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YOUR IMMIGRATION FINGERPRINTING EXPERIENCES POST NOV 20 2007
Hi Blog. This section is specially devoted to your experiences with being fingerprinted and photographed by the Japanese Immigration authorities after November 20, 2007.
As many of you know (or will soon find out), Japan has become only the second country in the world to institute biometric data collection for all non-citizens. Modeled upon the US-VISIT Program, Japan’s mutation is even more extreme, as it fingerprints and photographs even Permanent Residents (while those who get the US Green Card are exempt after one session) every time they reenter Japan. And most ports of entry will treat all foreigners as tourists, regardless of Japan residency (including long, demeaning lines at Immigration separated from your Japanese families).
More information on this public-relations disaster (and what you can do about it) backlogged on the Debito.org blog at
http://www.debito.org/?cat=33
Bullet-point Powerpoint Presentation at
http://www.debito.org/?p=671
Anyway, as for this section:
Please tell us things like what happened, how you felt, if you protested and what you did, what was the reaction (if any), and anything else you think others should know about the experience. Leave your thoughts (anonymously if you prefer) in the Comments Section below.
I’m a Japanese citizen; this isn’t going to affect me so I can’t comment from experience. But will affect most of you. Tell us if what people are doing is in some way helping the Japanese Government see the error of their ways–that the taxpaying NJ residents of this society are not simply just going to roll over like good little “gaijin” guests and do nothing. Especially in the face of being expressly painted by officials and the media as agents of terrorism, crime, and infectious diseases. Japan must learn that in this age of Globalization, it can’t continue to think that treating the outside world like this will not incur repercussion.
Only by charting the arc will we know if we’ve made a difference (we already have, but the ultimate goal, however possibly unattainable, is a complete rescinding of the policy). Comment away: Arudou Debito in Sapporo
November 19th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
HERE’S A GOOD ONE TO START WITH, ON THE EVE OF THE LAW’S ENFORCEMENT. DEBITO
Hi Debito, I just returned from the US on Saturday. I want through the Tourist line at Narita (I gave them back my gaijin torokusho earlier this year). It took about 45 minutes. Probably three times that after November 20. It is obvious to me that they are totally incapable of carrying out this new idiotic system. Now, I flew first class and an American airline rep. met me at the gate and escorted me including picking up my checked it bag. And I was still irritated! I can’t imagine how I would feel after flying 12 hours in coach and then getting kicked around by Immigation. One thing is for sure… if I were a business man I would look for another destination. I am having dinner later on this week with an old friend who heads MoFA’s #2 North America Division (Economics) and i will tell him that I think this thing will slam Japan’s economy.
ENDS
November 20th, 2007 at 12:52 am
It doesn’t directly say if it is related to the new system or not but it looks like those rock band terrorists – “The Velvet Revolver” are have been blacklisted from the country.
http://www.velvetrevolver.com/
Velvet Revolver Forced to Cancel Japan Shows Because of Visas
11.16.07
Velvet Revolver were looking forward to their upcoming tour of Japan: a series of four concerts–to promote their current album Libertad — between November 26 and November 30, encompassing the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama.
For the band, the upcoming trek was the opportunity to reconnect with their fans in Japan, where the band tour has toured before — without incident — back in 2005.
But now it’s a different story as Velvet Revolver’s request for visas has just been denied.
The increasingly tough Japanese immigration officials are taking exception with the backgrounds of various band members, which have included arrests. The band is appealing the decision of the officials — which is ironic given that Libertad is Spanish for “liberty” and “freedom” — but this process will unfortunately take months to sort out.
“We want to apologize to our fans in Japan that we won’t be able to perform our scheduled concerts,” Velvet Revolver said in a group statement. “We don’t understand why the authorities won’t give us visas when they granted them for us in 2005 for what was a successful tour and a great experience. We love Japan and look forward to our return there.”
November 20th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
I flew into Narita on the 18th.
Confusingly, the new signs were already up (such as “Japanese and Special Permanent Residents”). Even the special lane for re-entry permit holders, although it was closed! I figured although the system was not yet operational, I would have to use the tourist line. Luckily in my case, this was the line with the fewest people. The guy checking my passport then commented I was free to use the Japanese line as well. Totally confusing.
November 20th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
REGARDING PRE-REGISTRATION PROCEDURES, FROM MARTIN ISSOTT:
Date: November 20, 2007 5:34:19 PM JST
Dear Debito,
It’s been an interesting day – after a great deal of time and effort, my wife and I are both pre-registered to use the Narita automated gate facilitated re-entry system for resident foreigners
However, if our experience of trying to make function the 2 sets of available fingerprint reader equipment at Shinagawa Tokyo Immigration Office is anything to go by, the airports today will be literally hell on earth!
The whole process, including waiting time, took just about 2 hours. In the case of my wife the fingerprinting took 10 min – she needed 12 attempts to successfully get a registration – in her case her index fingers would not read, but she achieved a reading eventually with her 2 middle fingers.
For me it was a painful 27 mins! The first machine could not read any of my fingerprints despite cleaning and application of a special gel. I then insisted on using the second machine, where after repeated attempts the machine was finally able to read my left index finger but was repeatedly unsuccessful with any of the fingers on my right hand.
The operating immigration officer, a pleasant enough young lady, was about to give up but having come from Kobe there was no way I would allow that to happen , and ultimately after numerous further attempts my right ring finger managed a reading.
However, some other applicants were not so lucky, or so persistent. Directly in front of me was a young German woman ,a permanent resident married to a Japanese – after the best part of 20 mins she was turned away – despite her insistence that in the US they had no problem reading her fingerprints.
She has a small baby – what on earth is this poor woman going to do now?!!
Several places in front of her another woman was also turned away after numerous attempts.
Thus 2 out of the 12 applicants in front of my wife and I could not complete the registration due ineffective equipment – i.e. 17% of applicants.
If such statistical percentages are occurring at international airports throughout Japan, it is a truly nightmare scenario!
The saddest case of all was an obviously fairly senior US businessman visitor who told us he visits Japan once a month ,and had read in the Japan Times that regular visitors to Japan would benefit from registering, so he had turned up at Shinagawa Immigration Office.
We suggested he check whether non-residents could pre-register – and as we feared the answer was no, and he was turned away.
The reality of the experience was even worse than I had feared and demonstrates the incompetence of the Japanese authorities in not fully testing the equipment before implementing the amended, discriminatory immigration law.
I am dreading to read reports of actual foreign visitor arrival experiences in the newspaper, or your blog, tomorrow morning!
Martin
November 20th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
============================
On Nov 20, 2007 5:33 PM, Christine wrote:
Hello fellow foreigners,
I was out of the country for a few days and foolishly booked my return for today – the first day that all foreigners are to be fingerprinted and photographed when entering or re-entering Japan. I have had a great deal of misgivings about this new system and went into the airport today with trepidation. I was greeted by an immigration official as I came into the area and was directed to the “Foreign Passport” area after he glanced at my passport. I didn’t know how the rules and procedures had changed exactly, so just went into sheep mode and did what I was told. When I got to the front, the man before me and the woman after me were re-entry permit holders as well and were herded into the “Foreign Passport” lane with me, but we were told that we needn’t have been. It seems that re-entry permit holders may enter as always in the “Japanese Passport” lanes. (Note from submitter [not Christine]: When I spoke to her after she returned, Christine said that there may have been a separate line for re-entry permit holders, but that she didn’t happen to notice it at the time.)
Many new visitors to Japan had not heard of the new entrance procedure and treated it as a novel preview of the typically Japanese high-tech gadgets that awaited them on the other side, but others like me just stood in line shaking our heads feeling rather hard done by. There was a video being shown in line that had a greeting in French and a 3-point list in Korean, but nothing in English (or Japanese if memory serves). The video showed a blond woman who seemed delighted to be having her fingerprints taken and who smiled contentedly whilst being photographed.
The immigration procedure itself was much the same and took the same amount of time. I presented my passport and while the officer was dealing with the stamps and bits of paper inside, I put my two forefingers on the pads indicated and pressed down. The machine beeped when it was satisfied it registered the information it needed. Then, I faced a small screen with lovely images of things quintessentially Japanese to have my photograph taken and I was done.
Was I happy I had to do it? No. Did I feel like I was being discriminated against by a country I love, in which I work, pay taxes and try to make a positive contribution? Yes. Were the staff exceedingly polite and helpful and efficient in the way only Japan can be making the actual process painless? Yes. Did I make my grouchiest unimpressed travel face for the camera? Yes. Did it make me feel better? A little.
I would like to hear about any other experiences and please be sure to correct any information I may have gotten wrong.
Back home, Christine
============================
ENDS
November 20th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Debito,
I know everyone is hoping to hear a horror story but the system worked perfectly at Narita today. There is a large sign as you enter the immigration area “Japanese passports and re-entry permits” one lane and “foreign passports” the other lane. A couple of desks were open for re-entry permits while about 10 were open for Japanese.
There was no one inline so I sped through. The computer worked fine — albeit with cheesy graphics — and I was done. It’s faster than the American process because both fingerprints are scanned at once and you don’t have to take off your glasses when the photo is taken.
TS
November 22nd, 2007 at 11:13 am
I went to Shinagawa yesterday to pre-register, and had a similar experience to Martin Issott. The machines (neither of them) could read my fingerprints. They certainly didn’t try for anything like 10 (let alone 27) minutes, but it must have been at least 5. The guy there told me that about 4 people had also had unreadable fingerprints the previous day (20th), and there were other people in front of me who had the same problem. Assuming they are using the same machines at Narita, there is the potential for a huge number of unreadable prints, as Martin says. However, only a few have been reported there, so hopefully the machines there are more sensitive.
When I asked the immigration guy what I should do, he said that I should join the Japanese line at Narita, and it seems, according to Christine, that this is still possible.
I am still focusing on the practicalities, but of course the principal remains to be challenged.
November 23rd, 2007 at 9:55 am
I was on an international business trip this week and arrived yesterday at Haneda. At immigration there were lines set up for visitors, Japanese passports, and re-entry. I went for the re-entry line, was stopped by a staff member, then allowed to proceed after flashing my gaikokujin tourokushou. I was one of the first off the plane but as another flight had arrived around the same time there were about 5 in front of me. Each person took significantly longer than in the past. Whereas it used to take less than 30 seconds for each of us using the Japanese, line, it was taking a few minutes each. By the time I got to the front of the line there was a huge line behind me and I felt extremely fortunate not to be at the rear. Interestingly, the re-entry line seemed longer than the visitor line. International flights that arrive in Haneda are from Seoul and Shanghai only, so presumably these include a high percentage of re-entrants. I also noticed that the Japanese line was quite backed up, certainly more than usual, because the number of booths for Japanese had to be reduced given the limited lobby space. So with any luck some Japanese people will also complain about this. They even switched one booth from Japanese to re-entrants just as I got to the front, so I used that one. I had read about there being an “interview”, so if asked “Can you speak Japanese” I was prepared to reply in English, “Yes, but only when I can use the Japanese line again.” However, there was no conversation at all. I knew the drill, having fumed as my Japanese wife was subjected to it in the US (so now we get it on both sides). But the fingerprints would not register the first time, so I had to do it again and finally it worked. I suppose it took a few minutes, though it seemed like longer as I was certainly not happy about being fingerprinted for the first time in my life. Also I noticed after the fingerprints were done the officer took a lot of extra time looking at my passport and fiddling with the computer. So I wonder if they are doing something more in the passport checks, not only the fingerprinting (so the former could be the real reason for catching some fake passports, not the latter.)
