Face and finger, please
So, from November 20th, all non-Japanese, with some few exceptions (“special permanent residents” of Korean and Taiwanese descent who had Japanese nationality before the end of the war and their descendants, diplomats, children under age 16 and those visiting at the invitation of the government) arriving in Japan will be fingerprinted and photographed.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, you may want to check articles and posts at Slashdot (check the comments), asahi.com in English and Japanese (interesting to notice the difference between the versions), Japan Times, Global Voices Online, debito.org, Yahoo Brasil (in Portuguese) and Reuters.
And that gives me an impression that they're imitating the US...
I mean, those "fingerprint-and-photograph-foreigners" stuff has been around there since a couple of years after 9/11 attacks. And, like what happened in Japan, before it there were protests. Still, I didn't see any way it could be refuted, especially at the time. Those who could change the decision, US citizens, were more scared of terrorist attacks than worrying about "non-Americans rights" or other stuff...
I only have hopes that people working at those places in Japan won't be so arrogant as those at the same function in the US. Lots of friends have bad stories to tell about arrogant officers, a second of hesitation or a strange answer that guaranteed some minutes at that "other room" or such... Which is sort of ironic since there were posters when I was there for the last time saying that they were "the face of our [US] nation".
What really sounds lame are the reasons the Japanese government gave to justify the measure: terrorism!? Honestly... just admit your real intentions (or at least the other ones) and it will be better for everyone... And doing the same process to long-term residents also seems very fishy...
Anyway, what's done is done. And I don't see many ways on how this could be reversed, since foreigners have practically no political voice in Japan (among other reasons). The only one I can imagine is if tourism decreases dramatically because of that, what I think it's unlikely.
The other way is if other countries (lots of them) follow the principle of reciprocity and Japanese people start to feel what it's like. Well, Brazil did that to US citizens, even though I can't tell what's stupider: saying it's "a way to fight terrorism" or that it's "payback". Besides, it could work the other way around, making Japanese more resentful of foreigners.
Maybe the most ironic article I've seen about this is here. I won't transcript it this time, but it resembles another one I saw before US did the same thing (can't find the link, though).
Still, it could be worse. Considering that every country has its own regulations about immigration, weird things can happen. Like a couple that was denied entry in New Zealand for being overweight.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, you may want to check articles and posts at Slashdot (check the comments), asahi.com in English and Japanese (interesting to notice the difference between the versions), Japan Times, Global Voices Online, debito.org, Yahoo Brasil (in Portuguese) and Reuters.
And that gives me an impression that they're imitating the US...
I mean, those "fingerprint-and-photograph-foreigners" stuff has been around there since a couple of years after 9/11 attacks. And, like what happened in Japan, before it there were protests. Still, I didn't see any way it could be refuted, especially at the time. Those who could change the decision, US citizens, were more scared of terrorist attacks than worrying about "non-Americans rights" or other stuff...
I only have hopes that people working at those places in Japan won't be so arrogant as those at the same function in the US. Lots of friends have bad stories to tell about arrogant officers, a second of hesitation or a strange answer that guaranteed some minutes at that "other room" or such... Which is sort of ironic since there were posters when I was there for the last time saying that they were "the face of our [US] nation".
What really sounds lame are the reasons the Japanese government gave to justify the measure: terrorism!? Honestly... just admit your real intentions (or at least the other ones) and it will be better for everyone... And doing the same process to long-term residents also seems very fishy...
Anyway, what's done is done. And I don't see many ways on how this could be reversed, since foreigners have practically no political voice in Japan (among other reasons). The only one I can imagine is if tourism decreases dramatically because of that, what I think it's unlikely.
The other way is if other countries (lots of them) follow the principle of reciprocity and Japanese people start to feel what it's like. Well, Brazil did that to US citizens, even though I can't tell what's stupider: saying it's "a way to fight terrorism" or that it's "payback". Besides, it could work the other way around, making Japanese more resentful of foreigners.
Maybe the most ironic article I've seen about this is here. I won't transcript it this time, but it resembles another one I saw before US did the same thing (can't find the link, though).
Still, it could be worse. Considering that every country has its own regulations about immigration, weird things can happen. Like a couple that was denied entry in New Zealand for being overweight.
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