Kyōgaku no Gaijin Hanzai Ura File – Gaijin Hanzai Hakusho 2007

Gaijin Hanzai Ura File or Secret Foreigner Crime Files, is a mook (a Japanese word for a cross between a magazine and a book) published in Japanese on January 31, 2007 by Eichi Shuppan. The mook was distributed in convenience stores, such as Family Mart and online at Rakuten Books and Amazon.com. The cover price is 690 yen.

Content

The mook contains images and descriptions of what the magazine says are crimes committed in Japan by non-Japanese, including graphs breaking down crimes by nationality. The magazine's cover, in red and black, shows caricatured images of foreigners grinning maniacally with glowing red eyes under its banner headline.

The magazine, which has no advertising, includes a caption describing a black man as a "nigger", an article entitled "Chase the Iranian!" and calls Tokyo a "city torn apart by evil foreigners." One cartoon re-enacts a murder on a pig farm in Chiba, east of Tokyo, allegedly by a Chinese man who overstayed his visa.

Criticism and reaction

The mook has been criticized as being racist by various Japan commentators including Arudo Debito. Arudou, a naturalized Japanese citizen and author of "Japanese Only," posted a bilingual letter for readers to take to FamilyMart stores protesting against "discriminatory statements and images about non-Japanese residents of Japan." . Richard-Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor of The Times also criticised the mook.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said that foreigners are to blame for the perception the capital is becoming more dangerous. Roppongi, a district famous for its bars and nightclubs, is ``now virtually a foreign neighborhood. Africans -- I don't mean African Americans -- who don't speak English are there doing who knows what". Ishihara also said "Japan needs a more comprehensive immigration policy to prevent low-skilled workers or criminals from entering the country." "This is not a question of procuring a labor supply," he said. "We should be letting in more people who are intelligent."

Citing the publication's "inappropriate racial expressions" Family Mart decided to stop distributing the mook on February 5.

The editor of the mook, Shigeki Saka, defended his decision to publish in an editorial in Metropolis.

Foreign crime in Japan

Crimes committed by foreigners in Japan are often cited by right-wing groups and politicians to justify demands for tighter immigration policies.

Japan's crime rate is one of the world's lowest at 1,776 reported crimes per 100,000 people in 2005, according to the latest government statistics. The number of crimes among Japan's 2 million foreign residents in 2005 was 2,380 per 100,000.

Offenses by foreigners rose to a record high of 47,865 in 2005, from 47,128 a year earlier and 40,615 in 2003, according to police statistics. The number of non-Japanese arrested is also rising, to 21,178 in 2005 from 20,007 two years earlier. The statistics don't break out visa-related offenses, which in 2003 accounted for 46 percent of crimes committed by foreigners. By their nature such breaches can't be committed by Japanese citizens.

Japan's overall crime rate in 2003 was 2,185 per 100,000 and 2,120 among foreigners. Excluding visa offences, the rate was 1,570 per 100,000 foreigners.

The latest survey on public safety by Japan's Cabinet Office, published in 2005, found that 87 percent of people thought safety in Japan had declined in the previous decade, with over 50 percent of them blaming the problem on illegal immigrants.