I have chosen to live here and can say I have loved living here. There is much I admire tremendously about Japan and the Japanese. I’m a big supporter of traditional culture and know more about things like kabuki than the average citizen. When foreigners complain about so and so in Japan I am typically the one defending it. So in addition to anger I felt just very sad and betrayed to know that after doing my best to fit in, learn the language, be patient and follow all the rules here, my reward is to be seen by the government as first and foremost a suspected terrorist or criminal. That hurts. All of that probably showed in my face for the photograph – it’s not a photo I would want to see.
I still hold out hope that this law can be reversed given time. I travel frequently (twice a month or more) out of the country for business and therefore am certainly not looking forward to more of this. Thanks for providing a forum such as this where people can express their reactions and feel a little solidarity with one another on this issue. Otherwise one feels rather powerless.
Cheers,
November 29th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Mark Schreiber from the Japan Times gives us an amusing account on what happened to him when he took a junket to Saipan, just to test the Fingerprinting machines on the way back…
THE ZEIT GIST
Prints rejected, scribe accepted
Our writer attempts to give Immigration the finger at Narita
By Mark Schreiber
The Japan Times November 27, 2007
http://www.debito.org/index.php/?p=785
November 30th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Here’s what happened to me when I tried to pre-register at the immigration bureau.
In front of me was an elderly American couple, and they tried in vain for about 30m to register their fingerprints.
While waiting, an employee of the immigration bureau explained to us, that the machines have been tested on Japanese, and Japanese fingers “are more easy to read than foreigner’s”.
I would like to see scientific evidence for that (which of course doesn’ exist), but let’s assume for a moment that it is true. Why on earth would you test a machine that is supposed to take fingerprints of foreigners on easy-to-read Japanese fingers?
While registering my fingerprints I had no problems (obviously my fingers are of equal quality to Japanese fingers), but an English guy next to me wasn’t so lucky. The immigration officer told him in broken English “Your right hand is obscur”.
We couldn’t help but break out in laughter.
A really strange, “obscur” experience….
November 30th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
James Fallows from The Atlantic on fingerprinting at Narita:
http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/11/not_so_thankful_for_this_at_th.php
December 3rd, 2007 at 3:38 pm
FROM DREW AT THE COMMUNITY:
I just got back to Japan yesterday — Narita terminal 2. At least in Narita, the fingerprinting seems to be handled as efficiently as possible:
- 5 lanes for Japanese Passport, 2 lanes for Re-Entry Permit, and about 10 lanes for visitors.
- When Japanese Passport lanes were empty, the re-entry permits were being sent over there (though if a Japanese person came, we would have to wait)
- When Japanese Passport and Re-Entry Permit lanes were empty, visitors were being sent to those lanes.
Of course I knew about the new law so when I walked in I looked for the “reentry permit” line and walked in, but some immigration lady came chasing after me shouting “re-entry permit line” in English. Now, she was just doing her job, but on the other hand I resented the implication that I was too stupid to read the signs (she was not chasing after any Japanese who went into the Japanese lanes) so I told her, in Japanese, “I do know how to read, you know.”
Stood in line for about 3 minutes or so. My “Immigration Interview” was the same as it always is every time — as I hand the guy my passport, I say “yoroshiku onegaishimasu” to prevent him from trying to English at me, he flips through the passport, does the stamps, and waves me through without asking a single thing. Only difference was the actual fingerprints/photos.
After having got my luggage, I went down to the train station, where I was “randomly” asked for my passport in the name of preventing terrorism. “But the folks who don’t like Narita airport are all Japanese, are you asking Japanese folks for their passports?” And his answer was the best excuse I have ever heard, bar none: “Well, no. But Japanese people have other security checks. For example, they have to show their passports at the entrance to the parking lot, but foreigners don’t drive, so…” Well, I had been travelling for hours and wanted nothing more than to just get myself home, so I just sort of rolled my eyes and handed over the passport.
I don’t like this “security theatre”; having fully-uniformed (and armed) coppers stopping foreigners to no real effect (even if I had a fake passport, if it was good enough for Immigration, no copper is going to notice), just to make the Japanese folk get a false sense of security that something is being done about the only criminals in the world, foreigners.
- Drew
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:46 pm
FROM RICK AT THE COMMUNITY
Flew into Kansai Airport Monday morning [Nov 26] at 7AM from
Singapore after spending the weekend there due to work
(thus being unable to attend jALT). At Immigration
there were ten counters open for Japanese passports
holders and three open for people like me who don’t.
Non-Japanese holders were forced into a single line
with two immigration officals standing at the end
directing people much like is done at the airline
check in counters. After about five minutes the ten
counters were empty, but in my section there were
still about 20-25 people waiting. I asked why some
more counters were not being opened and I was told
that more “Japanese people” may come. I was brushed
off after asking if they really needed ten open
counters in case someone came. Trying to reason about
holding a PR didnt get much of a response. I finally
got finished after about a 20 minute wait. The big
rush never came to the ten open counters.
Rick in Kobe
December 4th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
I didn’t know where to write this, so I’m putting it here – feel free to move it to a more suitable location or delete it altogether Debito!
Just got a crazy idea, but it might actually work – if nothing else, it could make our case known among Japanese Internet users.
You probably all know Kojima Yoshio – the crazy, skimpily dressed guy who at one time was #3 in the YouTube views ranking with his routine? Well, how about we borrow his gag to make a video? It’s perfect for the situation, and because Kojima is HUGE now it would most certainly draw attention (especially if it was labeled something like “コジマヨシオのギャグパクリ”).
Imagine something like this: a half-naked foreigner, wearing only his briefs, starts saying stuff in this rhythmical manner Kojima always does. Let’s say he says “日本で…テロを…犯した外国人は…一人もいない！”, then he goes to the signature “でもでもでもでも…”(while slides from anti-fingerprinting DEMOnstrations flash in the rhythm of でも) “そんなの関係ねぇ！そんなの関係ねぇ！そんなの関係ねぇ！” (either while doing the perfect copy of Kojima’s signature gesture, or spicing it up by somehow involving him pressing his fingers onto a fake scanner). Then, after two or three more iterations (more than that and it gets boring) we get a black screen with a homepage address or a phone number and a catchy slogan along the lines of “First gaijin, then you folks – oppose the Big Brother policy” (well OK, mine’s not that catchy but you get a drift).
Now, I don’t even have a webcam to do something like that, but if any of you has a camera, we could work on the script and details – what do you say? (by the way, I just had another idea – the “そんなの関係ねぇ！” line could be spoken by another dude, preferably Japanese, with a placard saying either “入国管理局” or “日本政府” – that would even clearer depict the situation of gaikokujin trying to give valid arguments while the government is stonewalling him).
Anyway, just a throwing a crazy idea that might actually work your way – what do you think?
Chris in Utsunomiya
–ANYONE OUT THERE WITH THE WILL AND THE WHEREWITHAL?
December 5th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
FROM A FRIEND. ARUDOU DEBITO
Ah, human rights. I have just come from the Shinagawa Immigration office where I went to pre-register my fingerprints and photograph pending my upcoming Christmas trip to the US with my children. Here are my few observations with some venting, I fear, in between. Is the US this bad about this process?
1. Process is disorganized. A makeshift area has been set up at the counter where people apply for re-entry permits. The area is closed off by privacy screens, so it is impossible to find the machine where you are supposed to take a number. Many people, including me, mistakenly took number cards from the machine reserved for re-entry applicants. Eventually they stationed an immigration officer with a fistful of number cards in the vicinity, but they neglected to paste onto his forehead a sign that says “get your numbers here”, so there was confusion whenever someone stepped up to the area to start the process.
2. None of the officers in attendance can speak English, even though many people had questions.
3. The fingerprint machines were not working. Some people had to wait and then redo their fingerprints. They could not read my index fingers with the machines and eventually had to read my middle fingers. One woman standing next to me could not read any of her fingers despite repeated attempts with both hands. I have no idea how she will re-enter the country.
4. There was not an excessive wait.
5. The officers in attendance do not have any idea how the process will work for the exit from Japan or the re-entry. There were maps of the Narita immigration area pasted up on screens, but the attending officers did not seem to know what the maps meant and responded Shirimasen when asked questions in Japanese. And even more helpful, these maps were pasted on the INSIDE of the screens, not on the OUTSIDE where they could be examined by the hordes of gaijins who presumably need to know where to go when they get to Narita.
6. Most important, it seems that if parents residing in Japan wish to use the automated gate process when leaving Japan or when returning, they will have to be separated from their children. Children are not required to give finger prints, but at the same time, at the automated re-entry gates there will be no human beings to inspect the passports of the children. Thus, for re-entering families, it appears that the adults can go through the automated gates but the children, if they have re-entry permits, must stand in the line like we always did for returning Japanese and re-entry permit holders and will enter Japan separately. Except that, obviously, if the child is a baby or not experienced enough to do this alone, then they have to come in through the tourist line with a parent. So at the end of the day, if a family wishes to stay together, or has to stay together because of the age of the child, they must go through the tourist line (Yes, I know, it seems obvious that we need fingerprint taking capability at the re-entry permit line). This question was asked many times by parents who came to immigration to get their re-entry pre-registration, but none of the officers in attendance could answer the question clearly, and there is no information available in English to explain this. They could not even answer when asked in Japanese. I found out because while I was standing in line I asked my secretary to call the Ministry of Justice to find out the procedure. And of course, I let it be known to the gaijins around me what she had learned. Boy, let me tell you, there was a ton of frustration among these parents who had taken time to come all the way out to Shinagawa to pre-register themselves thinking to spare their family and tired children the agony of the tourist line only to find out that it was a complete waste of time.
7. Another confusing point in the process relates to the distinction between passports that are machine readable and those that are not. US, UK and other countries issue machine readable passports. Philippines, Pakistan and many other countries do not. For those countries, the immigration office has to put a bar code sticker onto the passport so that it can be read by the machines. This resulted in the creation of two separate application lines, one for the star belly sneetches and one for those who have none. Unfortunately, there was only one fellow holding a fist full of numbers. So the result was that he would call a number, determine whether the applicant was a star belly sneetch or one who has none, and then would allocate people to separate sub-lines. Then there was the comedy of calling out numbers in apparently random order to deal with the separate lines. Number 30, number 16, number 33, number 17. Very confusing, and they did not explain to people why they were treated differently, until I asked in Japanese and explained to a Philipino in the line, so that the information about the bar codes was thereafter passed down the plain belly sneetch line among the Philippinos and Pakistanis.
