korean residents, who have made Japan their home now for three and four generations, lso remain subject to this oppressive system. The Bill also ignores a 1992 Diet resolution that promised to overhaul the ARL, and the recommendations of the 1998 United Nations Committee on Human Rights, which urged the government to abolish the alien pass law and eliminate the ARL's discriminatory provisions.

The Immigration Bill creates a new criminal offense, that of  "unlawful sojourn." There will be no statute of limitations (now three years) for undocumented foreigners overstaying their visas. That means that regardless of how long an undocumented alien stays in Japan, there is no chance of relief in the form of an amnesty. He or she can be arrested, punished under the law and then deported at any time. Furthermore, once deported, he or she must wait five year (under the current law, one year), before applying to reenter Japan. Thus, the new Immigration Bill will encourage "illegal" entrants/residents to remain in Japan as long as possible and avoid deportation. This in turn will encourage employers to exploit undocumented workers and make it difficult to detect human rights abuses. Moreover, the Bill will break up the families of undocumented foreigners with a Japanese spouse and children, keeping them apart for five years or more. This violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which guarantees the right of families to stay together.

The Alien Registration Bill and the Immigration Bill both treat foreign residents as potential lawbreakers whose human rights can be violated with impunity. We cannot allow these bills to become law.

Today, roughly 180,000 undocumented foreigners live and work in Japan. We believe that we should not be divided and discriminated against because someone is Japanese or non-Japanese, permanent resident or non-permanent resident. Our aim is to create a society where everyone can live together as equals. Society teaches us to fear and distrust people who are different, but that kind of narrow, closed society is not a healthy society. We desire a society where people of all cultures, ethnic groups and nationalities, regardless of language or physical appearance, can live, work and play together, respecting and taking delight in their differences.

To achieve that kind of open society, we must begin by removing the legal and institutional obstacles to equality. The Alien Registration and Immigration laws infringe on the basic human rights of non-Japanese. Reforming these laws is the first step toward realizing a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society. The real task of the government and the Diet should to create a system of law that respects the fundamental human rights of foreign residents based on the International Covenants on Human Rights, which Japan ratified in 1979. In the case of Koreans, who have lived in Japan for nearly 100years, that responsibility is particularly heavy. We demand that the government and Diet take the following measures:

1. Rescind the Alien Registration and Immigration bills now before the Diet.

2. Undertake a fundamental reform of the Alien Registration Law based on the 1992 Diet resolution and the recommendations of the 1998 United Nations Committee on Human Rights.

3. Undertake a fundamental reform of the Immigration Law based on the International Covenants on Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Abolish the system of reentry permits and deportation, which depend on the Justice Ministry's discretionary powers, for Koreans and all other foreign residents born in Japan.

4. Establish procedures to legalize, from a human rights standpoint, the residence of "illegal" entrants/residents. Legalize unconditionally the residence of foreigners who have started families in Japan.

5. Ratify unconditionally all clauses of the International Covenants on Human Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the UN Convention on the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

Among us are Japanese, Koreans, migrant workers and ethnic minorities with Japanese nationality. We pledge to struggle together to destroy the seeds of assimilation and xenophobia planted by Japanese society and the state, and to resist all forms of discrimination against non-Japanese residents.

For the future of all our children, whether Japanese, Koreans, migrant workers or ethnic minorities with Japanese nationality, we reaffirm our belief in the possibilities of mutual faith, friendship and cooperation, and our commitment to bring that new world into being through our collective efforts.
 
 

NO! TO  NEW ALIEN REGISTRATION BILL
by NAKAMURA Toshiya, Emergency Action Committee to Stop Revision of the Alien Registration Law
 

1. The New Alien Registration Bill Ignores the Key Problem
The heart of the Alien Registration Law (ARL) is Article 1, the Law's objective: "The purpose of this law is to secure equitable control over the aliens resident in Japan." The Alien Registration Bill now before the National Diet leaves this article unchanged, thereby violating the spirit and letter of the Diet's 1992 resolution on the ARL. The 1992 resolution, passed by the Judicial Affairs Committee of both Houses, promised to revise the Law, taking the human rights of foreign residents into consideration. In debate over the resolution, Diet members stressed that the purpose of the Law should seek to provide foreigners the same services as Japanese rather than to control them. The new Bill ignores the 1992 Diet resolution and the demands of foreign residents who want the Justice Ministry to abolish the discriminatory aspects of this law as soon as possible.

2. Fingerprinting is Abolished, but Alien Control Remains
The centerpiece of the new Bill is the abolition of fingerprinting for all foreigners resident in Japan.The fingerprinting system symbolized the discriminatory character of Japan's alien control system. The government was forced to abolish this practice because thousands of Koreans, Chinese and other foreigners refused to give their fingerprints. This movement, led by both foreigners and Japanese, grew up in the 1980s. The abolition of fingerprinting is the result of our collective struggle and an achievement we can be proud of.

The Justice Ministry insisted on maintaining the fingerprinting system long after it had become clear that it served no useful purpose except to humiliate non-Japanese residents. The Ministry retaliated against fingerprint refusers, denying them reentry visas, shortening or refusing to renew their residence permits, and attempting to deport them. The government has a moral responsibility to apologize for this abuse of power and restore the legal status of
fingerprint refusers who suffered these injustices. The Justice Ministry, however, refuses to make amends, while acting as if it satisfied the demands of foreign residents for an end to fingerprinting. This hypocrisy must be severely criticized.

3. The Bill Preserves Pass-Card Criminalization
We are appalled that the current Bill leaves in place the requirement to carry an alien identification pass 24 hours a day, and the relatively heavy criminal penalties for ARL violations. We protest the attempt by the Justice Ministry and the police to use the abolition of fingerprinting as an excuse to perpetuate, instead of reform, this system of pass-card criminalization.

The alien pass requirement is the heart of the alien control system. Foreigners must carry this pass at all times or worry constantly about police intimidation and possible arrest. The Justice Ministry says the number of prosecutions for pass-card violations has declined, but as long as this system exists, it will continue to exercise its oppressive "chilling effect" on foreign residents.

In November 1998, the UN Human Rights Committee issued this conclusion: "the Alien Registration Law that subjects permanent foreign residents who do not carry [alien] documentation at all times to criminal penalties is not consistent with Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Liberties." It recommended that the Japanese government "abolish this kind of discriminatory law." The Committee came to the same conclusion in its 1993 report. Yet the Japanese government says that the Committee's findings are not legally binding and so chooses to ignore them. The alien pass system and its criminalizing provisions have been criticized as a rights abuse by domestic and international human rights organizations; the maintenance of such a law cannot be defended.

4. Increased Surveillance and Control by the Police and the State
Local governments keep the original copy  of the alien registration document. The original genp copy (genpy) contains personal information, but until recently, foreigners were not allowed to see it. Two years ago, the anti-fingerprinting movement forced the authorities to allow foreigners to see the original copy. The current Bill, however, also gives the police free access to the genpy, opening the way for invasions of privacy.

In the past, local governments issued special certificates showingproof of registration. Foreigners need these "registration certificates" when applying for driver's licenses and other administrative services. Under the new Bill, however, the national government, not local governments, will be responsible for issuing these certificates. This makes it possible for the state to use its "discretionary powers" to refuse to issue registration certificates to foreigners who actively oppose the alien registration system. We have many concrete examples of the government abusing its discretionary powers in order to silence foreign critics. A Bill that threatens to condone police invasions of privacy and the abusive use of the state's discretionary powers should be scrapped.

5. From "Permission to Reside" to the "Right to Reside:" Toward a System of Law that Respects Human Rights
The Alien Registration Bill, then, is a step backward, not a step forward. The problem is that, like the current Alien Registration Law, the Bill has as its basic premise the control of foreign residents, not the protection of human rights.

Japan's Korean and Taiwanese residents live here because of Japan's prewar colonial policies, and most have permanent or special residence status. That status, however, is not really "permanent" but subject to government review and discretionary authority. In the past, a number of fingerprint refusers and foreign residents who were late renewing their residence permits had that status revoked or their period of residence reduced, even though born and raised in Japan. The message is clear: regardless of how many years or how many generations foreigners live in Japan, they will subject to surveillance, control and repression by the police and the Japanese state.

