Author, "Embedded Racism in Japan"

Academic Book "Embedded Racism"​: Japan's Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination

Hardcover Nov. 2015
Paperback July 2016

After decades of fieldwork culminating in the completion of a Ph.D. at Meiji Gakuin University, my dissertation was published in November 2015 by Lexington Books as an academic monograph that uncovers how racial discrimination "works"​ in Japan, and how it fundamentally underpins Japanese identity.

Table of Contents:
Part I: The Context of Racism in Japan
Ch. 1: Contextualizing racial discrimination in Japan
Ch. 2: How racism "works"​ in Japan

Part II: "Japanese Only"​: Examples of Racial Discrimination
Ch. 3: Case studies of exclusionary businesses

Part III: The Construction of Japan's Embedded Racism
Ch. 4: Legal constructions of "Japaneseness"​
Ch. 5: How "Japaneseness"​ is enforced through laws
Ch. 6: A "Chinaman's Chance"​ in Japanese court
Ch. 7: From foreign fetishization to fear in the Japanese media

Part IV. Challenges to Japan's Exclusionary Narratives
Ch. 8: Maintaining the binary

Part V. Discussion and Conclusions
Ch. 9: Putting the concept of "Embedded Racism"​ to work
Ch. 10: "So What?"​ Why Japan's Embedded Racism matters
Glossary, Appendices, References, Index. 378 pages.

Book review excerpt: "There are important academic contributions to the study of racism in Japan in this book, but it is as a must-read text on the crisis facing the shrinking Japanese population and its leaders that it really leaves its mark. Embedded Racism is highly recommended reading to anyone—whether they self-identify as Japanese or foreign or both—who is interested in Japan’s future." (Dr. Robert Aspinall, Social Science Journal Japan, July 15, 2017.)
Available in hardback and Kindle at Amazon.com et al.
More reviews and publisher discounts at http://www.debito.org/embeddedracism.html

"Japanese Only" -- The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan

Author

I wrote up my research in Japanese and later English on my book "Japanese Only -- The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan" for Akashi Shoten, who published and later allowed me to update both books between 2005 and 2007.

Now out as of 2013 as an eBook as a Tenth Anniversary Edition (with a new Introduction and Postscript update) on Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK.

Synopsis and reviews of the book at http://www.debito.org/handbook.html

The Japan Times

Regular Newspaper Columnist: "Just Be Cause"

After writing about 6 to 9 articles per year for the Japan Times Community Page since 2002, I was greenlighted for a regular monthly column, "JUST BE CAUSE", in 2008. I focus on human rights concerns and "life in Japan" issues for long-term residents that may not otherwise receive due public consideration. In recent years, the columns have attempted to blend academic topics and analysis with a journalistic tone.

See them all archived at http://www.debito.org/publications.html#JOURNALISTIC

"HANDBOOK for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants to Japan 2nd Edition"

Co-Author

A reference work to assist Non-Japanese (as well as some Japanese) to understand Japan's immigration system and make a more steady life, HANDBOOK features English and Japanese on consecutive pages with full information on good visas, steady jobs, starting one's own business, troubleshooting difficult social situations (such as arrest or divorce), retirement, Wills and funerals, and helping develop Japan's civil society. Engendering rave reviews, HANDBOOK was appraised by The Japan Times' legendary book reviewer Donald Richie as "the fullest and subsequently the best". This Second Edition incorporated changes to Japan's immigration and registration laws that took place in 2012.

Volunteer

Activist and Advocate for Civil Rights in Japan

While becoming increasingly bilingual in Japanese language through the school of hard knocks, I found myself frequently speaking in public (in Japanese) and writing for media (particularly newspapers, in Japanese and English) to raise awareness about problems of discrimination towards non-citizens and their international families in Japan. After taking up a number of issues, my life-work project became the Otaru Onsens Case (1999-2005), where public bathhouses (onsen and sento) in the city of Otaru were refusing all "foreigners" (based on physical appearance) entry to their premises. I constantly wrote, lobbied, archived, promoted, advocated, and speechified for years (see the bilingual archive of our handiwork at http://www.debito.org/otarulawsuit.html) in a successful anti-discrimination lawsuit that eventually went to Japan's Supreme Court, becoming the subject of two books ("Japanese Only", mentioned elsewhere in this profile) and a doctoral dissertation. And I did it all as a volunteer. This is probably the most formative experience of my life.

