In this edition of the Debito.org newsletter:

1) BRIEFING ON THE ISSUE: METROPOLIS OCT 26 “LAST WORD” COLUMN
2) ISSUE MADE EVEN SIMPLER: DOWNLOADABLE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
3) THE CASE FOR HOW THE FINGERPRINT POLICY VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL TREATY
4) THE SUBTERFUGE: ACCENTURE’S PROFITEERING IN J IMMIGRATION FP MACHINES
5) POLICY CREEP: REUTERS ON HOW GOJ VERSION GOES FARTHER THAN US-VISIT PROGRAM
(by fingerprinting even Permanent Residents, i.e. “Green Card” holders)

…and finally…
6) WHAT YOU CAN DO: LINKS TO PROTEST ARTICLES, CARTOONS, LETTERS
AND ONLINE PETITION YOU CAN SIGN

The full newsletter (and much, much more) is available at debito.org.

Listen Now:

 Debito.org 10/29/07: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this edition of TPR News, Japan’s contribution to the ‘war on terror’ is under fire, a former Defense Agency chief is in trouble over a new scandal, Prime Minister Fukuda’s approval ratings, Nova files for bankruptcy protection, the 40th Tokyo Motor Show opens, problems with pregnant women finding hospitals, why you won’t find ‘cool biz’ in a Kojien dictionary anytime soon, and much, much more…

Politics

“Doing pretty much whatever the US wants is not good enough if you don’t do it post haste,” is the message being put forth lately by the US, apparently not too happy with Japan for. . . uhm. . . apparently for doing what the US wants but not in the way the US wants.

On Wednesday, at the National Press Club, US Ambassador Thomas Schieffer busted out the Bush administration’s favorite card, the “if you don’t do what we say, you’re supporting the terrorists” card by saying that cessation of the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s refueling mission in the Indian Ocean “would be sending a very bad message to the international community and to terrorists, because I think it would be saying that Japan is opting out of the war on terror for whatever reason.”

It used to be, “If you’re not for us, you’re against us,” now it seems to be, “If you’re not for us in the right way or enthusiastically enough, you’re letting the terrorists win.”

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, fresh from expressing his dissatisfaction with NATO members for not being able to come up with the troops they pledged for Afghanistan, is set to visit Japan in early November. If he keeps up with other Bush administration officials, more bullying is to be expected.

(Read on …)

Listen Now:

 TPR News 10/29/07: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

After a longer time off that expected, co-hosts Albrecht Stahmer and Ken Worsley are back with the eighth edition of BizCast Japan. This edition of the show covers the following topics:

The Headlines section begins with a discussion of the situation with Wal-Mart and Seiyu. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has announced that it will make Seiyu a wholly owned subsidiary. At the same time, Seiyu has been showing losses for the past six years, is downsizing its staff, and holds about 325 billion yen of interest-bearing liabilities on its balance sheet.

After that, Albrecht gives his take on Wi-Max, and the discussion turns to whether or not Japan will become more friendly for those folks who want wireless internet access in public places. After that, Morgan Stanley’s announcement that it will form a holding company in Japan leads to a short discussion on land prices in Japan, which have been rising quickly in many urban centers.

Finally, the situation surrounding embattled English language school operator Nova is briefly discussed. This is one issue that promises to come up again, and so the discussion here is kept brief.

In the Quick Picks, Albrecht chooses to discuss December’s impending taxi rate hikes. Ken elects to return to the issue of corprate governance, whistleblowers, and another breakout of food scandals.

Finally, the Focus Issue begins with a discussion of Jim Press, who just a few months ago became the first non-Japanese to be named to the board of directors at Toyota. Just a few short months later, Press has left and joined Chrysler, which is now under the control of US Private Equity fund Cerberus Capital Management. What does this all mean for the Japanese auto market, now that we are on the eve of the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show?

Listen Now:

 BizCast #8: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Before I write what I’m going to write, I will let the media tell their story, since they havn’t had much of one to tell until now.

On Monday night, the following twelve minute spot detailing problems at the embattled Nova Corporation aired on Kansai TV. Thanks to Let’s Japan forum member Muteki for posting the videos.

(Read on …)

Editor’s Note: Production of this episode started before the end of the regular season. Many of the predictions made in the article below, and the accompanying podcast, have since been shown to be right or wrong (but mostly right). The 2007 final standings below are an example of the information not available to us when we recorded this installment of TPR Spotlight.

OK, here come some of the teams that you may have heard about before.

If you haven’t listened to the podcasts that accompanied the first two NPB installments, you can give them a listen by clicking here and scrolling down.

The Central League is home to the most powerful team in Japanese baseball. Not powerful because they’re the best (at least not since the ’60s and ’70s), but rather because they have the most money and their owner basically controls the league. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

We’ll get to them later. Again, let’s proceed in alphabetical order so as to avoid as much bias as possible.

