{"id":19034,"date":"2011-05-02T10:27:30","date_gmt":"2011-05-02T14:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=19034"},"modified":"2011-05-11T14:44:37","modified_gmt":"2011-05-11T18:44:37","slug":"justins-japan-interview-with-author-arudou-debito-on-his-debut-novel-in-appropriate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/02\/justins-japan-interview-with-author-arudou-debito-on-his-debut-novel-in-appropriate\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin’s Japan: Interview with Author Arudou Debito on His Debut Novel “In Appropriate”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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"I\u2019m told Debito.org remains the resource for many JET Program participants looking for advice or needing an alternative perspective on Japan. See my speech to HAJET in 1999 on 'survival strategies in Japan,' which has apparently been reprinted in several JET publications." (Arudou Debito)<\/p><\/div>\n

By<\/strong><\/em> JQ magazine<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Justin Tedaldi<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02)\u00a0for Examiner.com.\u00a0Visit his\u00a0page <\/strong><\/em>here<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>to subscribe for free alerts\u00a0on newly published stories.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Divorce is tough, but divorce in Japan\u2014especially if you\u2019re a foreigner with kids\u2014is a nightmare, explains Sapporo-based author Arudou Debito<\/a> in his new book, In Appropriate: A Novel of Culture, Kidnapping, and Revenge in Modern Japan<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Originally raised in rural upstate New York as David Aldwinckle, Debito is a 23-year resident of Japan who obtained Japanese citizenship (and a name change) in 2000. As the Just Be Cause<\/a><\/em> columnist at The Japan Times<\/em> newspaper, his nonfiction books include Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants<\/em>, and Japanese Only<\/em>: The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A longtime watchdog for foreigners\u2019 rights in Japan, Debito\u2019s first English-language novel takes a scalpel to the polite, friendly fa\u00e7ade that tourists typically experience. In Appropriate<\/em> examines the downright ugly aspects of Japanese life when a father is cut from all ties with his children post-divorce, which is not only common in Japan, but upheld by 19th century law. In this exclusive interview, Debito discusses his personal experiences that inspired the book, his history as an activist, and his thoughts on the future of Japan.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been known as an activist for over a decade and have published non-fiction works on the subject. What inspired you to write about child abduction in Japan, and what were your goals?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My goal with In Appropriate <\/em>was to expose a dire social problem, as usual. But this time I thought fiction would be the better medium. Doing what I do, I hear a lot of stories about broken marriages in Japan, and having gone through a nasty divorce myself (seeing my children only about six times since 2003), I know a little bit about child abduction. What goes on in Japan beggars belief, but it\u2019s hard to zero in on one non-fiction case and expect it to cover the scope of the problem.<\/p>\n

Although international child abductions in other countries have gotten some press, the situation in Japan is much, much worse. Child abductions and parental alienation in Japan are, in a word, systematic\u2014meaning they are hardly uncommon between Japanese, too (former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi is a famous example; he never saw one of his sons for nearly two decades). One parent after a divorce is generally expected to disappear, and have little to no contact with the children anymore. In Appropriate<\/em> was meant as a primer to the issue.<\/p>\n

Japanhas no system of joint custody or guaranteed visitation rights, and under this system I cannot recommend anyone<\/em>, Japanese or non-Japanese (NJ), get married under it and consider having children. The risk is too great. We need fundamental reform of the Family Registry System and the laws governing divorce and child custody first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Give us a basic overview on the phenomenon of kidnapping and left-behind parents in Japan. <\/strong><\/p>\n

It works like this: Japan\u2019s divorce laws have been fundamentally unaltered since 1898(!), meaning modern-day common-sense divorces based upon \u201cwe just don\u2019t like each other any more,\u201d aka \u201cirreconcilable differences,\u201d don\u2019t fly in Japan\u2019s Family Courts. Fact is, if both sides don\u2019t agree to a divorce, one side will have to portray the marriage as a living hell (even when it wasn\u2019t) in public just to satisfy the requirements, inspiring vindictiveness in the other side. (Read more at www.debito.org\/thedivorce.html<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

