How the US government expresses its gratitude to a US Marine killed in Iraq

A Marine's widow who has been fighting immigration law to remain in the U.S. to raise her 1-year-old child has returned to Japan. Washington Post

The widow, Hotaru Ferschke, married Sgt Michael Ferschke by telephone while he was serving in Iraq. He was later killed in combat there. The Department of Homeland Security---the department that was so successful in stopping the attempted Christmas bombing of a US plane---did not consider the proxy marriage consummated even though Mrs. Ferschke was pregnant with Sgt Ferschke's child at the time.

With all the other responsibilities the Department has, perhaps one could forgive them for not understanding how children are conceived, but to do this to the family of a Marine who died in combat so that the brains of the Department could sleep soundly (while at work?) in the States is not something that can be forgiven. The US Congress, which did not act on a private bill to grant permanent residency to the wife, deserves nothing but contempt either.

Assuming that this report is accurate, it shows that it is possible for creatures consisting entirely of an anus to find productive employment in any government on earth.

This is in line with Uncle Sam's historical ways of saying, "Thank you for your service. Thank you for your sacrifice. Now go away and leave us alone."

Trust us. We're from the gubbermint.

Anyone in Japan for the long term (i.e. borderline lunatics) might wanna take a look over at Japan Economy, News & Blog to assist in understanding the true giggle-worthiness of the promises of the major political parties. Seems the the pension fund, which ain't yet near being hit as hard as it will be, lost 10.17 trillion yen in 2008, the third straight year of losses. Methinks that both parties are orbiting Mars.

I wonder, should the country have a serious crisis when the baby boom retirees reach critical mass, will the Japanese government offer non-Japanese retirees---those who have not taken citizenship---a free ticket home in lieu of their earned pension similar to what it has done to some other inconvenient and potentially expensive immigrants recently? Or will they just not pay the promised benefits?

One could put his/her extra cash in the bank at whatever barely positive interest rate is being offered. After 20 years you might be able to use the accrued interest to make a down-payment on a Kit Kat. Or one could perhaps invest in domestic equities. I haven't paid much attention to them for a while, so I don't know what the average P/E is----maybe 9,000,000:1?

No worry though. We can trust the gubbermint. Besides, people---including immigrants---have rights here. Bet your future on it.

Things ya don't wanna know

With dozens of half-completed posts waiting to be finished, it seems the only thing I can post about is that which I least want to think about.

The first is an article in the usually waste-of-time Letter to Nagatacho section of the decreasingly interesting Japan Times:

On July 2 in Shinjuku, a 74-year-old American tourist walked into a police box to ask directions....

...The American asked where Kinokuniya bookstore was, and the older police officer responded by asking the tourist if he had a pocket knife. The American, being the law-abiding citizen that he is, said "yes" and handed it to the senior officer. After a quick measurement of the blade, the officer arrested the 74-year-old for having a pocket knife 1 cm over the legal limit...

...It's astounding that a tourist in Japan has more to fear from the Japanese government or national police force than the citizenry. Japan Times

Once again, details are lacking. Once again, a Japanese newspaper publishes something with no attempt to investigate the facts. Hey, Japan Times...what are your reporters paid to do?*

If it is accurate, (certainly the last sentence is true) why was the man arrested for possessing a pocket knife? My recollection of the law which took effect on 4 July, is that it outlawed only double-edged dagger-type knives with blades of 5 cm or more in a lazy-assed attempt to convince citizens that clueless politicians and bureaucrats were seriously addressing problems which led to the Akihabara mass murder. Is there another law which restricts the carry of pocket knives? Could one carry a 15cm kitchen knife legally? What if one buys the kitchen knife at Tokyu and is carrying it somewhere to murder someone? Is that OK as long as the koban-sitter is not aware of the murder plans? If he is, would he take action? Why arrest a 74 year-old man? Because he is a foreigner? No, recently, the criminal justice system has been cracking down on the elderly. And to the letter writer---why are you using the term gaijin? (Sorry, noobi question I suppose. Gaijin is a neutral term for non-Japanese of European/Caucasian origin which has now magically expanded to include non-Japanese Asians and others---in theory and fantasy, at least.)

