I’m happy to report the resolution of the RIGO “no foreigners” issue. The establishment has promised that people who are fluent in Japanese and accept the RIGO rules regarding payment, dress code, etc. will not be turned away merely because they are not Japanese. There may be instances, however, when the establishment is crowded and cannot handle more patrons, but we assume that Japanese and non-Japanese would be treated alike in such a circumstance. Here, with the permission of Seán Michael Wilson and the Kumamoto City Office for the Promotion of Human Rights (熊本市人権推進総室; my translation), is a portion of an e-mail sent from the Office to Seán regarding the terms of the resolution:
“外国人を理由として入店を拒否する事は、差別であり、改善するように理解を求めると、「日本語が堪能であり、店の意向を理解してもらえれば、今後は入店を拒否しない、改善する。」との回答を得ました。加えて、店の責任者からは、店が混雑している時は、入店をお断りすることはありうると申し添えがありました。”
I’m sure Seán joins me in thanking the Kumamoto City Office for the Promotion of Human Rights for their support and intervention, the management of RIGO for their flexibility, and everyone who offered support and/or participated in the discussion of the issue.
Finally, I will append links to previous posts on this page about the incident so that those who are reading about it for the first time can find more information about what happened and how the discussion of the issue developed:
My first post sharing Seán’s report: https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/779262532147181
My second post, linking to Seán public post on his own Facebook page (and the hundreds of comments he received): https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/780365138703587
Posted by Kirk