アメリカ人ディアスポラの民族性の問題. (Issues of Ethnicity within an “American Diaspora”). Chapter in ヨーロッパ・ロシア・アメリカのディアスポラ. (Diaspora of Europe, Russia, and America)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

アメリカ人ディアスポラの民族性の問題. (Issues of Ethnicity within an “American Diaspora”). Chapter in ヨーロッパ・ロシア・アメリカのディアスポラ. (Diaspora of Europe, Russia, and America)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

"Japanese Only": The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan (Japanese 2007, English Tenth Anniversary eBook 2013)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

If you saw signs up in public places saying, "No Coloreds Allowed Inside", what you you do? See them as a relic of bygone racism and segregation? Not so in Japan, where even today "Japanese Only" signs may be found on businesses excluding all "foreigners" (as determined by physical appearance) despite Japan's inevitable internationalization. Written about a famous case in Otaru, Hokkaido, that went all the way to Japan's Supreme Court, JAPANESE ONLY provides insights into a side of Japan that many people would rather not discuss. Now available as of 2013 as an eBook for Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK in a Tenth Anniversary Edition with a new Introduction and Postscript.

アメリカ人ディアスポラの民族性の問題. (Issues of Ethnicity within an “American Diaspora”). Chapter in ヨーロッパ・ロシア・アメリカのディアスポラ. (Diaspora of Europe, Russia, and America)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

"Japanese Only": The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan (Japanese 2007, English Tenth Anniversary eBook 2013)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

If you saw signs up in public places saying, "No Coloreds Allowed Inside", what you you do? See them as a relic of bygone racism and segregation? Not so in Japan, where even today "Japanese Only" signs may be found on businesses excluding all "foreigners" (as determined by physical appearance) despite Japan's inevitable internationalization. Written about a famous case in Otaru, Hokkaido, that went all the way to Japan's Supreme Court, JAPANESE ONLY provides insights into a side of Japan that many people would rather not discuss. Now available as of 2013 as an eBook for Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK in a Tenth Anniversary Edition with a new Introduction and Postscript.

Speak Your Mind: Introduction to Debate

Denshi Kaihatsu Gakuen Publishing Inc.

アメリカ人ディアスポラの民族性の問題. (Issues of Ethnicity within an “American Diaspora”). Chapter in ヨーロッパ・ロシア・アメリカのディアスポラ. (Diaspora of Europe, Russia, and America)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

"Japanese Only": The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan (Japanese 2007, English Tenth Anniversary eBook 2013)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

If you saw signs up in public places saying, "No Coloreds Allowed Inside", what you you do? See them as a relic of bygone racism and segregation? Not so in Japan, where even today "Japanese Only" signs may be found on businesses excluding all "foreigners" (as determined by physical appearance) despite Japan's inevitable internationalization. Written about a famous case in Otaru, Hokkaido, that went all the way to Japan's Supreme Court, JAPANESE ONLY provides insights into a side of Japan that many people would rather not discuss. Now available as of 2013 as an eBook for Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK in a Tenth Anniversary Edition with a new Introduction and Postscript.

Speak Your Mind: Introduction to Debate

Denshi Kaihatsu Gakuen Publishing Inc.

