Japan Refused To Help NSA Tap Asia's Internet 375
An anonymous reader writes "The NSA sought the Japanese government's cooperation to wiretap fiber-optic cables carrying phone and data across the Asia-Pacific region but the request was rejected. The NSA wanted to intercept personal information including Internet activity and phone calls passing through Japan from Asia including China. The Japanese government refused because it was illegal and would need to involve a massive number of private sector workers. Article 35 of the Japanese Constitution protects against illegal search and seizure."
Re:Why does Japan's constitution prevent surveilla (Score:5, Informative)
It's more than just wiretapping. Look up civil forfeiture.
IDK what the problem is, if it's just apathy, we have day to day life too good, or what. But we are the epitome of good people who do nothing. We are now just looking for the ultimate evil to triumph over us and just make it official.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Oh Irony, delicious irony (Score:3, Informative)
BTW I think Japan has one of the largest 'per capita' public debt in the world, but since it is mostly owned by national banks and citizens, "it stays at home" and there's not a strong international pressure on it (via USA rating agencies who performed miserably in the bank crisis 5 yrs ago).
Re:envy (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why does Japan's constitution prevent surveilla (Score:5, Informative)
Candidates are not allowed to have TV or radio advertising, or even put videos on the internet etc.
Everyone gets the same amount of free TV/radio/newspaper advertising, but the Internet restrictions have been lifted entirely [bloomberg.com].
Re:envy (Score:5, Informative)
I am a foreign immigrant in Japan - and I am being treated very well.
Furthermore - I completed my studies in Japan - both undergrad and graduate - and all of it was funded by Japanese government, including the airline tickets. And all of it was without any strings attached, and without the need to return the money I have been given (and you can make a nice living only on the scholarship...)...
People are treating me, and my friends, really nice. Guess it might depend - if you are from some country that is trying to be a world policeman - you might get a different experience...
Re:envy (Score:4, Informative)
I'm not talking about how your neighbors treat you on the street. I'm talking about the government policy to restrict the immigration on racial grounds. Have you tried to settle permanently in Japan and get the citizenship? It is almost impossible unless you have Japanese roots. It's no coincidence that Japan is one of the most racially pure countries on Earth (99% Japanese) as it is a deliberate policy. My point is that we treat it as racism when we are even slightly bit reluctant to grant citizenship to 11 million illegal immigrants while we don't apply the same standards to other countries, Japan being one of the biggest offenders.
Re:WTF (Score:5, Informative)
Which is even more ironic considering US lawyers wrote their constitution.
Re:envy (Score:4, Informative)
Nonsense. I've lived in Japan for over 20 years and have permanent residence. I have far more personal freedom in Japan than I ever had in the U.S.
Re:envy (Score:4, Informative)
I'm a permanent resident in Japan. Getting a work visa was quite easy - much easier than what I've heard about others' experience getting one in the US - and permanent residence was pretty much painless as well. At every stage, the immigration officials were friendly and genuinely helpful.
Re:envy (Score:5, Informative)
No, it's quite easy. I have permanent residency, and plenty of people do become Japanese citizens, without any "roots" to Japan other than what you develop by living here.
You might want to check this blog/information site about naturalization in Japan, written by a former US citizen whow is now Japanese: http://www.turning-japanese.info/ [turning-japanese.info] Specifically this post about naturalizing without being ethnically or racially japanese: http://www.turning-japanese.info/2013/03/does-one-get-japanese-citizenship-by.html [turning-japanese.info]
Re:envy (Score:4, Informative)
The first time I realized I had really started to integrate was when an old women casually asked me to open a bottle for her. It's hard to explain but somehow your mannerisms and the fact that you blend in without making a fuss send out a signal to people that they can relax.
Confirmed. I have been living eight years in Japan, and I know for a fact I started mimicking their body language in most situations and it just "works", period. It also helps that my attire when going to work is close enough to what registers in their book as "a working employee" so no one takes notice.
The culture is geared a lot towards "protecting the peace" (though for some people it CAN mean "keeping the status quo", for both good and bad meanings...) and keeping everyone at ease. If your behavior is geared towards that and you don't overstep your bounds (consciously or not, the "gaijin smash" effect), you'll have an easy time integrating.