In other words, "permanent residence" is a privilege, not a right, even if one's ancestors came to Japan as a result of colonial policies, even if one's family has lived in Japan for nearly a century. The underlying assumptions of the current Alien Registration Law are control and surveillance, ethnic discrimination and xenophobia. The government, Justice Ministry and National Diet should listen to the voices of Japan's foreign residents and international human rights organizations. Now is the time for a fundamental reform of the current alien control system. Respect for human rights and equality under the law, not surveillance and control, should be its guiding principle.

Emergency Action Committee to Stop Revision of the Alien Registration Law   03-3207-7801
 
 

NO! TO  NEW IMMIGRATION BILL by WATANABE Hidetoshi, National Network in Solidarity with Migrant Workers
 
 

1. Diet Debate

This is the first time that a lobbying effort by the National Network in Solidarity with Migrant Workers has produced concrete results. Until recently, it appeared that the proposed Bill for the revision of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law (Immigration Law) would be railroaded through the National Diet with no substantive debate. Our concerted actions have prevented that from happening.

2. Problems Raised by the New Immigration Bill

   1) Extension of the Reentry Period Following Deportation

The current Immigration Bill does not reflect the guarantees contained in the International Covenants on Human Rights protecting the right to maintain a family and the right to  marry of one's free choice. Relief provisions for families threatened with dissolution because of deportation depend not on law but solely on the discretionary authority of the Justice Ministry's Immigration Control Bureau. Such relief should be a right inscribed in law, not a privilege depending on bureaucratic whim.

    2) The Crime of "Unlawful Sojourn" (Overstaying)

Many Asian women are given false passports and sent to Japan  to work as prostitutes. Technically, they are guilty of entering Japan illegally, but many put down roots here, marry Japanese or permanent residents, and become primary care-givers for their children, who have Japanese nationality or permanent residence status. Political refugees, too, lacking proper documentation, are often compelled to enter Japan illegally in order to apply for refugee status. Under the new law, these foreigners may be subject to criminal penalties of up to three years in prison and a fine of as much as ´300,000. Foreigners, regardless of how they entered Japan or whether have proper documentation, work hard,  contribute to their local communities and pay the same local and national taxes as Japanese. The current Bill, however, makes no provision for recognizing their contribution to society or the the right of residence they thereby acquire.

    3) Extension of the Period of Validity for Reentry Permits

The reentry permit system, like the alien pass provision, has  been criticized as a human rights violation by the UN Human
Rights Committee, which has called for its abolition. The very continuance of this system is the problem.
 

3. The Bill's Assumptions are Based on Ethnic and Racial Discrimination

In the current Bill, the Justice Ministry cites as one justification for making "unlawful sojourn" a criminal offense "the soaring crime rate among illegal residents." This perception, however, is based on a prejudiced, discriminatory view of foreign residents. The 1998 Police White Paper provides ample evidence to the contrary.

1) Crime Rate: In 1997, the crime rate for criminal violations  for all of Japan was 1,505.5 people per 10,000 (15%). The estimated rate for foreigners was 377 people per 10,000 (3.8%). In other words, the estimated crime rate for foreigners is only about one fourth that of Japanese.

2) Arrests: In 1997, the number of foreigners arrested was 5,435, down from a peak of 7,276 in 1995. Since 1995, that figure has decreased annually.

3) Vicious Crimes: In 1997, the number of "vicious crimes" committed by foreigners was 187, down from a peak of 230 in 1994.

4) Armed Robbery: The crime most frequently committed by foreigners is armed robbery, which accounts for 80% of all non-Japanese criminal activity. Armed robbery increased dramatically in 1993, soaring to 9,134 incidents, or 2.1 times the number committed the previous year. The cause for this sudden surge was the collapse of Japan's overheated "bubble economy," which resulted in many foreign laborers being thrown out of work. 1993 was also the year the Justice Ministry cracked down on "illegal workers," resulting in the mass denunciation of overstayers by employers.