I am now trying to avoid the discrimination area, as there is plenty and it is not hard to find and experience. The longer I live here and the better my Japanese becomes, the more I notice the little subtle things as well as the larger points. However, I have found that dwelling on it tends to make one overly-sensitive and can lead to imagined slights. There's not much that can be done about it anyway at the personal, everyday level. We cannot live our lives for the ignorant.

The other article in the JT, concerns the new immigration reform which the kind, polite, and caring folks in the government created to make life better for bakagaijin.

In your wallet or somewhere at home, do you have a blue or pink card showing that you are enrolled in one of Japan's national health and pension programs? If not, and if you are thinking of extending your stay here, you may want to think about a recent revision to visa requirements for foreign residents. The changes, which the Justice Ministry says were made in order to "smooth out the administrative process," may have major consequences for foreign residents and their future in Japan.

Not so sure I object to this, since it is a Japanese law to be enrolled in health insurance. Some folks have managed to get coverage by private insurance in their home country at reasonable cost and have been able to opt out with evidence of the same in some wards---or so I have heard. Now, they will no longer have that option as Uncle Taro has decided to put immigration in the hands of the national government and remove it from those closest to the needs of immigrants.

The good point---maybe---is that those sleazeball companies which ignored the laws before and had non-Japanese on their payroll while not providing the required insurance may have to quit being sleazeballs that take advantage of workers. We can remember the eikaiwa factories such as Ber....Ber...(sorry, I cannot utter the name or I will vomit) that used various scams to avoid making sure their employees were covered in case of serious illness or injury in order to save a few yen.

*What has made the Japan Times an interesting newspaper in the past was the fact that it is not a member of the so-called press clubs and thus was free to publish articles critical of the sacred cows of Japan's establishment. I remember an excellent full page investigative report in early 1993, I believe, which was extremely critical of the Japan police and its response to rape victims, and non-Japanese victims of crime. I no longer see this type of reporting. Bershitz gets away with a "no comment" in every critical report of its polices. Japan Times investigate no further. We get garbage apparently published under the guise of giving "both sides" of an issue supporting racism and discrimination based on the group one belongs to. I suppose budget cuts may have contributed to this, but it ain't worth my ¥160 anymore, even if it were not available free on the Internut.

3:32pm edited to correct an error. JT is not a member of the press clubs.

Oops. We lied. Bugger off.

Hard up for cash, the Foreign Ministry has withdrawn its offer of financial assistance to 100 foreign nationals who applied for recognition as refugees, plunging many of them into misery.

The ministry said it introduced stricter criteria from this fiscal year because of a budget shortfall caused by a sharp rise in the number of applicants.

The assistance serves as a lifeline for applicants. Without it, many are facing dire financial difficulties. Some, unable to pay their rent, have been forced to vacate their apartments. Soon to vanish from Asahi Shimbun

Maybe the ministry can give them money for a plane ticket back home like they did the invited immigrants of Japanese descent. Yes, people must trust and believe the government when they say that they are trying to make life easier for immigrants. Just look at the track record of honestly and dependability that it has shown so far.

I can understand the lack of money. All you have to do is ride along the Tamagawa and watch how they spend tons of money moving mud throughout the year. Then come back to the same area in another year or two and do it again. Who has money for refugees when you gotta keep construction companies busy? If they keep the river looking nice, the refugees with have a place to live under a blue tarp provided that they can afford one.

Embarrassingly stupid

But Japan distrusts immigrants too, so that makes it OK.

Of all the initiatives undertaken in the name of homeland security after 9/11, the visa screening requirements for foreign scientists and engineers have probably done the most lasting damage to America's economy -- particularly in the cutting-edge technology fields that are vital to our economic leadership and national security.

The U.S. scientific enterprise depends enormously on talented foreigners. Foreign students and researchers, especially from India and China, comprise more than half of the scientific researchers in the U.S. CFR

However, the US is taking another look at this nonsense. Wonder if Japan will since many leaders think its future seems to be tied to immigration too.

LDP's Shiozaki, All-American

The LDP's (well, which party would you expect?) Yasuhisa Shiozaki has defended the recent revisions to the immigration law requiring non-Japanese to carry residence cards with them at all times by showing his own iron backbone: Well, America does it too.

