Debito Arudou, Ph.D.
banner
arudoudebito.bsky.social
Debito Arudou, Ph.D.
@arudoudebito.bsky.social
Author (Embedded Racism 2nd Ed. 2022, Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants and Immigrants to Japan, Japanese Only); columnist (SNA/Japan Times); human rights advocate, scholar, researcher, university Lecturer Faculty. Website www.debito.org
Pinned
My book "Embedded Racism: Japan's Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination" (Lexington Books, 2nd Edition 2022) is completely revised and updated with 100 extra pages of new material. To see what's new inside, and download a flyer to take to your library to get a copy debito.org/embeddedraci...
#Japan memoirist and commentator Karen Hill Anton writes on “What Racism is — and isn’t — in Japan” (her Substack, Nov 12, 2025). I critique it, as it’s under-researched and willfully ignorant of the historical record. www.debito.org?p=17614
www.debito.org
November 17, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Debito's SNA column: "Takaichi's PM Election Changes my Projections", on how the recent election of Sanae Takaichi as leader of the LDP is in fact a huge step back for Japan’s democracy and diversity.
Shingetsu News Agency, Oct 8, 2025
shingetsunewsagency.com/2025/10/08/v...
Visible Minorities: Takaichi’s PM Election Changes My Projections – SNA Japan
SNA (Tokyo) — I hate to do it, but I have to retract something I wrote earlier.
shingetsunewsagency.com
October 10, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Food for thought: I make the case that depicting Japan's July UH Election results as a "rightward lurch" is a bit overblown. I'm not saying ignore Sanseito. But wait a couple more elections b/f we can justify the media hype. Sanseito is saying nothing new. shingetsunewsagency.com/2025/08/26/v...
Visible Minorities: Japan's Rightward Swing is Overblown - SNA Japan
Yes, there is a new far-right party in Japan. But at this point, the media hype about Sanseito is sensationalism, as what it’s offering is neither new nor well-planned.
shingetsunewsagency.com
September 5, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Debito's SNA Visible Minorities column 68: “Viewing Trump’s ‘#DOGE reforms’ from the inside”, where I interview a civil servant in the US Government on how the bureaucrat purge is affecting them (July 24, 2025)
shingetsunewsagency.com/2025/07/24/v...
Visible Minorities: Viewing DOGE from the Inside - SNA Japan
Interview with a civil servant to get an insider’s perspective on what’s going on at DOGE.
shingetsunewsagency.com
July 31, 2025 at 8:46 PM
My latest SNA VM column 67: "International Tourism Has Been Good for Japan", where I debunk the arguments about Japan being "overtouristed", and caution against countermeasures (dual pricing, etc.) that are becoming racialized policymaking
shingetsunewsagency.com/2025/06/19/v...
Visible Minorities: International Tourism Has Been Good for Japan - SNA Japan
Short-sighted criticisms about Japan being “overtouristed” may spoil things. Don’t let the debate backfire into racialized policymaking.
shingetsunewsagency.com
June 20, 2025 at 10:49 PM
SNA SCOOP: My “Letter from Canada”, weirdly threatened by invasion by Trump Admin. Includes screen captures of racist/secessionist merch from a company owned by FBI Director Kash Patel. This means high-level USG official directly profiting from sowing secession in another country! debito.org?p=17549
April 3, 2025 at 12:39 AM
My recent SNA column 64: “It can only end in violence” (Feb 26). A POTUS ignoring the rule of law means somebody will get hurt; that's why we have rule of law. But in a society that goes to extremes like USA, only extreme blowback makes the pendulum swing back shingetsunewsagency.com/2025/02/26/v...
Visible Minorities: It Can Only End in Violence - SNA Japan
We have an American president who has declared himself king while the legislative branch abdicates its oversight powers, and the judiciary grants immunity.
shingetsunewsagency.com
March 4, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Reposted by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.
Please Participate If You Can. Kindly Repost! 💙😎
February 4, 2025 at 12:22 AM
My latest SNA col 63: "Trump's Weak Mandate" (Jan 20, 2025). Overview: 47's term has been called an “overwhelming, historic mandate.” Untrue. I make the case his narrow victory was more a worldwide repudiation of incumbents. Don't fall for the fatalistic spin.
shingetsunewsagency.com/2025/01/20/v...
Visible Minorities: Trump's Weak Mandate - SNA Japan
What happened was less a matter of support for Trump and more a worldwide repudiation of incumbents.
shingetsunewsagency.com
January 20, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Debito’s SNA 62: “Electing the Joker” (Dec 10 2024): Depicting the “villain as hero” over decades in popular culture has influenced politics and made Trump more electable. Consider a theory that being a "Bad Guy" has actually become a sales point.
shingetsunewsagency.com/2024/12/10/v...
Visible Minorities: Electing The Joker - SNA Japan
How being bad became a sales point in choosing a US political leader
shingetsunewsagency.com
December 14, 2024 at 10:11 PM
My book "Embedded Racism: Japan's Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination" (Lexington Books, 2nd Edition 2022) is completely revised and updated with 100 extra pages of new material. To see what's new inside, and download a flyer to take to your library to get a copy debito.org/embeddedraci...
November 19, 2024 at 1:37 AM
Just joined. Looking forward to an informative, more positive, and less Musky smell to my media environment.
November 19, 2024 at 1:22 AM
With the devastating US election results, consider my SNA obit on authoritarian Alberto Fujimori (Nov 2, 2024), and the destruction of Peruvian democracy by mixing political machines w family ties. Portentous, as the Trump Family likewise is retaking power. shingetsunewsagency.com/2024/11/02/v...
Visible Minorities: An Obituary for Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori - SNA Japan
What Fujimori did with power became a cautionary tale—of how an outsider, once let in, can corrupt everything.
shingetsunewsagency.com
November 19, 2024 at 1:16 AM