Japan to Start Fingerprinting Foreign Travelers

rabiddeity writes "If you're planning to visit Japan sometime in the near future, you should be aware of the welcome you'll get. Last year, Japan's parliament passed a measure requiring foreigners to submit their fingerprints when entering the country. The measures, which apply to all foreigners over 16 regardless of visa status, take effect tomorrow. The worst part: the fingerprints are stored in a national database for an "unspecified time", and will be made available to both domestic police and foreign governments."

Comments

Let me tell you how ridiculous this is...

[ashitaka]

I have permanent resident status in Japan. This is the equivalent of a landed immigrant in most countries, however it is more permanent as you essentially have it for the rest of your life unless you become a Japanese citizen or leave Japan without a re-entry permit. This status takes a very long time to get (5-10 years) and requires you to submit tons of personal information and have Japanese guarantors. One of the benefits has been that you can line up at the Japanese citizens counters at airport immigration and be through very quickly. (My record: plane to train in under 5 minutes)

Despite this, from this Tuesday I will be required to line up with the regular foreign tourists and have my picture and fingerprints taken every time I enter Japan and every time I *leave* Japan.

Also, I still have to make sure I have a re-entry permit which I have to get every 3 years or I will lose my status completely.

All of this because I *might* be a terrorist or criminal.

The one thing I wonder is, if I pass away during a trip abroad are they going to take my picture and fingerprints when they bring my body back to the nice gravesite in rural Gumma prefecture where I'm going to be buried when I die?

Re:Let me tell you how ridiculous this is...

[havill]

Hi, I live in Japan too. Some comments on your post, which didn't contain anything false but it did contain a few exaggerations:

1) You don't have to be a permanent resident to go through the "Japanese" line at Immigration. All you need is a re-entry permit. A person on a 3-month Entertainer visa can go through the JP Citizen line if they have a re-entry permit.

2) It doesn't necessarily take five to ten years to get permanent residency. The path that most permanent residents take is to marry a Japanese. In that case, 3 years of being married to a Japanese (with one year of that residing in Japan). To compare, in 2000 the U.S. required two years of marriage (but no residency requirement) for my Japanese spouse to receive permanent residency. Easier, but not that different.

3) You don't know that you will be required to line up with regular foreigners in the immigration line to get fingerprinted.

4) Lining up in the Japanese line is not always faster. Depending on the flights coming in, the Alien/Foreigner lines are sometimes faster and/or smaller. The big benefits you get from permanent residency is a) not needing a visa or a reason (job or spouse) to be in Japan and b) (making it easier to) qualify for home/business loans and consumer credit.

5) The re-entry permit length for permanent residency is not always three years. It lasts until you have to renew your permanent residency status. Usually five years. In comparison, a permanent resident of the U.S. (may) lose their status if they're out of the U.S. for more than a year, unless they can prove a residual tie or they have a re-entry permit. The U.S. re-entry permit lasts only two years. And it's much more expensive (>$150 for one-time use max 2 year US re-entry permit vs ¥3000 for a JP one-timer or ¥6000 for multiple-use permit).

One last thing: you obviously haven't lived in Japan for a very long time, as the non-fingerprinting of foreigners is a new post Y2K phenomenon. Granted, in the past it was done at the Ward Office and put on your Alien Registration Card.

To compare, as an American citizen, I've been fingerprinted for all sorts of jobs: working as a substitute public teacher during college and working at an investment bank. Many Americans whose jobs deal with law enforcement, children, or handling large amounts of money are required to submit to fingerprinting (and often drug tests).

* Also: UNDER FIVE minutes from plane to train? C'mon, even without a single human obstacle in your way, that's at least a sprint/race-walk pace from the jetway and down a lot of hallways and escalators to either the Keisei line or the JR line.

Re:New Travel Destination

[rve]

The US has been taking finger prints and pictures of all foreigners entering the US since 2001 or 2002.

For the Visa waiver program, I also need to fill out a form every time asking whether I am a nazi, have any infectious diseases or have the intention to commit terrorist acts.

