12 We Need Legislation to Eliminate Hate Speech

On April 11, 2009, an extreme rightist organization marched through a residential area and in front of a junior high school in Warabi City, Saitama Prefecture, shouting abuses such as, “Expel the illegal residents at once!” and “Throw the family out!” Those words were aimed at a Filipina girl born in Japan, who had just enrolled in the first grade in a junior high school.

On December 4, 2009, an extreme rightist organization attacked the Kyoto Korean School. They shouted, “Destroy Korean schools!” and other threats at the 100 elementary school children inside the school building.

On January 21, 2011, an extreme rightist organization shouted abuses such as, “Come out if you have anything to say, Eta (filth)!” and “Hinin is written ‘non-human’ in Chinese characters. Are you really human?” in front of the Suiheisha History Museum in Gose City, Nara Prefecture (Eta and Hinin are derogatory terms that were used to describe people of Buraku origin).

On January 31, 2016, a demonstration of an extreme rightist organization marched towards Sakuramoto in Kawasaki City, where many Koreans have been living since before World War II. The 200 participants of the demonstration carried placards with words such as, “Resident Koreans are liars” or “Go back to the Korean peninsula.” They shouted phrases such as, “We decided to organize a demonstration to exterminate garbage, maggots, and ticks living in Kawasaki,” “The Korean Republic and North Korea are our enemies of Japan; therefore it is only natural that we tell the people of our enemies to die,” and “You can take your time freaking out until you go insane, because we are going to strangle you slowly.”

▶ Right to freedom from discrimination and exclusion

On June 2 of the same year, the Kawasaki Branch of the Yokohama District Court issued its judgment in a case involving the permit for a demonstration by the above extreme rightist organization. It can be summarized as follows. The “right of foreign residents to freedom from discrimination and exclusion” forms the foundation necessary to live peacefully in one’s home, which is the basis of life in the local community, to develop one’s personality, to act freely, and to acquire and maintain honor and credibility. It should be vigorously protected as a “prerequisite for the enjoyment of personal rights.” The “emotions, feelings, and beliefs” held by the foreign residents “about their own ethnicity as well as the countries and areas of origin form the foundation for the development of their personalities and are most fundamental to their individual dignity.” These should not be interfered with by others. Demonstrations that have the purpose of promoting and inducing a sense of discrimination against foreigners, publicly announce the intent to harm their lives, physical integrity, freedom, honor, and property, and damage the reputation of and insult foreigners “are no longer within the scope of the protection of the freedom of association or expression under the Constitution.”

▶ The obligation to prohibit and end racial discrimination

The so-called “Hate Speech Elimination Act” which was adopted in the Diet a week prior was the impetus behind this landmark court judgment. This Act on the Promotion of Efforts to Eliminate Unfair Discriminatory Speech and Behavior against Persons Originating from Outside Japan was adopted on May 24, 2016, and promulgated/entered into force on June 3. This Act, however, merely sets forth the idea of anti-hate speech by declaring that hate speech “should not be allowed.” It is not a law like those legislated in other countries that prohibits racial discrimination or regulates hate speech. Yet this Act became the first anti-racial discrimination law in Japan.

This Act has no concrete provisions on institutional reforms or budgetary measures. Although there has been a decrease in the number of demonstrations inciting hate, this is why three years after entering into force, there have been 252 public instances of hate propaganda on the streets and gatherings (January – December, 2018). The rapidly increasing hate speech on the Internet has gone unaddressed.

Meanwhile, there have been repeated discussions in the Diet on the issue of “hate speech regulation” versus “freedom of speech.” But the theoretical discussions in the abstract that do not squarely face the actual appalling situation of hate speech should end. What is important is that there are no laws in Japan that explicitly provide for the rights of minorities including migrants – in particular, “the right to freedom from discrimination.” In other words, “freedom of speech” in the aforementioned discussions, means “freedom of speech” by the majority for the majority.

Looking at other countries such as New Zealand, for example, its Human Rights Act of 1993 stipulates that it is unlawful “to publish or distribute, broadcast through radio or television, or use in any public place or at any meeting to which the public are invited/have access, threatening, abusive, or insulting words” that are likely “to excite hostility against or bring into contempt any group of persons on the grounds of the color, race, or ethnic or national origins of that group of persons.” The punishment is imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding 7,000 dollars. In order to eliminate hate speech, we need a Basic Law to Eliminate Racial Discrimination that will prohibit and end racial discrimination.

Illustration: 金明和