Debito Arudou | |
|---|---|
| File:Arudou.jpg Debito Arudou | |
| Born | David Christopher Aldwinckle January 13, 1965 |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Known for | Activism |
| Website | http://www.debito.org |
Debito Arudou (有道 出人, Arudō Debito), a naturalized Japanese citizen, is a teacher, author and activist.
Arudou was born David Christopher Aldwinckle in California in 1965.[2] Aldwinckle became a permanent resident of Japan in 1996 and obtained Japanese citizenship in 2000, whereupon he changed his name to Debito Arudou.
Otaru onsen lawsuit edit
Arudou was one of three plaintiffs in a racial discrimination lawsuit against the Yunohana Onsen in Otaru, Hokkaidō. Yunohana maintained a policy to exclude non-Japanese patrons; the business stated that it implemented the policy after Russian sailors scared away patrons from one of its other facilities. Arudou visited the hot spring (onsen), along with a small group of Japanese, White, and East Asian friends, in order to confirm that only visibly non-Japanese people were excluded.[3]
The manager accepted that Arudou was a Japanese national but refused entry on the grounds that his foreign appearance could cause existing Japanese customers to assume the onsen was admitting foreigners and take their business elsewhere.[4]
Arudou and two co-plaintiffs, Kenneth Lee Sutherland and Olaf Karthaus, in February 2001 then sued Yunohana on the grounds of racial discrimination, and the City of Otaru for violation of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, a treaty which Japan ratified in 1996. On November 11, 2002, the Sapporo District Court ordered Yunohana to pay the plaintiffs 1 million JPY (about $25,000 United States dollars) each in damages.[5] The court stated that "refusing all foreigners without exception is 'unrational discrimination' [that] can be said to go beyond permissible societal limits." [6] The Sapporo High Court dismissed Arudou's claim against the city of Otaru for failing to create an anti-discrimination ordinance; the court ruled that the claim did not have merit.<ref name=Otaru_Case>Newswire, "City Off the Hook for Bathhouse Barring of Foreigners," The Japan Times Online, April 7, 2005. According to the Sapporo High Court ruling, "The convention has only general, abstract provisions recommending appropriate measures to eliminate racial discrimination, and the Otaru government does not have any obligation to institute ordinances to ban such discrimination."
Publications edit
Arudou has written a book about the 1999 Otaru hot springs incident. Arudou originally wrote the book in Japanese; the English version, Japanese Only — The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan (ISBN 4-7503-2005-6), was published in 2004 and revised in 2006.
Notes edit
- ^ Brooke, James (12 May 2004). "LETTER FROM ASIA; Foreigners Try to Melt an Inhospitable Japanese City". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Arudou, Debito. "A Bit More Personal Background on Arudou Debito/Dave Aldwinckle," Debito.Org
- ^ Arudou, Debito. "The Trip to 'Gaijin-Okotowari' Onsen," Debito.Org, September 19, 1999.
- ^ French, Howard W. "Turning Japanese: It Takes More Than a Passport," The New York Times, November 29, 2000
- ^ "THE WORLD; Japanese Court Ruling Favors Foreigners; Bathhouse must pay three men who were denied entry." Los Angeles Times. November 12, 2002.
- ^ Arudou, Debito. "The Otaru Lawsuit Decision and its Possible Effects," Debito.Org, November 12, 2002.
Reference links edit
- Patrick Rial,"Debito Arudou: Evangelic Activist or Devilish Demonstrator?," JapanZine (December 2005)
- The first of a three-part interview with Arudou Debito on Yamato Damacy (February 2006)
- Interview with Debito Arudou on Trans-Pacific Radio's Seijigiri (March 8, 2007)
- Comparative Review of Japanese Only and My Darling is a Foreigner by Yuki Allyson Honjo