Archive: 2002-11-12
The Right To Bathe
I have to say I’m rather surprised, but pleasantly so, by the result in the Otaru lawsuit in Sapporo (in the north of Japan). A brief history of the case runs as follows: a Japanese bathhouse put up signs excluding ’foreigners’ (apparently due to bad experiences with visiting Russian sailors). One particular man took a trip to the bathhouse, and was refused entry for being foreign. However, he is actually a Japanese citizen, although white and originally a US citizen by birth. He, along with a German and an American, sued the bathhouse.