One of [the DPJ's Ritsuo] Hosokawa's proposals that Shiozaki did not agree to was eliminating a clause requiring foreigners to carry residence ("zairyu") cards.

"We can't give in on that," Shiozaki said. "Carrying green cards is mandatory in the Unites [sic] States as well."* Japan Times

An excellent reason! No simpleton he. It is always impressive to see a politician with his own moral standards and irrefutable logic.

Unfortunately, Pot-Iron Shiozaki did not mention why the penalty for not carrying the card in Japan would be so much higher. There is, however, little reason to believe that money from the huge fines to be imposed will be used to pay for a Japanese war with Vietnam and its future invasions of a few Middle Eastern countries. The US, after all did those things, and Japan is already late.

There is also no truth to rumors that Shiozaki is spearheading efforts to give non-Japanese rights equal to those of permanent residents in the US or to introduce legal penalties with teeth---again like those in the US---prohibiting racial discrimination. Unfortunately, the interview ended before the reporter could ask when Shiozaki planned on pushing for an amendment to the Japanese constitution to allow citizens to possess firearms.

And can you believe that Hosogawa said these words: ..."illegal foreigners who are as good a citizen as ordinary Japanese"...My god, we can't let the DPJ win with members like him running around! This article and full in-context quote is here.

*I wonder---if the US repealed it's law, would Ol' Iron Balls support repealing the Japan version?

Treatment of non-Japanese to improve!!! New immigration bill soon to be passed!

"The bills are well made. Foreigners obeying the law will be treated better..."

The bills also have a provision to prevent the ministry from using that data improperly, a decision that was made to ward off criticism that "the minister" could abuse the zairyu card number to violate foreigners' privacy. But no penalty for such abuse was listed. (emphasis mine) Japan Times

No penalty? I'm sorry, but having seen so many of these "no penalty" laws, I would say that provision is an effing joke. Why wasn't non-compliance by non-Japanese made penalty-less too? Because if it had been, the law itself would have been an effing joke.

Don't go away mad, just go away

Japan needs you to help it with its rapidly aging society. Unless, of course, your presence becomes inconvenient:

Japan began offering money* Wednesday for unemployed foreigners of Japanese ancestry to go home, mostly to Brazil and Peru, to stave off what officials said posed a serious unemployment problem. Story from AP.

This way, Japan can push its unemployment problem off on other countries. A novel way to say "Thanks for your hard work. Now bugger off."

Only those immigrants from Peru or Brazil of Japanese ancestry are eligible.

*¥300,000 to workers plus ¥200,000 to each family member. Anyone accepting this "must forgo" returning to a grateful Japan.

More great news

An article at the NYT reports on Japan's attempts to boost exports and notes that the domestic market is pretty much hopeless even for Japanese producers.

In even more encouraging news:

The Japanese are also becoming poorer, relatively speaking: Japan’s income per capita, once among the top five in the world, slipped to 19th in 2007, far behind the United States and many European countries.

With this, and the idea that non-Japanese are suspect if not outright criminals that some in the government and media have, what type of people would want to come here to live and work as the population ages? And of those who, who will want to stay long term? (OK, not sure that they would be wanted long-term.*)

*2 April 09: This question was answered in the post above.

A Crisis of the Mind

Masaru Tamamoto of The World Policy Institute has written an Op-Ed for the NYT: Japan's Crisis of the Mind:

Recent events mark Japan’s return to the world’s stage, or at least so it seems...this suggests that Washington sees Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, as a powerful nation. If only we saw ourselves the same way.The truth is, Japan is a mess.

Some will disagree that Washington really sees Japan as a powerful nation, but nobody in his/her right mind would disagree with idea that Japan is a mess.

Conservative pundits here like to speak of this equality and sameness as being cornerstones of “Japanese” tradition. Nonsense. Throughout much of its history, Japan has had social stratification and great inequality of wealth and privilege. The “egalitarian” Japan was a creature of the 1970s, with its progressive taxation, redistribution of wealth, subsidies and the dampening of competition through regulation.