It also warns you that 1f you check 'yes' to any of those questions, you may be denied entry to the united states :)

Gov't Video/Poster on this + an online petition

[MochaMan]

I'm a foreign resident of Japan, and this policy is invasive enough that after years here as a tax-paying resident with a Japanese spouse and child, we are thinking of packing our things and moving back to Canada.

First off, I'd encourage everyone who opposes this policy to register their views with this online petition.

I would also encourage you to write a letter to the Ministry of Justice at:

General Affairs Division, Immigration Bureau, Ministry of Justice

1-1-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo, 100-8977, Japan
Tel: +81 (0)3-3580-4111
URL: http://www.moj.go.jp/

Also, send a copy to the Japanese National Tourist Organization, making clear the impact on tourism, at their Japanese headquarters and your regional office listed at the URL below:

Japan National Tourist Organization
10th Floor, Tokyo Kotsu Kaikan Building, 2-10-1 Yurakucho,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-0006, Japan
Tel: +81 (0)3-3201-3331
URL: http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/contact/regional_offices.html

Not only is this policy an invasion of privacy, but also discriminatory in its application. Of the major terrorist incidents in Japan, none has been committed by a foreigner -- 1995 Tokyo Sarin Gas attacks, bombing of government office buildings in Hokkaido in the 70s, assassination of the Mayor of Nagasaki... all perpetrated by Japanese nationals.

Further, fingerprinting is dubious at best in preventing terrorist attacks. A terrorist organization capable of a serious attack on Japan is capable of entering the country without passing through immigration. From the point of view of politics, however, fingerprinting foreigners is an easy way to make it appear as though you're getting tough on terrorism and foreign crime.

Lastly, The Japanese government has produced an introductory video on the new scheme that you really have to see to believe. As the guy in the video says "I'll pass it on to all my friends". I get the feeling this won't have the effect the Japanese government intends it to have.

They've also put out a PDF version of the poster for this program.

Re:Thanks to the US

[CB-in-Tokyo]

I am strongly against this process.

Japan used to fingerprint all foreigners when they had to get their "gaijin cards". This was fought and overturned in 1999. Now Japan is playing the "terror" card to once again fingerprint foreigners. This is why the foreigners who live here are not exempt.

A few years back Japan tried to implement a program fingerprinting all of Japan's Citizens. There was a public outcry and the plan was scrapped, but foreigners are foreigners and fair game.

There are many things I love about Japan, but this is simply a waste of time and money.

Oh, here is a nice promotional video Japan has kindly put together for us stupid foreign people.

http://nettv.gov-online.go.jp/common/moviechk.php?p=1203&d=0&t=110&b=0&m=1&r=2

You can easily see their perception of foreigners as slightly retarded, happy, future criminals by the way we are portrayed in this video.

Re:New Travel Destination

[rve]

It is incredibly unwise to try to joke around with these people!

A guy I know gave a silly answer to the question 'what is the reason for your visit?', and was held up for interrogation for several hours.

Re:high and mighty

[ashitaka]

You were a visitor. You weren't staying there very long and I don't know how much Japanese you were able to learn and in which environments you found yourself but obviously you weren't there long enough to proceed to phase 2 of the Gaijin experience in Japan.

This happens when you REALLY start to learn to speak Japanese and start to talk to more of the citizens. When you get a job and have to do things like look for housing or deal with banks. Then the xenophobia starts to rear its ugly head. Landlords refuse to rent to you simply because you are a foreigner. You begin to understand the racist muttering from the older folks. You notice the condescending and discriminatory depiction of non-Japanese on the TV shows. Many gaijin go home at this point

Phase 3 begins when you accept that this is the reality of Japan and find ways to work around it. You move to the more progressive areas and modify your behaviour to fit better into the society. If you can get to this stage you will have a life-long love of Japan and all the wonderful things it has (geek toys, hot springs, and food, oh God the food!) despite all the negative aspects (pollution, crowding, expense, racism).

Eventually you may still move back to your country as some things cannot be overcome. In our case it was the education of our children. There was just no way we could put our kids through the Japanese school system and the living space we had was just too small to be comfortable. Hindsight has shown this to be a very wise move especially considering the experience of our kids when they have gone back to Japan for short-term attendance at Japanese schools.