Japanese Racism Is The Cause Of Immigration Detainee Abuse

 

Aichi Police Patrol Near Nagoya Immigration Center

There is an explanation as to why detainees are abused by officers at immigration detention centers．It is obvious but nobody wishes to speak it. It is the hatred and contempt that many Japanese feel toward people who are not Japanese. Japanese xenophobia and racism is well known. That secret was let out of the bottle decades ago. There are three significant problems in the political sphere that hinder the public’s ability to acknowledge racism.

First, the Japanese government’s official position denies the very existence of racial discrimination. Despite recommendations from the United Nations and other countries to take adequate measures against racial discrimination, the Japanese government has stated that they “do not recognize that the present situation of Japan is one in which discriminating acts cannot be effectively restrained by the existing legal system and in which explicit racial discriminating acts, which cannot be restrained by measures other than legislation, are conducted. Therefore, penalization of these acts is not considered necessary.” Even if local governments highlight the reality of discrimination in their municipalities, the federal government’s attitude of complete denial strongly influences society’s overall stance on the existence—or absence—of racism in Japan. Although these issues exist, the denial of racism by the Japanese government undermines its reality.

The second problem lies in the methods that the Japanese government uses to conduct its census. In the US and the UK, census data does not merely record nationality, but ethnic and racial background as well. This is because nationality is not equated with ethnicity or race. However, since Japanese population statistics are only based on nationality, the racial diversity among Japanese nationals is left unexplored by the census. Therefore, this statistic reinforces the idea that the category of “Japanese” refers to a single ethnic group, and that Japan’s population only consists of monoracial Japanese people and non-Japanese people. Yet when we consider the actual racial and ethnic makeup of people living in Japan, we quickly realize that the reality is far more complex. Given that demographic statistics mask the racially diverse reality, it leads to the idea that “Japan is not racially diverse, so there is no such thing as racism in the first place.”

The third issue is the “single ethnicity myth” propagated by Japanese politicians. Those in positions of political power have continuously asserted that the Japanese are a monoethnic group. However, Japan has always been a country with various cultures and customs that vary across each region, with a rich linguistic diversity (such as Ainu, Uchinaguchi [Okinawan], and Japanese Sign Language) and a long history of migratory movement and nomadism. However, when influential politicians repeatedly contradict this reality—by asserting that Japan is a monoethnic society with one language and one culture that has existed for two thousand years—it reinforces the aforementioned single ethnicity myth. This myth of racial and ethnic homogeneity is used to justify the idea that racism has never occurred in Japan.

To move past this fiction, we must accept that Japan is racially diverse, and acknowledge that Japanese people engage in discrimination against foreigners and other Japanese people. That Japan is built in its institutions with a strong racist regard for keeping non-Japanese from achieving any real power. Non-Japanese, even when they naturalize, will never be allowed to work in police, legal, or military spheres. From here, we as a society must establish laws and regulations combating racial discrimination. In addition, we must pay attention to the lived experiences of each individual to understand how racial discrimination affects their daily lives and resist the urge to minimize or silence their experiences.

The Japanese government has been reluctant to open the country to large-scale immigration, especially to those engaging in unskilled labor. But as the population grays and dwindles, and a labor shortage looms larger, many people from abroad have already been allowed to enter under several different programs. The government has no official statistics, but the number of immigrants in Japan is estimated to be around 1.5 million-2.5 million people, some 1.2% to 2% of the entire population.

Dallas Brincrest, Editor

Former Nagoya Immigration Detention Officer Speaks

 

Nagoya Immigration Center

It was a scorching afternoon in Nagoya. A storm began to rage just before I reached Kanayama Station's entrance. Dripping with sweat and rain I made my way upstairs to a coffee shop to meet a gentleman. As I entered a man stood and waved. Being the only foreigner it was a sure assumption I was the one he was there to talk to.

A former employee of an immigration detention center in Japan, Sato (name changed for protection), revealed that he felt like staff members "looked down on" foreign detainees by calling them by dehumanizing jargon referring to "bodies" taken under custody. “They used the term gara from migara, a term used in law enforcement to refer to a body under custody. I felt this dehumanized the people in our custody and care.”

Sato continued, “There have been cases of foreign nationals being driven to death while detained at facilities, due to poor living conditions as well as an insufficient system for providing medical services. I felt something was wrong in the way detainees were treated at the immigration facility and how medical services were provided there. I felt that colleagues were always being cruel toward the detainees. Mocking their pain, laughing at them being sick, and always teasing them as foreign trash their own country did not want. Staff would make monkey noises as detainees would tell them about their symptoms. They would say the women would die alone as no man would ever want them.”

