The Tokyo District Court acquitted a Ghanaian man Tuesday of striking a police officer in Tokyo last year. [A NUGW Tokyo Nambu member], 49, was found not guilty of obstructing the officer in the performance of his duties by striking him in the face with his right arm on a street in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward on Nov 7 last year after the officer asked him to show his alien registration card.

Presiding Judge Noriki Ando said the defendant has a disability in his right arm and that he cannot raise it higher than shoulder level, and that it is hard to recognize he intentionally struck the officer’s face. The judge said the possibility cannot be denied that his hand happened to hit the officer when the defendant moved his body.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/ghanaian-man-acquitted-of-striking-police-officer-in-tokyo

June 28, 2009 (Sunday)
1:00pm to 4:00pm
Tokyo Nambu Office, Shimbashi 5-17-7 2F, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Map: http://nambufwc.org/contact

The law says one thing, employers do another. Find out what the law is about universal public health insurance and pension and learn about the infamous 3/4 threshhold.  We will have a short lecture followed by a long Q&A period.  We will not persuade you one way or another, just give you the facts and let you decide.

Casual atmosphere, free entry, bring a friend.

The following event is organized by the Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan, an organization of NGOs of which Tokyo Nambu is a member.

The “NGO Committee against the Introduction of the “Zai-ryu ” Residence Card” calls on people living in Japan, both citizens and foreign residents, to join together to oppose discriminatory revisions to immigration law.

All Tokyo Nambu members and interested parties are encouraged to attend.

Date:

May 24 (Sunday)
14:00-15:30 Assembly
16:00-17:00 Rally

Location:

Koutsu Biru in Shimbashi  (Minato-ku, Shimbashi 5-15-5)(6 minutes walk from JR Shimbashi   Station, Karasumori Exit)
Link to leaflet and map: http://www.repacp.org/aacp/pdf/MultiLang/20090420LeafENv01.pdf

The assembly will include an overview of the proposed reforms to Immigration Law, and speeches by participants. Additional speakers are welcome! Participants are encouraged to bring their own banners and signs to carry in the demonstration.

Background

Reform bills proposed this year will mean stricter registration requirements for foreign residents and stiff penalties for infractions. Foreign residents will be obliged to report changes in personal information, such as moving to a new address. Failure to notify on time can mean a fine of up to 200,000, and, in some cases, revocation of visa. Documented foreigners will be subject to heightened Surveillance, while undocumented foreign residents will “disappear” from the record and be excluded from social services entirely.

Organized by:Executive Committee for the May 24 Assembly Against Immigration Law Reform (Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan, Network for Human Rights Legislation for Foreigners)

Contact:Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan
Tel: 03-5802-6033
E-mail: fmwj@jca.apc.org

Research Action Institute for Koreans in Japan (RAIK)
raik@abox5.so-net.ne.jp

FWC members,

Join the May Day festivities at Hibiya Park on Friday, May 1, starting at 9:30 a.m.  Thousands of unionists attend this event, so be sure to meet up with the Nambu crowd at the location below.

Some historical notes: 

1886: First strike in Japan, conducted by women working in a textile factory in Kofu. The first union wasn’t formed until 1897, and women didn’t even have the vote – nonetheless, they won concessions from the factory owners.

1920 : Japan’s first May Day, held in Ueno Park, attended by 10,000 people.
 
1952:  Stronger unions meet with police oppression; two people killed in an incident known as “Bloody May Day”. 
Read more at http://nugwnambu.org/pages/headlines/maydayorigen.htm

These days, the police are just there to direct traffic, while the oppression takes the form of working-poor wages, jobs with no security, holes in the social safety net, and the myriad other problems we face at work every day.

The May Day assembly is held in the Open Air Concert Hall (Yagai Ongaku-do) in Hibiya Park (see map attached.) We
meet in the area behind the hall, labelled “Seagull Area (Local Forest)” -  Japanese name Kamome-hiroba,
Kyodo-no-mori.

http://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/english/park/detail_02.html

The 2009 Nambu Foreign Workers Caucus Annual General Meeting will be held on Sunday April 19th from 1-5 pm at the Shimbashi Fukushi Kaikan, a short distance from Nambu HQ.

The proposed agenda includes the annual election of officers, the 2009 Shunto, t-shirts, the Friends of the Union campaign, 2009 March in March review, ALT NTV interview(s), and more.

Shimbashi Fukushi Kaikan Map