Foreigners are suspected criminals.
Posted by Matt Dioguardi on September 30th, 2007
I am really upset.
I have lived in Japan 13 and a half years.
I have permanent residency.
I have a wife who is a Japanese national.
I have two children who are Japanese nationals.
Next time I leave Japan, even if it’s just for a very short recreational trip, upon reentering I’ll have to stand in a long line with other “foreigners”, while we all wait to be fingerprinted like criminal suspects.
I wrote an editorial for the Japan Times on this. It can be found here.
I have not been blogging on this issue, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t very important to me. I want to take a minute here to thank Debito who has continued to follow this and post about it at his blog. (It was Debito who suggested my name to Japan Times editor which allowed for the editorial I wrote.)
Here are some of the entries Debito has on this:
- Nov 07 Immig Law: New Biometric machines only at Narita. Every other airport fingerprints NJ every time.
- Amnesty Intl Tokyo Symposium Oct 27 on Immigration’s new fingerprinting etc. regulations
- MOJ Website on fingerprinting/photos at Immigration from Nov 2007 (UPDATED)
- Gyaku Website: Accenture, JAPAN-VISIT, future Immig surveillance of NJ
Please follow this issue and at a bear minimum gripe and complain about it to every person you meet and communicate with.
If you ever have trouble in Japan related to being a foreigner and your looking to share or maybe get advice, Community in Japan is an excellent place.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Hi Matt. Thanks for keeping abreast of the issue, and for the kind words about Debito.org. Sorry to say I didn’t see your article (or Scott’s) when it came out in June! I’ll resurrect it (and Scott’s) soon on my blog, for readers there to mull. Bests, Debito
October 1st, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Hi Matt, Me too, I am really angry! I have permanent residence, have been here over 30 years and was one of the fingerpring refuseniks in the 80s. I thought we had won when they stopped it, but it seems as if they were just retreating and biding their time. They should not expect a nice smile from me when I next come through Narita, but as if they care about that! Isn’t there anything we can do?
Lily