Sato recalls one old Vietnamese man, “The man in the best Japanese he could speak told an officer about severe pain in his chest. The officer shrugged and told him everyone dies. The old man ended up dying that night. But what if an ambulance had been called right then? It pains me to think about it.”

There has also been a number of cases where detainees at immigration detention centers were subjected to violence by a group of numerous staff members. In January 2019, a video was revealed showing immigration officials restraining Deniz, a 42-year-old Kurd, at the Higashi-Nihon Immigration Center. The footage showed at least seven officials had pinned Deniz to the floor, although he showed resistance by saying "it hurts," and, "please stop." The officials handcuffed him with his arms twisted behind his back while straddling him, and yelled at him while poking his neck with their fingers. Deniz filed a lawsuit in August 2019 seeking compensation from the Japanese government, and the case is still in litigation.

Sato says, “One day, I saw employees at the guard station watching and laughing over a video capturing the moment an Iranian detainee was being subdued with choke hold and chest pressure. An official involved in the act had said proudly, 'I got this one. Look he goes limp.' As he showed himself using a choke hold with a baton. The other staff present seemed to be amused too. There was no way I could agree with what was happening. Although it wasn't everyone at the immigration center, there were people who looked down on the detainees and were cruel to them.”

There were no full-time doctors at the six immigration detention facilities across Japan, according to documents by the Immigration Services Agency. Doctors visit the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau, which can accommodate 414 detainees, the highest number in Japan, four days a week for four hours at a time. Medical professionals visit the Higashi-Nihon Immigration Center with 253, or the second greatest number of detainees, five days a week for four hours each.

Sato shakes his head and says, “When detainees complained of feeling sick, there were many cases where they couldn't be examined right away by a doctor, to me showing inadequate handling of cases. In order to receive medical examinations, detainees must submit application papers containing descriptions of their symptoms to responsible officials, but there were apparently many instances where officials did not respond immediately, saying to bring it in tomorrow I don't have time today.”

Wishma Sandamali, a Sri Lankan woman who died on March 6, 2021 at age 33 while being kept in detention at the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau, also told a supporter, "I want to go to a hospital outside and get an IV drip, but the immigration officials won't bring me to one." The woman had only been able to receive an examination at an external hospital two days prior to her death.

However, she had been brought to a psychiatrist, and she was suspected of feigning her illness. The psychiatrist who examined her wrote in a patient referral document that "it can be expected that her condition will get better if she is temporarily released." However, such facts were not revealed in the interim reports, and only made mention of "feigned illness."

Sato wells with tears and says, “Since the detention facility accommodates such a large number of people 24 hours a day, isn't it necessary to either permanently station staff capable of making medical decisions, or have a system allowing detainees to be examined immediately by a large external hospital. The more people are kept detained the more hopeless they see their future. They give up and become overly compliant hoping it helps staff treat them better. It doesn't because the cruel staff see them becoming weak and useless for anything. It is a cruel cycle.”

Thomas Mann, lecturer of criminal policy theory at Nagoya University and an expert on detention centers, raised a structural problem and said, “It is stipulated in the law that for prisons and other facilities under the jurisdiction of the justice ministry, directors in charge at the facilities are also responsible for medical services. Jails and prisons have a codified process that must be followed for citizens and foreigners alike. Meanwhile, there are no clear provisions for immigration facilities, and in practice, medical decisions are made under the director's discretion. Most of these people don't hold medical licenses, and decisions on medical work requiring specialized knowledge are being made by those outside the profession.”

Sato thinks and says, “I believe the problem is institutional. It affects all the immigration detention centers When you see the detainees as bodies and not humans then it begins to devalue those people. It makes the people seem they just want to complain and not that they have real illness that needs attention. It then makes it easy to imitate officers above you in mocking those people. The detainees have no voice. Many cannot communicate in Japanese and 99% of the detainment staff only speak Japanese. If they are abused who can the detainees tell? These detention staff are not the smiling, helpful immigration desk attendants. The detention staff are security officers with police power. They know mistakes will be covered to protect the blue shirt club. It made me sick so I left.”

