Why? Because they are allowing their prominent name as a publishing company associated with a prestigious institution of higher education to be used t disseminate bigoted propaganda by an MI6 officer and pseudo-intellectual frontman named John Dougill.
Here are a series of related emails I exchanged with the unwitting person in charge at UPO America at their NYC headquarters. I say unwitting because she was not aware of the operation I brought to light. These are emails from October 2010.
It is interesting to note that the MI6 seems to think it appropriate to continue to promote the book in question on their gray media blog DeepKyoto.
I don't have time to edit or comment at the moment, but this will be given some more contextual and background support when I do have the chance. For the time being, suffice it to say that since I never received a response from Mr. John Ferguson, it might be the case that he is another MI6 intelligence officer operating a front company from NYC, "Signal Books", as a disinformation publishing outlet which is apparently aimed at influencing the cultural and historical understanding of the cities and countries being visited by the more educated readers targeted by the series of so-called guide books called CityScapes, presented as a subsidiary of OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.
Subject: Kyoto:
A Cultural History, by John Dougill
------------------------
Dear Mr. Ferguson,
I am
writing to inquire about the fact checking and editing process for the above-referenced
book. Your address was acquired through OUP.
The
reason for this inquiry is that the book includes a number of outright false
information, as well as subtly imbued religious bias, and other
specious content. in fact, in conjunction with other works I have red by this
author, including articles for a local--no defunct--publication that was called
the Kansai Time Out, it would seem that the author, who, as you may no, does
not read Japanese and is not a legitimate scholar of Japanese history, culture
and religion, would seem to be supporting members of exclusionary and
antisocial elements of Japanese society. There is a religious angle as the city
of Kyoto has served at points in Japanese history as a theocratic center for a
corrupt priest caste. As I am an American residing here in Kyoto, this type of
inflammatory writing has a direct impact on my life, in so far, that is, as it
encourages such elements or supports their anti-foreigner exclusionary efforts,
and the groups I am referring to possibly include people linked to criminal
organizations.
More
specifically, he supports Shinto over Buddhism, and Koreans over Chinese in
their contributions to the development of Japanese culture. Koreans
are widely regarded to make up the largest percentage of the Japanese mafia
(the "yakuza") here in Kyoto, and accounted for %80 of the registered
foreigners living in Kyoto at the time of the last census. For starters,
here are the two most blatant examples where he incorrectly states that people
are of Korean descent instead of Chinese, without providing a reference as to
his source:
In
regard to assertions made on p. 2
Another
exists with respect to the Hata family he mentions, who were from China and
emigrated to Japan during the Chin Dynasty, their name being read
"Chin" in Chinese, as in "Chin Dynasty".
p.
141
At
any rate, I am a somewhat serious scholar of Japanese history, culture, and
religion, and I work as a freelance translator while studying Japanese Zen
music and chamber music. I intend to post some criticism of the book
in question as well as a couple of the author's articles. I would appreciate it
if you could provide some insight as to how such specious content made it
through the fact checking process and to publication, as I would like to shield
myself from recrimination under defamation laws, and do not want to unjustly
malign Signal Books or OUP.
Sincerely,
Dear *****
I
would imagine that you are busy and I apologize for having to contact you again
so soon in regard to this matter, but I have received absolutely no response
from Mr. Ferguson in response to the following inquiry.
Any advice you may have would be
appreciated.
Sincerely,
Dear *****
I left you a voice
mail a short while ago in regard to the referenced title, with respect to which
I was informed you were in charge of the editing.
The book in
question contains a number of specious assertions and simply incorrect
assertions, and is imbued with a certain degree of religious bias toward (here, I meant to say AGAINST Buddhism and favorable to Shinto) Buddhism.
The author is an
individual with whom I have spoken about his writings, as this is a field
directly connected to my research, which relates to religion and politics with
respect to modernity and identity. I am fairly well read in Japanese history,
and study Japanese classical music--which has a lot of religious allusions,
etc.--at a very high level, and have been doing so for approximately 9 years.
