Kyodo: MOJ says GOJ to scrap NJ registration system and Gaijin Cards

mytest

Hi Blog: Could the rumors have been true after all?

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Gov’t plans to scrap registration system on foreign nationals
TOKYO, Jan. 25 KYODO NEWS
Courtesy Martyn Williams
http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=359649

(EDS: UPDATING WITH ADDITIONAL INFO)
The government plans to scrap the current registration system for foreign nationals living in Japan and introduce a new resident registry system similar to that for Japanese residents, Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama said Friday.

”We are moving in the direction of deciding to abolish it,” Hatoyama told a press conference, indicating the Justice Ministry and the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry are working to craft a bill to that end to submit in next year’s ordinary parliamentary session.

Under the current registration system, the personal data of foreign nationals living in Japan, including their address and marital status, are registered only on an individual basis and not on a household basis, hampering local municipalities from grasping the situation of foreign residents in Japan.

Since foreign residents are not obliged to report to municipalities a change of address, it has also been difficult for the authorities to provide foreign nationals with information in areas such as school enrollment, health insurance, and residence tax procedures.

The move to scrap the system comes amid mounting calls for action from local municipalities with growing populations of foreign nationals such as Brazilians of Japanese descent. Some of the children of such residents are failing to enroll in local schools at the appropriate times.

”We are unable to properly notify families having school-age children of necessary information on school enrollment,” an official from the town of Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture, where foreign nationals account for about 16 percent of the overall population.

A social insurance consultant from the town, Shuichi Ono, said, ”Some foreign residents frequently move from one place to another. Once they return to their home countries, it is not easy to send them residence tax notifications.”

Under the envisioned registration system, information on foreign residents will be handled on a household basis as well.

The government is also considering replacing the current alien registration cards, which foreign residents are required to carry at all times, with a new certificate card.
=============================
ENDS

COMMENT: Pinch me. Let’s keep an eye on this one, people, as it’s fundamental to our lives in Japan–and getting rid of the Gaijin Card could be the best news we’ve had all decade. It all depends on what goes in its place. What’s with this “certificate card”, and will not carrying it 24-7 still be a criminal offense?

As commenters below put well, it’s not like any government to give up a means of control over people, especially when you consider that practically all governments to some degree control information about their foreigners (not to mention their citizens). But imagine if the Gaijin Card Checks actually became somehow less nasty (or even nonexistent–but that’s sky pie at this point), and NJ were actually formally registered as “residents” with some kind of juuminhyou?

In sum, will the new system be a way to ensure all people regardless of nationality are informed of and guaranteed the fruits of Japanese society? Or will it still just be a means to police them?

If you see any more articles before I do, please add them to the Comments section in full text with links. Thanks. Arudou Debito in Tokyo

31 comments on “Kyodo: MOJ says GOJ to scrap NJ registration system and Gaijin Cards

  • Wow… Yes, I’d love to see any other news sources regarding this. I’m curious as to what measures they’re planning on implementing instead of alien registration, though. Could a more widespread use of biometrics be waiting in the wings? Very interesting.

    Reply
  • Whoa-there! I just found this on http://www.gaijinpot.com:
    http://www.gaijinpot.com/read_news.php?id=14572&time=

    Seems that there will be a system akin to the koseki-shohon or jyu-min-hyo for SPECIAL PERMANENT RESIDENTS. Others will have a form of gaijin-card given to them at the airport on re(?)/arrival. Presumably(?) this will be required to be carried 24/7, and make it easier to collect residency taxes than it is now. I see this as a tightening of the net on non-special permanent residents and other international residents, not a loosening, all enabled by this criminal fingerprinting process.
    I don’t trust Hatoyama as far as I can throw him Yokoso!

