IPS-Inter Press Service October 7, 2004
Suvendrini Kakuchi
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=25761
While domestic violence
is now accepted as a major issue in the country, activists are working hard to
draw attention to abused foreign spouses who they say suffer just as much as
their Japanese counterparts
TOKYO, Oct 7 (IPS) - ''Foreign women who are victims of violence, especially
Asian women married to Japanese men are helpless given their language handicap.
Also legal and social barriers are against them in the country,'' says Hiromi
Onoe, spokeswomen for Clover -- a civic organisation in Osaka, Japan's second
largest city about 400 kilometers west of Tokyo.
Clover is the only organisation in western Japan dealing with problems faced by
foreign women and within a year since it was established has already dealt with
75 cases of domestic violence where wives have already left or still enduring
husbands who are physically and psychologically abusive.
''The women we deal with are mostly from China or the Philippines because we
offer services in their language. The cases show clearly how Japanese men taunt
their wives by taking advantage of their vulnerability,'' Onoe explains to IPS.
Clover helps abused foreign women by taking them to shelters, providing legal
services to help them gain Japanese visas and also helping them file
applications for welfare allowances.
''Asian women in Japan are particularly vulnerable because Japanese men, based
on deep-rooted cultural superiority, see Asian cultures as inferior to their
own. A lot of the cases are thus based on this discrimination,'' adds Onoe.
Indeed, take the case of a Filipina in her twenties, who did not want to be
named.
She married a Japanese man and faced constant physical abuse for three years.
Last summer, unable to bear it anymore she took her child and left him.
The woman spoke little Japanese and was a virtual prisoner when she was living
with her husband.
Activists report the husband controlled the home budget because he said she
could not manage in Japanese society. He also ordered her not to meet her
friends and threatened to send her home if she did anything against his wishes.
''He would punch and kick her, accusing her of not being able to cook Japanese
food or follow Japanese customs,'' reports Keiko Otsu, who runs HELP Asian
Women's Shelter, a leading support organisation.
The woman finally escaped and sought refuge in a church. She is filing for
divorce.
International marriages between foreign Asian women and Japanese men, mainly
through marriage brokers or contact in bars and nightclubs, have become very
popular in Japan. The largest influx of women as brides is said to be from the
Philippines, China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Women's groups point out that foreign wives are often very reluctant to seek
police protection from abusive husbands mainly because they are afraid of losing
their visas.
''Foreign wives are terribly scared of having their visas revoked. If that
happens they would have to leave their children, who have Japanese nationality,
behind,'' says a HELP report.
According to the police records, the number of domestic violence cases in the
country is soaring.
The National Police Agency (NPA) said recently that courts nationwide issued
1,075 orders forbidding abusive spouses from approaching their partners for six
months, up 243 from a year earlier, and ordered five of those spouses to stay
away from home for two weeks, up from four the previous year.
The agency also revealed that courts issued 1,499 restraining orders in domestic
violence cases in 2003, up 27.5 percent from the previous year.
The law against domestic violence, enacted in 2001, allows district courts to
issue restraining orders against abusive spouses.
The NPA said 12,568 cases of alleged domestic violence were filed with police
nationwide last year.
Kaori Muto, a director at Saala House, another shelter, says she deals with
around 40 cases annually of domestic violence against foreign spouses.
''Most of the cases involve families with financial difficulties. Under such
circumstances the problems faced by foreign wives are even more acute,'' she
points out.
Domestic violence is still considered a stigma in Japanese society, and until
recently it was hidden as a shameful secret or not recognised as abuse in many
cases by the abuser and by the victims themselves.
''One of the main reasons that Japanese women stay in abusive marriages is the
stigma attached to divorce,'' writes Hilda Maria Gaspar Pereira in a recent
report.
Pereira is a Brazilian social and cultural anthropologist living in Japan
since1996 and currently she is a lecturer at the Hokkaido Education University.
''The termination of a marriage is seen by society as the wife's failure because
she is the one responsible for the quality of the family relationship,'' writes
Pereira.
According to activists, abused foreign wives are also subject to cultural abuse
from their Japanese partners.
They are often ridiculed for eating their native hot food, using their hands and
not chopsticks when they eat and practising their religion.
The Office of the Prime Minister is planning a revision in the 2001 domestic
violence law in December and proposes to insert a clause that states ''human
rights for all victims regardless of their nationality must be respected.''
Activists want the revised legislation to also protect foreign spouses - who are
victims of domestic violence - from deportation should their visas expire.
(END/2004)