TOKYO -- A group of human rights organizations has asked politicians to stop saying hateful things about foreigners during the election campaign in Japan. The election for the House of Councillors will be held on July 20.

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Recently, some political candidates have said negative and incorrect things about foreigners. The groups say these wrong ideas can hurt foreign people living in Japan.

On July 8, the groups held a news conference in Tokyo. They said clearly, "We cannot allow lies or discrimination about foreigners during election campaigns."

The city of Kawasaki made a special rule in 2020, saying people cannot say bad or hurtful things ("hate speech") about foreigners. During this election time, Kawasaki reminded people on social media that freedom to talk about politics is very important, but hate speech is not allowed.

Human rights lawyer Yasuko Morooka said that what Kawasaki is doing is very good. She added that all cities and towns, and even the national government, should say the same thing.

On July 3, when the House of Councillors official election campaign started, one political candidate in Kanagawa said in a speech that many foreigners got easy help from the government, while Japanese people had trouble. But the health ministry said clearly that this claim was wrong. Foreigners are about 3.2% of all people getting help from the government, not many, as the candidate said.

Yuma Osawa from the "Tsukuroi Tokyo Fund," a group helping people in Tokyo, also explained that it is not true that foreigners can easily get special help, adding that people should only talk using facts, not wrong information.

Because more foreigners are now living in Japan than ever before, some political parties have started saying they will make it harder for foreigners to enter Japan. Morooka said that foreign people had told him they feel afraid because of these speeches. As voters, people must "take responsibility and work to change the current situation."

(Japanese original by Daiki Yano, Yokohama Bureau)

Vocabulary

candidate: a person who wants to be chosen to do a special job, such as become a politician

hate speech: saying or writing hateful things targeted at other people or groups

discrimination: treating some people badly or unfairly because they are different from you

human rights: the rights all people should have, like freedom and safety

campaign: when politicians do speeches, posters, and other activities to get votes

facts: ideas or information that are true and correct

voter: someone who chooses people for important jobs by voting in elections