Something Knew Japan

First published by The Japan Times （Opinion/2013/04/11） On March 31 about 6,000 people attended a meeting in Tokyo to demand that Korean high schools remain eligible for free tuition. In February, the Abe Cabinet revised the law to exclude ethnic Korean schools, chosen gakko, from the free-tuition provision for students, enacted in April 2010. Certain municipalities have already begun to cut off subsides for ethnic Korean schools. The nuclear issue with North Korea and the past abductions of Japanese citizens are cited as the pretext. All children are guaranteed the right to learn. Japan has ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has expressed concern about the exclusion. Children at chosen gakko always become the targets of punishment despite the irrelevance of diplomatic disputes. According to Chong Yong Hwan, a lecturer at Meiji Gakuin University: “Japan regards chosen gakko as a secret...

A section of Aichi Prefecture art festival, titled 'After "Freedom of Expression?", shut down three days after its Aug. 3 opening to the public. The exhibition featured works of art refused to display at public galleries,  dealing with the themes such as 'comfort women', the emperor, Article 9 of Japanese constitution or criticism of the government.  A major factor in the decision to cancel it is that the statue symbolizing 'comfort women', a replica of the Statue of Peace in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, was severely criticized. The organizers received a considerable number of threatening emails, phone calls and faxes, including one which hint darkly the arson attack, Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura said. The Statue of Peace sculpted by South Korean couple, Kim Soe-gyeong and Kim Un-sung, who involved in the democratization movements in the 1980s as students of art at Chung-ang University in South Korea. Since then, they have created art wo...