The Chronicle News Blog: Japanese Academics Decry Government Decision That Blocked Italian Philosopher’s Visit
Japanese academics have criticized a government decision that they say effectively refused to allow the Italian scholar and political activist Antonio Negri to enter the country.
Mr. Negri, a Marxist philosopher who served a prison sentence in Italy on controversial charges of “insurrection against the state,” had been scheduled to give a series of lectures at the Universities of Tokyo and Kyoto and other venues in late March and early April, but was forced to abruptly cancel his trip last week after being told he would need a permit to entry the country. Italian nationals can normally travel to Japan without visas, but a Foreign Office spokesman said “political criminals” needed “special landing permits.”
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