Japan Times: Mark Schreiber gives Immigration the finger at Narita
Mark Schreiber from the Japan Times gives us his experiences on what happened to him when he took a junket to Saipan, just to test the Fingerprinting machines on the way back…
Economist on NJ Fingerprinting
The Economist (London) on the NJ Fingerprinting Debacle, with ample airtime given to the critics. As it should be, since this will affect business.
Towards founding a “Permanent Residents/Naturalized Citizens” organization
With all the NJ anger regarding the new Fingerprint Laws–moreover the GOJ’s tendency of consistently showing indifference, if not outright antipathy, towards the needs and interests of Japan’s international residents–there have been calls in the comments sections of several Debito.org blog entries for a new organization to represent the Permanent Residents and Naturalized Citizens of Japan. The organization is still in its embryonic stage. But let me create this separate special blog entry for people to discuss and pound out questions and concerns.
DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 28, 2007: FINGERPRINTING II
DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 28, 2007
SPECIAL ON FINGERPRINTING POLICY INAUGURATION NOV 20, 2009
FORWARD: ANGER IN THE BLOGOSPHERE
WHAT YOU HEARD:
1) YOUTUBED NHK: KEEP CRITICS AND PROTESTS OUT OF BROADCASTS
2) YOMIURI EDITORIAL: FP JUSTIFIED AS ANTI-FOREIGN-CRIME MEASURE
3) SANKEI ON FINGERPRINTING SNAFUS
4) YOMIURI & NIKKEI MISTAKENLY TRUMPET “FIVE CAUGHT IN NEW SYSTEM”,
SANKEI CONTRADICTS
WHAT GOT MUFFLED:
5) MAINICHI: REFUSERS TO BE INCARCERATED, FORCED TO BE FINGERPRINTED
6) ASAHI: 38% OF US-VISIT DATABASE IS MISTAKES
7) ASAHI: TOKYO & NARITA LOSE PERSONAL DATA FOR 432 NJ
8) YOMIURI: SDF & MOFA LOSE COMPUTER DATA IN JAPAN, BELGIUM
WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD:
9) MAINICHI ON AMNESTY/SMJ PUBLIC ACTION OUTSIDE MOJ
10) PROTESTS WITH PARODY POSTERS, T-SHIRTS, POSTCARDS, MULTILINGUAL BILLETS
11) FRANCE 24 TV INTERVIEW IN FRENCH AND ENGLISH: “JAPAN’S 1984”
12) NYT: FINGERPRINTING “A DISASTER FOR J BUSINESS”
…and finally…
13) ACCENTURE, MAKER OF THE FP MACHINES, NOW HIRING IN JAPAN,THRU TIGER WOODS!
CONCLUDING STATEMENT: PROGNOSTICATIONS FOR THE PRESENT COURSE:
A HASTENED ECONOMIC OBSCURITY FOR JAPAN
Fingerprinting protest tract for Immigration & new FP protest info website
Trilingual protest tract (Japanese, French, and English) protesting the Fingerprinting policy, along with a new information blog concentrating on this issue in particular. Download from there or from Debito.org and hand it to whomever you think should see your discontent.
Community: Olaf & Tony on ironies of Fingerprinting & foreign crime in Japan
Two recent messages regarding fingerprinting and foreign crime in Japan, and how criminal investigations increasingly incontrovertibly run along nationality lines–with NJ visibly getting the third degree of suspicion, while J skirt the dragnet.
Asahi: US-VISIT database riddled with mistakes: 38% of entries
Asahi: “But a US government agency poses questions about the system’s technology and credibility. This July, the US General Accounting Office criticized the US-visit system as seriously fragile in view of information control. He pointed out the possibility that personal data, including fingerprint data, might be altered or copied by someone from the outside due to insufficient security measures. In September [2007], an auditor of the Justice Department emphasized how inaccurate US blacklists are. The auditor said that as a result of a sampling check of the terrorism-affiliates included in a monitoring list, mistakes or contradictions were found in 38% of those checked, with the names of some terror suspects left out of the list or innocent persons appearing on it.