    Reply
  • Here’s an article in Japanese:

    http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20080125-00000091-jij-pol

    外登証廃止、国に情報一元化=次期通常国会に法案−鳩山法相が方針
    1月25日13時2分配信 時事通信

     鳩山邦夫法相は25日午前の閣議後の記者会見で、各自治体が発行している外国人登録証を廃止し、国が一元管理する「在留カード」を使った外国人台帳制度を導入する方針を明らかにした。法務、総務両省で検討を重ね、来年の通常国会に関連法案を提出する。
     現在の外国人登録制度では、住所変更などで外国人登録証の内容を変更した場合でも法務省入国管理局への報告は義務付けられておらず、入管が把握し切れないなどの問題点が指摘されていた。
     このため、登録証を廃止する代わりに入国管理局が在留カードを発行し、情報管理を国に一元化。さらに、この情報を基に住民基本台帳と同様の外国人台帳制度を導入し、就学や健康保険など行政サービスの利便性の向上を図ることを検討している。朝鮮半島出身者など特別永住者に関しては、台帳への登録対象とする一方、在留カードは不要とする方向だ。 

    No time for a translation now, but it basically says that the authority will be transferred to the national government, and the card will be replaced with an alien registry system that utilizes an “alien card” (zairyuu ka-do). Since there is currently no obligation to notify immigration of changes in the info on one’s ARC, the new card would require that (i.e. immigration, not local authorities, need to be notified when, say, you move to a new apartment). PRs and zainichi will have to register but won’t need to carry the cards.

    It actually sounds like a step in the direction of more control than anything.

    Reply
  • Jason Topaz says:

    I try not to be cynical, but I feel like this can’t be the whole story.

    This does not sound like it’s just about carrying cards – it’s about abolishing the registration itself. National and local government offices wouldn’t know what foreigners are living in their areas. Police would have no way to check on a foreigner’s visa validity. Sounds great to me! But is there any way in heck that Kunio Hatoyama is going to preside over this massive voluntary relinquishment of government control over foreigners?

    Hatoyama himself has as much as admitted (if I recall) that the new immigration fingerprinting system exists in part to fight domestic crime by foreigners. If they stop keeping track of where foreigners live, how can they track down culprits? This is also the guy (with Al Qaeda buddies from his basket weaving class) who “knows” there are terrorists actively moving about in Japan.

    I can’t believe it. I fear we might not be hearing the second half of the story: the alien registration system is going to be replaced with something far more intrusive and controversial. (boy, do I hope I’m wrong)

    Reply
  • Japan of the future?

    – Every resident (Japanese and NJ) and visitor to have biometric data registered
    – Every resident (Japanese and NJ) to be issued a card
    – Every permanent resident eligible to vote
    – Japanese language requirements for those wishing to emigrate
    – A proper Japanese language education infrastructure
    – Promotion of immigration to Japan as a viable place to live and work (not just as an expat working for a foreign company)
    – Equality for NJ under the law, with all UN mandates met

    A country I think everyone could live with!

    Reply
  • Here’s a longer article in Japanese
    http://sankei.jp.msn.com/politics/local/080125/lcl0801251401001-n1.htm

    外国人登録制度を廃止へ 政府、台帳管理に再編
    2008.1.25 14:01
     法務、総務両省は25日、現行の外国人登録制度を廃止し、日本人の住民基本台帳と同様の在留管理制度を導入する方針を固めた。鳩山邦夫法相は同日の閣議後会見で、「(現行制度は)廃止の方向で決めつつあり、次期通常国会に(関連法案を)出したい」と表明した。
     現行制度では在留外国人は個人単位で登録され、世帯ごとの現況を反映していない。また、転出届の提出も義務化されておらず、就学手続きや健康保険加入などの基礎資料としては不備が多いと指摘されていた。
     新制度では外国人の在留管理について世帯単位で把握。外国人登録証明書は廃止し、新たに「在留カード」を発行する仕組みが検討されている。
     政府は昨年6月、平成21年の通常国会までに外国人登録制度を見直し、関連法案を提出する方針を閣議決定。法務、総務両省が制度設計について検討を続けていた。
     ■外国人登録制度 日本に在留する外国人の婚姻関係や住所などを明らかにするために、住んでいる市町村に届け出て登録する制度。登録すると市町村から外国人登録証明書が交付される。登録時の指紋押捺(おうなつ)に人権侵害との批判が強まり、平成5年から在日韓国・朝鮮人らの押捺を廃止。12年からすべての外国人の押捺が廃止された。

