Japan Podshow Special: Arudou Debito interview
- Arudou Debito by Alfie Goodrich. For more of Alfie’s stunning photography from Japan visit www.alfiegoodrich.com
In June 2009, writer, lecturer and human rights campaigner Aurdou Debito made a trip down to Tokyo to attend a conference. Whilst in town, he was kind enough to provide Japan Podshow with an interview.
About Arudou Debito
Debito first came to prominence in early 2000s when, upon taking a trip to an onsen in Otaru, Hokkaido, he and his family and friends were turned away because they ‘weren’t Japanese’ – despite their being naturalised Japanese citizens.
After lengthy negotiations, the onsen still refused to change its ‘no gaijin’ policy: this led to Debito and two others to take the case to court. For more information on the Otaru Onsen Case please visit Debito’s site.
Since the Otaru onsen case Debito has continued to campaign against discrimination – Japan is still the only developed country without any form of law banning racial discrimination. He has a regular columns in the Japan Times and maintains a website aimed at helping others who face discrimination whilst charting the progress of the anti-discrimination movement within Japan.
In this interview Debito talks about:
- The first few years of his life in Japan
- The Otaru Onsen Case
- The new Gaijin cards and associated human rights issues, and what you can do to stop their introduction
- Foreigners who defend discrimination against other foreigners claiming that ‘We are guests in Japan’
- Has the situation improved for foreigners in Japan in recent years?
- His public image, and new beard, Arthur.
Debito has published a book on the Otaru Onsen Case – available here
He is also co-author of the Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants and Immigrants to Japan
The interview with Debito is available in a variety of formats.
AUDIO
The full 40-minute interview is available as an MP3: download it here [37mb, 40 mins]
VIDEO
Watch the video in its entirety here
Japan Podshow Interview: Arudou Debito from japanpodshow on Vimeo.
Alternatively, you can watch the video in parts embedded below, or download individual sections as mp4 video files.
Part 1: Meet Debito
Part 2: The Otaru Onsen Case
Part 3: The New Gaijin Cards: Tracking Foreigners
Part 4: “Foreigners in Japan are guests – we have no right to protest” – Debito responds
Part 5: How has the situation for non-Japanese in Japan changed in recent years?
Part 6: Debito’s public image, and his new beard, Arthur.
Same old Debito – Now in audio format!…
Arudou Debito is back in an interview on the Japan Podshow. He talks about:
- The first few years of his life in Japan
- The Otaru Onsen Case
- The new Gaijin cards and associated human rights issues, and what you can do to stop their introduction
- F…
That was very nice work, Joseph, and I think it was very valuable in portraying Debito as a personable human being rather than some attention-seeking troublemaker (not that I have seen him that way, but others do).
I’ve always found it curious that the very people who he is trying to help are often times the ones who attack him. I hope he realizes that some people do appreciate what he is attempting to do on their behalf and that he keeps on with his activism.
Thanks Orchid64, appreciate that.
I learnt a lot through doing this interview. Such as, don’t laugh right from the start. / don’t say stupid things like “no way”/ Make sure you have a decent place to do the interview / take your own lights / don’t use both analogue and digital cameras – synching them is a nightmare / be prepared to spend hours editing! I’ll talk about it more on The Daily Mumble.
Hey Joseph – fantastic interview. As Orchid said, it was good to see Debito in his own words and especially on video. There are so many things lost in blogging and the written word that it’s very easy to misjudge people and their character.
In case you or anyone else reading is interested, I wrote a lengthy article recently about the word ‘Gaijin’ and the debate surrounding it as a racist term. Feel free to head over there and read some of the comments – they are very interesting!
http://gakuranman.com/the-gaijin-debate/
Keep up the good work!
Mike, thanks for your comment, much appreciated. It was actually that post of yours that prompted me to ask the question about gaijin defending discrimination. I tried to comment on that post of yours earlier today but for some reason it didn’t work.
Sorry to hear that! I’m fairly sure the comments system is working on my blog. If you haven’t submitted a comment before, it will go into moderation, but I have no outstanding comments right now… I would be very happy if you could try to submit your thoughts again
– be sure to copy the text before submitting though in case something goes wrong.
[...] photography from Japan visit http://www.alfiegoodrich.com Earlier today I finally managed to post my interview with Arudou Debito, recorded a week or so ago at the Foreign Correspondents Club Japan. It was a lot of work, but well [...]
The Man who has done more for foreigners than anyone else – Debito! Excellent!
It’d be great if we could get more foreigners out of their honeymoon phase with this country and open their eyes and ears to his material.
Thanks for the interview, Joseph! I can never make his public appearances to chat with him.
Great interview Joseph, fantastic stuff! I’d heard of Debito before but never really had a chance to get to know who his is and the work he’s doing. But now I’ve gotten a good introduction to all of that! Keep up the great work on the show!
That’s good to hear. It was my intention to provide people with an insight into the person ‘Debito” and not just his message, so I hope I achieved that.
Hey, great interview! Debito seems to be almost a modern-day Martin Luther King, if that’s not too extreme a praise. Anyway, I really like the music at the start of each part of the interview, is there a place I can get it?
Thanks for the comment. Re. the music – check out the Yoshida Brothers!