Kirk here with something I learned about via an RKK news segment today. Japan now has an organization called Nihon Fact Check Center. It’s a non-profit organization that debunks unfounded rumors and disinformation that gets spread around on social media and other corners of the internet. Recently, rumors have spread all over Japan that Kumamoto will give voting rights to foreigners to satisfy folks coming here to work at TSMC. This is, of course, NOT the meaning or intent of the use of the word 市民 (shimin). RKK’s segment includes a brief statement from Mayor Onishi, in which he seems to be recognizing that the way the city handled the proposal was confusing.
Personally, I’m particularly bothered by the city erasing information it has published on its web site. I wrote about that in a comment to this post: https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02pQzw3J2jPdBpDRpju19RrfaKx4NQe4vZfaZEPXQByQDJb3gLfojBM5TFP9nNKZMel
On the RKK program that narration indicates that rumors about this are continuing to spread. However, since the city has already erased its clarification about how 市民 doesn’t mean voting rights, it’s that much harder for people to push back against or check such rumors. Of course, now they can look at this fact checking website if they happen to know about it but most people would tend to want to “go to the source” to find out what is really intended. When they do, they will find that “the source” either has little information or seems to be hiding information it has put out earlier. This, of course, may strike people as suspicious behavior on the part of the city and fuel more rumors. At the very least, erasing pages makes it harder to check to see what the original intent was. :(
URL of RKK segment: https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/rkk/296248?display=1