So, in conclusion, it appears that the much touted automatic gate line is useful only for returning businessmen, single residents of Japan and families with children over the age of 16. Otherwise, brace yourself.
Enough said? not sure what I will do when I come home from the states. Have a great day.
December 5th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
I really don’t understand why people are pre-registering. Apart from the hassle, is it really going to save you that much time?
Assuming you have a re-entry permit, you can use the re-entry permit line and avoid the tourist line anyway.
My view is that voluntarily providing your information in this way is a tacit acceptance of the system. Even if I could pre-register up here in Sendai (I can’t), and even if there was some benefit to doing so (I can’t really see one), I wouldn’t.
If this system is still in place in November 2008, when I have to return briefly to the UK, I will go through it protesting loudly and peacefully, and making sure that both immigration officials and passers-by are very aware of how I feel.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
FEEDBACK FROM A FRIEND. DEBITO
Heya Debito,
Just did it. Just did the exemption for the scanning. My passport
has the following stamped: “User of Automated Gate until (date which
my re-entry expires) Japanese Entry and Departure Stamps EXEMPTED”.
THis is on page 21 of my passport.
Anyway, headed to Japanese immigration (it’s in Shinagawa). Head to
the 2nd floor, Counter D, Gate 1. Take a number wait. Wait. Wait.
Go to the counter. Be nice to the lady and smile a lot. Put fingers
in fingerprint scanning machines. Prob will not register. Repeat as
necessary until the DAMN MACHINE gets a good read on your fingers (I
had to do it three times, and it read after i squished my fingers in
some type of goop). I just kept thinking, if there were a line of 50
plus people at the airport, this would take forever !
Anyway, the exempt is good until your re-entry expires, and you need
do it again. Cost is free. I lost 90 minutes in the immigration
office. According to one American gal I met there, immigration just
caught a gal from the Philippines because tho she had a valid VISA
now, she was here in Japan illegally in the past. She was caught
solely becasue of this new fingerprinting. If you think about it, the
Japanese gov’t must have a huge database, and there is more to this
tracking foreigners than just checking for diseases and terrorists,
as the Japanese gov’t claims.
ENDS
December 7th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
FROM CYBERSPACE. DEBITO
Canada’s ‘shared values’ with Japan and Pierrot’s questions at Narita.
Debito san
After being out of the country again for several months, I went by immigration at Narita on the 23rd. It was somewhat entertaining to ask a few promising questions of the kind I had in vain requested the Canadian embassy to ask weeks ago.
At the counter, I first of all wanted to know what would happen if I refused to be fingerprinted and face scanned. I was bluntly told I wouldn’t be left in and could not call my embassy before all was done. I then turned sideways and tenderly pointed at the Japanese line next to the re-entry permit holder one I was in. The young female officer, processing my stuff, gave the impression of wanting to hide under the counter. Her young male colleague tried to play tough but became suddenly quiet when I slightly raised the volume. I hoped to know why those just next to us where not considered potential criminals and terrorists although their compatriots account for about 99% percent of the crime rate and so far 100% of the terror. More than a few of these potentials appeared greatly puzzled by the stated fact.
Process over, I pulled out the forbidden ketai and dialed my ambassador’s office to find out if it had dispatched the “diplomat-observer” I requested the previous week. The assistant repeated the line about the demand not being the kind of service the embassy offers. I countered it was not a service but something like a duty to monitor and make sure our government is well inform so protests are clearly voiced as they were when the US government though about imposing fingerprints and scans on Canadians. In yet another brilliant example of grand bureaucratic unawareness and superb waste of taxpayers’ money, the assistant countered that Canadians are already subject to these formalities while entering the US. Since the ambassador was conveniently out, thus could not come to the phone; guess who was left to teach truth and reality? Bless the taxpayers not paying for the call.
I then asked when would the ambassador be available for a long awaited meeting with compatriots wanting to discuss the issue and many others related to human rights violations an discrimination in Japan. As it was the case several times since he arrived two years ago, I was told: “Monsieur l’ambassadeur est … a very busy man: a meeting is out of the question.” I mentioned I would of course happily request again, as discreetly and regularly done during the last decade.
I then went by the immigration supervisor’s window to ask the few more relevant questions I told the assistant I would ask on behalf of many, many Canadians. The kind of questions our civil servants might want to ask if more interested in their jobs. The supervisor politely came out. We stood just behind the counter were all flight crews were being treated as nasty potential criminals and terrorists.
After mentioning the 99% and 100% figures again, I most thoughtfully requested to be told if the system made any sense. Why no fingerprints of Japanese gangsters, criminals and also those involved in the trafficking of tens of thousands of foreign women over twenty years? What about the kids of divorced fathers in Canada and elsewhere abducted by their Japanese mother wanted by foreign police? What to do with those Japanese terrorists who have attacked abroad? Although I tried my best, I did not get a specific comment on those types rocketing the Canadian embassy in Jakarta twenty years ago. I though the ambassador would much, much appreciate such an explanation… if not so busy.
The supervisor most of the time was staring at his shoes. He whispered I lower the volume after I requested he might want to better inform the Justice Minister. The one I recalled with the friend of the friend member of Al-Quaeda. The volume was not too loud but just enough for flight attendants and captains to hear one at a time as they were thoroughly scanned. Absolutely none whispered I be more quiet. I even got a cute eye blink of the most cheering type.
After being given a few lengthy answers that were not really answers, I was told the supervisor was not in a position to answer the question about the need for other countries, including mine, to retaliate by targeting only Japanese at airports. Telling about several of my friends canceling their trip to Japan and flying over to more hospitable destinations did however have an effect. The shoes twitched.
After picking up my luggage I remembered being in Laos last spring when a huge bomb exploded a hundred meters away from me. I was sitting by a nice river in a remote northern area that had been carpet bombed daily by American civilian pilots for nine years in the secret war of the 60s and 70s. During the Vietnam conflict next door, Canada was a big provider of ammunition and some of the one million unexploded ordinances buried to this day in Laos. These are now, one by one, being detonated by special crews and also kids… never to play again. Apparently the cleaning will take many more decades. The guesthouse owner called the bombs, ‘American souvenirs’ and said there were probably a few under the rooms. Some locals refer to them as ‘State terror.’ Kids, don’t know.
So, suitcase in hand I gleefully went back up to the window. The supervisor acknowledged some diplomats of ‘various terrorists states’ exist. I mentioned they could zip trough immigration since they are not subject to the new discriminatory and unpleasant measures. He agreed. I then briefed him on the truly gentle people of Laos. In order to greatly help the system and its logic, I kindly asked if it would be possible, and if he did not mind, to most diplomatically request the fingerprints and scan of…my dear ambassador. Something, I thought could marvelously enhance the wonderful 2007 Canada-Japan tourism exchange campaign, our two countries ‘shared values and respect for human rights’ and the ‘coordinated efforts against international terrorism’ as recently stated by the ambassador. For the first time in 18 years of coming here I saw an immigration officer chuckle and smile big time. It was a pleasant feeling indeed. We parted almost like good friends would.
Canadian compatriots out there are most welcomed to contact me if they also think its high time for them and all foreigners to be given the same kind of ‘honorable respect’ and protection offered to Japanese visiting, working or doing lots of happy profitable business in Canada and all over the planet for four dazzling decades. If more want to join and finally get some real work out of our huge embassy and the stupendous residence (private garden-park, private outdoor pool, private indoor pool, private luxurious gym, etc.) offered to our too busy civil servant and his staff, let us again kindly remind of simple little duties and basic accountability.
Many Japanese NGOs are hoping for help from foreign governments when fighting against human rights abuses their fellow citizens also suffer under their government. The UN has already done a fair share of strong recommendations.
Merci
Pierrot
(soon on the way back to enchanting Narita)
ONG Terre des enfants / Children’s Earth NGO (tde_ce@yahoo.ca)
also Pierrot-Café and Pierrot II 1995-2005 (lepierrot@hotmail.com)
December 7th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
I don’t know if this rightly belongs in this section, so feel free to move it as necessary.
I was originally hired to be an interpreter at Nissan R&D labs in Yokohama for two days, yesterday and today, as three engineers from Nissan USA were scheduled to undergo training there. However, when told of the new fingerprinting, they cancelled, so I lost the work. Their training will now be held in the US, meaning that there are already businesspeople refusing to be treated like common criminals; they’re just taking their business elsewhere, to friendlier countries.
December 11th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
FEEDBACK FROM CYBERSPACE
Greetings!
Today I called the Chiba 入国管理事務所, thinking that I could get “official information” on registering one’s biometric data. The woman with whom I spoke transferred me to someone who presumably knew, but he clearly wasn’t sure and had to ask someone else. He says that the automatic gate system hasn’t been set up. When I asked him how many lines there are, he seemed to suggest two, with distinction drawn between those with reentry permits and those without…I was appropriately polite but was nonetheless amazed at his ignorance.
What’s going on? Have you seen Barry Duell’s letter to the JT? I regard him as a knowledgeable, sensible fellow.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/rc20071125a1.html
But if the automatic gate is already an option, why wouldn’t an immigration official even know about it?
Again, amazing…
December 12th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I registered biometric data at Narita and needless to say I did not give the folks an easy time of it. The poor girl was almost in tears. I did really feel bad that I had her in shambles but I had to make a point. After filling out the paperwork, getting my documents copied and asking a thousand questions, it was time to get the fingerprint scan and photo. After four tries and the special cream it finally took and I had my stamp in the passport. By this time the younger lady was now replaced with an older one hoping motherly love would calm me. Humm..did not work… Now a quick dart over to the automatic gate. Scan the passport, redo the fingerscan and hand over the documents. Now it got interesting. The clerk had to go over to verify I was in the system, took another ten minutes to clarify what he needed to do. The whole time I was questioning the older lady as if she thought this was fair to put me up to such a system since I have lived her two thirds of my life. The clerk finally returned looking puzzled. As he attached my E/D document to my passport he said to me softy with a smile ” this is not automatic”. Needless to say the I walked away with a smile.
Whan I returned I looked at the signs. Forgein passports, re-entry premits and Japanese passports. I cued in the Re-entry line and noticed no scanner for passports. As I reached the clerk I asked where is autogates? I have the stamp. He then pointed down the vaccant hall and said ” it is over there.” I asked why there was no signs pointing us in that direction he had no answer but said “next time you go there.” I asked him maybe next time they will have sign? No answer..and yelled “next”.
December 16th, 2007 at 8:40 am
Yesterday I arrived in Narita on an early morning flight. It was a full flight and the airport seemed unusually busy for that time of day. I got off the plane and quickly found the special NJ line. However there were many Japanese already in it.
There was another NJ resident in front of me. He spotted an Immigration official floating around and told him we had re-entry permits. The official immediately took us to the front of the line. While the other NJ was being processed I could hear the Japanese behind me asking the immigration official why we got to the front of the line. He explained that the line was intended for NJ residents.