At any rate, I have
been preparing a blog entry regarding this individual, who has a PhD in Slavic
Studies from Oxford, as I recall. The reason I am doing that is because in this
book and in a couple of articles he has published in a local magazine are
encouraging exclusionary Japanese nativist/nationalist on the one hand, and
denigrating the role of Chinese actors in Japanese history in favor of
nonexistent or over stated Koreans. I suspect that the reason for that is due
to his association with Koreans here in Kyoto, who accounted for 80% of the
43,000 registered foreigners as of the last census. However, they also
constitute a large percentage of the Japanese criminal organizations known as
yakuza.
This may start
sounding a little bizarre, but I would simply point you to the book Tokyo Underworld,
by Robert Whiting as an entry reference. The other aspect is a connection
between secret societies, namely, the Freemasons, and collaboration with these
types of organizations. In fact, there is a very strong possibility that Mr.
Dougill is an officer in the British MI6 (equivalent of the CIA).
The relationship
between Signal and Oxford strikes me as somewhat unusual, and I wonder if they
bear responsibility for the content, and the fact checking thereof.
I want to protect
myself from liable, etc, before posting the blog entries, so have decided to
consult with you in advance.
Sincerely,
----------
Dear
Mr. *****
Thank
you for your messages. The Cityscapes series is one that OUP distributes
in the US and Canada, while Signal Books acquires and edits the
texts. I would suggest being in touch with Signal’s editorial director,
James Ferguson, at jamesferguson56@btconnect.com, regarding
editorial questions.
Sincerely,
___________________________
♦
American and World History
Oxford University Press
198
Madison Avenue ♦ New York, NY 10016-4314
Subject: Kyoto:
A Cultural History, by John Dougill
----------
Dear *****
Thank you very much
for your prompt response.
I figured it had to
be an arrangement such as that, though you may want to review the arrangement
of entrusting of editorial responsibility to that company after reading the
analysis I eventually will post. The nature of the misleading content is such
that it would not be caught by anyone other than an expert, basically, as the
rhetorical sophistication of the writing is very high. The content, on the
other hand, would be scoffed at by any legitimate scholar.
The issues matter
to me personally because I live in this city, and have been targeted by people
associated with antisocial groups (which is what the Japanese call organized
crime groups) on the one hand, who wish to exploit this city as a tourist trap
cash cow, and people associated with a particular faction of a former Shinto
priest class who still view this as their traditional theocratic center, and
themselves as having some hereditary claim to authority. They are associated
with an exclusionary, nativistic faction in Japanese history.
The writer in
question indirectly supports both of those groups, in his writing. Seeing as he
is not an expert in the field, and not half as well read as I am, the fact that
this text embodies and extremely high degree of rhetorical sophistication and
an extremely low level with respect to content. For example, he cites a number
of local foreigners as sources, and refers to them as "experts". Some
of those people are also tied to the Freemasons, MI6, and the intelligence
community, as I have reported them to the consulate here, as I have Mr.
Dougill. And on the other hand, he name drops and then misquotes a famous
historian in an attempt to both denigrate Buddhism, and assume an air as if he
were actually a well informed scholar who had done his homework and read the
required authors. In the case of that quote, he doesn't give a reference to the
source. only someone like myself who actually has read that author would be
struck by the misquoted text, as it is imbued with a sentimental caste out of
character for that esteemed historian.
The Freemason and
MI6 connection further complicates matters, but relates to what I have come to
see as a divide and conquer strategy employed against societies from within,
using religion as a tool to inculcate incommensurable aspects of understanding
the world, dividing people along the lines of religion, making it difficult for
them to interrelate.
I have said quite a
bit here, and will leave it at that, hoping that you have a chance to check the
blog once I post. There is, however, the question as to whether or not this
Signal Books company is a front for the intelligence community, acting as a
tool to put out somewhat misleading information on the cultures of each country
covered by their guidebooks, and using the name of Oxford University Press as a
false stamp of approval validating the verity and legitimacy of the content. I
hope you can appreciate that there would be serious detrimental effects from
such an arrangement. As I am not an expert on the history and religions of
other countries, and do not intend to examine other guidebooks in this series,
that is something for someone else to evaluate.
Sincerely,
----------
Dear
Mr. *****
Thank
you for taking the time to spell out your concerns. I am not sure where
you obtained Lois Ilbery’s name but OUP-UK is not involved in this title at
all. Signal Books publishes there and the rest of world, other than North
America.
Subject: Re: Kyoto:
A Cultural History, by John Dougill