This is a key point, I think. Much of what is supposedly due to some unique Japanese tradition or culture barely predates WW2. The so-called lifetime employment, and the submissive unions would be but two examples.

Tamamoto argues that the crisis is not political, but psychological and that Japan's ability to imitate other systems has been mistaken for progress. He argues than in order for Japan to change it must take risks, and although in the last 60 some years after the end of the war the bureaucratic government (and much of society) have done everything possible to avoid risk, that risk avoidance is not a part of Japanese culture.

I'm afraid that I agree too much with what he wrote, which means it must be wrong somewhere. (He did not mention that Japan must stay safe by discriminating against others, which may rile certain Japan Times ranters from Australia. In fact, he says that Japan must get over its fear of immigration. Little hope there, I'm afraid.)

It's well worth reading if only to see what Japan could do, but likely won't.

You do not have to be stupid to work

for the US consulate in Nigeria, but it helps.

On this red-white-and-blue national holiday, we bring you a simple news story to assure you that our borders are safe from immigrants coming over to work on construction projects and build things in 'murca. Even when it's a couple of mud huts. Even when it's for a museum. Even when an actual U.S. senator gets involved...

...And so our little story ends this way: Real mud, real thatch, real goats, no real rural workmen...

...sums up the state of modern America this way: "We were naive in assuming there wouldn't be any problems."(Read more at the Washington Post article.)

Reason Magazine's blog comments: So the State Department can now proudly declare that it has protected American mud hut builders from the threat of foreign competition.

Shocking. Simply shocking.

I can't believe it: Foreign Reporters covering G8 face harassment: media group. (Japan Times)

They don't even get free detention or meals at the Immigration facility; they gotta pay.

Some unpatriotic folks are complaining that this sort of action threatens free thought and expression in Japan as well as violates human rights. It's ok though, for the US has been doing somewhat similar things (or worse) in the name of security so that gives a free pass to others.

Related story here.

I read it, but I can't believe

Will it really happen? What's in the fine print? The LDP is doing this!!!!!????

Foreigners will have a much better opportunity to move to, or continue to live in, Japan under a new immigration plan drafted by Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers to accept 10 million immigrants in the next 50 years.

... the immigration plan calls for the goal to be achieved soon and for the government to aim for 1 million foreign students by 2025. It also proposes accepting an annual 1,000 asylum seekers...It isn't April 1 is it?

...the immigration plan calls for the goal to be achieved soon and for the government to aim for 1 million foreign students by 2025. It also proposes accepting an annual 1,000 asylum seekers...Shocking!

...but Minoru Morita, a political critic at Morita Research Institute Co., doubts Nakagawa's plan will be formally adopted by the LDP anytime soon...Back to planet earth.

... current policy, in which we demand only highly skilled foreigners...Huh?

...if the new plan were adopted and thus their motivation for committing crimes would decrease...Oh yes. I know it would cause my motivation for committing crimes to diminish. Yours too?

Article from the Japan Times. Shall we wager on how much of this comes to pass and when? Holding your breath?

Japanese Are Loath To Rebuild Workforce Through Immigration
Politicians Avoid Issue They See as Toxic (The Washington Post)

...Japan faces a much more fundamental threat to its future -- demographic decline that experts say will delete 70 percent of its workforce by 2050...

...among highly developed countries, Japan has always ranked near the bottom in the percentage of foreign-born residents...

...Based on a round of interviews with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and several other senior government officials and politicians, the issue is too politically toxic for extensive public discussion...

..."We really need to let the people know that the economy simply cannot be managed without the help of foreigners," said Seiji Maehara, a member of parliament and a vice president in the opposition Democratic Party of Japan...

The article continues with a reference to another possible way for Japan to pull itself out of this hole---that of actually making of easier for women to join the workforce and have and raise children.

I wouldn't expect much action on either until disaster is imminent.

Sounds familiar, but..

it ain't Japan.

In temporary courtrooms at a fairgrounds here, 270 illegal immigrants were sentenced this week to five months in prison for working at a meatpacking plant with false documents....

I dunno, somehow I doubt these arrests and sentences had a heck of a lot to do with false documents...

The hearings took place on the grounds of the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, in mobile trailers and in a dance hall modified with black curtains, beginning at 8 a.m. and continuing several nights until 10...

