Kishi Ace, a hotel manager in Kyoto, Japan, said they require Israeli guests to sign a pledge affirming that they have not committed war crimes, to avoid remaining passive about the situation of children in Gaza.
Calling Israel’s attacks on Gaza “totally unacceptable,” Kishi told Anadolu that such actions violate international law.
Having worked for many years as a teacher and educated many students, Kishi said: “Whenever I see the pictures and the videos of the children killed in Gaza every day, and those, the vision overlaps with my own students. And so, I couldn’t just stay without doing nothing. So, this is the reason that I was thinking, what I can do. But (in) Japan, the discrimination is not allowed, it’s not, and the Japanese hotel law doesn’t allow us to reject (any guests), even though they are involved in such kind of military groups. So, we just invented, came up with this, the measure, this pledge to sign, and so that we just do as much as we can within the law.”
He said that they have foreign tourists sign a pledge affirming they have not committed war crimes, even though legally they are not allowed to refuse service to any guests.
Kishi explained that the typical reservation process begins with a pre-reservation, followed by an in-person check-in where the guest’s nationality and passport are verified. The guest’s country is then checked against International Criminal Court (ICC) records for war crimes. Finally, the guest is asked to sign a form confirming they have not been involved in military or paramilitary forces from that country in the past 10 years and have not committed war crimes.
“But Japanese law doesn’t allow us to refuse the guests in any way. So, anyway, they can stay. Whether they sign it or not, it doesn’t matter,” he also said.
He said that they have implemented this measure for the past six months, and that all hotel guests have signed the declaration form.
He also described the pledge as a “safety” and “peace of mind” measure.
“This is kind of our responsibility to guarantee the other guests’ safety, and a comfortable stay,” he added.
He also noted: “Some countries just ignoring international laws, violating international laws, and that is, that should not be overlooked. It’s happening not in Japan, of course, it’s not directly related to our life or our issue, but international law is that such things that we, all human beings, mankind, must follow.”
“In Russia and Ukraine and in Gaza, there’s so many war crimes, like, identified as wrong, and so they came from those areas and then forget everything that they have done, and enjoying that vacation in Japan,” he added.
Kishi said the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo criticized their stance as discriminatory after a signed declaration became public.
The hotel manager emphasized that their actions were not discriminatory but a response to Israel’s violations of international law, particularly in Gaza, adding that the discrimination applies to unchangeable traits like race or gender, whereas their hotel’s policy was based on Israel’s conduct.
He criticized the Japanese government for not strongly condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza after October 2023, suggesting that Japan prioritizes alignment with the US over taking a firm stance.
Kishi expressed support for ICC’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and stated that if he visits Japan, he should be arrested to uphold Japan’s international credibility.
The Israeli army has launched a brutal military onslaught on Gaza, killing nearly 52,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023.
The ICC issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.