Incidents
In 2001, onsen owners in the port city of Otaru, Hokkaido referred to incidents of rowdy Russian fishermen bothering other customers and causing lost business as reason to refuse service to anyone not Japanese. This issue was highlighted in February 2001, when naturalized-Japanese Debito Arudou and two co-plaintiffs sued Yunohana Onsen in Otaru, HokkaidÅ, for openly refusing service to customers because of their race. Yunohana Onsen lost the lawsuit in November 2002.
In another case of discrimination, Kurokawa Onsen Hotel in Kumamoto Prefecture ran into legal trouble when leprosy patients were refused entry. Leprosy is not contagious once treated, and laws that used to force seclusion on leprosy patients have long been overturned.
Out of the thousands of onsen in operation in Japan, there have been few reports of businesses practicing discrimination of this kind.
Read more about this topic: Onsen
Famous quotes containing the word incidents:
“An element of exaggeration clings to the popular judgment: great vices are made greater, great virtues greater also; interesting incidents are made more interesting, softer legends more soft.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)