BBC: Japan visa regime “abuses foreign workers” with “forced labour”
BBC: Over the past 17 years, thousands of foreign workers have travelled to Japan, taking part in an official scheme to learn skills they cannot pick up in their own countries. But this year the Japanese government’s own experts have admitted that in many cases trainees are used as cheap labour. The US state department has gone further. In its annual report on human trafficking, it said that “some migrant workers are reportedly subjected to conditions of forced labour through [its] foreign trainee programme”.
John Spiri reviews Gregory Clark’s book “Understanding the Japanese”
John Spiri on Gregory Clark’s research: “It is difficult to imagine a book written by a Japan “expert” having as little of substance to say as Understanding the Japanese by Gregory Clark. The book, awash with trivial generalizations, simplistically attempts to dichotomize everything—brains, societies, and the entire world—while presenting “theories” that would be better left to barrooms and pubs.”
Accenture, producer of NJ fingerprinting machines, is hiring in Japan, thru Tiger Woods!
Accenture, formerly Arthur Andersen (the book-cooker for Enron), is now riding the wave of business expansion (thanks to its cash cow producing biometric data machines for Japan to track NJ) and hiring in Japan! More profiteering ahoy!
Fingerprinting: Anger in the Blogosphere
I’ve never seen the NJ communities in Japan so angry, and I’ve seen a lot of anti-foreigner campaigns in my 20-plus years here. After the Fingerprinting policy implimentation, there’s definitely a “faith no more” side to it all. Witness what’s going on in the Blogosphere–since that’s the disenfranchised NJ’s only real avenue for expression. Feel free to send some more links.
France 24 TV & Trans Pacific Radio on Fingerprinting: “Japan’s 1984”
France 24 TV network offers its synopsis of the Fingerprinting issue: “Japan’s 1984”, plus link to Trans Pacific Radio Podcast and word on where I’m speaking this weekend at JALT Tokyo.
Mainichi: MOJ will force NJ refusers to be incarcerated, fingerprinted
According to the Mainichi today, the Justice Ministry has now issued a “tsuuchi” directive (the GOJ Mandarins’ way of minting laws without going through a legislative body) granting Immigration more powers. People who refuse to get fingerprinted not only refused at the border, but also forced to have fingerprints taken. as well a physical inspection and incarceration in the airport Gaijin Tank. What this means for uncooperative Permanent Residents and their Japanese spouses, the article notes, is incarceration with “extra persuasion”–without, they say, the threat of force. With all this extralegality going on, fat chance.
毎日：＜外国人指紋採取＞「拒否者には強制力行使も」…法務省通知
＜外国人指紋採取＞「拒否者には強制力行使も」…法務省通知 11月21日2時31分配信 毎日新聞 http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20071121-00000017-mai-soci&kz=soci Courtesy of Tony K テロ対策などのため、２０日始まった来日外国人に指紋提供を義務付ける入国審査制度で、法務省入国管理局が、指紋提供と退去を拒否する外国人は収容し強制的に採取するよう地方の各入国管理局に通知していたことが分かった。同制度について、法務省は強制的に指紋採取はしないとして「提供」と説明してきたが、拒否者に対して強制力で臨む措置を指示した形だ。「外国人を犯罪者扱いする運用」との批判が強まりそうだ。 指紋の採取や顔写真の撮影は、空港、港での入国審査時に実施し、その場で入管が保有する過去の強制退去者、国際指名手配犯などのリストと照合。一致した者は入国拒否され、提供拒否も国外退去となる。退去命令にも従わない場合、入管は強制退去手続きに移行し、身柄を空港内の収容場に収容する。その際に指紋を採るかどうかは明らかにされてなかった。 ところが、今月上旬に出た法務省入管局警備課長通知は「保安上の必要がある時は身体検査できる」などの入管法の規定を根拠に、入国警備官に強制力をもって拒否者から指紋を採取するよう指示。同時にビデオ撮影することも求めている。 その後、拒否者は運航業者に引き渡し、強制退去させる流れとなるが、永住者や日本人の配偶者がいるなど国内で生活する人は「戻る国」がなく、対応が問題になりそうだ。入管局幹部は「拒否者にも十分に説得を重ね、強制しなくてもすむよう努める」と話す。 入管法に詳しい関係者によると、不法残留容疑などで外国人の違反調査を行い、指紋を採るのは任意が原則で、強制採取はほとんどないという。関係者は「拒否者は入国できない以上、危険が国内に持ち込まれることはない。さらに指紋を強制的に採取し強制退去者リストに保存する正当性はあるのか」と批判する。 外国人の人権問題に詳しい田中宏・龍谷大教授は「全廃された外国人登録の際の指紋押なつ拒否についても、刑事罰のうえに再入国不許可という過剰な制裁を加えていた。今回の通知内容も法的根拠に乏しく、同様の発想による過剰制裁だ」と話している。 ENDS
Primary source info: Application Form for NJ preregistry of fingerprints
No matter where you are in Japan, if you want to play ball and preregister your biometric data, go to Tokyo. More on the difficulties involving that procedure here, from somebody who made the trip from Kobe and had a pretty lousy time once there.