5) Vietnamese Refugees: In 1997, 35% of foreigner-instigated crimes were committed by Vietnamese (7,755 incidents). That works out to an average of 23.5 crimes per Vietnamese national arrested. In 1995 there were only 693 such crimes, but in 1996, that figure jumped to 5,557 incidents, an  eight-fold increase. Clearly, there is some special reason for the dramatic increase of criminal activity among Vietnamese in Japan. Considering that the vast majority are refugees with permanent residence status, these crime statistics demonstrate just how difficult and traumatic their adaptation to Japan has been. The deep-lying causes of this problem are obviously in Japanese society itself. If the Vietnamese crime figures are factored out, the overal crime rate for foreigners in Japan had decreased steadily since 1995.
 

4. For a Fundamental Reform of Immigration Policy

Japan's immigration policy has consistently increased in severity since the Immigration Control Act of 1951. This law is incompatible with a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society. The Justice Ministry says the Alien Registration Law's alien pass requirement is necessary to ascertain quickly whether or not a foreigner is legally resident. The UN Human Rights Committee, however, cites this provision as a human rights abuse. This perception gap illustrates the true nature of Japan's entire alien control system. In an age of global cooperation, Japan is called upon to completely overhaul its alien control laws in light of basic human rights guarantees. A democratic society committed to peace can demand no less.
 

National Network in Solidarity with Migrant Workers       03-3207-7801
 
 

APPEAL by KIM Soo-il

The Alien Pass: A Meaningless Instrument of Police Control

On November 10, 1984, I refused to give my fingerprint, as  the Alien Registration Law (ARL) then required of all foreign residents in Japan. Until that day, I thought that the fingerprinting system was strange and unpleasant, but it was the law, so I felt I had no other choice but to obey it. But many Koreans began to refuse fingerprinting and demand equal treatment with Japanese. Their actions forced us to think about Japan's alien control system and to debate the merits of the ARL. I also became involved in supporting fingerprint refusers. But no matter what we tried, the government would not listen to us. Fingerprinting it said, is necessary because we are foreigners. I became keenly aware of, and angry at, the racist attitudes ingrained in Japanese society. Finally, I refused fingerprinting. I was given a fine of ´30,000, but the government imposed heavy sanctions on other refusers. Some were denied reentry permits. Others, like Choe-san had their residence permit revoked, even though they were born and raised in Japan. I particularly remember a high school student. She refused to give her fingerprints but forgot to renew her residence permit. When she remembered and went to apply for renewal, the government refused to extend her permit. In the end, she had to give her fingerprint, crying. Her parents got angry with her for breaking the law. But she was only trying to reaffirm her dignity. After she gave her print, the Immigration Bureau renewed her permit immediately. At that time, I realized that the government only allows us to live with the narrow bounds it defines for us with the law. So, I became interested not just in the fingerprint problem but in the overall human rights question of Koreans in Japan and took part in many movements.

Since the 1980s, the anti-fingerprint movement has died down. Nonetheless, I decided to risk breaking the law, cooperate with others who felt as I do, and do everything possible to change the Alien Registration Law. Today, I refuse to carry an alien pass card. All I have is a registration receipt issued in lieu of the card by my ward office. Thus, for the past 10 years, I have lived without an alien card. Since I drive a car, I am sometimes stopped by police. In the past, they would always ask to see my alien card, but now they don't. That is one of the positive consequencess of the anti-fingerprint movement. But I have also noticed that  if you break a traffic law, the police always ask to see the alien card. And if you ask foreigners who are not Korean, you find out that the police enforce the alien pass law for them just as they always have. In other words, the alien pass is an instrument of police control. But this doesn't stop with the police. For instance, when a foreigner buys a cellular telephone, the cellular phone company asks to see his or her alien pass card. When I say that's discriminatory, the company asks why? Since the law requires foreigners to carry the card, what's wrong with asking to see it, the company says. Thus, alien control and suspicion of foreigners are deeply entwined and embedded in this society.

