The Japan Times Community Page does it again! Legal scholar Colin P. A. Jones at the loopholes and contradictions throughout the Japanese postwar Constitution, how they happened, and what they mean in practice in relation to NJ (and Japanese) civil and human rights. That is one of the crucial enlightening pieces I’ve read all year, connecting a number of dots and answering questions I’ve had increase for years. What are you looking forward to? Read it! Several times. Until it sinks in.

JT: Obviously, the actual Pandora’s box of constitutional paradoxes involves the rights of non-Japanese [...]. The primary paradox is gifted by Chapter 3 of the charter, which in Japanese is titled “Rights and Duties of the Japanese People.” The clear linkage of rights to citizenship is missing from the official English version; to read it properly, you should take into account that where it says “the folks,” the Japanese term used is kokumin, which clearly refers to Japanese nationals. In some places the term used is “person,” which lacks any nuances of citizenship, however still appears in a chapter whose title appears to restrict all rights to citizens.

This subtle but important discrepancy is the results of what historian John Dower calls “language games” at the element of the Japanese government team when it rendered the Americans’ English draft into Japanese. This manner of passive resistance, at the side of another modification that the Americans inexplicably accepted (the elimination of “nationality” as a prohibited category of discrimination under the equal protection provisions of Article 14), has ended in a Constitution that seems schizophrenic insofar because it speaks of defining equality and “fundamental human rights” as being conditioned on nationality as opposed to being human…

So what rights do foreign residents have under the Constitution? Well, in line with the Supreme Court, they may be entitled to all of the same rights as Japanese people, aside from those which by their nature are just to be enjoyed by Japanese people. Does that help?

Tommy Edison, blind since birth, has managed, through YouTube videos , to turn how he deals with certain activities that present challenges to him resembling using paper money, ATMs, DVD players and crossing streets. He’s also a film critic and his…

Sustainability: [Environmental Geography]Noun: use of resources in any such manner that they’ll never be exhausted.       Sustainable Production:Noun. creation of products and services using processes and systems which are: non-polluting; conserving of energy and natural resources; economically efficient; safe and…

For my readers with Ukrainian, Russian, Moldavian, Azerbaijani and Belorussian IP addresses, assuming you’re not all Brits hiding out in such wonderful places (and that i know you aren’t as I actually have seen a few of you on Facebook and VKontakte), a number of you very bright young things my want to consider the Chevening Scholarships. [...]

For the past decade, films in accordance with superhero comics were popping out on the rate of two or 3 a year.  This past summer at the very least four superhero films, Thor, X-Men: Top quality, Green Lantern and Captain America:…

Here we’ve got more reported (because of assiduous folks on the Community Page on the Japan Times) at the Suraj Case, a mysteriously underinvestigated case we’ve mentioned here before of police brutality and death of an African during deportation. What gets me is that even a few of the veto gates on the Japan Times, in accordance with the editor of this text on his facebook entry, took issue with the usage of the word “brutal” within the headline; given what finally came to light in regards to the condition of Mr. Suraj’s corpse below, “brutal” is clearly appropriate. And it might not have come to light in any respect had not Mr. Suraj’s widow and these reporters not pursued this example with such tenacity. Stick with it, Japan Times. Who else in a milquetoast Japanese media that’s generally unsympathetic to NJ issues would give a toss?

JT: Abubakar Awudu Suraj have been in Japan for over twenty years when immigration authorities detained him in May 2009. The Ghanaian was told in Yokohama of his deportation to Ghana at 9:15 a.m. on March 22 last year. Six hours later he was dead, allegedly after being excessively restrained by guards…

The 45-year-old’s case has largely been ignored within the Japanese media and no politician has answered for his death. An investigation by Chiba prosecutors appears to have stalled. There was no explanation or apology from the authorities…

An autopsy report seen in a court document notes abrasions to his face, internal bleeding of muscles at the neck, back, abdomen and upper arm, together with leakage of blood round the eyes, blood congestion in some organs, and dark red blood within the heart. Yet the report bizarrely concluded that the reason for death is “unknown.”

Any movement within the Suraj case is essentially all the way down to his wife, who desires to remain anonymous. She won a lawsuit against the Justice Ministry, which oversees immigration issues, demanding it disclose documents regarding his death. The documents were finally released in May, greater than a year after he died…

I even have written repeatedly about politicians, judges and their ilk from the previous Communist nations managing a method or another to prevent what the general public and external actors feel they richly deserve via justice.  There is additionally the choice case of the general public and external actors feeling that some get what they [...]

On October 21-22 National Geographic and partners hosted BioBlitz, a 24-hour event wherein teams of volunteer scientists, families, students, teachers, and other community members worked together find and identify as many species of plants, animals, microbes, fungi, and…