Japanese Apartheid?

Eric Johnston:

On January 30th, the Osaka District Court turned down a racial discrimination suit filed by Steve McGowan, a 41 year old African-American designer and Kyoto resident, against Narita Takashi, an Osaka Prefecture store owner. The suit charged that, on September 4th 2004, Narita denied McGowan and a black South African friend entry into his eyeglass shop because of their skin color. The plaintiff demanded 1.5 million yen compensation for the store owner's discriminatory remarks.

Narita readily admitted to the court that he did not like black people and that he had told McGowan and his friend to go away. But Judge Saga Yoshifumiruled against McGowan, saying (1) that because McGowan's Japanese language ability was questionable, his testimony was untrustworthy; and (2) because McGowan's wife, in a separate meeting with Narita afterwards, had used the word gaikokujin (foreigner) instead of kokujin (black person), there was no evidence that Narita had discriminated against McGowan because he was "kokujin', as opposed to "gaikokujin'. In other words, because McGowan's wife was not extremely careful about which Japanese word she used in conversation with Narita, the judge found reason to rule against McGowan.

But as the lead lawyer of the plaintiff, noted human rights' attorney Niwa Masao and Japan-based human rights activists quickly pointed out, the judge avoided the central question in the case: Why was McGowan denied entry into the shop in the first place? Furthermore, Narita testified to the fact that an elderly woman in the neighborhood had called him before he saw McGowan and his friend. The unidentified woman warned Narita that two "strange' people with a "weird' atmosphere about them were standing in front of his shop. Narita thanked the woman and then proceeded to go outside and confront McGowan and his friend. Yet, nowhere in the verdict is there an attempt to define what, exactly, the woman meant, let alone an effort by the court to determine whether or not the owner was legally justified in interpreting that behavior as a personal threat.

In a news conference immediately following the ruling, a visibly shocked McGowan warned that a dangerous precedent was being set.

"Today I felt as if I was not in Japan, but in the Alabama of the 1950s. I've been made to feel less than human, like an animal," said McGowan, choking back tears. "This case was not just about me. With this ruling, the judge has given store owners the right to discriminate based on color."

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