This Sunday, March 5th, Kashiwagi Koen, Shinjuku. The festivities start at 1:30 pm.

This is the BIG ONE, Brothers and Sisters - our biggest, loudest, most entertaining, most high profile, and downright ballsiest event of the year. It doesn’t get more fun than this. If you aren’t excited about it you’d better get someone to check your pulse.

Don’t forget we’ve moved the March In March to SHINJUKU this year.

For details: http://nambufwc.org/march-in-march/

We need more volunteers to help with leafleting and preparation this week - still lots of placards and mushirobata to make Please call to find out when and how you can help! Friday and Saturday, and Sunday morning would be especially useful.

(There are rumours of a big post-march party too - watch this space for details.)

March 6th - Unions and Government Face-Off — “Talk Truth to Power”

This is the annual meeting between unions representing foreign workers and government officials. Officials from the following ministries will be present:

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Justice (including immigration authorities)

For those who can attend meet at 8:30 am at the Shugiin Dai Ichi Giinkaikan (behind the Diet building). Take exit A1 at Kokkai Gijidomae Station on the Marunouchi Line.

We’ve had some good results from these meetings in the past, so please come if you can.

Arudou Debito will be visiting Tokyo this week, and will be speaking at Nambu on Friday, February 24 2006 at 4:00 pm, about the Kunibengodan lawsuit against discrimination in Japan.

This case addresses racial discrimination in various areas, such as access to public facilities (the notorious onsen cases), housing (real estate agents and landlords who refuse foreign clients) as well as in employment.

All are welcome.

United Nations Special Rapporteur Doudou Diène’s report on his official mission to survey racial discrimination and xenophobia in Japan has been published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. His recommendations include:

94. The Government should adopt appropriate measures to guarantee that foreigners are treated equally in Japan. It should avoid the adoption of any measure that would discriminate against them in the fields of employment, social security, housing, etc., as well as in the exercise of all their rights and freedoms, in particular their freedom to move, to access public places and their right not to be persecuted and perceived as potentially more dangerous than the Japanese. Situations such as blatant refusal to foreigners for them to access public places are totally unacceptable in a democratic country and should not be allowed.

Advance Edited Version (.doc)

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[LDP lawmaker and former trade minister Takeo Hiranuma] warned the reform could corrupt the Imperial line, which he said has been the supreme symbol of Japanese national and ethnic identity for centuries.

“If Aiko becomes the reigning empress and gets involved with a blue-eyed foreigner while studying abroad and marries him, their child may be the emperor,” Hiranuma told about 40 lawmakers, academics and supporters at a Tokyo hall. “We should never let that happen.”

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060202a2.html