Concerning the Alien Registration Bill, the alien-pass requirement will remain in force, despite the finding by the UN Human Rights Committee that it is discriminatory. But for tthe past 10 years, I have got along fine without my alien card. I have discovered that in daily life I never need it. Thus, in my experience, the pass-card requirement is meaningless, except as an instrument of police control. Nonetheless, the government refuses to change this provision. What does it gain by controlling me, I wonder? This year, many Korean high school students turning 16 will have to  register as aliens for the first time. I am not the only one who wants to change the law.
 
 

APPEAL by KIM Po-myong

Divide and Conquer: The Real Meaning of the Alien Registration Bill

It was during my second year at middle school that I first  learned about alien registration. My teacher told me that Koreans and other foreigners, when they reach 16 years of age, have to go to their local ward office, put their fingerprint on a document, and be registered as foreigners. But during the past few years people have been saying that it is strange for foreigners to have to be fingerprinted; it is discrimination; and a movement against fingerprinting started, and people refused to be fingerprinted. My teacher himself thought it only natural that people would refuse to be fingerprinted, and considered it discrimination. That was the first time I was asked about what I was going to do. At that time I generally thought that registering was all right, but giving my fingerprint seemed like being treated as a criminal, and if possible I did not wish to do it. I went with my teacher to the ward office, and when asked to give my fingerprint, I refused. I remember being told at the counter about the Alien Registration Law. According to the latest proposed revision of the Alien
Registration Law, along with people who are permanent residents, and people with special qualifications for staying in Japan, the system of fingerprinting non-permanent foreign residents has also been abolished. However, in spite of repeated warnings from the UN Human Rights Committee, the system of requiring foreigners to normally carry a foreign registration certificate, with criminal penalties for not  doing so, even though it is discriminatory, is still in force. I still feel angry at the Japanese government for this. And with the number of foreigners residing here continuing to increase, and thus making people unable to say that this is a homogeneous country, it is time the Japanese government admitted the reality of the country, and abandoned their insular mentality.

However, it is not only the Japanese government which only thinks of its own position. As I have already said, in relation to the continuation of the requirement that foreigners ordinarily carry their alien registrationcertificate, members of one organization said in a statement: "we can understand that illegal landings and unlawful staying in Japan will shortly become a serious problem. Furthermore, the system of requiring people to ordinarily carry identification or a passport is not immediately condemned in an international context. But people who are permanent residents, or special permanent residents here have no domicile in another country, and the historical context  should be recognize that Koreans and people from former Japanese colonies did not all come to Japan of their own free will, and the aforementioned UN complaints are made in consideration of this context."

All this goes without saying, and the position of permanent residents and special permanent residents is being ignored, and while the Japanese government says things like the international consciousness of the country is weak and they have difficulty enacting the UN requests, in fact all they are doing is thinking merely of themselves. It could be said that the discriminatory system which has up to this been imposed on permanent residents, is now being forced on foreigners who do not have the right of permanent residence, and there is discrimination between those who have the rights of permanent residence and those who have not. The Japanese government is accepting this kind of thinking, and using it, and the difference which up to this existed between those who had Japanese citizenship and those who did not, is now being created between those who have permanent residence and those who do not have it. For example, foreigners who are not permanent residents or special permanent residents are not eligible for the coupons which the government issued to people around the country

This kind of thinking is creating new structures of discrimination in Japan, and is not at all solving the basic problems that exist in relation to the alien registration system. Irrespective of whether they are permanent residents or not, all foreigners living and working in Japan should be exempt from the requirement to carry an alien registration certificate. I do not wish newcomers to experience the same kind of discrimination which Koreans have been experiencing here over so many years.
 
 

APPEAL by CHOE Son-hae

The Victory is Ours

Many Koreans repeatedly have victimized and had very bitter experiences in this society. Each of us has struggled to protect our rights and preserve some sense of our pride. We are the children and grandchildren of Koreans who were forced to come to Japan as a result of Japanese colonialism. Many of us came because Japanese stole our ancestral lands through forcible land surveys. Others were brought here as slave labourers during World War II. The forces that brought our parents and grandparents to Japan and the alien control system that we are subjected to are two sides of the same coin. We continue to live under a regime of neo-colonial control.

