Japan/Asia Stories October 2014

Articles from Japan Focus

4199	Tyrell Haberkorn	The Criminalization of Thought in Thailand
4198	Tessa Morris-Suzuki	Democracy’s Porous Borders: Espionage, Smuggling and the Making of Japan’s Transwar Regime (Part I)
4197	Daniela Tan	Literature and The Trauma of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 文学と広島・長崎のトラウマ
4196	Emma Campbell	“Fieldwork” North Korea: Observations of daily life on the ground inside the country 北朝鮮での「フィールドワーク」 現場で観察する日常生活
4195	Jae-Jung Suh	The Failure of the South Korean National Security State: The Sewol Tragedy in the Age of Neoliberalism 韓国国防国家体制の破綻　セウォル号の悲劇、新自由主義時代の産物
4194	Hideki YOSHIKAWA	An Appeal from Okinawa to the US Congress. Futenma Marine Base Relocation and its Environmental Impact:: U.S. Responsibility 沖縄から米議会への訴え　普天閒基地移設と環境影響　米国の責任は
4193	Mayuzumi Madoka	So Happy to see Cherry Blossoms: Haiku from the Year of the Great Earthquake and Tsunami まんかいのさくらがみれてうれしいな　大震災と津波の年が生みだした一句
4191	Hiranmoy Lahiri	Reality through Fantasy: Miyazaki Hayao’s “Anime” Films ファンタジーをとおして現実を見せる　宮崎駿の「アニメ」作品
4190	Asia-Pacific Journal	Police Surveillance of Muslims and Human Rights in Japan イスラム教徒と警察監視　日本における人権とは
4187	Misook Lee	The Japan-Korea Solidarity Movement in the 1970s and 1980s: From Solidarity to Reflexive Democracy 1970年代、80年代の日韓連帯運動　連帯から自己変革を目指す民主主義へ

After assuming his post as the new minister of defense in September, Eto Akinori visited Okinawa governor Nakaima Hirokazu for the first time, expressing his desire to strive towards a “visible” reduction of the burden of the US military on the prefecture. The reality was otherwise, as the Japan-US decision to relocate some of the functions of the Futenma base to a new facility in Henoko remains set in stone. Construction officially began in July in the face of determined Okinawan opposition, and a month later a US Congressional Report noted the “heavy handed actions” of the Japanese government to force the new base on Okinawans. Now, in an Appeal From Okinawa to the US Congress, anthropologist Hideki Yoshikawa examines the environmental issues that have been ignored by official studies, calling attention to the responsibility of the American military to consider the silent majority that is the natural environment of Okinawa and honor its own environmental assessment procedures.

An Asia-Pacific Journal report with resonances of the police profiling of American Muslims examines the disturbing practice of Police Surveillance of Muslims and Human Rights in Japan carried out in the guise of combating terrorism. The story came to light following the leak of police documents in 2010. With the upcoming Tokyo Olympics in 2020, and successive UN Commissions faulting Japan’s discriminatory policies toward foreigners, Japanese behavior toward visitors will be in the public eye.