Environment Tokyo government to cut thousands of old trees for Mitsui Fudosan's Jingu Gaien project

He says ChatGPT says:
In Japan, non-Japanese citizens are generally restricted from participating in political activities, including endorsing politicians or supporting them in political campaigns. The Japanese Public Offices Election Act (公職選挙法) and related laws regulate the involvement of foreign nationals in political activities to ensure that the political process is influenced solely by Japanese citizens.
Key points include:
1. Prohibition on Political Donations: Non-Japanese citizens and foreign entities are prohibited from making political donations. This includes any financial support to political candidates, parties, or related political activities.
2. Participation in Campaign Activities: Non-Japanese citizens are generally not allowed to participate in campaign activities such as distributing campaign literature, attending rallies as a supporter, or engaging in other forms of campaign promotion.
3. Expression of Political Opinions: While non-Japanese citizens can express their political opinions privately, actively endorsing and campaigning for political candidates is restricted.
Violating these regulations can lead to legal consequences, including penalties for both the foreign nationals and the political candidates or parties involved.
Therefore, it is important for non-Japanese citizens in Japan to be aware of these legal restrictions and refrain from actively participating in political campaigns or making political donations.

Hmm, I seriously doubt there is any law forbidding foreigners from expressing public political opinions. I also think foreigners have no restrictions on supporting the activities of a political candidate with the possible exception of donating funds to those candidates.


法律ではっきり禁止されているのは外国人の政治献金（政治資金規正法）など一部にとどまる。「外国人の政治活動は禁止」という言説は一部の禁止を全面禁止かのように広げており、不正確だ。

What do you think of cases like this one? Yosha Bunko claiming anti-Vietnam war activities was a factor? Strange to me.

This is also interesting though not foreigner related in that it considered SNS as a form of campaigning.
This House of Councillors election has seen a notable increase in internet-based campaigning, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many candidates have posted high-quality videos and live-streamed speeches. While it may be tempting to like or retweet these posts today, it is important to remember that election campaigning on voting day is prohibited by law. Even unintended likes could be seen as election campaigning. After voting, it is best to keep your support private until the vote counting starts at 8 PM."

I too was surprised to hear from a foreign Japan resident that he felt campaigning is illegal for non nationals with his source being that GPT output above. I have no idea. I had a distant acquaintance foreign resident volunteer on a small local politician campaign in Japan countryside. I sure know your Japanese is considerably more advanced than mine so you have better access to materials and thus I am unsure the veracity of these claims of Deep in Japan.

That article that I linked to references the McLean case also, and it looks like this McLean ruling has the magical property of saying whatever you want it to say. This guy McLean changed jobs without notifying Immigration, then I guess the authorities used his anti-Vietnam protests as part of their case to deny him right of residence. In the end, they kicked him out of Japan, but not because of his political opinions/activities. They kicked him out because the court denied that the Japanese constitution gave him right of residence.

Since then, the vague language in the McLean case has been successfully interpreted as limiting foreigners' rights in Japan. Lately the interpretation has changed, and now there are slightly broader rights for foreigners. But in no case that I'm aware of has it been used to deny foreigners the right of political opinion or activity. It kind of all hinges on the meaning of the maddeningly obtuse sentence;

「思うに、憲法第三章の諸規定による基本的人権の保障は、権利の性質上日本国民のみをその対象としていると解されるものを除き、わが国に在留する外国人に対しても等しく及ぶものと解すべきであり、政治活動の自由についても、わが国の政治的意思決定又はその実施に影響を及ぼす活動等外国人の地位にかんがみこれを認めることが相当でないと解されるものを除き、その保障が及ぶものと解するのが、相当である。」

Which is translated in the Yosha Bunko website as

It should be understood that the guarantee of fundamental rights included in Chapter Three of the Constitution extends also to foreign nationals staying in Japan except for those rights, which by their nature, are understood to address Japanese nationals only. This applies to political activities, except for those activities which are considered to be inappropriate by taking into account the status of the person as a foreign national, such as activities which have influence on the political decision-making and its implementation in Japan.

Which therefore has the self-contradictory effect of both guaranteeing freedom of political activities for foreign nationals, and also denying that right for activities which are "deemed inappropriate". So of course its a dog's breakfast with everybody interpreting this as they like. In the case of McLean, this point was adjacent to his violating the limitations of his visa, so it's an imperfect proxy for almost anything else. As far as I know, there has never been a case of a foreigner being prosecuted for vocally supporting a political candidate.

As a side note, I wonder whatever became of Ronald McLean. He'd be around 80 years old now, I guess.

