Japan disputes racism allegations at U.N. panel+

GENEVA, Feb. 25 Kyodo - Japan does not need laws to combat racial discrimination, a Japanese official said Thursday as Japan's racism record was examined by the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

''Punitive legislation on racial discrimination may hamper legitimate
discourse,'' Mitsuko Shino of the Japanese Foreign Ministry told a session in
Geneva. ''And I don't think the situation in Japan is one of rampant
discrimination, so we will not be examining this now.''
The review, the first since 2001, is a required procedure for countries
signatory to the 1965 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination, which Japan ratified in December 1995.
It is conducted by a committee composed of 18 legal experts who act in their
professional capacity.
Fourteen Japanese government officials from five ministries, headed by
Ambassador in charge of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Hideaki Ueda,
spent the morning answering questions about Japanese legislation and practices
to fight racism and protect minority rights.
The committee was critical of the lack of antidiscrimination legislation in
Japan, and the treatment of Japanese minorities and its large Korean and
Chinese communities.
Prior to the start of the review on Wednesday, Japanese nongovernmental
organizations presented to the committee issues they wanted raised.
They showed a video of a group of Japanese nationalist protesters waving flags
and protesting in front of a North Korean school in Kyoto Prefecture, shouting
phrases such as ''This is a North Korean spy training center!''
An official of Japan's Justice Ministry said such behavior could be explained
as a reaction to ''intermittent nuclear and missile tests'' by North Korea,
although any consequent human right violations were investigated.
Many committee members asked questions about the Okinawan population, some
groups of which are fighting to obtain recognition as an indigenous population.
''There is no clear definition of an indigenous people, even in the U.N.
declaration,'' Ueda said. ''But Okinawan people are Japanese, and their
language is the Japanese language,'' he said.
Concerns were also expressed by committee members about the treatment of
descendants of people in discriminated communities called ''buraku.''
Committee members admitted they had difficulty understanding whether they were
a caste, or a separate ethnic group.
''What makes them different from the average Japanese?'' committee member Jose
Augusto Lindgren Alves asked.
''There are no differences at all, they are like us, we are the same,'' Ueda
answered.
Other questions raised included educational opportunities for students of
non-Japanese schools, and reports that some individuals had to change their
last name to a pre-approved Kanji when obtaining Japanese citizenship.
Foreign schools in Japan get tax credits and subsidies, a delegate from the
Education Ministry said, and students from many, especially Korean, schools had
access to Japanese universities.
Counselors are available for foreign students joining Japanese schools, the
delegate added.
On the name-change allegation, ''in order not to create inconvenience in their
social life, it would be better to pick an easier to use character,'' a member
of the Justice Ministry said. ''But you can also use hiragana and katakana.''
After the review, Ralph Hosoki of the Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan,
one of the NGOs, told Kyodo News, ''The government only regurgitates what's
already in place...There is no imaginative dialogue to work towards concrete
changes.''
In concluding remarks, committee member Patrick Thornberry said, ''A lot of the
responses are that you do not need legislation...My concern is that your
information...may not be proper to make such a conclusion.''
==Kyodo