Checking my feeds today, I read Japan Probe’s post (Boycott Family Mart) about an anti-foreigner magazine called Gaijni Hanzai Ura Fairu, meaning ‘Foreigner Crime File’. Along with James at Japan Probe, foreign commentators, including Arudou Debito, are bringing this publication to the attention of the masses and encouraging a boycott of any store opting to sell it.
The convenience store Family Mart is one place that sells it, and it’s also available through Amazon Japan, Yahoo Books Japan, and probably many others.
I won’t go into details here since there’s no point repeating the posts by Japan Probe and Debito which I recommend you read (links above), but I will echo them by saying that the material inside the magazine is shockingly racist. On the other hand, I’m not going to boycott Family Mart, as they are simply stocking something that some of their customers obviously want to buy. Don’t worry guys, I won’t buy or encourage anyone to buy the magazine, but I do need my morning dose of canned coffee, and Family Mart is surprisingly convenient!
If you feel strongly about this issue, then go ahead and boycott Family Mart and the growing list of retailers selling this trash. Japan Probe has details of the international boycott (link above).
Personally, I doubt Gaijn Hanzai Ura Fairu is particularly popular, but with the publicity this boycott will bring, they might do better than expected…
If you like, you can find me on Twitter at @nick_ramsay. I'd love to hear from you!
I don’t know if boycotting Family Mart is the answer. However, if you shop at Family Mart you are indirectly supporting their decision to sell the magazine. In the grand scheme of things, maybe that’s not such a big deal. I only note this because you state:
“I’m not going to boycott Family Mart, as they are simply stocking something that some of their customers obviously want to buy.”
The reasoning would better be phrased as, if I shop at Family Mart, I indirectly support the sale of that magazine, so I won’t shop there. Just to be clearer, so long as Family Mart exists it will be able to sell the magazine. Therefore by supporting Family Mart, you support it’s ability to sell the magazine. You’ve no obligation to do that. It’s not your responsiblity to ensure others have an outlet where they can buy this magazine.
As far as sales, as best I can tell, for the publisher it’s their number one sales item at Amazon Japan. Could this just be foreigners snatching up copies … it’s possible, but I would guess in the current climate in Japan a tabloid magazine about foreign crime with lots of lurid stories would be quite popular. So if it’s selling fairly well, it shouldn’t be a surprise.
By the way, you have nice blog.
“I indirectly support the sale of that magazine (by shopping at Family Mart)”.
That’s one way of looking at it, but then you could argue that I indirectly support the selling of pornographic magazines and tobacco because they sell them, too. Actually, you may as well say I support deforestation, global warming and the depletion of earth’s natural resources because I use paper, drive a car and heat my house, but of course that’s just silly.
I won’t buy the magazine for obvious reasons, but to not buy anything from convenience stores, or Amazon, seems to be going too far.
I’m happy to see in an update that letters of complaint have convinced Family Mart to remove the publication from their shelves. This form of protest is initially the best way to go and in this case has been effective.
I’m not sure Family Mart are treating this very seriously. Although they said they’d remove the magazine within seven days, I just found it at my local Family Mart and talked to the staff about its impending removal. They didn’t know anything about it.
It’ll be interesting to see if it’s still there this time next week. I’ll keep you posted.
Nick, I’ll let this be my last comment, so your welcome to the last word.
You state:
“I indirectly support the selling of pornographic magazines and tobacco because they sell them, too. Actually, you may as well say I support deforestation, global warming and the depletion of earth’s natural resources because I use paper, drive a car and heat my house …”
I think all of this is basically true in a kind of trivial sense, but we each individually have to pick and choose the fights that are most relevant and important to us.
My point is not so much that one should feel guilty about going to Family Mart. Contrarily, my point is that one should not feel guilty about taking part in a boycott.
I’ll add your blog to my links. 🙂
“my point is that one should not feel guilty about taking part in a boycott.”
Absolutely. Stand up for what you believe in. I’ll complain personally to my local Family Mart next week if the magazine is still there.
Thanks for the link, I’ve added you to my list of Japan blogs, too.
(One week later) Just a quick update to say my local Family Mart have taken it off the shelves. Let’s hope it stays off.