That's a great response thank you! I agree he did do other things that would be grounds for losing his visa. Mr Deep also recommended I read this book but I don't feel like buying it Japan's Prisoners of Conscience: Protest and Law During the Iraq War

This book is a narrative account of the criminal prosecution of three peaceful protesters in Japan during the Iraq War that tells the inside story of their arrests and trial and examines the larger issues raised by the case.
Based on interviews with defendants, lawyers, and eyewitnesses and other Japanese language sources, the book carries rich descriptions of the individuals at the heart of the story, including the charismatic leader of the "Tachikawa Tent Village" who has been protesting since U.S. military forces were stationed in her hometown in the early postwar era. Authored by an attorney who has researched and written on Japanese legal issues for more than three decades and was the plaintiff in a suit that made constitutional history by opening Japan's courts to free reporting, this book offers expert insights into the forces that affect the right to freedom of political speech in Japan.

In a recent JT column, Bloomberg's Gearoid Reidy argues that progress must be balanced with preservation to counter anti-development narratives. The project wasn't as bad as "those activists" make it seem.

I guess "progress" means different things to different people.

The project involves three new high-rises, one of them rebuilding trading house Itochu's headquarters, a decades-old piece of unremarkable architecture already 22 stories tall. It'll be replaced by a 38-floor building on a thoroughfare already dominated by high-rises (speaking of Central Park, how much taller have surrounding buildings become in recent decades?). Two new structures will be added, one comprising 18 stories on the site of the current baseball stadium; the other, 40 stories tall, will replace — and I'm not making this up — a literal parking lot. Paradise it currently isn't. While the area is nice to jog around, much of it is inaccessible. Indeed, the park is not public land at all: It belongs to the Shinto religious organization Meiji Jingu, which administers the shrine and is pushing for the redevelopment as it depends on money raised from leasing out facilities to sustain the much more extensive main gardens.

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Many "thousands of trees" activists decry would be more appropriately termed shrubs — azaleas and other bushes found anywhere in the city. While it's true that several hundred trees will be cut down, these will be replaced, leaving more green space and trees in the park after the development than before. The other divisive decision is redeveloping the baseball stadium used by the local Yakult Swallows pro team. In English media coverage, it's typically cited as one of the last remaining parks where Babe Ruth played. Indeed, the venue feels like a bygone era and would require massive renovation to reach modern standards. Plans instead call for it to be moved to the site of the current rugby field, where there's more room to develop and add modern facilities, including a hotel (a new rugby facility will be built on the site of the current ballpark).

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That, of course, prompted a furious rebuke from Mrs Kopp. Read more on Twitter/X:

The developers behind the Meiji Jingu Gaien redevelopment project in Tokyo have announced revised plans that include reducing the number of trees to be cut down, increasing the number of new trees to be planted, and putting a greater distance between construction sites and the park's iconic ginkgo trees:

Developers originally planned to cut down 743 of the 1,904 existing trees 3 meters or taller and transplant 275 others while newly planting 837 trees, according to Mitsui Fudosan. Under the revised plan announced Sept. 9, the number of trees to be cut down has been reduced by 124, including 66 that will be maintained where they stand and others to be transplanted elsewhere within the area. As additional new trees will be planted, the number of tall trees will increase to 2,304 after the redevelopment, according to the revised plan. The Gaien district, a haven for office workers and others throughout the year, is famed for its four rows of 146 ginkgo trees about 30 meters high, which date from 1923. There were concerns that the relocated ballpark, which will stand along the ginkgo-lined street, will adversely affect their growth. Developers said they will expand the distance from the ballpark to about 18.3 meters, from the originally planned 8 meters, to better protect the roots of the ginkgo trees.

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Ms Kopp posted an update:

Jingu Gaien update – tree felling likely to begin soon; demos Friday and Saturday

Apologies for the long interval without an update in English. Last month, after having waited until after the Tokyo gubernatorial election this summer (in which Yuriko Koike who supports the redevelopment plan was elected), the developers finally submitted their plan for tree preservation (that had been requested by Koike a year ago). The plan purports to reduce the number of trees being cut down, partially through adjustments to the design of the rugby stadium and partially through what appears to be some fancy sleight of hand with the math. Many trees have been moved from the "to be cut down" to the "to be transplanted", but no information has been given on where they will be transplanted to or how they will be transplanted. The baseball stadium is being moved 10 meters further from the trunks of the westernmost row of ginkgo trees. It is good news for the trees but might lead to reduced outfield seats in the stadium as it and its accompanying large hotel are wedged into an even tighter space. So, while on the one hand, it seems that raising our voices has had some positive impact, the basic design of the redevelopment – tearing down and rebuilding two historic stadiums, felling large numbers of trees, and building huge skyscrapers that will tower over the area – is unchanged and is still deeply problematic. Overall, this revised plan is designed to "look like we've done something" while not addressing the fundamental concerns of experts and the public about the project.

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Read the rest here.