Now it was my turn. The machine had no problem reading my prints. While I was being processed I told the official the policy was wrong and they had no right to treat us like criminals. His only response “Yes,..um….ah…” suck air through teeth and break all eye contact. As I was leaving I told him Nihon Yokoso was a joke, it should be Dainihonteikoku Yokoso.
I have to admit that strictly in terms of processing time the system worked to my advantage, but in no way do I approve of it.
December 21st, 2007 at 2:49 pm
FEEDBACK FROM CYBERSPACE
On a separate topic, putting the moral and human rights issues aside
for a second, I actually have some good news to report regarding the
procedures at Narita Airport. I just popped out of the country and
back, and I was astonished. The new procedures actually make it
significantly faster for foreign residents to get through immigration
than Japanese citizens (on the way in and out).
The optional one-time automatic gate registration procedure took me
all of about 2 minutes at Narita. Subsequently I passed through the
automatic gate at the departure checkpoint, which took about 30
seconds and let me bypass the 10 minute line for everybody else
(including Japanese). On the return trip, the room had no automatic
gate, but it did have a re-entry permit holders’ line with nobody
waiting. I asked about the automatic gate, and the agent apologized
and said I could walk down the hall to the south wing where the
machine was installed. Given that there was no wait and I was already
at the counter, I opted for the normal “manual” procedure and was done
in about 30 seconds, way before any Japanese citizens passed through
their own lane.
So agents are efficient, friendly, and seem to be well trained in the
new procedures at Narita. I have to say it’s ultra-convenient. Maybe
they realized it was a good idea to do something nice in exchange for
treating us like criminals.
ENDS
December 21st, 2007 at 3:27 pm
For those travelling over the holiday season, here are some helpful letters for those going through Kansai International Airport (Kankuu, or KIX). It turns out NJ residents can go through the APEC Immigration Channel (business line). Print up these letters if the terms apply to you, show them at the border, and decriminalize yourself more efficiently. Courtesy of Martin Issott. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
(click on letter to expand in browser, Japanese and English)
ENDS
December 26th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
I wonder what people think of the 95 people who have been denied entry over the past month. Is the inconvenience worth it?
//////////////////////////////////
NATIONAL
95 foreigners refused entry into Japan since revised immigration law
Kyodo News Wednesday, December 26, 2007 at 05:00 EST
TOKYO — A total of 95 foreigners were refused entry into Japan in one month after Japan began fingerprinting and photographing foreign nationals at airports and seaports nationwide, the Justice Ministry said Tuesday. According to the Immigration Bureau, the number of foreign nationals who came to Japan totaled about 700,000 since the enforcement on Nov 20 of a revised immigration law.
Of the 700,000, Japan refused entry to 95 and forced them to leave, some of them because their fingerprints matched those who were deported in the past. The number of foreigners who applied to use an automated gate that allows them to leave and enter the country by having their pre-registered fingerprints checked was 6,834, the ministry said.
December 28th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
If you are fingerprinted/biometrically photographed upon entry/re-entry to Japan, your data will go to the FBI Biometric Database.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/27/6012/
There is no question about it.
December 28th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
FEEDBACK FROM CYBERSPACE:
For the sake of adding one more observer’s experience to the record-
I passed through immigration at Narita this afternoon with my family. Although separated from my wife and son at the checkpoint, we both went through our respective short lines very quickly- compared to a very long line of NJ w/o re-entry permits- and just as quickly rejoined on the other side to go pick up our luggage. Absolutely no hassles in terms of process, other than by the airline:
Our baby stroller was damaged at some point during the hand-off between departure and arrival gates. The agent in the baggage claim area told us we can try to make a claim with traveler’s insurance and if we didn’t have that, the best we would get is “oh, sorry, that’s too bad, you’re SOL”. (s**t out of luck)
Incidentally, I also saw a lot of inconvenienced, angry people at the domestic check-in in the US this morning….very long lines, cancellations, delays (2 and 1 hrs for me today), and overbooked flights leaving people stranded with a lot of luggage and family in tow…let alone being treated like cattle on the plane although having a “gold” frequent flier status and being a member for 14 years…
Some of you might want to dichotomize airline entanglements and the fingerprinting issue. Private enterprise vs. government. That’s fair. Still, it was a reminder that at least in travel, we are subjected to one-sided/partisan treatment in a system extending beyond the borders of race and nationality. (sigh)
Anyway, I’m happy to be back, wishing everyone the best for a great 2008!
December 29th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
…we both went through our respective short lines very quickly- compared to a very long line of NJ w/o re-entry permits
Isn’t that an artificial distinction to begin with? Exactly where do we start to create the gold standard–a borderless world?
December 30th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
FEEDBACK FROM CYBERSPACE:
http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18739&page=20
OK, setting aside the human rights issues for a moment, I wanted to comment on the practical aspects for resident foreigners with a re-entry permit. These comments are limited to my experience at Narita, though. Just completed a round trip, and believe it or not, it is *more convenient* for foreign residents to leave and enter the country than it was before the fingerprinting policy.
First, do not, I repeat, do not visit Shinagawa to pre-register your fingerprints. First of all, pre-registering for the automatic gate only saves you a few minutes each time you enter or leave the country, and more importantly, you can even do the pre-registration at Narita. Just arrive 5-10 minutes earlier than you planned, and make sure you go to one of the immigration halls which has the registration counter. For me, there was no line at all – I marched up to the agent, and the whole thing was done in about 3 minutes.
OK, now that you’re pre-registered, here’s where the magic happens:
LEAVING JAPAN: if you haven’t pre-registered, the checkpoint is just the same as before. You’re mixed with everybody else and usually have to wait in line 5-10 minutes. But if you’ve preregistered and make sure you go to the room with the automatic gate (e.g. 1 South), then you can go right through the auto gate, in about 30 seconds. That’s right – you get to march right past all the Japanese people who have to wait in line along with tourists returning home. Ha ha ha ha ha!
RETURNING TO JAPAN: As long as you have pre-registered, you have two choices. You can use the automatic gate or you can use the specially designated re-entry permit line. Whichever you prefer. I think you’ll find both are fast, and even faster than the line for Japanese citizens. For me, I went to the immigration hall without an automatic gate (the one with the automatic gate was a longer walk). But there was, again, literally no line for the special re-entry permit line. It’s been separated from the Japanese citizens’ line, and since there are fewer reentrants than Japanese, again, you zip right past the Japanese people. Hahahahahaha! I’m sure it would have also been instantaneous if I walked all the way over to the automatic gate.
Of course, the regular foreign visitors’ line looked like absolute hell, just like always. ends
January 5th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Not sure whether this belongs here, but this is the eMail I wrote to the visit Japan campaign guys after my experiences at Narita yesterday (their eMail is vjc@poem.ocn.ne.jp):
Dear Sir or Madam,
Yesterday I was arriving at Narita Airport, and here are my impressions:
First, when you walk from the plane towards the immigration area, you
can see all the fantastic pictures and ad’s from your yokoso Japan campaign
and it all looks really nice.
Then, your fingerprints and photo’s are getting taken and you start thinking that
maybe you are not so welcome in this country anyway, but still you say to yourself
“Well, they are doing the same thing in the USA”.
But then, when I was waiting for my bus, tired and exhausted from the trip, two police officers
came to me and asked me for my passport.
I showed it to them and asked them if they only check foreigners and they said: “Yes, we only check
foreigners”.
One even asked me where I was from, while looking at my German passport. This shows me that there
is absolutely no meaning in checking (because they obviously cannot read roma-ji), and this is just a harrassment
towards foreigners.
So first you tell foreigners yokoso Japan, then you tell them that you need to take their fingerprints and photos and then
you check them again based on racial profiling when people wait for their busses, trains.
This is racism and gives a foreign tourist the worst impression of Japan possible: We think you are a criminal because you
are a foreigner, and all under the “Yokoso Japan” picture. Does nobody get the irony?
Looking forward to you answer.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Joe: I don’t know why, but the “random passport checks” have really increased at Narita over the past year. I have flown a couple times per year since I came to Japan 4 years ago, and it wasn’t until June of 2007 that I ever saw coppers stopping people for their passports, but since then I have seen it on every one of my 4 trips out of the country (and been stopped myself twice). I’ve never been gaijin carded anywhere else, and I find it astonishing that the police think that they can detect fake passports any better than the immigration officials who just inspected me.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
FROM MARTIN ISSOTT, DATED JANUARY 7, 2008, updating earlier post found at
http://www.debito.org/index.php/?p=859
Dear Debito ,
A very Happy New Year !
I regret to have to advise that the APEC channel at KIX has been closed off now to regular returning residents , unless of course , you are on the KIX Immigration clandestine list .
After 2 successful re entry’s via the APEC channel at KIX 1/12 and 14/12 last year, my wife and I were refused entry via this channel today 7/1 by arrogant, curt and dismissive officials who demanded we join the foreigners cattle pen lines .
They insisted the KIX APEC channel was only for APEC card holders – this is a downright lie.
On 14th December last year I followed in the APEC line an obviously senior Korean businessman and his wife who were checked off on a list by a junior official , this man did not offer an APEC card , I watched the whole procedure carefully !
So after arguing with the officials today eventually we had to join the end of the Gaijin line – there is now at KIX a re entry permit holder line, if not a re entry booth , you are finally directed to any open booth for fingerprinting etc , it is faster than the visitor NJ line , but joining the end of the queue today it took us 37 minutes , the visitors line must have been taking at least an hour .
So another inconsistency is evident – there are foreigners and special foreigners and depending who you are , you are directed to one line or the APEC no waiting line !
ENDS
January 8th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Probably not adding anything very new but thought I should post brief details of my experience for reference all the same.
I returned last weekend from a package holiday my wife and I went on with my wife’s parents, brother and sister-in-law. We had a perfectly enjoyable few days in Bali where of course being part of a Japanese tour we spoke Japanese with guides, hotel staff, etc. It was nice to be talked to like I was a part of Japanese society by strangers whilst on holiday. But sadly upon return to Japan I was immediately branded a ‘visitor’ and seperated from my family.
We returned through Kansai Airport which seemed to only have two readily identifiable sections ‘Japanese Passport Holders’ and ‘Foreign Visitors’. I was wearing a T-shirt I had printed clearly saying ‘We Are Not Terrorists!’ and repeating the sentiment in Kansai dialect ‘私らテロリストちゃうわ！’ with a fingerprint ‘hinomaru’ T-shirt.
The airport was far from busy at that time and both the Japanese and foreign lines were short with alot more apparent security than usual. The Japanese lines quickly cleared but we of course moved slowly. To be helpful too, there were immigration guides checking we had the correct documents before actually moving from the line to be processed. Unfortunately their only concern was asking how much money I had on my person which isn’t actually necessary unless you’re a student(cultural or otherwise). He was insistent though despite the description on the re-entry form stating otherwise. So anyway I filled in a token amount and moved past him, I know I should have argued more. I then waited longer until being sent to the Japanese immigration desks which were now free.