Japanese often say to me, "You're really no different from us," or "You look just like us Japanese."  Of course, such people think they are being considerate and don't mean any harm. But I'm Korean, not Japanese, and I want to be able to live as a Korean, in the Korean way. Today, people of many different ethnic backgrounds, cultures and languages make Japan their home. We should all be able to live together,  honoring our mutual differences, taking pride in our respective national and ethnic identities-Japanese as Japanese, Koreans as Koreans. The very fact that Koreans live in Japan is proof that we have put down roots here and are productive, contributing members of this society.

In April of last year, however, my sister, CHOE Son-ae lost her appeal to the Supreme Court. She is a fingerprint refuser. Since my sister is Korean, she does not have voting rights. Fingerprint refusal was the only way she could make her voice hear. For that "crime," the government refused to give her a reentry permit to study in the United States. She left Japan anyway, but when she returned, the government revoked her permanent residence status. That is a cowardly kind of revenge to take on a Korean who was trying to defend her dignity and her human rights. Last year, the Supreme Court upheld that decision, however. It said that such reprisals are "reasonable" and fully within the law. That is the kind of logic the Japanese state is based on.

Here, today, however, I would like to say that the victory is ours. No one will ever take my fingerprint again. I refused to give my print 18 years ago because my fingerprint is a very personal, private part of myself. Since then, the Japanese state has never been able to force me to give my fingerprint. This is not my victory alone. It is also the victory of those who spent the best years of their lives fighting to abolish fingerprinting, whether they are Koreans, Chinese and other foreigners who refused to give their prints and fought their battle in court; or whether they are Japanese who understood our suffering and joined with us in our struggle against this oppressive system. This victory belongs to all of us.

Japanese society has many problems, as the migrant workers here today well know One battle has been one, and we can celebrate that victory together. But let this victory encourage us also to gather our strength for th next battle. The struggle continues!

APPEAL by HIRAOKA Emiko
    (Mishukku no Kai)

Oppose the Extension of the Penalty Period for Deportees

My partner is Pakistani. We have been married for two years and have lived together for one year. We met in Pakistan and married there. Upon returning to Japan, I began the legal formalities required to bring my partner to Japan, but it was 10 long months before he was finally able to join me here. He is not an "overstayer." It was the first time he had ever come to Japan. Under the current Immigration Law, if your partner overstays his or her visa and is deported, he or she must wait one year before you can sponsor his or her return to Japan. That doesn't mean your partner can return in a year's time. It means you cannot apply for permission to return until a year has passed. It normally takes at least three months to apply for a visa and receive a certificate stating that one is eligible to reside in Japan. So even if everything goes smoothly, it will be at least a year and three months before a family can be reunited.

The certificate of eligibility, however, often takes more than three months. Even if you get the certificate, there is no guarantee the Japanese embassy will grant you a visa quickly. Thus, a year and a half or even two years can pass before a spouse is able to return to his or her family in Japan. A "penalty period" of one year is bad enough. What will happen when that "penalty period" is extended to five years? It is difficult to imagine. A counselor told me once, "If you're really in love, one year is not a long time to wait." Is that really true, I wonder. Being separated because your partner chooses to study or work abroad is one thing; being separated by the law is quite another. In the latter case, there is nothing you can do about it. The waiting and uncertainty are terrible! You never know when, or even if, your visa is going to be "granted." People marry in order to live together. Most Japanese assume that if you marry a foreigner, the government will issue him or her a visa promptly. I myself never imagined how difficult getting a visa could be. Why can't my family live together just because one of us has a foreign nationality? Families exist to be together. Why can't the government understand that? Families should not be made to live apart just because one of the partners is non-Japanese. I absolutely oppose extending the "penalty period" from one to five years!
 
 

APPEAL by MURAYAMA Satoshi
(Kanagawa City Union)

What the Immigration Bill Means for Migrant Workers

First, increasing the "penalty period" for deportees from one to five years, means that migrant workers who have overstayed their visas to work and met with an accident on the job will not be able to receive medical treatment or compensation for their injuries. Many will be forced to abandon their accident claims in the midst of a trial. In the case of workers who suffer cerebral nerve damage, medical treatment normally requires more than three years.

