I'm not sure what your office can do. In an ideal world, I would want to upbraid this functionary for this totally cowardly and almost Kafkaesque, ridiculous response. Since 1945, what risk has Japan ever posed to us, especially from its students, wishing to participate in an exchange? Where is this sudden fear of a non-existent threat coming from? And how cowardly is this apparatchik to cow down to the obvious current political pressure driving this and make ridiculous excuses instead of actually doing their job? The eyes of history are watching; bureaucratic claims of merely following orders do not play very well. Now especially we need more Schindlers, and fewer Eichmanns.

 

I am obviously infuriated. My government is letting me down and actively failing me. We have put aside our time and effort to prepare to welcome a student from a closely aligned, but in many ways very different culture from ours, into our house for a year, to live with us and learn about our country in the best possible way, by living as one of us for a year, attending the local High School. Time, effort, and resources have been spent, by us, by the student, by our High School, by AFS. AFS has been successfully bringing our cultures together for nearly 70 years without incident. (Indeed, this is the very opposite of the phantom security risks claimed in the response.) I don't know what your office can do. Josh Gottheimer is my Representative to this government. I am extremely dissatisfied with what it is doing and why. It is having a palpable negative effect on my life, specifically in that we have been gearing up to have a student come live with us for a year, and now all our preparations are being needlessly thrown into limbo because they won't do their job! They work for us: We the People. But they are currently not doing their jobs! Representative Gottheimer, please: make them do their jobs and give Yuseke his visa so he can come here in a timely manner!

 

Respectfully,

Karl Wagenführ

That reply from the Embassy has really touched a nerve. You see, in 2001 I worked in an office on Maiden Lane, a block and half from the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. On September 11th, I was on my usual commute from Hackensack to NYC, which would take me right through the World Trade Center as I walked from the ferry at World Financial to Maiden Lane. I saw the second plane hit the tower as my train pulled into Hoboken. Fortunately for me, that was as far as I got that day. I watched as the towers collapsed before my eyes from across the Hudson. Had I taken the earlier train, I might well have lost my life on that day. I don't need to be told about national security and public safety! I still to this day suffer from PTSD related to what I witnessed on that day.

 

But interestingly it wasn't Japanese kamikaze planes that crashed into the Twin Towers. Despite Japan having been one of our greatest enemies, still within living memory, we have succeeded in making Japan into one of our closest and most successful allies. Today it is one of the most pacific nations in the world. We achieved this not by alienating and vilifying it, but by welcoming and embracing it. This is how we eliminate security and safety risks to the United States, not by isolating nations and their peoples, but by vigorously interacting and exchanging cultural values with them. AFS has certainly played a role in achieving this great victory of peace with Japan by fostering cultural exchanges by having the young people of Japan come to live with families in the US, and having young Americans likewise go to live in Japan.

 

This is not even a new idea. The failures of the US Diplomatic Corps have been called out since at least 1958 and the publication of The Ugly American. Those failures are what led to what I experienced first hand on September 11, 2001. But that was not Japan. We have been successful beyond our wildest dreams with Japan. Let's not ruin what we have achieved! We want to continue in this 70 year history of welcoming young Japanese people to come live in the US for a year. Everything is in place for Yusuke to come live with us and attend Hackensack High School this year, except for the US Embassy suddenly cowering and not doing its job under ridiculous protestations of threats to security. This is exactly backwards! By continuing to do as we have for the last 70 years is how we continue to ensure our safety, not by bowing to partisan political pressures!

 

I cannot express how offended I personally am by this response from our Embassy.

 

Sincerely,

Karl Wagenführ

Thank you for forwarding this latest reply. There is some actionable information coded within this latest response, camouflaged under the wildly ridiculous protestations of following orders: while they in Osaka may lack the fortitude to do their legal duty, other consulates may not be as spineless, and it would be useful for Yusuke to widen his scope of consulates to look to grant him his visa. Message received.

 

(I can't, however, keep myself from refraining to note the ridiculousness of claiming to be worried about antisemitism in Japan, and to further note the irony of relying on the Nuremberg Defense while doing so!)

 

Thanks again for all your efforts,

 

Karl

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