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Kat 'All I Want For 🎄 Is U...nionism' Callahan Profile picture
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6 Dec, 4 tweets, 1 min read
It's totally fine to stay in Japan if you don't like social problems that are part of the human condition and wish to work to improve society in your own home. Japan's problems are generally not unique to Japan, and you can't run away from them. They're everywhere.
Out of control police? Everywhere. Racism? Everywhere? Xenophobia? Everywhere. Extreme anti-worker capitalist practices? Everywhere. Misogyny? Everywhere. Queerphobia? Everywhere. Ultranationalism? Everywhere.
You stand and you fight in the system in which you are in, with the tools that you have, with the comrades standing next to you.

Or you just don't stop running. Metaphorically, if not physically.
Japan shouldn't get a pass. Japan is not special. Japan doesn't get to play the "We're Japan, so we don't have to improve" game.

That's nonsense.

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More from @JezebelKat

Kat 'All I Want For 🎄 Is U...nionism' Callahan Profile picture
6 Dec
It feels like it that's time again to say: I love Japan, Japan is my home, I still intend to get PR, and I may even continue my paused citizenship process some day.

All of my views on Japan are shared by the Japanese comrades with which I work and organise. I am not alone.
We are a political minority. I understand that, and I accept it in the sense that making the changes we'd like to see will take a lot of work. Years. Or decades. We may not even see the fruit of all of our labors. But that doesn't mean it isn't work that is worthwhile.
Anyone who thinks my criticisms stem from a place of depression, let alone hatred, simply haven't been listening to me at all. If I thought this was a lost cause, if I truly believed that people in Japan hated me as much as some impersonal policies might suggest, I would leave.
Read 5 tweets
Kat 'All I Want For 🎄 Is U...nionism' Callahan Profile picture
6 Dec
I would like New Mexico to have my titles as "something destination." I am proud of New Mexico's commitment to reproductive justice, but I would prefer that the Court doesn't turn us into an "abortion destination." Of course, we will be if that's what it takes.
Roe v Wade is settled law. Planned Parenthood v Casey made that clear. And you can bet that if Roe gets overturned, they're not stopping there. They'll go after Griswold v Connecticut and destroy the argument for right to privacy generically.
Once that's battle starts, you can see Lawrence go out the window and lots of other case law on LGBT issues and other forms of precedent which have at their core an acknowledgement of penumbra rights to privacy.
Read 4 tweets
Kat 'All I Want For 🎄 Is U...nionism' Callahan Profile picture
6 Dec
From the 2015 OIG report linked by @xinjeisan, which says in no uncertain terms what I have always believed to be true about the @ACSTokyo and the entire Mission Japan. Citizen concerns aren't even a close second, let alone a priority.
@xinjeisan @ACSTokyo When US citizen needs or concerns in anyway conflicts, even mildly, with J Gov positions, US citizens can expect little to no support. It's best Americans in Japan understand that in times of trouble, or even in times of basic administrative needs, the US Embassy is unreliable.
@xinjeisan @ACSTokyo Or even hostile, honestly.

Very canny the way @ACSTokyo says they "provide info to US citizens," not that they actually provide HELP. Indeed, even on the information front, they aren't always good about that, and they'll certainly let you know you're annoying them.
Read 4 tweets
Kat 'All I Want For 🎄 Is U...nionism' Callahan Profile picture
6 Dec
Yeah? And what are you guys going to do about it?

Are you actually going to send a protest letter? Demand an audience with the Ministry of Justice?

No? I didn't think so.
Yes, I'm highly critical of the US Embassy. I have had better welcomes and more help at embassies in Japan that aren't my own.

I love how this is "lol, Japanese police are doing something shitty, just make sure y'all are doing what you are already legally supposed to do!"
It's incredibly difficult to get into the US Embassy. It's a frikken fortress. Americans are treated like potential criminals to even get inside. Assuming you can even get an appointment. And all my interactions with embassy staff have been like "god, we really have to help you?"
Read 6 tweets
Kat 'All I Want For 🎄 Is U...nionism' Callahan Profile picture
5 Dec
Of course.
But I bet most people who responded to this poll would make exceptions for individuals they personally know and like.

That has been my experience. The idea of "外国人" in general, as a featureless mass, is generally viewed indifferently.
But I've seen many Japanese friends, coworkers, and neighbors become horrified when anti-immigrant policy has affected someone they care about (most often myself, being that I am discussing my friends, coworkers, and neighbors, but not always).
Read 7 tweets
Kat 'All I Want For 🎄 Is U...nionism' Callahan Profile picture
5 Dec
An infection spread by communal bathing/shared bathwater in Japan, as an example, would be a lot more difficult to fight than I think a lot of people, especially commentators outside of Japan, think without specific government policy to shutdown all onsen/sento and
police people in their own homes about everyone taking separate showers or draining bath tubs.

With more time I could think of potential virii or bacteria behavior suited to exploiting Japanese social habits.
This is what I mean when I say Japan has been lucky that what we know works in fighting COVID has generally be suited to what we do in Japan anyway.
Read 7 tweets

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