『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別 (Banning "Foreigners" Entry is Racial Discrimination), chapter in book 『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別, (Ethnic Discrimination in Japan – Issues as Viewed from the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

アメリカ人ディアスポラの民族性の問題. (Issues of Ethnicity within an “American Diaspora”). Chapter in ヨーロッパ・ロシア・アメリカのディアスポラ. (Diaspora of Europe, Russia, and America)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

"Japanese Only": The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan (Japanese 2007, English Tenth Anniversary eBook 2013)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

If you saw signs up in public places saying, "No Coloreds Allowed Inside", what you you do? See them as a relic of bygone racism and segregation? Not so in Japan, where even today "Japanese Only" signs may be found on businesses excluding all "foreigners" (as determined by physical appearance) despite Japan's inevitable internationalization. Written about a famous case in Otaru, Hokkaido, that went all the way to Japan's Supreme Court, JAPANESE ONLY provides insights into a side of Japan that many people would rather not discuss. Now available as of 2013 as an eBook for Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK in a Tenth Anniversary Edition with a new Introduction and Postscript.

Speak Your Mind: Introduction to Debate

Denshi Kaihatsu Gakuen Publishing Inc.

『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別 (Banning "Foreigners" Entry is Racial Discrimination), chapter in book 『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別, (Ethnic Discrimination in Japan – Issues as Viewed from the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

Can We Do Business: Introduction to Business English

Maruzen Planet KK

アメリカ人ディアスポラの民族性の問題. (Issues of Ethnicity within an “American Diaspora”). Chapter in ヨーロッパ・ロシア・アメリカのディアスポラ. (Diaspora of Europe, Russia, and America)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

"Japanese Only": The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan (Japanese 2007, English Tenth Anniversary eBook 2013)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

If you saw signs up in public places saying, "No Coloreds Allowed Inside", what you you do? See them as a relic of bygone racism and segregation? Not so in Japan, where even today "Japanese Only" signs may be found on businesses excluding all "foreigners" (as determined by physical appearance) despite Japan's inevitable internationalization. Written about a famous case in Otaru, Hokkaido, that went all the way to Japan's Supreme Court, JAPANESE ONLY provides insights into a side of Japan that many people would rather not discuss. Now available as of 2013 as an eBook for Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK in a Tenth Anniversary Edition with a new Introduction and Postscript.

Speak Your Mind: Introduction to Debate

Denshi Kaihatsu Gakuen Publishing Inc.

『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別 (Banning "Foreigners" Entry is Racial Discrimination), chapter in book 『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別, (Ethnic Discrimination in Japan – Issues as Viewed from the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

Can We Do Business: Introduction to Business English

Maruzen Planet KK

FODOR'S Japan travel guidebook, Hokkaido Chapter

FODOR'S

As a freelancer, I researched, updated, and completely rewrote the travel chapter on Hokkaido Island.

アメリカ人ディアスポラの民族性の問題. (Issues of Ethnicity within an “American Diaspora”). Chapter in ヨーロッパ・ロシア・アメリカのディアスポラ. (Diaspora of Europe, Russia, and America)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

"Japanese Only": The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan (Japanese 2007, English Tenth Anniversary eBook 2013)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

If you saw signs up in public places saying, "No Coloreds Allowed Inside", what you you do? See them as a relic of bygone racism and segregation? Not so in Japan, where even today "Japanese Only" signs may be found on businesses excluding all "foreigners" (as determined by physical appearance) despite Japan's inevitable internationalization. Written about a famous case in Otaru, Hokkaido, that went all the way to Japan's Supreme Court, JAPANESE ONLY provides insights into a side of Japan that many people would rather not discuss. Now available as of 2013 as an eBook for Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK in a Tenth Anniversary Edition with a new Introduction and Postscript.

Speak Your Mind: Introduction to Debate

Denshi Kaihatsu Gakuen Publishing Inc.

『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別 (Banning "Foreigners" Entry is Racial Discrimination), chapter in book 『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別, (Ethnic Discrimination in Japan – Issues as Viewed from the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

Can We Do Business: Introduction to Business English

Maruzen Planet KK

FODOR'S Japan travel guidebook, Hokkaido Chapter

FODOR'S

As a freelancer, I researched, updated, and completely rewrote the travel chapter on Hokkaido Island.