Please don't infer that the immigrants themselves were treated like cattle.

..the immigration agent, said the criticism of the proceedings was “the usual spate of false allegations and baseless rumors”...

Yes, critics of the US gubbermint are unpatriotic idjits spreading lies. Good god man, what reason would a bureaucrat have to be anything but honest and straightforward?

Mr. Nadler said the plea agreements were the best deal available for his clients. But he was dismayed that prosecutors had denied them probation and insisted the immigrants serve prison time and agree to a rarely used judicial order for immediate deportation upon their release, signing away their rights to go to immigration court.

What?!!!! They have rights?

Linda R. Reade, the chief judge who approved the emergency court setup, said she was confident there had been no rush to justice...

Of course not. And if Linda or her friends ever get in trouble with the law, she hopes that the same type of process is applied. Even better, she'd like her hearing in a circus tent.

The immigration lawyers, Judge Reade said, “do not understand the federal criminal process as it relates to immigration charges.”

Uh-oh. Could this be a problem for the Honorable Judge Reade? If the lawyers who represented the now convicted criminals did not understand immigration law, would that not mean the the defendants lacked competent legal representation? Would that not be grounds for appeal? Would that not be unconstitutional and to say the very least, un-American?

Oh wait! The Constitution? Does that still apply to anything or is it simply a tool of pinko commies? No, pinko commies are out-of-date. I meant terrorists and their sympathizers. This is a security issue, after all, and security trumps everything.

At least there will be more jobs for real Americans at the sweatshop meatpacking plant. And it is nice to see that the USA is sticking with the policy toward immigration that has existed since the first real Americans landed at Plymouth Rock.

Full NYT article here.

How Uncle Sam treats detained non-citizens

Anyone who immigrates to another country is taking risks, as they often have few or no real rights. Although it does not excuse Japan for its polices---the bandwagon "everyone does it" nonsense---the US has become increasingly hostile to immigration. Should one be detained by US immigration at the border, he/she has entered a no-man's land in which there are no constitutional rights.

The Washington Post has a series on some of the abuses, neglect, and incompetence in the US system which has resulted in the death of a number of detainees. This is bound to occur when a bureaucracy is responsible for ensuring people are treated decently. After all, it is not likely that anyone in a position of authority will have to accept personal responsibility for anything. Just go before Congress and say that "We're trying" (while they're dying). Will the public care enough to force substantial changes? One wonders. Uncle Sam does not. Just a small example:

Last year, the Arizona State Board of Nursing heard that nurses at Eloy [a federal immigrant detention facility] were being required, without enough training, to take the chest X-rays that new detainees are supposed to get to check for tuberculosis. The board sent ICE [Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] a terse, two-sentence letter. "Nurses are not radiologists," it said. "Taking X-rays is out of the scope of practice for a nurse, and a nurse who does so is violating the Nurse Practice Act and will be subject to discipline on his/her license." The response from Washington: "Nurses working in federal government facilities are not subject to state licensing requirements."


I suppose little more can be expected for immigrants---look at how the some members of military have to live in in substandard slum-like housing on posts and bases in the US after returning for war. Seems like military housing is back in the Carter era again.

The most recent Washington Post article is here.

US to ask Japan to improve fingerprinting of non-Japanese

Yes. There were rumors that the US had asked Japan to initiate fingerprinting of all non-Japanese entering Japan and it still isn't satisfied after Japan began to do it. The Bush Department of Homeland Paranoia---sorry, Security---would like to see Japan start getting prints from all 10 fingers.

I guess that criticism of Japan of the procedure was a little too stiff. No, Japan need not do everything that George Bush says, but it usually does unless it is protecting a company or market. No surprise that Japan would follow Bush here, especially if it means targeting non-Japanese.

It will be interesting to hear what the two final candidates for president will say about the excesses of Homeland Security---if they even believe that they have been excesses. I think most Americans are finding it acceptable, at least that is the impression I get from those visiting or newly arrived in Japan. Anything is ok as long as there can be some half-assed attempt to link it to "security."

The story is here.