After that things went fairly quickly, fingerprints were taken after a few attempts and problems adjusting the camera. To be fair the guy who processed my passport and took my fingerprints was polite, young and apologetic. He even complimented my shirt and admitted that the procedure was causing problems. He didn’t object or make things harder when I said that the whole thing was nothing to do with terrorism, that I had lived here for nine years and that my family had already gone through. I then went through releived that despite my clear anger I didn’t fall prey to any laws forbidding visual and verbal frustration.
My wife later told me that there had been a small child in the Japanese line crying that her NJ mother wasn’t with them.
January 10th, 2008 at 9:26 am
I agree with all in comment #15. I tried to pre-register my fingerprints , but all attempts with all fingers proved impossible. ( My wife had no problems registering her fingerprints)
When we flew back into Narita after a short holiday the queue for people with re-entry permits was only 5 mins. I did not even see any automated gates.
My advice to expats is don’t bother trying to register your fingerprints in advance, it may not work and does not seem to save any time at the airport anyway.
BTW very interesting piece in yesterdays Japan Times about how they used to fingerprint foreigners every 3 years and how determined opposition by a number of foreigners eventually overturned the law. I can’t find a link to story at the moment.
–INFORMATION ON THAT AT http://www.debito.org/fingerprinting.html
January 10th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I left Japan from Narita before Christmas and flew back into Kansai International Airport a couple of days ago. At Narita I got stopped for a passport check for the first time.
At KIX it was a quiet evening so no long wait. I had to get round a couple of guys who seemed to think I was a tourist heading for the wrong line, but was allowed to enter via the re-entry permit queue. The visitors queue was, of course, building up rapidly.
The problems occurred with fingerprinting and photographing. It took two attempts to get the prints to register, and two attempts to photograph me. I stared into a camera while a cheeky ‘Welcome’ message flashed up on the monitor.
Also, I had noticed that the fingerprint pads appeared none too clean, and afterwards I did indeed find some peculiar grey gunk on my fingers.
I don’t fancy going through this every single time. I’d been in Hong Kong around New Year’s, and the whole system is far more reasonable because they don’t automatically assume that anyone coming in has hostile intentions.
January 22nd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Dear All
Will stick to factual experiences here, rather than dwell on the fairness (or unfairness) of this law.
Since 20 November 2007 I have entered Japan 6 times. Narita airport twice, Haneda once, Nagoya once, KIX twice.
Narita came in on United Airlines – Very short wait – separate reentrant booths that were well marked – indifferent immigration personnel (Really dont care about the issue as long as it does not make trouble for them)- Not a big hassle
Haneda came in on Asiana – Wait was a bit longer – young lady working at the immigration counter was not friendly and became very indignant when I made comments about how unfair the law is for someone living in Japan 9 years. I made a face at the camera which resulted in me having to produce the old gaikokujin toroku and having a supervisor come over. The supervisor just waved me through – I found it a hassle – Alot of the Korean passengers were thoroughly pissed off (must be a reminder of the colonization).
Nagoya – Came in also on Asiana – No separate lines for residents (treated the same as all tourists) – immigration personnel putting on friendly faces and trying to direct people to lines and keep things moving but a huge step back for those of us residing in Japan. Attitude of immigration inspector – quite indifferent
Kansai – Two entries – both on United from the US – Came in at a busy time – There is 1 separate line for re-entrants, but the people will direct you ahead of non residents if it is really busy. Immigration people laughed when I made jokes about the law and seemed to be more – people seem more sympathetic.
Summary – I will re-enter at either Kansai or Narita – probably KIX more since I have a place in Kobe – Narita seems to be faster and I do not think there is much of a reason to register fingerprints as it does not appear to be a time saver or more convenient. (In both entries at Narita the line for re-entrants was shorter for Japanese)
Avoid Nagoya as if you come in with alot of tourists you will wait – Too bad Chubu is a beautiful airport.
I will have to come in through Fukuoka soon (not looking forward to it as it has been a pain even before this law)
Cheers to all
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Re-entered via KIX on Monday, from a biz trip to Philippines.
I was at the front of the plane, so got to the immigration section quickly. Immigration officer just assumed I was a tourist and sent me down the wrong lane, but since I was the first out, I didn’t really care.
My first finger prints failed but succeeded second time. MY photo failed 3 times, perhaps because I was not giving a ‘smile’ to the procedure. However, I was in and out in about 90 seconds. My first ever finger printing. Do I feel safer, do I feel protected, do I feel as if I am wanted here…..multiple choice answer!
As I went through customs, one guy from way way back beckoned me over. He proceeded to go through my whole bag. This is not the first time either. I have never had my bags searched in the 20 years of flying all over the world, except, only here in Japan.
I like #8 Glen’s comments and shall remember those, if only to chuckle to myself. If there were somewhere to complain and protest at this dehumanising experience, I would from the top of my voice. But being Japan and being a NJ, I would have more success watching grass grow or paint dry!
My parents escaped communism by running away, literally, whilst those around them were shot in the back or bombed. Now, here I am willingly going “back” to a defacto communist country. My father would turn in his grave if he knew…..
February 14th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Earlier this month I flew out of Kansai International Airport (not carded this time, unlike at Narita) and returned a few days later via the hydrofoil ferry from Busan, Korea to Fukuoka port.
There was no line for re-entry permit holders at all: just five or six for Japanese and *Special* Permanent Residents and one for ‘foreigners’. I even checked with an officer who was directing gaijin into the line, and sure enough was put with the visitors. The information panels were new and shiny-looking, with no mention of re-entry at all. I don’t know if these had been installed recently. Machine worked first time.
The immigration officers were indifferent, really, and I got searched by customs for the first time in ages (as did all other gaijins), although to be fair this is the first time I’ve seen customs officers actually search Japanese people (though only ones with huge amounts of luggage, as opposed to me with one tiny bag).
The only slight amusement about the whole thing was being held up in the immigration queue by an elderly Japanese lady who seemed to refuse to accept that she couldn’t go through in the gaijin line. Eventually three immigration officers whisked her to a Japanese line and let her jump the queue.
In Korea, you get stamped in and hand over a customs declaration: that’s it. No prints, no photos. And Korean customs and immigration officers seem to be mostly good-looking young women too.
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
i passed through kansai on 22nd march and it was total chaos. there was almost the same number of foreigners and japanese at the time. however, only 2 officials were at the gaijin gates, while 5 for the nihonjin gates. the whole process took around 45 mins, after a 14hours of flying. there were no separate lines for reentrants either. i think all countries should start specifically fingerprinting japanese and americans at immigration, for them to understand what it feels to be treated like a criminal for looking different.
March 28th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
got back to Narita last Friday.
Went to the re-entry line. It was faster than the other foreigner line but not as quick as the one for Japanese.
For those without a visa, the other line was so long for those people.
No problem with fingerprints, but didn’t care for the photo.
In the USA, San Francisco and Washington will have foreign people take ten prints.
Seems like we have it easier.
April 6th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
FEEDBACK FROM CYBERSPACE:
こんにちは 出人さん
I have heard about you a lot for a long time. This time I decided to write to you to share with you something that has happened to me and I believe it has happened to a lot of people in that ‘Re entry Permit Holder Line’
My name is XXXXX and yes I am a gaijin, probably half gaijin and half Martian. At least that is how I am made to feel on a daily basis in this country. Today (March 31st 2008) I experienced something horrible …no sorry, not horrible coz horrible is what I experience only regularly. Today ( March 31′ 08) at the immigration was a detestably obnoxious experience I had when going through the immigration process and this immigration guy was exactly that: detestable and obnoxious. I am sorry that it sounds like I am letting off steam here but with your opinion and advice, I will try to do something constructive in hopes of rectifying the situation regarding the issue. Here is what happened:
At the Re entry Permit Holder Line, The guy before me was told off rudely for not signing his name or something of sort so I got a feeling that this guy, whose name I found out later was Kuboshima after talking to someone of higher rank in the immigration office, was a bit of a jerk but I still tried to appear pleasant just to avoid trouble at all costs by saying hello (こんにちは）and giving out positive attitude only to be yelled at in a rude and unreasonable manner. I had given him my passport that happened to have my pick (for guitar) stuck in it (the pick had been in my pocket and I did not know of this).
Next thing was I heard something fell out of my passport, he picked it up, threw the pick at me and yelled at me in a loud and obnoxious voice ‘ こう言う物パスポート入れないでよ’ As if that wasnt obnoxious enough, he gave me a glare as if I had done something gravely wrong. That was when I realized that my instinct was right; this jerk is just plain unreasonable (well, no such thing as reasonable jerks, are there?)
For a second, I tried to think what causes this; why is this guy acting so obnoxious? and I can not help linking this to prejudice and racism because every single one in that line (re entry line) is definitely foreigners with the makeup of at least 75% Chinese nationals since most flights landed at the time were from China. I left that thought and looked at him in the eye and told him I did not know the pick was in there and there is no need for him to yell. He acted as if he didn’t hear a word I said. He then proceeded on asking rudely for my gaijin card which I forgot to bring with me this time. A perfect opportunity for him to yell at me yet again ‘日本の法律しゃらん？’ I then reached the boiling point and told him firmly to speak to me properly and politely ‘ちゃんと言ってください’ ’丁寧に言ってください’ He refused to listen and kept saying he didnt understand a word I said which was a total bullshit (excuse me); it was obviously a power play which usually happens when the native of a language refuses to listen to whatever you say in order to insult you. He gave me a hard time on the fingerprint and picture taking process by yelling at me saying I did it all wrong ie. ‘ここ見て’ 、 ’こうじゃないよ’ Note that the whole time he made sure to keep his voice and his face ugly and nasty.
I felt I was treated like a prisoner and even if I was one, I would still demand to be treated with certain amount of respect. I insisted if he wanted me to give the fingerprint properly, he needed to start talking properly and politely. There is no need to use Keigo but a common ください suffix should at least be present. Im sure his mom had taught him so. I tried to do the right thing in accordance with the law so I followed the instructions given even though they were given in the meanest manner you could imagine. Later I felt that I regret not stopping his increasingly nasty and abusive behavior. I should have left the spot to talk to the higher ranked officer there and then but, abiding to the law, I went through the process anyway. When everything was done, I got a bit disoriented ( from the built up exasperation) and almost walked back into the line only to have him sneer with remarks like ‘Where u think you goin?’ どこ行くと思う？I said something back at him. I then decided I must take this matter seriously which prompted me to go the immigration office to find his supervisor. I eventually found the person, explained what had happened to him and asked him to walk with me so I can show him exactly who it was so that he wouldnt get the wrong guy.
This is the second time I had to go through the process since the new rules of finger printing and photograph have been implemented….firmly at that. The first time wasnt entirely pleasant but the second time (this time) was outrageously obnoxious and it was obvious that the underlying cause of this behavior was based largely on prejudice ( I never had one single bad experience when foreigners could still join the Japanese line) This Kuboshima guy may be a real jerk to everybody anyway but somehow I feel that he would not talk to the Japanese nationals the same way. Something tells me that he would at least put ください in his sentences.