Chris Hollingsworth

Nagoya Priest Abuse Victim Speaks

 

Fr. Michael Walsh

The Priests of the Sacred Heart have operated as a religious order in the Catholic Church in Japan since 1952. Japan is part of the order’s mission territory of the Province of Australia. The order also sponsors priests and brothers from the USA and Canada as well. The Province of Australia is the largest of the Sacred Heart. They also have missions in New Guinea, Saipan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and South Korea. All of their mission territories have had allegations of abuse going back to 1984. The Sacred Heart Provincialate in Sydney refused any comment or to validate the following.

Michael Walsh was unlike other priests. He spoke fluent Japanese, he had been studying since high school. He was 36, relatively younger than most priests in Japan. He is an outgoing Canadian who was handsome to girls and a big brother to the guys. Walsh rarely wore clerical collar. He had a magnetic personality who showed the young people around him he cared about their issues and their troubles. They responded with love and acceptance. Something very few foreigners will have in Japan from a vast majority of Japanese – young or older.

Satoshi Tanaka (name changed as requested), then 16, was surprised when Walsh walked up to him during his first visit to Mikokoro in March 2006, a youth center and church run by the Priests of the Sacred Heart in Nagoya, Japan. During other visits Walsh always held conversations with Satoshi. One day, Walsh offered Satoshi to go to a coffee shop. Satoshi agreed and there in the toilet room as Satoshi washed his hands before ordering, Walsh showed Satoshi his penis, and in Satoshi's horror Walsh grabbed Satoshi's pants, pulled them down and held his penis and masturbated him. Satoshi sat stunned with Walsh as they had their coffee. When they left, Satoshi ran to the subway for home. Satoshi never spoke a word of this to anyone.

He said Walsh would fondle him and give him money repeatedly over a two-year period. One day Satoshi told a Sacred Heart Priest about the abuse. The next day Satoshi was met at Mikokoro by an unidentified priest in collar and a lawyer. The lawyer did all the talking. They took a taxi to Satoshi's home to talk to his parents. 

In Japan, if the victim has not gone to the police yet, but to church clergy or representative the fist action is a nondisclosure agreement presented by church lawyers. The victim is barred going to police until the church diocese or religious order completes its investigation. 

As the church authorities and lawyers carried out the investigation, he described the process as "extremely distressing" for a survivor of institutional abuse. A clerical representative of the Nagoya Diocese, the Vice-provincial of Sacred Heart Priests, and a lawyer for the order were the sole people Satoshi spoke to. “Their whole attitude was that I bore proving I was abused without any doubt. I had to satisfy their standard. I was offered no sympathy or even a chance to express my pain.” 

Oddly to Satoshi, the police were not involved. The lawyers reminded him of the NDA he signed with his parents. Satoshi and his parents did not know how the legal system works. Why would they? They are not lawyers and had never been in trouble. The lawyers know this. The ignorance is preyed upon by lawyers and the NDAs are pulled out. With an inkan seal they gave away their legal rights. Every victim who went to church authorities, instead of the police first, tell the same story.

Satoshi later went to the police. The first action police took was to call the Nagoya Diocese office. 30 minutes later the detective told Satoshi there was nothing they could do. His parents had an NDA. The police and prosecutors left the church and Sacred Heart Fathers to investigate itself. In normal circumstances when victims first go to the police, the police receive a complaint and then talk to the accused. Then the prosecutor must have the complaint from the victim in order to indict and try a rape or indecent assault case. Usually the accused and the diocese/religious order make a settlement with the victim and ask him/her to withdraw the complaint, the prosecutor then will not indict the accused. 

In these cases NDAs of priests being accused, the leadership of the diocese or religious order assure the prosecutor that they will investigate fully. If they find new illegal activity then the prosecutor will be notified. This satisfies the police and prosecutor. In the end, Walsh escaped punishment. In all three accusations the Tokyo and Nagoya church authorities together with PSH found the accusations unsubstantiated. A cash settlement was paid to the accusers for their mental anguish, but as no admission of guilt by the religious order and diocese. 

The police refused reporting and prosecution refused indictment accepting the diocese and order’s findings in May 2010, and the cases were closed. Walsh returned to Canada in 2013 a free man and still a practicing priest. From his assignment in Manitoba, Walsh refused any comment and demanded we not contact him again. His superiors in Canada said the same. His name has been removed from the online directory of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in Canada.

Address: Mikokoro Center, 3-6-43 Marunouchi, Naka-ku, Nagoya 460-0002 Japan 

 Priests of the Sacred Heart Canada: http://www.scjcanada.org/index.php  

Priests of the Sacred Heart Japan: http://mikokoro.com/