    Though a step in the right direction, as it seems they’re aiming to make it more like the Japanese Jyuminhyou (possibly adding a little visibility to us married to Japanese),the’s one comment in the middle that hints it will still be buisiness as usual:
    外国人登録証明書は廃止し、新たに「在留カード」を発行する仕組みが検討されている。
    “Consideration is being given to abolish the current ‘Gaikokujin touryoku shoumeisho’ (gaijin card)system for a new ‘zairyu kaado’ (resident card)”. I’d sure like to know what that is going to be!

    Reply
  • This has got to be fake. Every nation in the world has some sort of registration system for foreign nationals. You can’t just scrap it, unless it means carrying around your passport at all times. In which case it is an even deeper dive towards wrist tattoos and special armbands.

    Reply
  • An Mainichi has it in English:

    http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080125p2a00m0na004000c.html

    Sorry for the comment flood.

    ============================
    Japan to adopt new register system for foreigners

    The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the Ministry of Justice have decided to abolish the Alien Registration Act’s system of residence administration, and adopt a register system similar to the basic resident register system for Japanese, it has been learned.

    Registration of foreigners under the act, which formerly involved fingerprinting, will end and certificates of alien registration for special permanent residents such as North and South Koreans residing in Japan will be done away with, though it is yet undecided whether new certificates will be issued in their place.

    Both ministries plan to establish a framework plan for the new system by the end of March, and submit related bills to regular Diet sessions next year.

    Ministry officials said that registration certificates, which are issued by local bodies and which foreigners are required to carry at all times, will be abolished, and the Immigration Bureau will issue resident cards to mid- and long-term foreign residents containing their names, addresses and photographs. The cards will be handed to newly arriving foreigners at airports and to residents at local immigration offices. Local bodies that are shown the cards will record the relevant information in new registers.

    Registration administration for non-Japanese is currently carried out separately for each foreigner rather than by household. Under the register system, the idea of classing foreigners by household in the same way as Japanese and reflecting this in notification of change of address, births, deaths, marriages and other details is being considered. Officials say this will prevent people from being left out of national health insurance, nursing insurance and child welfare benefit systems.

    The most significant feature of the register system is that foreigners living in Japan would go from a state of simply being administered to being regarded as “residents,” thereby making it easier for them receive administrative services.

    There is a high possibility that the registers for foreigners would be special ones separate from those of Japanese. While special permanent residents such as North and South Koreans residing in Japan will be added to the register system, they will be exempt from the resident card system. Because of this, debate is likely to emerge over whether it is necessary to create new, separate cards or identification for such residents.

    (Mainichi Japan) January 25, 2008

    Reply
  • I agree that it is premature to be too elated over this…. It could turn out that we will need to have fingerprints taken at the station wickets each time we transit a train station….

    Reply
  • More news here:

    English
    http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080125p2a00m0na004000c.html

    Japanese
    http://mainichi.jp/select/today/archive/news/2008/01/25/20080125k0000m040160000c.html

    外国人登録法:在留管理制度を撤廃、カード台帳に再編

     総務、法務両省は、外国人登録法に基づく在留管理制度を撤廃し、日本人の住民基本台帳と同様の台帳制度に再編することを決めた。指紋押なつ制度の存廃で揺れた同法による登録は終わり、在日韓国・朝鮮人など特別永住者については外国人登録証明書はなくすものの、新たな証明を発行するか否かが検討されている。両省は3月末までに新制度の骨子案をまとめ、来年の通常国会に関係法案を提出する。