(Read on …)

Listen Now:

 NPB #3: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this edition of the Debito.org newsletter:

1) NEW MHLW DIRECTIVE: ALL COMPANIES MUST CHECK & REGISTER THEIR NJ WORKERS
2) GLOBE & MAIL ON GOJ’S NASTY IMMIG AND REFUGEE POLICIES
3) ASAHI: UNHYGIENIC FOOD IN IMMIGRATION GAIJIN TANK TRIGGERS HUNGER STRIKE
4) ASAHI: NJ DIES DURING POLICE “SNITCH SITE” HOME ID CHECK
5) IDUBOR CASE UPDATE: DENIED RELEASE, NEXT HEARING IN TWO MONTHS!
6) WHAT TO DO IF… YOU ARE THREATENED WITH EVICTION
7) TEMPLATE PROTEST LETTERS RE UPCOMING FINGERPRINT LAWS
8) FORTHCOMING ARTICLES IN JAPAN TIMES AND METROPOLIS
ON REINSTATING FINGERPRINTING AND GOJ CABINET HUMAN RIGHTS SURVEY

The full newsletter (and much, much more) is available at debito.org

Listen Now:

 Debito.org 10/20/07: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this edition of Seijigiri, co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley begin by discussing the visit of 67 lawmakers to the Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday, decide it is no longer relevant, and move on to a discussion of Japan’s role in the war in Afghanistan. This is followed by a discussion of when a Lower House election might come, what might spur it, and how it could turn out.

After that, the discussion turns to a short look at the politicization of consumption taxes and how this issue could hurt the LDP (again). This leads to the funding of the pension system, and why that issue matters more to voters than Afghanistan. Following that, our hosts consider the issue of Article Nine and whether it is actually important. Finally, the future of Prime Minister Fukuda, and former Foreign Minister Taro Aso are discussed, along with the final nail in the coffin of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “Beautiful Japan” project.

We would like to express a huge debt of thanks to Tobias Harris of Observing Japan and Adam Richards of the Mutant Frog Travelogue for appearing as guest commentators on Seijigiri over the past two months. Their contributions to the show have been invaluable, and we have been humbled by their writings on Japan. We look forward to having them both back soon.

By the way, we have new software and some new hardware. We think things sound much better. We’re excited about this and hope we can learn to use it and get the most out of it all soon.

Listen Now:

 Seijigiri #35: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Do you find yourself reading the news, reading blogs, listening to podcasts, watching TV, and wishing someone would do something to right all the wrongs?

Do you want to help out, get involved?

Are you a generally socially concerned, helpful person?

Do you want to meet some activists and commentators?

Do you like an occasional tipple?

(Read on …)

This is an audio version of the Debito.org newsletter for October 13, 2007. We will be publishing these audio versions of Debito’s newsletters to help get discussion of the issues he covers out there a bit more. The format may evolve, but we think this is the beginning of something good!

-KW

In this edition of the Debito.org newsletter:

1) FINGERPRINT LAW REVISIONS: CONFUSION, OUTRAGE, AND AMNESTY INT’L
2) JAPAN’S ANTI-TERROR: GOVT PROFITEERING & USER-FRIENDLY SNITCH SITES
3) LAWSUITS: ZAINICHI KOREAN VICTORY, VIETNAM WORKERS VS TOYOTA
4) UPCOMING SPEECHES OCT 22-27 IN WASEDA, TOCHIGI & KYOTO
5) IDUBOR CASE: HEARING OCT 18, BEERS AT THEIR YOKOHAMA BAR OCT 2O

The full newsletter (and much, much more) is available at debito.org

Listen Now:

 Debito.org 10/13/07: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

(Click the title or the “Read On. . .” tag and scroll� to the bottom for strike details.)�

With the whole Nova fiasco lighting up the Japan blogosphere and TPR, through the rapidly growing celebrity of our own Ken Worsley, finding� ourselves at the center of the coverage of the issue, I found myself getting drawn further and further beyond the human interest interviews we did and the intrigue of the bizarre financial dealings punctuating the company’s decline and fall and more and more into an arena I will freely admit I had avoided previously - partially for lack of interest and. . . no, that’s it - almost entirely for lack of interest, not in the issue or the plight of Nova’s shafted employees and customers, but because the plethora of ad hominem attacks, the rumor-mongering, the scarcity of verifiable useful input, and the general mean-spirited and often misleading nature of much of the discussion in forums and on blogs detracts from what useful content there is and causes one to see the Saudi/Iranian/Chinese side of things on the issue of Internet control.� (OK, I’m kidding.)

That said, I’ve spent about as much time on the Nova issue as nearly any non-Nova employee/ non-Ken Worsley� over the past six weeks or so and came across something I had not expected: action.

(Read on …)