My observation is that when the residents could join the Japanese citizen line, it was never easy to tell the other Asians from the Japanese so the attitude of the officers tends to be rather calm and polite because it could be assumed that most people, if not looking obviously non Japanese, in the line are Japanese and we all know that the Japanese treat or at least try to be nice and polite to each other…..Rudeness and unkindness are something to be frowned upon. But when it comes to non Japanese, anything goes: absolute absence of keigo, yelling, direct and indirect insult by gesture and language used etc. So before November 20′ 2007 when people with valid visa could go to the Japanese line, foreigners including the Asians who usually are the victim of inferior treatment were treated somewhat humane (at least the insulting attitude wasnt as obvious) .
However, with the introduction of this ‘so effective’ new system in the name of security which clearly points out that only foreigners are capable of crime, every single soul in the line of Re entry permit holder is gauranteed to be a gaijin as looks will deceive no more. The attitude expressed is loud and clear that ‘They all are foreigners and will always remain ones; they need be filtered through the seive of Re entry Permit line’
With this guaranteed knowledge of everybody in the Re entry line is non Japanese, it is a lot easier to treat everybody in that line with the same manner: rudely insultingly with prejudice and superior attitude to boost because none in that line are Japanese. Why be polite then? Note that from my observation, the superior attitude is usually projected mostly to the Asian looking people. ‘Who cares? these poor Asians want to live in our great country ‘ is the attitude which seems to be steming from the culture of racism that permeates the entire floor, if not the whole airport or ….country.
What happened today I believe was an act of deep rooted prejudice. What the guy did today (to me and probably many others residents of this country) really hurt and worsened Japan’s image as a whole and especially in regards to the notoriously known racism and prejudice against non Japanese. I am very much concerned about Japan’s future and its wish to become ‘international’. If they continue employing this type of lowly educated racists with this retardedly superior attitude and inferior complex at the front gate of the country, I seriously doubt if their wish will ever come true.
Why are you still here then? Question posed to me sometimes by people who obviously have nothing better to ask. Well Japan is not the perfect mango and although even with some rotten parts, it is still edible when you know which part to eat and if you happen to swallow the rotten part, be sure to spit it out fast and take action to protect yourself from the the disease that will rotten you before you know it. That is to say that I still want to stay optimistic and see Japan as a country full of hope rather than a sinkhole. After all I’m a rightful citizen living here. I have made great friends here both Japanese and non Japanese who are good hearted and I always remember that.
Debito san, I am aware that you receive a large volume of mail and junk mail each day so thank you very much for taking time to read this. Your comments and advice would be greatly appreciated.
ends
April 29th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Hi D-man, Just came back into Japan for the 2nd time through Chubu-NGO. First time (January 2008) they had no “Returning Resident Permit Holder” counter, but now they do. A yellow labeled oasis of civility in the midst of the usual ocean of pandemonium. As the crowds swelled the J & NJ lines not eligible for the yellow lane, I slid through as only one of about six on the plane. I presented well sandpapered finger prints, definitely altered, and not the same as the previous set presented in 01/08. I was cheerily greeted in English and summarily processed, even though I’d deliberately grown a beard and looked quite unlike either my passport or ARC picture. Obviously the grunt behind the counter fulfilled his obligations leaving analysis to whoever. Altogether most civilized, under the circumstances. As a consequence I have simply stopped paying my city/prefectural taxes since 01/08, despite receiveing redlettered notices to comply. I figure that if they want to treat me like a criminal by finger printing, I will simply refuse to pay for the privilege. My days are numbered here anyway as I am negotiating a job overseas, but in the meantime I’m holding me nose, my tongue and my taxes. If they want to sue me, they can do so live on international TV. Great work you do, and I appreciate it immensely. Illegitimi Non Caburundum!
May 5th, 2008 at 2:29 am
This is a bit old, but returned to Japan on January 1, 2008 from a Christmas holiday in Canada. I entered through Narita, and there was only one other person in the re-entry line. He went through in a minute, and it was my turn. I was greeted politely, handed him my passport, and had my fingerprints and picture taken (first attempt was fine), was asked no questions and went through. I got through faster than any of the Japanese people did. As far as I could tell, it was quite efficient and quick.
I’ll compare to American and Canadian passport control. I flew through the USA, as it was cheaper. Immigration in the USA was reasonably efficient, though I was asked a few questions. I went through the US citizens/residents line, as Canadians can actually do that. No photo or fingerprints taken at all. Around Christmas, there was an officer checking everyone’s passport while waiting for luggage to come through. I was not asked in Narita.
As for Canada, they ask a few questions and don’t seem so friendly. I got more questions asked at Canadian immigration than American or Japanese. However, American immigration seemed more chatty. But Japanese immigration was fastest.
I’ve only had my luggage checked once, and that was January 1, 2007 in Narita. But everyone was having their luggage checked. On January 1, 2008, no one checked my luggage. It was quite quick and easy.
May 8th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I went to hong Kong for Golden Week and so lost my fingerprinting virginity upon my return. The wait at the rentry permit holders line at Narita was about 15 mins., and ther ewas no problem with being processed, but I was of course separated from my Japanese wife, who was through immigration and had collected our luggage by the time I got through. None of this, however, addresses the general humiliation I felt at being subjected to this racist procedure.
May 31st, 2008 at 1:52 am
Not much to say. My first experience was several months ago when I was leaving through Narita and I wished to register my data there. My flight was at around 8 pm so I was in the airport before six. To my surprise, the registration in Narita works only from 9 to 5! I did not register! When I came back to Japan, I went through the re-entry permit holders fast and my fingers and photo went on smoothly, I was lucky. However, I noticed that the immigration officer fed the computer with my passport expiry date (and may be other data) without asking for my permission! But on my second trip through Kansai, the immigration young lady could read my finger prints from the first time, still she jumped out of her counter and said follow me! She toke me to side room and said wait her. She did not care or respond to my loud questions in Japanese (where and why you are taking me out of the line? My (Japanese) wife and children have already passed through and I do not want them to worry about me). She only said one sentence: we want to confirm your passport! I said this is not the first time I enter Japan with that passport and I have entered before from Narita with this same finger and this same face so what is wrong? No reply. I refused to enter the room or set down and wait and kept on making noise so more 2 senior officers came and she asked them something that I did not hear well but they replied that this is not necessary! The old man still not replying to my questions of What is the problem toke to a machine that was not in use, toke my fingerprints and photo again and stamped my passport and said (O.K.). I was about to explode and wanted to understand but he already started dealing with another guy behind me. I asked last question: is this problem will happen every time I re-enter Japan. He simply said: (there was no problem!!!!! It toke me several hours to calm down but I could not stop thinking why they toke me out of the line. The only reason I could guess is that the young lady imagined that people from Middle East need to be double checked by more seniors or something like that.
June 9th, 2008 at 12:20 am
I’ve been traveling in and out Japan about 4/5 times since this went into effect (I’m an American citizen living in the US). I figured I’d summarize all my experiences for you. These were all through Narita.
I’ve had no problem either entering or exiting. Everyone has been friendly to me, and one time I was carrying a copy of “名探偵Conan” and the immigration officer and I chatted for a few seconds about it. The immigration gentlemen minding the lines seem a little overwhelmed, as it can be really crowded and there’s a lot of confusion and about a bazillion different nationalities in line.
I must admit speaking Japanese to them help abit, and breaks the ice. My Japanese is probably at a 3rd grade level if I had to peg it. I talked to the guy at the head of the line and he confessed that it’s really crowded everyday and hectic everyday.
As far as customs go, I’ve only had my bag checked once. They were checking everyone’s bag, and the guy who did it gave the most cursory glance at only one of my bags.
Same thing with airport security.
I would like to take this moment to use as a comparison my experience at the Bangkok airport (BKK). It was on my last trip, I was going to Thailand and then staying in Nagoya on my way back to the states.
BKK while a big modern airport was about the most militant place I’d been in. Most of the employees were done up to look like military officers, and when I left BKK and went back to NRT. The women at immigration, who was chatting on her cell phone, didn’t staple one of the documents to my passport (I was unaware of it because it was my first time in Thailand). When I got to my gate, I was scolded and reprimanded for not having this document, and I was told to leave all my belongs at the gate and go back to immigration. I asked her if my luggage would be safe, she said “maybe” but my documentation was more important than my luggage, and that it was my fault if something happens to it (I wisely carried my lugage with me) I got back to immigration, the woman who I had to deal with was miserable, thankfully the airline escort that came with me helped me out. But there was no way I could have “lost” this document as everyone had it stapled to their passport, and there was nothing stapled to mine. It left me pretty cheesed off at not only their carelessness, but also their pretty pissy attitude for a place called the “Land of Smiles”
JFK is pretty bad, too. Just not to the locals. I get waved through customs and immigration with no problem. I can’t say the same for most of the middle eastern looking people I’ve seen.
June 16th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I fly in and out of Japan about 2 times a month for business.
This week when I came back for the first time, customs (not immigration)
asked me not only for my passport, but also for my alien registration card…
New regulations? Or just arbitrary behaviour from the customs guy?
He tried really hard to get into some small talk about the place I live in Tokyo…
July 13th, 2008 at 10:29 am
I would just like to know that the leaders of the G8 were properly fingerprinted when they entered Japan. After all at least 4 leaders have the authority and access to nuclear and biological weapons.
July 16th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Spoke to my travel agent, just conversation. Told her about how I got the stamp from the Japanese embassy in Shinagawa so I would not need to be finger printer at the Narrita airport, and yet was fingerprinted anyway even after I showed the immigration person that I AM a permanent resident of Japan, and that I did get the stamp from the Japanese embassy which said I do not need be finger printed.
Her response was, and I am forced to agree with it, that America began this idiotic policy, with both finger printing and photographing foreigners entering the country. For a Japanese to enter America is far worse than for an American to enter Japan. And Japan is only following America’s lead (in raw stupidity).
Unfortunate,
Jon
July 20th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
If you are a foreigner and your wife/child are Japanese, you don’t need to be separated at Kansai airport. You can all use together the line for re-rentry foreigners. It’s no problem because they can can check Japanese people at any counter.
I would recommend this because it helps in some way. If you show up with a Japanese wife, then you don’t look like a terrorist in their eyes.
Speaking Japanese also helps. It may just be the next best thing to being Japanese.
August 17th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Since the introduction of the biometric checks, I a frequent traveler have registered to use the automatic gate at Narita. This has proven to have advantages in time and reduces the hassle of passing through immigration.
Yesterday my husband of 28 years and I arrived at Kansai International Airport from Heathrow. He is a Special Permanent Resident so we joined different queues. I joined the “express lane” for re-entries with another 200 Chinese workers, 50 minutes later and after filling out the new re-entry form stating how much money I was carrying I was finally deemed acceptable and was reunited with my husband in the customs hall. He was visibly upset concerning my treatment and made a formal complaint. I have PR, I have resided in Japan for 32 years, I own my home, I pay my tax, I abide by the law, I donate to Japanese charities and I do volunteer work in my local community, in short I am a good “citizen”.