     両省によると、各自治体が発行し外国人が常時携帯を義務付けられている登録証明書を廃止し、入国管理局が中長期の外国人滞在者らに対し、名前や住所、顔写真が入った「在留カード」を発行する。新規入国者には空港で、在留者には地方入管で手渡す。カードを各自治体に示し、新たな台帳に登録する。

     現行の外国人登録制度では、外国人が個人単位で管理され、世帯単位での把握は難しかった。また、転出届が義務化されていないため、国内外に転居した場合に確認できなかった。このため、日系人の子どもの不就学問題などで、関係自治体から「居住実態の把握が困難で、学齢期の子どもに就学を通知しにくい」との声が上がり、政府は来年の通常国会に見直し法案を提出することを閣議決定していた。

     台帳制度では、日本人と同じく世帯単位で把握し、転出届のほか、出生・死亡・婚姻などの各種届けを反映させる方向で検討されている。国民健康保険や介護保険、児童手当などの漏れを防ぐこともできるという。

     台帳は、現段階では日本人と別の外国人専用の台帳となる可能性が高い。在日韓国・朝鮮人など特別永住者は、台帳制度に加えるものの、在留カードの対象外とされている。このため、新たな別のカードや証明書が必要か検討されている。【外国人就労問題取材班】

     ▽外国人登録制度 1952年施行の外国人登録法で規定。80年代から、登録時の指紋押なつに人権侵害との批判が強まった。91年海部俊樹首相(当時)が訪韓時に押なつ廃止で合意。93年から一般の永住者と特別永住者の押なつが廃止された。00年からすべての外国人の押なつが廃止され、本人確認は署名と家族事項の登録になった。一方、改正入管法で昨年11月から来日外国人の指紋を採取する制度が始まった。

     ◇行政サービス受けやすい「住民」に

     現行の外国人登録制度から、新たな台帳制度になることの一番の意義は、日本に住む外国人が管理されるだけの存在から、行政サービスを受けやすい「住民」として認められた点だ。

     現行制度でも、在留外国人が市町村に提出する外国人登録原票のの中に、家族構成などが含まれる。しかし、それはあくまで個々人の在留状況の把握が目的で、住民サービスは目的外。原票が家族バラバラで管理されるケースも多かった。

     さらに、日本人の住民基本台帳のように国民健康保険や介護保険、国民年金の被保険者かどうかの記載はない。被保険者かの確認作業で、「原票の情報をうまく活用する自治体と、そうでない自治体で差があった」(自治体職員)のが実情だ。台帳制度になれば、その差もある程度なくなるだろう。

     現行で義務付けている転入届も、所在地を管理する目的だけで、移動の多い日系人労働者らに浸透せず、効果が薄かった。台帳制度で転出届も義務付けられれば、それは自身が住民サービスを受けるためで、意味合いが大きく違ってくる。

     在留外国人の数は日系人の受け入れを始めた90年以降急増し、06年末で約208万人(総人口の約1・6%)。10年前より約67万人も増えた。自動車製造など外国人労働者が支える国内産業も少なくない。教育、社会保障の面でも住民として、また労働者として、さらなるサービス向上の要望が高まっていくだろう。【桐野耕一】

    英訳

    毎日新聞 2008年1月25日 2時30分

    Sounds like they’re just planning a new, centralized juminhyo system for foreigners. Still separate though. International families still will get the shaft.

    Reply
  • I really do hope this turns out to be good news. I somehow feel though that the next time I check on this blog I’m going to be hit around the face with a wet fish for being optimistic.

    Reply
  • jake -thanks for the translations and posts,but in your post number 4 you say that zainichis and prs wouldnt have to carry the card.
    the japanese version doesnt say that
    it says that special permanent residents like the zainichis
    dont have to.
    permanent residents are not mentioned as being exempt at all.

