THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
September 21, 2023 at 18:36 JST
Two legal affairs bureaus warned ruling party lawmaker Mio Sugita about human rights violations from her discriminatory social media posts targeting the indigenous Ainu of Hokkaido and ethnic Koreans.
The Sapporo Legal Affairs Bureau and Osaka Legal Affairs Bureau issued notices urging Sugita, a Lower House member of the Liberal Democratic Party, to become more enlightened about respecting human rights, according to those subject to her discriminatory remarks.
The bureaus had been asked to investigate Sugita’s posts.
Ryoko Tahara, an Ainu activist who submitted an appeal for redress, said on Sept. 20 that the Sapporo bureau had notified her about the conclusion of its investigation.
In 2016, Sugita’s blog described a U.N. meeting and featured photos of the participants, including ethnic Korean residents and Ainu from Japan wearing traditional costumes.
Sugita referred to the female participants as “middle-aged women in cosplay.”
She later retracted the comment and photos.
Tahara was told by bureau officials that they will not file a complaint against Sugita because she had already deleted the blog posting.
“I hope this serves as a first step toward realizing a society that does not allow discrimination,” Tahara told reporters.
The Osaka bureau sent a similar notice to three ethnic Korean women that said the investigation had concluded and that it had encouraged Sugita to become more enlightened.
The women attended the 2016 U.N. meeting. In February this year, they asked the Osaka bureau to look into possible human rights violations committed by Sugita.
An official at Sugita’s office acknowledged receiving the notices from the two legal affairs bureaus but declined to comment on the contents.
At his Sept. 20 news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, after prefacing his remarks as referring to general matters, said, “Discrimination should not be allowed just because an individual is Ainu.”
(This article was written by Jun Hasegawa and Issei Yamamoto.)
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Mio Sugita, a Lower House member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