My experience at KIX proves that having PR means nothing. The new border controls and the separating of families is a cruel reminder that the rights of foreigners particularly those with PR are on the wane, further more I am concerned about what other rights can be taken away.
The insult of having to submit to biometric checks is up and running and is here to stay. However having to declare how much money I am carrying and having to stand in a different queue to my husband and four children is outrageous.
On arrival in Australia my husband accompanies me through the Australian Passport queue. The inviolability of marriage and family obviously means nothing at the Japanese borders.It should not be forgotten that there are elderly foriegners with PR who will be treated in such a hideous manner.
Until an automatic gate is installed at KIX I refuse to use it again.
Susan Menadue-Chun
Tottori
August 24th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Just got back in to Hiroshima from a short trip to Seoul. It took a few moments only to go through the gate, but I did say to the official that it was discrimination, and not good. She seemed a bit shocked, offended even, but ultimately you have to speak out when something is illogical and unfair. If you accept such things silently, then worse measures could follow. We should let the government know, politely but unequivocally, how we feel about being treated as potential criminals.
August 28th, 2008 at 3:33 am
In June this year (right around the time of the summit) I arrived in Narita, did the fingerprint thing, collected my bags and rushed to the train to make an appointment. I had the unfortunate luck of locking eyes with a rather young policeman, who politely asked to see my passport. I thought that I had already passed through customs, but I guess you need a passport to ride on JR these days as well. It was almost funny. Then he pulled out a clipboard and asked if he could ask me some questions. It began getting less and less funny. Who knows what genius thought up this crime-fighting sceme. Play 20 questions with the terrorists to see if they slip up! However, I explained to him that I really was in a hurry, so if he could fill his clipboard quota with another foreigner that would really help me. Surprisingly, he let me go.
On a tangent, it’s also somewhat baffling how they do ID checks when you get off the train to go into Narita Airport. Thankfully, this is J/NJ alike, so no discrimination, just stupidity. They just look at your ID and let you through. What exactly are they trying to do? Do they have the names of every criminal and terrorist memorized?
Sigh…
August 30th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I’m somewhat confused. Fingerprinting is generally accepted as a passive approach to crime prevention. It has no direct effect on stopping any sort of crime unless one has already been committed. I myself can state that when I became a part-time employee of the State of Hawai’i I had to be fingerprinted to ensure that I could be lawfully employed as such.
I think that it is important to remember exactly what each personally identifying piece of information means and where it goes. It is quite easy for Western democratic citizens to shout and wave pitchforks when any attempt to take personally identifying information occurs, but as far as fingerprints go, if you’re a criminal, you wear gloves, and if you’re not, it has no effect. These darn machines don’t even work right, right? Meanwhile in the US Internet Service Providers are being slowly forced by encroaching legislation to police their own clients, including handing out truly personally identifiable data, in return for compromise on the issue across the political spectrum. Which gets you in trouble quicker? Well, if you’re not a criminal, I should hope it would be a moot point.
要すると、
I don’t think this is really about the machines. The driving force behind this is a traditionally heavy-handed approach to dealing with the possibility of hereto considered ‘foreign’ intrusions, such as large-headline crime. The fact is, being a non-citizen whose rights within such a country are provisional and subject to the whims of in the end, an alien government (although to be honest, my own government is just as much alien to me; at least I can read and understand 90% of the forms they make me fill out), there should be no expectation of fair treatment, at least not by such an intricate and complex organization, particularly when everyone’s definition of ‘fair’ seems to be subject to such critical cultural concerns. Mistreatment is mistreatment, but let’s be aware of exactly how large and ponderous the forces of policy are.
There has to be a better way to go about this, on both sides.
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
I went to that modeling agency that is set up for people outside of Japan to appear in television advertisements, I cant remember the name of it, but I went there with my wife to be made available if they wanted someone who is not from Japan to be in an advert, or for an extra or something. And I got a call 3 days ago asking if I would let some security company take my fingerprints and my photographs for 8000 yen, for testing out some machine. What do you think about this? I think it has trick written all over it. What do you think debito?
September 7th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Trevor, the real reason for all this heavy-handedness is to get back at America for fingerprinting Team Japan at US borders. That would be fine; like Brazil, tit-for-tat is an excellent way to combat Americna hegemony. The problem, however, is that because the Japanese government are racists, they can’t distinguish between Americans and all other gaijin. (This is why I have to fight Japanese cabin crew for a landing card whenever I fly from narita to the US or Canada; they assume that as we’re “all gaijin together”, I don’t need one.) The real crux of this issue is racism.
Man in Japan: It’s a con, designed to get you used to the idea of surrendering biometric information wherever you go. The authoritarian British government is trying something similar. Don’t fall for it.
September 12th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Just got this from the No2ID website in the UK:
A supporter reports that: “A frequent traveller who visits the US regularly and is enrolled on their fingerprint database for foreign nationals was refused entry on arrival from New Zealand. When she eventually proved who she was and was admitted, the immigration officer stated ‘This quite often happens with long-haul passengers, the aircraft pressurisation alters the fingertip geometry beyond the tolerance of the biometric measurements’.”
February 5th, 2009 at 10:25 am
I am concerned that this new procedure will cause anyone with celiac disease to be refused entry to Japan. I have so many white lines in my fingerprints, due to gut lining problems, that they are almost unreadable. I can’t tell if I have loops, or whorls, or arches. I am definitely trying to heal my digestive tract but I have learned that it can take up to 2 years for the fingerprints to clear. Does this new process prevent me from going to Japan on vacation? They shoudl put a process in place to take care of those people with unreadable prints rather than preventing them from entering the country. There will always be people with difficult fingerprints due to celiac or psoriasis or injury. It seems as though this process was not clearly though out.
March 6th, 2009 at 3:29 am
Hi Cindy,
I understand your concern. My suggestion would be to convince yourself if it’s good to risk going to Japan or not by taking your question to the responsible office. If they care about such problems, they will surely give you an answer (and if they don’t give an answer, apparently they don’t care).
In this case you need to be at the Immigration Bureau, a subsection of the Japanese Ministry of Justice. You can find their address on the following web page: http://www.moj.go.jp/NYUKAN/nyukan64-2-1.pdf.
Please let us know how their answer (if any) is. Personally I’m sorry to say that I don’t have high hopes. My experience is that they do not even answer to requests for information they are obliged to give under Japanese privacy law, even though on the same page I mentioned they say they act according to it.
April 24th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Hi a very entertaining video from the guardian about fingerprinting…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/video/2009/apr/23/mark-thomas-fingerprints-dna-database
keep up the good work,
May 6th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
This is tangental to the fingerprinting issue- I was fingerprinted and mug-shotted re-entering through Narita yesterday after the GW break, which we’d spend abroad.
Actually, apart from the idiocy of the official speaking in broken English and refusing to understand my reply in Japanese (I ignored the minor fuss and joined the queue for those with re-entry visas), I was quite amused by my treatment over the clutch of white coated mask covered officious busy bodies that met us just before immigration – part of the “swine flu” hysteria.
It was just the petty, childish behavior of the immigration official this time. There he was armed with his mask and his arm band holding out the forms. He looked at me and I asked him for two copies, one for me and one for my wife (who is Japanese), in Japanese. He simply ignored me, gave one to my wife and made a sort of clownish gesture for me to fill in the form, pointedly giving me it with the English side. So I thought, ok, I’ll fill in the side in Japanese. I walked away to the desk, was filling it in, felt a presence by me and realized he was peering at me from behind my shoulder. I looked at him and quickly turned away while filling in the form to maintain my sense of privacy. He immediately tried to grab the form but I whipped it away from him, and then he started stabbing the 住所： part, loudly telling me “Zizz mean JAPNESE addressu!”
I was kind of incredulous. But also deeply disappointed. Of course, after correctly filling in the form in katakana and kanji and hiragana, not knowing this pompous little official had singled me out for watching and supervising me as if I am a child (with me being perhaps 20 years his senior) and then having him say that just did not compute. Of course I understood what it meant, otherwise I would not have been half way filling it out when I was interrupted by him. Was I just a monkey who had luckily managed to fill out the form correctly until this point and then suddenly needed his guidance? Was he angry at me for filling it in in Japanese, but I wasn’t supposed to? I think so many of us have faced the situation where we have met people who refuse to understand that we can speak in Japanese perfectly fluently and naturally and don’t need be told how good we are or that we can use hashi, etc.
I know this is old ground.
However, this is an immigration officer or quarantine officer who is obviously supposed to be trained to defend Japan against the evil gaijin and their diseases, whoops sorry, I meant defend Japan against the foreign virus, erm, I meant maintain public health security…oh, you know what I mean…
…so at least you would think that he would have a minimum of basic communication skills, or some sort of basic human empathy. But no, it seemed that he was intent on expressing his programming on the gaijin. I suppose I just should have played the role assigned to me. However, I looked him and just said “Bakayaro.”
Oh, the seething look he gave me, this figure, a real picture in his spectacles, gloves and creepy mask. Who knows, he might have been thinking “we should put chips in these assholes and put them in camps, there’d be no problems then.” Or perhaps he fancied me?
Whatever.
You know, but as an official of the Japanese govt. trying to protect the kokumin, etc. etc. he was pretty brainwashed and stupid. At least he wasn’t actively vicious and rude like some (but not all) U.S. immigration officials I’ve had to deal with.
Incidentally, when it came to “Checkpoint Swineflu- the Last Defense” the woman held the form, looked at the form, looked at me, turned it to the English side (I’d handed it to her with the Japanese side facing up) looked at it, me, it, me, it me, turned it over, saw the Japanese side, looked at it, grimaced, looked at me, it, me, it me and then blurted out in English….”YOU MAY GO.”
After 15 years in Japan (I am in my mid-40s) I have become fairly immune to the stupidity and assumptions that seem to be drilled into so many people here. My wife always says, it’s not a reflection of me, but the other person. I’ve been met by just as much natural behavior and so many good things here that the plusses far outweigh the minuses.
However, the sort of institutionalized stupidity, the ingrained racism and blindness that seems to be broadcast by 法務省, its a sort of sepsis or poison, I don’t know, a horrible cancer that seems to make what you would consider rational people unable to communicate on all sorts of levels.
As a permanent resident here who not only pays all the taxes citizens do (including nenkin) but also as a company owner and property owner paying all sorts of other tax, I was pretty appalled when the fingerprinting/ mugshots (i.e. all gaijin are potential criminals and need to be watched) came in. I sort of thought that as someone who has demonstrably proved himself a responsible person holding eijuken, has given so much information that…etc. etc. I know the arguments. Of course, now I am forced to accept that the biometric data taking not only shows our real status here (basically all foreigners not Japanese citizens are here temporarily and should go home, as this is not their country) and the govt.’s attitude (anyone not Japanese has basically second or third class rights, unless they are (a) rich and well connected or (b) a diplomat) and (c) we are the test-run for Japanese.
I know all this. But I just can’t get over the idiocy of the official. What disturbs me is that the deep-seated prejudice and blindness of this supposedly intelligent official just sort of runs against basic human intelligence. Welcome to obstinate, ingrained, official racism.