    Reply
  • Mark in Yayoi says:

    I’ll retract all my complaints about the fingerprinting if this new system means that we no longer have to carry cards on our person at all times.

    Give us the same system that Japanese have — juminhyo administered at city hall; copies available on request. Forcing people to carry alien cards just turns ordinary people who accidentally leave their wallets in their desks or at home into “criminals”.

    Reply
  • I would like to apologize in advance for being completely pessimistic. No one EVER gives up power or control voluntarily. This article or series of articles is simply an attempt to make news, with a positive spin, out of some vague press statement made to a press club. There have been no details put forth that have any meaning. Anybody who thinks that this change will benefit the fair treatment of NJ is kidding themselves. All this change in the law will produce is stricter control and monitoring of foreign nationals. Now all of the information on foreign nationals will be held in a single location unlike now where some of that info is kept at the local level. It will probably streamline everything and save the govt some money, but there is no way that NJ will be in a better situation than they are now. Nothing good will come of this. As NJ increase toward 3% of the population, the govt just simply needs to find a more effective way to monitor us. In my 10 years in Japan, I have never seen the xenophobia worse than it is now. Mark my words, things are going to get worse before they get better.

    Reply
  • AND NEWS FROM THE LOCALITIES:

    FOCUS: Municipalities want to set up register of foreign residents
    By Yugo Hirano
    January 25, 2008 15:38:50 Kyodo News Link unknown.
    Courtesy Martyn Williams

    MAEBASHI, GUNMA Municipalities facing a surge in the number of non-Japanese in their midst are calling for the establishment of a ”basic register of foreign residents” to make up for flaws in the existing alien registration system.

    Some city and town officials say the current alien registration system is ineffective as a reference for municipalities to provide non-Japanese residents with administrative services such as education and health insurance.

    They also point out that the system focuses on the registration of foreign residents on an individual basis and does not reflect their household circumstances. It also does not require them to notify municipalities of a change of abode when they move to another town or city.

    Officials of the town office of Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture conducted a survey of children not attending elementary and junior high schools in 2002 and found out that 160 of 622 children registered as foreign residents had already left for other places or returned home. The town, where Japanese-Brazilians and other foreigners account for about 16 percent of the population, carried out the survey ahead of others in the country.

    Emiko Yamada, assistant principal of Oizumi Kita Elementary School, said, ”Some children suddenly stopped coming to school. When we went to their homes they had already moved out. It is hard to trace them. We cannot send our counseling information to the schools in which they are newly enrolled.”

    Hiroe Kato, chief of public relations in the international division of the town office, said, ”Even if we know the new address of a foreign resident, the local government cannot change his or her registration unless he or she applies for change.”

    On Friday, Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama said at a news conference that the government plans to scrap the current alien registration system and introduce a new resident registry system similar to that for Japanese residents.

    Hatoyama indicated that the Justice Ministry and the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry are working to craft a bill to that end to submit in next year’s ordinary parliamentary session.

    He made the remarks against the backdrop of an increase in the number of non-Japanese residents in the country to more than two million, including Brazilians of Japanese descent.

    The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology learned in its 2005-2006 survey of 12 municipalities with many children registered as foreign residents that 1,732 out of 9,889 such children did not actually reside in the municipalities.

    The 12 municipalities include Ota in Gunma Prefecture, Kakegawa and Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture, Toyota and Okazaki in Aichi Prefecture, Toyonaka in Osaka Prefecture and the city of Kobe.

    The administrative offices of 23 municipalities that are home to many non-Japanese have been requesting the central government to improve the alien registration system since they founded a council of cities with foreign residents in 2001.

    Among the 23 municipalities are the town of Oizumi and Ota in Gunma Prefecture, Ueda and Iida in Nagano Prefecture, Yokkaichi, Suzuka and Iga in Mie Prefecture and Nagahama and Konan in Shiga Prefecture.

