A decision last year by the Justice Ministry¡¯s Kyoto bureau not to pursue a complaint against a landlord¡¯s no-foreigners policy showed Japan was ¡°utterly unprepared¡± to move on instances of discrimination, according to an expert.
The Kyoto case first flared in January 2013 when exchange student Victor Rosenhoj was moving from Ryukoku University¡¯s Shiga campus to Kyoto and hunting for a new apartment.
Rosenhoj, a Belgian national, submitted a rental application through the university¡¯s student co-op, which arranges apartments for its students. But he was told ¡°matter-of-factly,¡± he said, that the apartment¡¯s landlord had a no-foreigners policy and it was thus not available for him.
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