Debito Arudou

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Debito Arudou (2014)

Debito Arudou (有道 出 人Arudō Debito ), (* 1965 as David Christopher Schofill in California ), also known as 神 様 ( god ) is a Japanese civil rights activist and author of American descent.

Life

Born as David Christopher Schofill, the name changed to David Christopher Aldwinckle after his stepfather's adoption. Arudou moved to Japan in the 1980s and was naturalized in 2000, originally primarily to make it easier legally to build his own house near Sapporo . Like all naturalized Japanese, he had to commit himself to a Kanji transcription for his name; "Arudō" is an artificial name created by him. It sounds similar to the first syllable of his old family name and means something like "being path", which Arudou himself interprets quite freely as "a person who knows a path and walks out into the world on it". He gave up his US citizenship in 2002.

Arudou is particularly committed to combating racism in everyday Japanese life. With his person he provokes this racism and at the same time exposes its baselessness: As a white man , Arudou is not allowed in pubs or bathhouses that “only accept Japanese guests”. Every foreigner residing in Japan must have a foreigner card. Arudou does not have any as he is a Japanese citizen. Furthermore, there is no identity card in Japan and therefore no identification is required for Japanese people in the country itself. Nevertheless, according to his statements, because of his appearance, police officers repeatedly force Arudou to prove that he is a citizen and therefore does not have to and may not have such a card .

He caused a national and international sensation when he and two co-plaintiffs, the German Olaf Karthaus and the American Kenneth Lee Sutherland, sued a bathhouse in Otaru and the city of Otaru in 2001 . The bathhouse had banned foreigners from visiting with a sign saying “Japanese only”, but also did not allow the Japanese Arudou and his (Japanese) children in. The bathhouse was eventually convicted and the city acquitted. Arudou describes the path of the lawsuit in the book Japanese only , published in English in 2004 , an expanded version of his book originally published in Japanese in 1999.

Works

  • Japanese only - The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan . ISBN 4-7503-9011-9

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Holiday Tangent: My Schofill family roots include Cherokee and lots of American South skeletons | debito.org. Retrieved August 26, 2019 (American English).
  2. ↑ http://www.debito.org/?p=6847
  3. ^ Debito Arudou: Japanese Naturalization update
  4. ↑ https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2002/10/31/02-27736/quarterly-publication-of-individuals-who-have-chosen-to-expatriate-as-required-by-section-6039g
personal data
SURNAME Arudou, Debito
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aldwinckle, David Christopher (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese civil rights activist and writer of American descent
DATE OF BIRTH 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH California