Photo/Illutration Writer Ushio Fukazawa speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Aug. 4. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Ethnic Korean writer Ushio Fukazawa is terminating her contract with Shinchosha Publishing Co. over the company’s “refusal to confront” discrimination issues raised from a magazine column that was criticized as “hate speech.”

Fukazawa also intends to reclaim the publishing rights for all her works released by the company.

The announcement was made on Aug. 27 by Fukazawa’s lawyer, who said Shinchosha “refused to seriously address the issue until the very end.”

The controversy stems from an installment of the long-running “Henken Jizai” column published in late July in the company’s Shukan Shincho weekly magazine.

The column’s writer, Masayuki Takayama, attacked Fukazawa and other individuals with foreign roots by name and made discriminatory remarks.

“You are free to dislike Japan and Japanese people, but if so, stop using Japanese names, at the very least,” the column said.

The column, which referred to Japan’s wartime policy that forced Koreans to adopt Japanese-style names, drew heavy criticism, with several writers calling it “hate speech based on ethnic origin.”

Following the uproar, Shinchosha announced that “Henken Jizai” would be discontinued.

Fukazawa demanded that Shinchosha conduct a full review of the incident, issue a written apology, and provide her with a minimum of eight pages in Shukan Shincho to publish her own critique and rebuttal.

Shinchosha told Fukazawa’s side in a statement dated Aug. 12, “We are sorry that the column has led to a situation where we have received harsh criticism from many people, including yourself, that it is discriminatory and a serious violation of personal rights.”

Fukazawa’s side interpreted the statement as an apology only for “creating a situation that drew criticism,” not for the discriminatory content itself.

The author made a follow-up request demanding that Shinchosha clarify whether the company agrees that the column was discriminatory and a human rights violation.

Fukazawa also repeated her demand that the publisher give her ample space for her rebuttal.

According to Fukazawa’s lawyer, Shinchosha’s second response was dated Aug. 22 and tried to clarify the intention of Takayama, a former Sankei Shimbun reporter who often criticized The Asahi Shimbun in the column.

“According to its author (Takayama), he intended for it ‘to question the journalistic stance of The Asahi Shimbun newspaper,” Shinchosha’s response said. “And the (weekly magazine’s) editorial department understood it as such and ran it.”

The publisher added, “We sincerely accept the criticism that the piece is ‘discriminatory and a human rights violation,’ and we keenly feel our responsibility for publishing such an article.”

However, Shinchosha still did not clarify its own official view on the content of the column.

The publisher’s response included an offer to provide two pages for Fukazawa’s critique and rebuttal.

After seeing this second response, Fukazawa said she became deeply disappointed by Shinchosha’s unwillingness to seriously confront the problems with the column and decided to terminate her contract.

Fukazawa has “lost all desire to even issue a rebuttal in a Shinchosha publication,” her lawyer said.

In a statement released through her lawyer on Aug. 27, Fukazawa said: “I was hurt because the column is discriminatory and a violation of human rights. I feel a sense of despair over Shinchosha’s refusal to confront the issue of discrimination and human rights. The entire back-and-forth has left me exhausted.”

When asked about Fukazawa’s intention to reclaim her publishing rights, a representative of Shinchosha said, “We have not yet received anything.”

(This article was written by Rina Horikoshi and Hiroki Ito.)

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