FODOR'S Japan 2014 travel guide, Hokkaido and Tohoku Chapters

Random House

Wrote the Hokkaido Chapter for the second edition in a row, and was also given the privilege of rewriting the Tohoku Chapter this time around.

アメリカ人ディアスポラの民族性の問題. (Issues of Ethnicity within an “American Diaspora”). Chapter in ヨーロッパ・ロシア・アメリカのディアスポラ. (Diaspora of Europe, Russia, and America)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

"Japanese Only": The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan (Japanese 2007, English Tenth Anniversary eBook 2013)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

If you saw signs up in public places saying, "No Coloreds Allowed Inside", what you you do? See them as a relic of bygone racism and segregation? Not so in Japan, where even today "Japanese Only" signs may be found on businesses excluding all "foreigners" (as determined by physical appearance) despite Japan's inevitable internationalization. Written about a famous case in Otaru, Hokkaido, that went all the way to Japan's Supreme Court, JAPANESE ONLY provides insights into a side of Japan that many people would rather not discuss. Now available as of 2013 as an eBook for Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK in a Tenth Anniversary Edition with a new Introduction and Postscript.

Speak Your Mind: Introduction to Debate

Denshi Kaihatsu Gakuen Publishing Inc.

『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別 (Banning "Foreigners" Entry is Racial Discrimination), chapter in book 『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別, (Ethnic Discrimination in Japan – Issues as Viewed from the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

Can We Do Business: Introduction to Business English

Maruzen Planet KK

FODOR'S Japan travel guidebook, Hokkaido Chapter

FODOR'S

As a freelancer, I researched, updated, and completely rewrote the travel chapter on Hokkaido Island.

FODOR'S Japan 2014 travel guide, Hokkaido and Tohoku Chapters

Random House

Wrote the Hokkaido Chapter for the second edition in a row, and was also given the privilege of rewriting the Tohoku Chapter this time around.

"An introduction to Japanese society’s attitudes towards race and skin color," Chapter 4 of The Melanin Millennium: Skin Color as the 21st Century International Discourse

Springer

アメリカ人ディアスポラの民族性の問題. (Issues of Ethnicity within an “American Diaspora”). Chapter in ヨーロッパ・ロシア・アメリカのディアスポラ. (Diaspora of Europe, Russia, and America)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

"Japanese Only": The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan (Japanese 2007, English Tenth Anniversary eBook 2013)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

If you saw signs up in public places saying, "No Coloreds Allowed Inside", what you you do? See them as a relic of bygone racism and segregation? Not so in Japan, where even today "Japanese Only" signs may be found on businesses excluding all "foreigners" (as determined by physical appearance) despite Japan's inevitable internationalization. Written about a famous case in Otaru, Hokkaido, that went all the way to Japan's Supreme Court, JAPANESE ONLY provides insights into a side of Japan that many people would rather not discuss. Now available as of 2013 as an eBook for Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK in a Tenth Anniversary Edition with a new Introduction and Postscript.

Speak Your Mind: Introduction to Debate

Denshi Kaihatsu Gakuen Publishing Inc.

『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別 (Banning "Foreigners" Entry is Racial Discrimination), chapter in book 『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別, (Ethnic Discrimination in Japan – Issues as Viewed from the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

Can We Do Business: Introduction to Business English

Maruzen Planet KK

FODOR'S Japan travel guidebook, Hokkaido Chapter

FODOR'S

As a freelancer, I researched, updated, and completely rewrote the travel chapter on Hokkaido Island.

FODOR'S Japan 2014 travel guide, Hokkaido and Tohoku Chapters

Random House

Wrote the Hokkaido Chapter for the second edition in a row, and was also given the privilege of rewriting the Tohoku Chapter this time around.

"An introduction to Japanese society’s attitudes towards race and skin color," Chapter 4 of The Melanin Millennium: Skin Color as the 21st Century International Discourse

Springer

In Appropriate: A Novel of Culture, Kidnapping, and Revenge in Modern Japan

Lulu Press, Inc.