Never mind–even permanent residents are still gaijin and potential terrorists, so lump it. It’s for our safety–“our” especially meaning us “kokumin”. How many more hoops will Japan make its residents jump through before it realizes this will lead to an exodus of business and money?
Yomiuri & Nikkei trumpet 5 NJ snagged by Fingerprinting system. Sankei says FP system not snagger.
Here is a link to three articles in Japanese trumpeting the success of the new Fingerprinting system–all done in the middle of the night so as to make the morning editions. Hey, we caught ’em, see how the system is working and how much we need it? Despite the fact that it was also reported yesterday that nobody was refused at all.
That’s right, actually. Read beyond the Sankei headline. Three of the five were caught for funny passports, the other two for other reasons left unclear but at Immigration’s discretion. Which means bagging these five was unrelated to the Fingerprint policy. In other words, this sort of thing happens on a daily basis and is not news. Unless there is a political reason for making it so. Guess what that political reason is. The fix is really in.
読売・産經・日経：「５人強制退去」だが、指紋採取制度と無関係
読売、日経、産經は指紋採取制度は正当化する、「ブラックリストに名乗りした５名は強制退去」。しかし、見出し以外を読むと、「うち３人は偽造・変造パスポートを使用したとみられ、強制退去の手続きに入った。残る２人にも退去命令が出される見通し。 指紋や顔写真の提供を拒んで入国拒否となった外国人はいなかった。」（産經）。つまり、これは新制度と無関係だった。これは毎日の出来事みたいで、なぜニュースになったのでしょうか。
NYT on Fingerprinting: “Disaster for J business”
NYT on FP: “If businessmen based here have to line up for two hours every time they come back from traveling, it will be a disaster,” said Jakob Edberg, policy director in the Tokyo office of the European Business Council. “This will affect real business decisions, like whether to base here.”
Asahi: Tokyo Narita Immigration loses personal data for 432 NJ
Asahi: “Tokyo Immigration announced on March 28 that it had lost flash memory at its headquarters and Narita Airport Branch, regarding personal information for visa overstayers and deported foreigners. They say that no trace of it remains, and there is no danger of the data being misused…”
朝日：外国人計４３２人分の個人情報を紛失 東京入管
朝日新聞：東京入国管理局は、外国人の不法残留者や強制送還対象者の個人情報が書き込まれた小型記録媒体（フラッシュメモリー）を本庁舎と成田空港支局内でそれぞれ紛失した、と２８日発表した。現時点では情報が悪用された形跡はないという。
Kobe Regatta Club Prez Dr Sadhwani on NJ Fingerprinting debacle
The local authorities even contradict their own laws and resolutions by not installing proper equipment in all the airports and therefore it will take you hours before you can exit the terminal due to the long queues you will have to face. Narita airport being the exception. In a country that has had the Alien Registration system in place for years, a system that was already regarded as being insulting, why would the authorities need to verify information they already have?
NHK 7PM on Fingerprinting (You Tube), plus 11PM news programs and CNN
Link to YouTube archives of Nov 20 NHK 7pm and 9pm Evening News segments about fingerprinting. Quick digests of good reports on 11PM private-sector news segments, but a VERY disappointing editorial bent by NHK throughout the day. CNN article also enclosed.