    At a meeting it held in Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture, last November, the council asked the government to establish a foreign residents’ registry system to record information on non-Japanese inhabitants just as it does for Japanese citizens.

    Hiroshi Tanaka, a professor of Ryukoku University in Kyoto who has studied issues involving foreign residents, said non-Japanese have been excluded from the basic residents’ register aimed at offering administrative services to Japanese residents.

    He said that the Alien Registration Law is strictly designed to oversee foreigners, adding that he will be interested to see how the government will put services and control together in creating a foreign residents’ register. ==Kyodo

    January 25, 2008 15:38:50 Kyodo News
    ENDS

    Reply
  • You need pinching. Hatoyama wants control, and for every effort that gets made to help folks get health insurance, there’ll be 10 times as much put into collecting taxes.

    Reply
  • I’m married to a Japanese woman but we don’t have children, so I’m wondering about this: what “administrative services” are we prevented from accessing now, right now?

    Are people being refused service (medical, educational, whatever) simply by dint of not being listed on a family register?

    Reply
  • these comments just show you can fool most of the people all of the time.

    do you really think they are gonna abolish the gaijin card and not
    replace it with something more restrictive??
    do you really think the government is doing this for the good of foreigners??
    this is about more control not less-people need to wake up and stop dreaming

    Reply
  • Simon,

    Cynically speaking, the government may want to provide the service of having a central database with your biometrics, tax details, and travel history.The current system may be too decentralized and liberal for the likes of Hatoyama.

    Reply
  • This would be a great move, but we still have to undergo the humiliating and unjust fingerprinting at the border.
    I’m looking forward to the day we can commit all the LDP bigwigs to trial at the Hague for race hate crimes.

    Reply
  • Did everyone notice the bit that alludes to Special Permanent Residents not having to carry the new cards?

    Like the fingerprinting, this tells me that once again the government is playing divide and conquer, and neutralizing the well-polished political machinery the zainichis can put into play.

    I predict the new system will be a centralized database on all foreign residents, including biometric information. The new cards will include RFID (radio frequency ID) chips, readable from a distance by anyone with the right equipment, from bored policemen to hi-tech stalkers. Anyone foreign looking who doesn’t show up on the scan then gets the third degree (Debito?).

    Or am I just being paranoid?

    Reply
  • Mark in Yayoi says:

    Simon, they’re not being *refused* at all; it’s just slightly less smooth than it would be with Japanese-style jūminhyō. The government is using the “service” angle as a cover for the increased control that comes with what they’re planning.

    Reply
  • As many writes above, this is not going to be better for us. As long as that paranoid man called Hatoyama is in the office it will be worse and worse. International families like mine will be screwed more. We have already separations at Narita and in registrations too. We are treated like a sh** and cannot help. What I concern about is being forced to get JNHI which is expensive and doesn`t cover almost anything, but still have to pay 30%. Hospital stay cost fortune for people. All medical system sucks in this country. Local Taxes…well this is next issue it concerns me. I don`t know if I will be able to afford to pay them, it takes my one month salary, and it means I earn 11months a year, not 12, the last one goes for local oyajis. Help? Hmm…is there any social service in Japan? Single mothers have no help, they get little bit for children, still have to pay extraordinary maternity fees and delivery, schools are are not free as in Europe (at least compulsory education) stupid juku system which takes from parent`s pockets etc. What Hatoyama wants is control us, he knows we have no rights in this country. Japanese never go out to the streets to protest, but they show TV Programs about stuff which sometimes changes, but in our case what TV shows is always good for us. Bear in mind that Japan is central driven as in China, but showing us that citizens have votes. Regarding fingerprinting at Narita, it will happen in EU to all non-EU arrivals, so hope finally J people will get their fingers on to machine wherever they go for sightseeing and I`m with it. EU citizens will be excepted as J people here.

    Reply

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