Wouldn't this be sweet

Peru's Fujimori, a buddy of Blink Ishihara, is considering running for office in Japan. Fujimori was shocking found to be eligible for Japanese citizenship when he was hiding in Japan to avoid extradition to Peru on corruption charges. Amazingly, it is not the LDP who has supposedly contacted him, but the People's New Party. I don't know the Japanese name, but I have never heard of it. According to the article, it is likely to jump into bed with the LDP if needed to assure the LDP almost continuous hold on power since the end of WW2. They are mostly former LDP members according to the article. Mostly retro-grouches whom Koizumi forced out after they opposed his postal reforms.

Peru is not amused. (Excerpt from tvnz.co.nz.)

Omar Chehade, the head of the extradition unit in Peru's attorney general's office, said Fujimori was considering running for office "to avoid an extradition that is on the verge of being ruled on."

"Fujimori continues to play with his dual nationality and this shows he's desperate," he said.

Fujimori is under arrest is in Chile hoping to avoid extradition back to Peru. Japan will take him back. Criminal suspects of Japanese descent have a much better chance of getting a break from immigrations than refugees from anywhere else being persecuted for any reason do.

The full story is here.

Not unexpected

Japan has one of the---if not the---lowest acceptance rate of refugees of any modern country. The Japan Times has an article about a Kurd family who was denied refugee status by Japan.

...Dogan left Turkey for Japan in 1999, fleeing ethnic and religious persecution in his homeland. He applied twice to be accepted as a refugee but was rejected both times...

...Dogan's lawyer, Takeshi Ohashi, criticized the government for giving the Dogans the cold shoulder.

"While I am relieved that the Dogans are no longer in fear of being deported (back to Turkey) and have been recognized as refugees in Canada, this result is an embarrassment of our country," Ohashi said....

We must guard the country's purity. Full article HERE>

Japan's immigration bureacrats are not

necessarily the only ones who sometimes follow a rather seemingly inhuman (subhuman?) technicality over what one would assume would be a common sense solution to a problem. Anyone who has ever dealt with the US INS, knows what an expensive mess it can be. By the way, they are more than happy to screw US citizens too. These bureaucrats serve the citizens? HAHAHA.

Here is an article which describes how the US Immigration Service (I guess it is now called the Citizenship and Immigration Service) treats folks when they get the opportunity. A Japanese woman married an American citizen in 1998. Before the wedding, her and her fiancee were awaiting the fiancee visa which was late in arriving. They asked a US bureaucrat what to do, and was told to go ahead and get married and change the visa status after they got to the US. (BIG MISTAKE. Unless the bureaucrat puts it in writing---which they won't---one should use extreme caution in following any advice. Until the late 90s, for example, if a citizen asked the IRS for tax advice and the agent gave the wrong advice, the taxpayer could still be held legally accountable for following the advice. In that case, even incorrect written advice was little or no defense. (Their website is here.)

Anyway, after fighting a charge of fraud for years, the US government told the Japanese wife that her new status and permanent resident visa was approved, but she had to fly back to Tokyo to get it. Guess what? Uncle Sam's hired flunky lied. What a shock!!! Next thing you'll know, we might find out that Uncle Sam lied about WMD in Iraq too.

When she and her 2 young children got to Tokyo went to the embassy, they were told that there was no visa and that she'd never get one. Neither she, nor her American husband have many rights when dealing with the INS.

I used to think that it was none of the government's business whom I married. That's why I was very much a libertarian politically, and why I never trusted the Democrats. The mistake was, that I trusted Republicans to some degree---which most libertarians know better than to do. It was a choice of the lesser of 2 evils. I no longer view either party as a lessor evil. We American's have a fantasy that citizens really control the government, but we don't. In the end, after the laws are passed, a group of people whose main motivation is job security do. And they get pretty good pay too, compared to most jobs. Is Japan any worse in this area, or any other? I am tempted to say, probably not. So far they have not recently invaded another country and started a four plus year war for a false reason.

If my wife and I return to live in the US, I will hire a good lawyer to get her visa and green card taken care of. I did it myself when we got married and it was a huge hassle. It is no doubt much, much, worse now. Gotta keep out them thar terrorists from Japan who marry US citizens and have kids, I guess.