Thanks to my wife's adamant fight to get to the bottom of the legal quagmire that is "vaccine law" in Japan, the conversation about mandatory vaccination has gone national once again.

A little background on Japanese vaccination legislation (vaccination is NOT mandatory):

In recent history, Japan has experienced its fair share of incidents related to vaccination.

In the 1970s, about 300 victims and relatives of children who died after receiving vaccinations against smallpox and other diseases in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka fought against the government and won compensation in the 1980s and ’90s.

Japan introduced the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine in 1989 but was forced to take it off the shelves four years later after about 2,000 people suffered side effects that included aseptic meningitis.

These incidents led to a major revision of the Preventive Vaccination Law in 1994, with lawmakers deciding to recategorize vaccination from being mandatory to one that is routine and optional.

(Source.)

As you can see, vaccines in Japan are not mandatory, but that does not mean the legal battles surrounding this issue are any more clear than before, necessarily.

Recently, my son was refused re-admission to his preschool, because of a coming shift of the state-sponsored childcare facility from the Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry to the Cabinet Office of the Japanese Government. At first it was thought this shift in supervision would legally allow for my son's care center to change their entry requirements, effectively barring non-vaccinated children from entering the school.

My wife took the issue to the Niigata City Government but got no answer initially, as to the legality of the matter. Frustrated, she contacted the local news, hoping for some substantial information. Not long after doing this, this city responded. Pictured in this post is the resultant news article, and linked below is a follow up article from the next day, which actually made it all the way to national news outlets such as Reuters, here in Japan.

Summary of the article.

• Care center decides to change policy and restrict admission of non-vaxxed kids.
• City government contacts national government.
• Department of Health, Labor and Welfare and Cabinet Office initially at odds, with the Cabinet Office maintaining initially that restricting entry based on vaccination status is acceptable.
• Cabinet Office amends its position, stating that national law cannot impose this restriction. Care centers must accept children whose parents are making a "best effort" unless there is a "justifiable reason" for rejecting them.
• Head of my son's care center amends contract, removing vax restriction, but maintains they will still reject non-vaxxed kids.

We want the state to force you to stick needles in your kids! Yay! Progress! (Source.)

Phew. Could you follow that mess? Basically, it is illegal for my son's care center to do what they are doing, so they amended their official entry requirements to appease the state. That said, they are choosing to view non-vaxxed children's vaccine status as a "justifiable reason" (as per national law) to reject them. So, basically, a loop de loop.

In other words, the law states that if parents are making a "best effort" (whatever that means) kids don't need to be vaccinated to enter any publicly funded care center. But, if the schools don't like this, they can simply say the parents are not making that "best effort" and that admitted such children is not safe.

People inevitably cite "herd immunity." Vaccine-conferred herd immunity does not exist, and cannot exist, scientifically, however. Vaccine-conferred immunity generally only lasts from 2 to 10 years, and even with "boosters" lifelong immunity cannot be conferred, as was thought around 70 years ago, during the time of mass vaccine adoption.

This has been proven time and time again by the remarkable numbers of fully vaccinated individuals getting the measles in recent outbreaks across the globe. I would strongly encourage anyone who doubts this to do their due diligence and research the topic objectively. Lifelong immunity and true herd immunity are achieved by the human immune response and cleanliness, sanitation, diet, and higher standards of living.

My final position.

I AM ADAMANTLY AGAINST ALL STATE INTERVENTION. I do not wish to use the violent arm of the state to force my kid into a care center where others (especially the founders of the "private" entity) don't want him. Sadly, the care center is funded publicly by money stolen by the state. The center is thus governed by state legislation. This means, according to the state, my son should be able to enter.

My solution?

Privatize everything. Respect the metaphysical reality of individual self-ownership.

What this means, for the uninitiated, is basically "my body, my choice." Mandated injections have no place in a civilized society. To each his own. If vaccines are effective, and you are worried about your kids, get them vaccinated (though I do not advise or advocate this, myself). Leave me and my family alone. If folks start a private organization that I am not forced to pay for (taxpayer funded), I fully support their right, as a truly private entity, to refuse me entry.

Peace!

~KafkA

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Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person.)