Japanese baths guilty of race bias

A public bathhouse in northern Japan has been ordered to pay 3 million yen (£15,000) in damages to three men who were turned away because they were foreigners.

Sapporo District Court ordered the Yunohana bathhouse to pay 1 million yen in compensation to each of the three plaintiffs for its discriminatory policy, but dismissed charges against the Otaru city government.

Debito Arudo, 37, who was born in the United States and changed his name from David Aldwinckle when he took on Japanese citizenship, Olaf Karthaus, 39, from Germany, and Kenneth Lee Sutherland, 39, from the United States, had accused the city government of failing to ensure that businesses uphold Japanese law prohibiting racial discrimination.

Mr Arudo and Mr Karthaus, activists in the Tokyo-based human rights group Issho Kikaku, repeatedly visited Otaru bathhouses posting "Japanese Only" signs between 1999 and 2000, hoping to raise awareness of the practice.

They found many bathhouses were refusing entry to foreigners, and that the facilities did so because they believed foreigners weren't familiar with Japanese bathhouse etiquette and were driving away Japanese customers.

Japanese bathhouses require visitors to wash themselves before taking a dip in a large tub of hot water. Splashing is generally frowned upon.