Boycott UniQlo
why?!
WELL! Recently, and sporadically, I been trying a hand at volunteering, which has been fascinating, met some really interesting people. my friend annalisa, started soup kitchening.....not sure how she found out about it, but I wanted to join in. Unfortunately, I have my chat class on saturdays, so my time available to help is limited.
Anyway, I ended up having a very interesting discussion with the other volunteers over lunch (a late lunch... we work through til 3pm...and they start at 1030am...) about the (blatent) racism in Japan and the existence of what tantamounts to slave labour in rural areas. Illegal immigrants are shipped in (mainly from North Korea and China) and forced to work in sweat shops, under harsh conditions, little or no social amenities for them or their children (the children are denied access to local schools), and often find out too late that they have no civil rights.
Apparently gifu is rife with this which happens to be where UNIQLO manufacture their ridiculously cheap clothing. It's not only UniQlo who 'employ' these immigrants, a lot of other factories also keep these people, and the government turns a blind eye, they purposely DON'T look so that they can't see what's going on. Similar to monitoring pollution. If you know somewhere there is alot of pollution you don't record enviromental data there... You can see the resentment against the foreigners, as they are accused of taking local peoples jobs and increasing crime (does it soudn familar yet?). This leads to posters being put up in LOCAL Kobans (police box - which are on every street corner in Tokyo) having signs in them saying:
'If you see a dodgy chinese person, and you think they are taking your job, call this number: .....'
the Japanese language is subtle.
About the racism: there is some more mainstream racism, which stems from the hatred of foreigners, and despite the fact that some of the Koreans and Chinese communities have been living and born in Japan for 3-4 generations, they are still not able to claim japanese citizenship [you can apply for british citizenship after 10 years of residence] they can't vote (so i'm told), they have no say, they are treated as a lower caste. people will happily talk to them like a normal citizen (they look and act japanese) but as soon as they find out about their non-japanese roots they get a different reaction. If you ask me this is stupid. very VERY stupid. It is HOWEVER, happening more outside of the cities. All the Japanese people I am in contact with are much more open minded and NOT racist at all, but there is a lot of company policy against foreigners... For example; if you want to apply for a job here and you're not Japanese, you will have a hard time; as a lot of my lab members are finding out. You are often belittled at job interviews with a purposefully highest politeness level of spoken japanese; which is very very rarely used, so that it is difficult to understand. You are also explained that you will not have the same rights as the Japanese employees; you can be fired at anytime with out much as a weeks warning, you are considered a part-time employee. Why? companies and the government only want rich foreigners to come and stay here to bouy up the economy.
Anyway, michelle, one of the people who works for Second Harvest, was telling me about a conference that she went to where people basically shared information on the racism and hardship of non-japanese...kinda like an action group thing; there was one lady, who is of Korean decendence, 4th generation in japan and has experienced this racism forst hand through out her life, she told of how she had been treated as a half human all her life because of her Korean roots. So, she was particularly outraged when a politician running for election (I think local/prefecture) and was ranting on about how they should get rid of the foreigners, they are dodgy, they create crime, they are the cause of our social ills (nothing to do with us exploiting them and not giving them any social structure or educational system after importing them on mass here...thus they have nothing better to do...NO not our fault at all - yeah...everyone forgets about social engineering until it's too late... too busy being greedy) anyway, after rallying people to send all these foreigners BACK to their 'home' countries....even those who have been here for generations. the Korean lady was not only angry that this guy was trying to get rid of people like her, but more importantly that she knew that he himself was a Korean decendant. claims which he and his campaign team repeatedly denied. i mean, how could someone want to get rid of people just like himself? enraged at the betrayal, she ousted him publically on radio. they later found the politician had hanged himself at home with a suicide note. Did she feel bad that he died? very plainly, no.
3 comments:
I personally think that Japanese are racist especially towards Chinese and Koreans. My Ozzie and Indian friends have no problem here (well, they're here for 1 year, not looking for jobs). But I can feel it when I'm out with them (Japs only look at them and talk to them), and esp. when I'm travelling alone. Japs are damn racist ppl. But sometimes I think racism can be worse in the cities. I encountered ojisan/ obasan from small towns who treated me very nicely, but English speaking, Americans-kiss-assing Japanese can be very racist towards me. Ah as long as you are not white/ black/ exotic and you look East Asians, you are potentially in big racist trouble wherever you go.
interesting to know and thanks for sharing
I just faced racial discrimination at Uniqlo Tampines One. I was walking
behind my son to shop for our adventure trip. He was skipping into the
store smiling, wanting to get the shopping done fast. A Uniqlo sales woman
in a white "hijab" looked at him from the dressing room and immediately
identified him as a potential shoplifter. She nudged another guy at the
cashier and spoke in Malay saying - "tengok kan budak ni eh", indicating
for her team member to "watch out for this guy", profiling him as a
potential thief. Just yesterday I spent $200 shopping at your store for my
son!
My biracial African American/Singaporean child was born in California, a
model student counselor and school actor and teacher's pet. He was dressed
appropriately to shop tonight, with shirt, long pants and shoes on. My son
was smiling when he went to the store, how was that "suspicious"? It's one
thing to stereotype based on skin colour but when it comes from another
minority attempting reverse racism, it's a shame.
I had never come across such racial stereotyping and discrimination at any
other general store anywhere across places he had been in the US, Germany,
Japan, Vietnam or Indonesia but here at Uniqlo Tampines!!
Uniqlo Singapore - Please educate this ignorant staff of yours about racial
diversity, that not all young and dark skinned males are suspicious, or
cannot afford to buy your clothes. It would be the same as any American
calling your staff a "terrorist" for her hijab or uneducated for failing to
manage my question on why my son was profiled as a thief and not a paying
customer. I approached this woman and she just smirked like a fool and said
that she keep on a lookout for shoplifters all the time. No apologies,
nothing. The other sales guy refused to even look at me.
I demand for an apology and am boycotting your store. No one should support
a store that failed to employ educated, customer orientated, polite and
cultured staff. Who you hire to operate your store is a firm reflection of
your company culture.
Shame on you Uniqlo.
- 23 October @7.40pm, Uniqlo Singapore?, Tampines One.
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