So after a successful split, one parent (usually the mother) gets the kids, and they are put on her Family Registry (koseki<\/em>). Hers only, as Japan\u2019s laws do not permit registry of people on two koseki<\/em>. This means the other parent (usually the father) has no title or custody to the children (for example, I couldn\u2019t even get an audience with my daughters\u2019 junior high school teachers to see their grades). Access is granted only at the whim of the mother; I haven\u2019t so much as seen a new photograph of my kids for about five years now. Even if the father goes to court to get a ruling guaranteeing visitation or access, if the mother again decides to make excuses for denial of visitation (or worse yet, levies a claim of \u201cdomestic violence\u201d), the father will have to go to court again to get his rights enforced. Given that Japanese courts take months or years to hand down decisions, his kids will in the interim grow up alienated and never hearing his side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is what happens on a domestic level between Japanese. Now add the dimension of international marriage, where the NJ parent may have visa issues, face a language\/culture barrier, or be communicating from overseas, and you have a more complex case. (More information via the Children\u2019s Rights Network at www.crnjapan.net<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Why did you choose the fiction novel format?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because no single non-fiction case would capture the complicated dynamics of this issue properly. Besides, In Appropriate<\/em> is about more than just divorce: I wanted to describe how a person would find a fascination in Japan and Japanese people, come over during Japan’s Bubble Era to see Japan ripe with opportunity, and find how Japan went sour as an economy over the past two decades. It was wonderful for me to recount this as a Bubble Era veteran\u2014when in the late 1980s Japan looked poised to take over the world, was even challenging notions of how capitalism worked. Then see how, step-by-step, Japanese society would be squeezed and squeezed, convinced that recovery was right around the corner, just like Godot. How a person could become an immigrant to Japan\u2014assimilating himself to the point of founding his own company, becoming bilingual in Japanese, even taking Japanese citizenship, yet be blindsided by events that were nearly always beyond his control. In Appropriate<\/em> is much more than just a story of divorce\u2014it’s a time capsule charting Japan’s descent into mediocrity and comparative international irrelevance. That\u2019s best portrayed in a novel format.<\/p>\n

What are some of your proudest moments at Debito.org<\/a> since it went online, and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a quiet start in 1997, Debito.org has been one damn issue after another. But in terms of sustainability, I gave a running commentary on the Otaru Onsens Case (www.debito.org\/otarulawsuit.html<\/a>) nearly weekly, sometimes daily, for four years; Debito.org as a source received enormous international media attention. Then Debito.org converted to a daily blog in 2006; I\u2019ve done 2,000 more essays since (which means a total of probably about 5,000 archival materials by now).<\/p>\n

I\u2019m told Debito.org remains the<\/em> resource for many JET Program<\/a> participants looking for advice or needing an alternative perspective on Japan (see my speech to HAJET in 1999 on \u201csurvival strategies in Japan,\u201d which has apparently been reprinted in several JET publications, at www.debito.org\/HAJETspeech.html<\/a>). Debito.org has been the launching pad for many a major media news story, in Japanese, English, and several other languages. It\u2019s given a modicum of credibility to the oft-shaken belief that \u201cthe debate in Japan about internationalization and immigration\u201d still exists unabated.<\/p>\n

For the complete interview, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By JQ magazine\u2019s\u00a0Justin Tedaldi\u00a0(CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02)\u00a0for Examiner.com.\u00a0Visit his\u00a0page here\u00a0to subscribe for free alerts\u00a0on newly published stories. Divorce is tough, but divorce in Japan\u2014especially if you\u2019re a foreigner with kids\u2014is a nightmare, explains Sapporo-based author Arudou Debito in his new book, In Appropriate: A Novel of Culture, Kidnapping, and Revenge in Modern Japan. Originally raised in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,25,340],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articlejournalism","category-interviewprofile","category-justins-japan"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pkZ7m-4X0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19034"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19037,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19034\/revisions\/19037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}