Right-wing trolls lecturing everyone about discrimination in Japan are trash, but they're also not engaging in good faith and don't deserve to be amplified
Instead, here are some pieces from @TokyoReview that unpack many (but not all!) issues Japan faces with discrimination:
Instead, here are some pieces from @TokyoReview that unpack many (but not all!) issues Japan faces with discrimination:
Starting off: Women. Oof. There's a lot to unpack here and this article from Kristin Wilson does an excellent job of describing the legacy of Womenomics and what it means for gender equality in Japan: https://www.tokyoreview.net/2020/10/japan-needs-a-new-path-for-womenomics-and-gender-equality-in-post-abe-era/
Next, James C. Fisher ( @implawsible) discusses the connections between Japan's constrictive rules towards protests, the global BLM movement, and liberationist efforts: https://www.tokyoreview.net/2020/08/blm-japan-bringing-global-movements-home/
Regarding Japan's indigenous Ainu, Mashiyat Zaman unpacks the recently enacted Ainu Promotion Act and the legacy of Japan's colonial rule over its Ainu population https://www.tokyoreview.net/2020/03/ainu-japan-colonial-legacy/
The legacy of legandary sumo wrestler and zainichi Korean Rikidozan offers a window into the situation faced by Japan's Korean minority to maintain their identity, as explained by @MikeBosack: https://www.tokyoreview.net/2019/12/remembering-rikidozan/
Milan Boon ( @writerofscratch) discusses the arduous process of securing legal recognition of LGBT partnerships in Japan: https://www.tokyoreview.net/2019/05/lgbt-partnership-systems-spread-across-japan/
The fact that Japan continues to be a hostile place for women who stand up to challenge their harassers has meaningfully undermined the potential for a #metoo
movement in Japan, as @robfahey describes here: https://www.tokyoreview.net/2018/05/japan-isnt-ready-metoo-moment/

As for immigration, @robfahey and I describe how Japan's technical trainee program has been used to provide cheap labor from developing countries, leading to all kinds of exploitation and abuse: https://www.tokyoreview.net/2018/04/japan-unskilled-labor-immigration-policy/
Eleanor Warnock ( @misssaxbys) describes how doctors' refusal to provide safe epidurals to women in childbirth puts mothers and their children at risk - even as the country frets about its low birthrate: https://www.tokyoreview.net/2017/08/japan-numbers-birth-painful-japan/
Returning to the issue of Japan's zainichi Korean minority, @robfahey discusses what Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko's refusal to commemorate the anniversary of an anti-Korean pogrom reveals about the prejudices of many of Japan's political elite: https://www.tokyoreview.net/2017/09/koike-korean-problem/
And all of these don't even come close to describing all of Japan's problems with discrimination (which is to say, if you'd like to offer a contribution of your own feel free to make a pitch: https://www.tokyoreview.net/contribution-guidelines/)
So leave the right wing twits alone - they feed off your outrage and engagement - and focus on circulating stories of issues in Japan like these so everyone can learn more about what's going on
Come to think of it, I haven't even seen the Nike ad yet...
Come to think of it, I haven't even seen the Nike ad yet...