Kyogaku no Gaijin Hanzai Ura File - Gaijin Hanzai Hakusho 2007
Encyclopedia
meaning Shocking Secret Foreigner Crime File - Foreigner Crime White Paper
2007, was a mook ( a Japanese word for a cross between a magazine and a book) published in Japanese
on January 31, 2007 by Eichi Publishing Inc.ja It was distributed in convenience stores and online at Rakuten
Books and Amazon.com
. The cover price was 690 yen.
d images of foreigners grinning maniacally with glowing red eyes under its banner headline. No advertising content was included in the mook.
The mook included a caption describing a black man as a "nigga
", an article entitled "Chase the Iranian!", and calls Tokyo
a "city torn apart by evil foreigners." One cartoon re-enacts a murder on a pig farm in Chiba
, east of Tokyo, allegedly by a Chinese man who overstayed his visa.
also criticised the book.
Citing the publication's "inappropriate racial expressions" FamilyMart
decided to stop distributing the book on February 5.
The editor of the book, Shigeki Saka, defended his decision to publish in an editorial in Metropolis. Saka stated that, "there are no lies, distortions or racist sentiments expressed in Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu. All the statistics about rising crime rates are accurate, and all the photographs show incidents that actually occurred." His stated purpose was to create an informed dialogue on the "taboo" topic of foreigner crime.
White paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
2007, was a mook ( a Japanese word for a cross between a magazine and a book) published in Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
on January 31, 2007 by Eichi Publishing Inc.ja It was distributed in convenience stores and online at Rakuten
Rakuten
operates and manages business to consumer electronic commerce site, Rakuten Ichiba, and consumer to consumer auction site, Rakuten Freemarket. Its business is centered in Japan, although it has began international expansion through acquisitions. The chief executive officer is Hiroshi Mikitani...
Books and Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
. The cover price was 690 yen.
Content
The mook contains images and descriptions of what it says are crimes committed in Japan by non-Japanese, including graphs breaking down crimes by nationality. The mook's cover, in red and black, shows caricatureCaricature
A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
d images of foreigners grinning maniacally with glowing red eyes under its banner headline. No advertising content was included in the mook.
The mook included a caption describing a black man as a "nigga
Nigga
Nigga is a term used in African American Vernacular English that began as an eye dialect form of the word nigger .- Use in language :In practice, its use and meaning are...
", an article entitled "Chase the Iranian!", and calls Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
a "city torn apart by evil foreigners." One cartoon re-enacts a murder on a pig farm in Chiba
Chiba, Chiba
is the capital city of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is located approximately 40 km east of the center of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay. Chiba City became a government designated city in 1992. Its population as of 2008 is approximately 960,000....
, east of Tokyo, allegedly by a Chinese man who overstayed his visa.
Response
The mook was criticized for being racist by various Japan commentators including Debito Arudou. Arudou, a naturalized Japanese citizen, posted a bilingual letter for readers to take to FamilyMart stores, protesting against "discriminatory statements and images about non-Japanese residents of Japan." Richard-Lloyd Parry, Asia editor of The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
also criticised the book.
Citing the publication's "inappropriate racial expressions" FamilyMart
FamilyMart
is a convenience store franchise chain first opened in Japan on September 1, 1981. FamilyMart is Japan's third largest convenience store chain, behind 7-Eleven and Lawson, and the largest chain store in South Korea. FamilyMart is owned and overseen by FamilyMart Company, Limited...
decided to stop distributing the book on February 5.
The editor of the book, Shigeki Saka, defended his decision to publish in an editorial in Metropolis. Saka stated that, "there are no lies, distortions or racist sentiments expressed in Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu. All the statistics about rising crime rates are accurate, and all the photographs show incidents that actually occurred." His stated purpose was to create an informed dialogue on the "taboo" topic of foreigner crime.
See also
- Manga KenkanryuManga Kenkanryu, translated in English as Hating the Korean Wave or Hate Korea: A Comic is a controversial Japanese manga written by Sharin Yamano with the theme of Korean-Japanese disputes and anti-Korean sentiment in Japan...
- Japanese nationalismJapanese nationalismencompasses a broad range of ideas and sentiments harbored by the Japanese people over the last two centuries regarding their native country, its cultural nature, political form and historical destiny...
- Racial issues in Japan