So far the only institutions to have given me any form of flak have been banks : took 2 years to get a credit card there, it can be done by paying all your bills and rent on time, and building a good record over time, passing certifications (hell, even just getting your japanese driver's license will go a LONG way) and showing them you want to integrate and that you're here for a while, and not going to run away at the first problem, saddling them with unpaid credit card bills or such.
Digressing a bit, some workplaces are bent on rejecting change and reality even when by all accounts they should adapt or collapse, but then again I guess you see that everywhere. It's just that when observed by "foreigners" in a "Japanese traditional company" with a lot of skeletons and black history, it gets warped into a cultural/communication problem. (Incidentally, this should be your #1 indicator that someone is trying to bullshit/hide stuff from you/worse)
Re:envy (Score:2, Informative)
I lived in Japan for over 20 years and have permanent residence there as well. I had much less personal freedom in Japan than I have in the US. I've never been racially profiled in the US, while I had multiple random gaijin card checks in Japan. I was also limited in the type of guns I could get there (for hunting), while in California, everything except so-called "assault rifles" are available. I could get a shotgun in Japan, but I couldn't go bowhunting? Our first choice of Kindergarten had a rule on non-black hair: even if natural, they wanted us to dye it black. Needless to say, my kids did not attend that particular school.
I can cherrypick anecdotes all night. The US is far from a perfect country, but Japan is just as fucked up.
Re:envy (Score:5, Informative)
Have you tried to settle permanently in Japan and get the citizenship? It is almost impossible unless you have Japanese roots
As a matter of fact yes I have and I did it. And I have zero Japanese roots (I am a white born-in-America lived there for 20 years former U.S. citizen native English speaker).
Six requirements (simplifying for the sake of the comment; there are exceptions to the below where it's in fact looser/easier than the below) to be Japanese:
1. Be an adult (defined as 20 years or older)
2. Don't be likely to become a welfare case (have a modest, stable source of income w/ an education & Japanese language level high enough that it allows you can to get/keep a job that will allow you to eat and put a roof over your head). You do not need to be rich or even well off or perfectly fluent.
3. Don't have a criminal record, overseas or domestically, and have no immigration problems (overstaying, etc)
4. Don't have any ties to organized crime or terrorism (domestic or overseas)
5. Live in Japan for five years continuously (not on-and-off) and legally (no immigration blemishes)
6. Legally get rid of your other nationalities (if the other country/countries will allow it)... either before (if country will allow it) or after within two years.
It took about five months for me to gather the paperwork and four months for them to approve me. And it is free. Permanent Residency is not a prerequisite, nor is Japanese "roots" (you can be single with no connection).
Re:WTF (Score:5, Informative)
* For example, schoolchildren having to cover their ears several times per hour due to the large number of painfully loud low-flying aircraft that pass endlessly pass overhead.
Citation? Where do Japanese schoolchildren have to cover their ears several times each hour?
http://www.japan-press.co.jp/modules/news/index.php?id=3128 [japan-press.co.jp]
http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/okinawa/okinawa-residents-testify-in-class-action-lawsuit-over-noise-from-military-flights-1.158246 [stripes.com]
Where is this schoolhouse that can't be relocated from the end of some flightpath? This schoolhouse has been subject to some loud jet noise for over 50 years and they haven't moved it? Or is this an attempt to drum up some anti-military sentiment? (Wikipedia only lists 39 overseas Air Force locations not counting the ones closing in Afghanistan.)
[Source [apc.org]] (Note: The US Air Force isn't the sole operator of US military aircraft.)
I'm not an expert on Japanese affairs or US imperialism; (I found the citations you asked for during the composition of this reply — I don't know (for example) why Japan doesn't move around their buildings to satisfy the whims of a foreign occupying force). If you're interested in these subjects, Chalmers Johnson [wikipedia.org] wrote extensively about US/Asian relations and US imperialism in the Pacific, prior to his death in 2010. For current information on areas of interest, I suggest consulting news sources from those locales — US media is pretty sparse and somewhat biased in reporting foreign issues that could cast the US in a less-than-stellar light.