Daily Archives: April 14, 2015

Letter to the Editor

Letter to the editor

Re: “Down and out in upscale Japan” (10/26/14) by Tom Benner:

Benner addresses Japan’s precarious rate of unemployment. However he focuses too much on the economic decline to notice the real problem: the lack of government aid for the homeless. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government survey on the homeless population is incomplete, a poor reflection of recently elected Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe’s strong stance on social welfare issues. Hiroshi Ito cites the government’s investment into job training programs as the key to the decreased recorded population. However, what Ito ignores is that the majority of the homeless population face discrimination in the workplace for being older.

In fact the majority of Japan’s population is 60 and above. In contrast to the situation of the rising middle class, there is no long-term plan in place to provide security for the elderly population, who due to the economic decline may lose their jobs. Instead of pouring money into social security for the elderly, the government focuses on the welfare benefit tied to seikatsu hogo, the livelihood protection law. While the welfare benefit provides shelter, citizens are expected to find a job and leave after 3 months.

In a park in Osaka the number of homeless people has grown so big and self-sufficient that they’ve founded their own association. They put their once-paid skills to use as gardeners and scavengers. It looks more like a homeless commune than a government shelter. This community of blue tarps tied to nearby trees is not a permanent one, but until the government actually steps in, it’ll have to do.

RE: Burying the Hatchet

Letter to the editor

Letter to the Editor – RE: Burying the Hatchet (3/13/15) – Katherine Jordan

Katherine Jordan’s treatment of the issue of comfort women highlights a cardinal rule of politics: Do as much as you can get away with doing. Or – in this case – do as little. By assuming a meager compensation given in 1996 was an adequate apology, the Japanese government has shamelessly shirked its responsibility to the victims of war crimes perpetrated by the Imperial Japanese Army. Jordan says “identifying and compensating former comfort women” must be the first step, but money is a poor substitute for a true acknowledgement of responsibility. There cannot be a price tag for suffering.

Even if Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were to authorize additional compensation tomorrow, the money would not heal the deep wounds felt by many Asian Pacific Rim communities that suffered from Japanese imperialism. More outrageous than viewing the reparations given in 1996 as sufficient, Abe now seeks to erase the victims’ histories from his country’s textbooks – effectively ending any chance for Japan to face its own history.

Only a sincere expression of atonement can begin to resolve the pain caused by these war crimes. Since its 1996 apology letter – which is not acknowledged by Abe’s administration – the government has inadequately addressed the issue of cultural trauma. Monetary compensation can be an easy step in Japan’s responsibility toward its victims, but that is not a sufficient solution to the problem.

You cannot use money to bury a hatchet, especially not one of this size.