Many such patients must continue treatment after returning home. Among these are cases where the worker needs to return to Japan for special medical attention, even after beginning treatment his his or her home country. Where a worker has filed a civil suit against an employer for damages due to a work-related injury, the court proceedings often take many years. Even if the worker returns home in the middle of the trial, he or she is sometimes allowed to reenter Japan to attend a court hearing. The Immigration Bill should make provision for such cases, so that even if a worker is deported, he or she can return to Japan for medical treatment or to pursue a civil suit. Finally, the creation of a new criminal offense, "unlawful sojourn," will simply increase social prejudice and discrimination against "illegal" entrants/residents. Given the current economic downturn, this will result in a further deterioration in working conditions.
 
 

EMERGENCY APPEAL by KIM Yong

Stop Harassing Korean School Students!

On August 31, 1998, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea test fired a Taepodong missile that overflew part of Japanese territory. As soon as the incident was reported, the Japanese media focused in on the debate over strengthening the U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty and the Self-Defense Forces. This pressure hastened the submission of a bill to the National Diet aimed at adopting the proposed U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation Guidelines, which will allow U.S.-Japanese military intervention in areas surrounding Japan.

The test-firing of the Taepodong missile sparked a wave of harassment against students in North Korean ethnic schools and against organizations affiliated with the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun) Many Korean students, who obviously had nothing to do with the missile launch, were physically attacked by Japanese. Six years ago, during the controversy over nuclear weapons in the People's Republic, there was a similar outbreak of violence against our children. More than 1,000 incidents occurred across Japan where middle school and high school girls had their ethnic uniforms, chima chogori, slashed with razors and knives or torn. These assaults traumatized students and their parents. Guardians and school authorities took a number of precautions against such attacks, but the incidents continued for some time.

This time, irate Japanese made harassing phone calls to North Koreans, saying things like "Are the Korean schools teaching children how to make missiles?" or "We're going to shoot a missile at you people and see how you like it," or the standard refrain, "Go back to Korea." Some calls were
particularly frightening: "I just kidnapped and raped a girl in a chima chogori. I'm going to throw her in the river near your house," or "I just dumped cyanide in your water supply."

We received several calls like that each day, lasting for about a month. Japanese scribbled crude anti-Korean graffiti on the walls of our schools or near our homes and threw stones at our children. On two occasions, children had their school backpacks slashed with knives, and one high school girl had the back of her hand sliced open. Recently, Japanese politicians and commentators have citedthe "North Korean threat" as grounds for adopting the U.S.-Japan defense guidelines. Koreans, however, see behind such arguments an assumption linking the "North Korean threat" with the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan and Koreans in Japan. What we see lurking there is Japanese xenophobia and racism. Nor are North Koreans the only victims. The deep-seated prejudice that these kinds of argument reveal is aimed at all Koreans, regardless of nationality. Some Japanese may feel threatened by North Korea, but all Koreans in Japan feel immediately and palpably threatened by a society whose school system not only refuses to teach its children about Japanese racism but actually reinforces discriminatory attitudes and behaviour. When people with that kind of education speak about national defense, we become truly frightened, indeed.

Partly because of the violent incidents mentioned above, this year, Korean teachers decided to tell children not to wear their chima chogori to school. For a long time, there has been a debate in the Korean community about the wisdom of having only female students wear the traditional uniform, which in any event is not really suitable for everyday life. The outburst of violence against our children forced us to curtail that debate and unilaterally ban the costume. This measure was absolutely necessary to protect our children from the violence inherent in Japanese society, but we do not feel that we simply gave in to that violence. Nonetheless, we must ask ourselves what kind of society is it where people of different ethnic backgrounds cannot openly express pride in their heritage without inviting verbal threats, physica assaults and intimidation.

Korean ethnic schools have been in existence for more than 50 years, yet even today, the government and many Japanese do not want to recognize these institutions as proper schools. As you can see, it is not easy in a society like this for non-Japanese, born and raised in Japan, to maintain a healthy sense of their own identity.