Friction Over Accepting Foreign Tourists and Workers

Why This Topic Landed in Japan

The acceptance of foreigners is a daily theme in Japan, recently centered on residency status and court rulings in individual cases. This time the focus moved to trouble at the point of contact. An Australian tourist who was badly hurt falling from the railing (said to be about 53 cm high) of the historic Shichizai Bridge in Hakodate is reported to be planning to sue the city for roughly 400 million yen — a framing of "self-inflicted, yet a huge claim" that inflamed both self-responsibility arguments and distrust of the courts. A video attributed to a woman said to work at a food factory, vowing to "command" the Japanese who "once occupied us," raised fears about someone hostile working in food production and distrust of acceptance screening. A crash on the Kan-Etsu Expressway was tied to worries about a rise in foreign drivers.

That said, each case carries a lot that is unverified or exaggerated. The video's poster, workplace, full context, and the reality of the staffing sheet it showed could not be confirmed in reliable reporting, so it should not be read as typical of foreign workers in general. Bundling the three cases into "the downside of acceptance policy" is also a leap in causation.

Key Reaction Themes

• On Hakodate, "self-responsibility" was overwhelmingly the majority — "A railing isn't for sitting on," "if this works it's a staged-accident racket," "not having insurance is the problem." A smaller group went into legal detail — the 110 cm railing standard for road bridges, the bridge's history, the share of liability municipalities bear — and noted the outcome would be the same for a Japanese person.
• The factory video drew anger at immigration policy — "Is this the 'skilled talent' the government talks about?" "Scary that this person handles food." But the comment section for this case was mostly political abuse over immigration, slurs against Japanese people, and troll copy-paste, with little of substance. A number of posts also doubted the video's authenticity.
• The Kan-Etsu crash brought worry over foreign drivers and distrust of the justice system — Concern about "25,000 foreign logistics drivers starting work," and distrust at "he'll get off anyway" and the silence. There were practical calls for employer penalties, driver licensing, and insurance, but also a sizable amount of national generalization about Muslims, Iranians, and Kurds, and violent language.

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

The ~400-million-yen damages suit over the Hakodate bridge fall

An Australian tourist who was badly hurt falling from the railing of the historic Shichizai Bridge is reported to be planning to sue the city of Hakodate for about 400 million yen.

Comments:

• "Suing is normal — if it goes through, it's a jackpot. First, this traveler should have had insurance. If the reverse happened in Australia, wouldn't the Australian government or municipality not look after you without insurance either?"
• "If you're going to question safety management, how many people have fallen from Shichizai Bridge before now? First built: 1884 (built around 1882-1884); the current bridge: rebuilt in 1969. If this is case number one, then this person is just the clumsy one."
• "A bridge railing isn't installed to sit on, so if you fell using it outside its purpose, that's self-responsibility. The nerve."
• "If this kind of thing goes through, it's open season on the staged-accident racket."
• "It's less that they lost their balance and more that they tried to sit and it was lower than expected, so they fell."
• "It's the person's own carelessness. The age limit on disability support is Australia's issue too. I'd like mandatory travel insurance with a certain guarantee as an entry condition."
• "It does get pretty crowded and dangerous at times. But I don't really get the sense it's the city's safety management. And not having insurance is the problem."
• "This kind of damages claim — I don't think you can do it unless someone puts the idea in your head."
• "This bridge is also a living road with a lot of car traffic. On top of that, tourists cross without looking, as if pedestrians always have priority. Given those facts, the administration that doesn't close it off has a problem too, I think."
• "It's the standard at the time of construction, so it doesn't apply to existing structures. This is a prime photo spot during the Hakodate Christmas Fantasy, so it gets crowded, but I've never heard of a dumb accident like this, so this person was probably the exception."
• "By modern standards, even for falls from a railing-less bridge, municipalities bear about 20% (even when the one who fell was drunk and mostly at fault). The Aussies are worked up, but it'd be no different if a Japanese person fell."
• "In this case it's not that inbound tourism is the problem — this Australian is simply trash. And what we should really watch is the court's judgment. Not a single yen should be paid in damages."

The provocative video attributed to a foreign factory worker

A video attributed to a woman said to work at a food factory, vowing to "command" the Japanese who once "occupied us," reportedly posted with the workplace staffing sheet. Its poster, workplace, and full context are unconfirmed.

Comments:

• "You're free to think it, but is that something to spew on SNS? lol"
• "Which company is it? Scary to think someone like this handles food — I couldn't eat it."
• "The video's probably flipped, but isn't the text off?"
• "Nothing was actually done to you personally, though……"
• "For now it's just a part-time leader acting big, but…"
• "Way too much unpleasant news about foreigners."

Two workers killed as a car entered a restricted work lane on the Kan-Etsu Expressway

A car entered a restricted work lane on the Kan-Etsu Expressway, killing two workers; an Iranian man, 29, was arrested and said, "I have nothing to say right now."

Sources: Mainichi, 2ch

Comments:

• "He'll get off without charges anyway, right?"
• "Now that 25,000 foreign logistics drivers are about to start working, if there's an accident it'll just end with 'I have nothing to say right now,' huh, lol."
• "Impose penalties on the companies that hire foreigners."
• "What does 'occupation unknown' even mean?"
• "Saying 'I have nothing to say right now' to keep it vague is a by-the-manual response."
• "People who stay silent are never any good."
• "For foreign crime, I'd want that country's government to advance the compensation."
• "This is just too sad."
• "Maybe he didn't understand the traffic restriction — even Japanese people sometimes deliberately enter a restricted zone."
• "Was he even in voluntary insurance?"
• "It's the police's fault for giving a license to people who can't read Japanese."
• "Can't he be deported?"