Is this the best Japan can do in 2009?
July 4th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
On the immigration fingerprinting issue, I was talking to my work colleague yesterday about this, and he said that all Japanese are fingerprinted now as well. He had already been through the process on returning from China a few weeks ago. Can anyone confirm this?
By the way, my colleague also commented then that he didn’t understand why HE had to undergo fingerprinting, being Japanese and all. To that I simply mentioned that I don’t see why foreign nationals were (initially?) targeted for this alleged “anti-terorism” measure when the only acts of terorism – that I know of – carried out on Japanese soil were committed by Japanese (sarin attack, Sekigun etc.).
– Japanese do not have to by law undergo fingerprinting at border. He was duped.
August 26th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Same experience as @50. My (Japanese) wife spoke to the guy “organizing” the NJ immigration line at Narita and we were immediately shepherded toward the diplomat/crew desk. I still had my fingerprints and photo taken but my experiences at JFK and EWR have been much worse.
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:17 am
Michael Moore (yes, that Michael Moore) lambastes GOJ for fingerprinting him at the border; November 30, 2009 press conference:
http://www.debito.org/?p=5347
December 5th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Last night’s 9pm NHK News Watch was a foreigner-fest post-9:30, with among other things, brief coverage of a Chinese woman who thwarted the fingerprinting system last year by scarring her fingers. She had gotten a fake marriage with a Japanese man, having being deported two years earlier. Obviously, the system is less than perfect.
The other stories featured a bestseller called 日本人の知らない日本語 (Japanese that Japanese People Don’t Know), including closeups of a page where a blond white foreigner becomes enraged through misinterpreting ‘~ni narimasu’ (there was a helpful demo by our reporter, who suggested that a foreigner buying poundcake, on hearing the cheery ’160 en ni narimasu’ (‘that’s 160 yen’) could well believe the seller is saying ‘it becomes money’). And they wrapped with a green-robed Santa from Denmark visiting kids in Kyoto.
December 5th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
@50, even if KIX does get an automatic gate it doesn’t mean you won’t get fingerprinted.
I have the stamp in my passport that allows me to use the automatic gate, yet the last time I re-entered Japan at Narita (in June this year) the gate was closed. I politely asked to have it opened (in Japanese) but was refused (in a combination of broken Japanese and gestures). After several minutes of trying to discuss the matter with a staff member, they opened a separate counter for me away from the crowds. Here they took my fingerprints and photo anyway! All this while my Japanese wife and my son (who has a UK and Japanese passport) were separated from me. Yokoso!
December 21st, 2009 at 4:34 pm
To PKU,
This is rather late and I hope you do happen to come back and read it.
You said you speak Japanese, right? Excellent — next time they English at you, just look blankly and ask “hai?” Bonus points if they repeat in English. Then you kind of look around at the other staff and say “nihongo ga hanaseru hito inaindesu ka?” or “eigo wa wakaranaindesu kedo…” Problem solved.
Double bonus points if, after their first English comment, you pause for a split second before lighting up and saying “sumimasen ga, tohokuben wa wakarimasen.”
I refuse to be Englished at anymore and use all of the above for great justice.
April 1st, 2010 at 2:52 am
I am 20 and have been on exchange to Japan at least once for the past 4 years. The longest I spent was 1 year in 2008 attending a local high school. I have had to do the foreigner screening only twice and both at the same airport – Fukuoka. In fact I have returned 2 weeks ago from the most recent trip. Both times I have been it has been painless in full English and with many staff members speaking both English and Japanese (as well as some who speak Korean, Indian and Chinese).
The most recent trip saw me 3rd in the foreigners line with all my details filled out on the landing card. The first person got through in about 5 minutes. The second (I think from Malaysia) hadnt filled in the card nor actually understood in any language the porr imigration offical said it in, what exactly he had to do. The foreigner screening point was staffed by one official. The Japanese gate had 10. Further most security members at the airport are actually a private security company that works through out Fukuoka Prefecture. Waiting in the line I got talking (in Japanese) to a lady who seemed to be an official who was running round checking everyones cards. I made conversion basically with wow it seems like it is a bit slow. To which her reply was (translated) Yeah I know, they seem to give preference to getting Japanese processed although there are so many foreigners waiting. (There were probably 150 in the line behind me).
Following the hour wait the man was still at the counter doing whatever he was doing. It was also at this time that the Japanese lines had finished and all the officials opened up the foreigner gates. After about 3 minutes of fingerprints and photographs, and me making casual conversation in Japanese I was through no problems at all..
I suppose now they have worked it all out though, it would probably be a little bit easier sticking (at least) a second immigration official for the 7 gates for foreigners… Really I suppose it comes down to how you appraoch the situation… ie. Dont make conversation with the gruff looking security guard who looks like he is ready to jump on you.
April 24th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
I do admit that I “staged” this one, at least “part one” but it was quite entertaining nevertheless. I thought I’d stage an experiment where I deliberately joined the wrong queue. I thought, well, all the gates have the fingerprinting and photo machines, tastefully supplied by NEC with their happy smiling faces of the gaijin being criminalized. They could just process me as I was with my family….
So last Sunday we came back from Taiwan with my Japanese family (wife, father- and mother-in-law) and I admit I deliberately joined them in the Japanese queue…there I was chatting away with otosan when immediately a harassed looking female official came almost jogging up- it was pretty immediate she spotted me, looked at me, looked at otosan, interrupted me and Engrished me- “YOU HAVE JAPANESE PASSPORT!” and I forgot my ploy and immediately answered “Igirisu-jin deskedo,” and she gave me a patronizing smile and said “you have reentry visa?” I sort of looked at her and tried in a dignified as possible fashion as I could to re-entry visa holders queue (which wasn’t long).
Otosan and okasan of course were completely oblivious to what I had been doing, but my wife was in on it. So they all got through and my lovely wife made a point of making sure that the three of them were waiting the other side of the booth watching me get fingerprinted and mugshot. The guy doing it was completely quiet, no greeting, no eye acknowledgement at all. I’d like to think he was made to feel uncomfortable. My J father- and mother-in-law had only been dimly aware of what was going on and what I was trying to do, by this stage. But I had been segregated and they had been delayed by discriminatory bureaucracy.
Because at customs when the four of us arrived in a tight group, me and the wife pushing the trolly and my wife handed over our four passports, the customs guy didn’t seem to like it at all. He immediately separated my passport from the others and gave me a doubtful/ distasteful stare. My wife immediately said “We’re all together,” which he ignored then asked my wife two or three questions about her trip, then looked at me again, at which point otosan fixed him with a stare and said “we’re together.” Given the fact that my otosan is very distinguished looking and he’s 70, the little prick in the uniform didn’t have it in him to ignore him- it was a flat statement of fact. He just waved us through. In my mind, I admit, I was giving him the finger as we walked past. Perhaps it’s me being over-sensitive or letting my febrile imagination go too, but I swear he had a sort of snarl on under his creepy mask.
It’s become a real battle of wills for me to make sure that I maintain my dignity returning back to Japan. Having spent a lovely holiday with my Japanese family, you know, returning at the airport seemed like a reimposition of government mandated BS- you are an alien, you do not belong here, you are a potential criminal and you must be fingerprinted and photographed. Nippon Yokoso!
I love my family and my life here, and I recognize that the government has to maintain security at the borders. But it’s really a flat statement that despite the fact that I have eijuken, own a business and two properties in this country, I am, in the MOJ’s view separate and unequal.
The other thing I noticed was the lady who asked me if I had a Japanese passport. In one mind, maybe this was an (un)conscious expression of the belief that even if this guy has a Japanese passport, i.e. is a Japanese citizen, he’s not “really Japanese.” Having citizenship, if I had it, didn’t really make me Japanese. I would always be a foreigner, due to my foreign blood or ancestry. This idea struck me at the time, and looking at Ishihara’s comments recently, who knows, I could be on the money. But can’t really be sure, can I?
On the other hand, it could well have been a technical question- simply if I did not have a Japanese passport, then I was in the wrong queue. However, she did interrupt a conversation being held in Japanese with my mother- and father-in-law with her Engrish. There seemed to be a sort of category in her mind that non-asian person despite obviously comfortably speaking Japanese with his family still needed to be addressed in Engrish anyway.
My Japanese otosan is a very understated and laid back man- he’s a great bloke and never makes a fuss about anything. The last time he was mad, I remember him putting down his tea with a pointed “click” on the table, clearing his throat, and walking out of the room calmly! That’s about as outraged as he can get.
But when I think about it, he’s a several key times gone into bat for me in his own immutable way- timing is perfect- you know, like tossing down the Ace of Spades casually at exactly the right moment to win the pot. He saw off the guy in the uniform at the airport just like that. As we went through, I just felt an enormous sense of pride and belonging. They may be able to break up families at the passport stage, but they’ll not break us up with their racism and racist attitudes.
But I wonder, where do they get these people from? Do they train them to be so obstinate and thick headed? Or is it just people in uniforms?
(No comment on U.S. or UK immigration officials- I’d NEVER try to cross one of them. I remember once when my wife was at Heathrow behind me and she was facing cross questioning by the immigration official about her place of stay in the UK and I said something in Japanese to her from the other side and the evil bastard shouted at me to “Shut the fuck up or I’ll throw her out of the country.” Mmm, welcome to Blighty, Yuko! )
– Yow. Great stories. Thanks.
April 27th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
I went through this at Narita when it was all fairly new. I was 17 then and by myself, and I look young for my age, so immigration didn’t really know what to make of me I figure, but their behaviour wasn’t nearly as bad as I’ve read above. Sure, about 5-10% of my BRITISH Airways flight was Japanese and enjoyed nearly 90% of the staffing so the wait was long, but everything went smoothly when I got to the desk. I’ve never had my fingerprints taken before and didn’t exactly like the idea of handing them over to a foreign country that I deemed untrustworthy with such information, but I did so and scowled for their photo. Guy didn’t try any Engrish on me AFAIR(emember) just pointed and refused to make eye contact. When it was done he handed me my passport and made eye contact just for a moment – long enough for me to beam at him and thank him in my best Japanese. The security guy before exiting into the arrivals hall asked me where I was staying and for how long, didn’t bother asking me to open my luggage, and let me go after about 15 seconds.
And if I was fluent and staff decided to speak back to me in Engrish I would reply (in Japanese) for all to hear “Your English is not very good, I’m afraid I cannot understand you. Please speak in Japanese.”
May 2nd, 2010 at 9:34 am
I’ve been wanting to visit Japan for a while, and only in the last 2 days do I learn that in doing would be like being black in the 1940′s
I’ve never been in a fight, never stole anything, never hurt anyone, never been involved with the law, yet from what I’ve read, if I go there, I’ll be seen as some kind of trouble maker and would feel very unwelcome and out of place.
2 years worth of dreams and learning some Japanese utterly destroyed in one weekend
I wish this was common knowledge internationally. Looks like I wrongly assumed Japan was a modern place.
– I still say you should come over here and give this place a try.