Plot synopsis: Gary Schmidt, a small-town American boy, meets a Japanese girl in college and follows her to Japan to start a family. Little does he know that her conservative Japanese clan has hidden agendas and secret intentions. Gary eventually realizes that he must escape their clutches – and convince his family to do the same before it’s too late! IN APPROPRIATE is a book about child abductions in Japan, where after a divorce, a non-Japanese man comes back to Japan to retrieve his children back to America. Although a work of fiction, it is an amalgam of several true stories of divorce and Left-Behind Parents in Japan. Now available as of 2013 as an eBook for Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK.

アメリカ人ディアスポラの民族性の問題. (Issues of Ethnicity within an “American Diaspora”). Chapter in ヨーロッパ・ロシア・アメリカのディアスポラ. (Diaspora of Europe, Russia, and America)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

"Japanese Only": The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan (Japanese 2007, English Tenth Anniversary eBook 2013)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

If you saw signs up in public places saying, "No Coloreds Allowed Inside", what you you do? See them as a relic of bygone racism and segregation? Not so in Japan, where even today "Japanese Only" signs may be found on businesses excluding all "foreigners" (as determined by physical appearance) despite Japan's inevitable internationalization. Written about a famous case in Otaru, Hokkaido, that went all the way to Japan's Supreme Court, JAPANESE ONLY provides insights into a side of Japan that many people would rather not discuss. Now available as of 2013 as an eBook for Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK in a Tenth Anniversary Edition with a new Introduction and Postscript.

Speak Your Mind: Introduction to Debate

Denshi Kaihatsu Gakuen Publishing Inc.

『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別 (Banning "Foreigners" Entry is Racial Discrimination), chapter in book 『外国人』入店禁止という人種差別, (Ethnic Discrimination in Japan – Issues as Viewed from the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination)

Akashi Shoten Inc.

Can We Do Business: Introduction to Business English

Maruzen Planet KK

FODOR'S Japan travel guidebook, Hokkaido Chapter

FODOR'S

As a freelancer, I researched, updated, and completely rewrote the travel chapter on Hokkaido Island.

FODOR'S Japan 2014 travel guide, Hokkaido and Tohoku Chapters

Random House

Wrote the Hokkaido Chapter for the second edition in a row, and was also given the privilege of rewriting the Tohoku Chapter this time around.

"An introduction to Japanese society’s attitudes towards race and skin color," Chapter 4 of The Melanin Millennium: Skin Color as the 21st Century International Discourse

Springer

In Appropriate: A Novel of Culture, Kidnapping, and Revenge in Modern Japan

Lulu Press, Inc.

Plot synopsis: Gary Schmidt, a small-town American boy, meets a Japanese girl in college and follows her to Japan to start a family. Little does he know that her conservative Japanese clan has hidden agendas and secret intentions. Gary eventually realizes that he must escape their clutches – and convince his family to do the same before it’s too late! IN APPROPRIATE is a book about child abductions in Japan, where after a divorce, a non-Japanese man comes back to Japan to retrieve his children back to America. Although a work of fiction, it is an amalgam of several true stories of divorce and Left-Behind Parents in Japan. Now available as of 2013 as an eBook for Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK.

Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants and Immigrants 2nd Edition

Akashi Shoten Inc.

A reference work to assist Non-Japanese (as well as some Japanese) to understand Japan's immigration system and make a more steady life, HANDBOOK features English and Japanese on consecutive pages with full information on good visas, steady jobs, starting one's own business, troubleshooting difficult social situations (such as arrest or divorce), retirement, Wills and funerals, and helping develop Japan's civil society. Engendering rave reviews, HANDBOOK was appraised by The Japan Times' legendary book reviewer Donald Richie as "the fullest and subsequently the best". This Second Edition incorporated changes to Japan's immigration and registration laws that took place in 2012.