“YOKOSO JAPAN” parody poster, T-shirts and video
Courtesy Larry Fordyce Courtesy Nick Wood TEE SHIRTS ========================== Hi all, There have been several posts on various sites asking for a t-shirt designed to wear through Japan immigration & customs control to protest the recent policy of biometric I.D. for foreign nationals. I am pleased to say that we have come up with such …
Sankei Shinbun on Fingerprinting equipment SNAFUs
Hi Blog. Here’s a funny article. In high school psychology class, we learned about a mental process called “projection”, where a batter blames the bat instead of himself for the strike-out. Well, Immigration today was a paragon of projection. Maybe the system is just no damn good from the start. Or maybe it’s just plain …
産經新聞：新入国審査システム初日 トラブル続出
新入国審査システム初日 トラブル続出 2007.11.20 12:51 このニュースのトピックス：事件・トラブル http://sankei.jp.msn.com/life/lifestyle/071120/sty0711201251002-n1.htm  フォート：入国時に「生体情報」を採取するシステムが導入され、端末機の説明を受ける外国人＝２０日午前、関西空港 外国人の入国審査で導入された新システムで２０日、指紋読み取りの失敗など装置の不調が各地で相次いだ。 博多港では約３０人の指紋読み取りでエラーが発生し、やり直しの末、４人は記録を断念。入国審査官の判断で入国を許可した。入管担当者は「長く農作業に従事していた高齢者が多く、すり減ってしまったようだ」と話し、装置に問題はないとしている。 成田空港では、オーストラリア国籍の男性（４２）の指紋が認識できず、１時間以上かかった。東京入管成田空港支局によると、指先の乾燥などで十分認識できないケースがあるという。北海道の新千歳空港でも読み取りに何度も失敗するケースがあり、肌の乾燥が関係するとみられるという。 富山県の伏木富山港では、持ち運び型の装置５台のうち３台で、使用開始直後に接続の不具合が発生。再起動して復旧した後、１台は約３０分後に再び不具合が生じ、使用を中止した。
Yomiuri Editorial justifying NJ Fingerprinting as anti-crime measure
Hoo-hah. Here’s the best argument yet for fingerprinting almost all foreign visitors, er, all foreigners, yet–all put together nicely for one-stop shopping. November 19, 2007 editorial in the Yomiuri–with its fundamental association of extranationality with criminality and insecurity. Note how anti-crime has been Trojan-Horsed into the arguments for anti-terrorism now. Thanks Yomiuri, wouldn’t have expected …
読売社説: 改正入管法 指紋・顔写真を治安改善に生かせ
読売社説：外国人採取は「テロリストや外国人犯罪者の入国を阻止することにある。実効が上がれば、安全な国との評価も高まるだろう。」なぜ日本のマスコミはどうしても「外国人＝テロ・犯罪」を描写するのですか。
“Oy Whities! Get Fingerprinted!” parody poster by Kaoru
Kaoru on fingerprinting NJ: “I knocked up a quick mock-poster illustrating the ludicrousy. This was just for my own amusement of course (especially the inclusion of Yu Kikumaru of the Red Army), but I figure there has to be a t-shirt idea in there somewhere!”
Mainichi on Fingerprinting protests outside MOJ
Report from the Mainichi re Nov 20 Amnesty/SMJ protests in front of the Justice Ministry in protest of the NJ Fingerprinting policy.
Immig Fingerprinting NJ from today, media coverage (or lack of), GOJ data security breaches
It’s FP Day. Some fascinating media coverage (or rather, lack thereof) of the controversy; instead, a friend sends word about the lack of security for data in the Japanese Government’s hands. And they want to be entrusted with biometric data? Incompetence metastasizes.
DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 19, 2007
1) JAPAN TIMES: WORKPLACE GAIJIN CARD CHECKS, WALLET-SIZED LAWS
2) FINGERPRINTING UPDATE:
OFFICIAL INSTRUCTIONS FROM NARITA AIRPORT
KOBE REGATTA & ATHLETIC WANTS IN ON FP PROTEST
ACCJ OFFERS THEIR VIEW OF LOBBYING FOR “CONCESSIONS”
MORE PROTESTS: T-SHIRTS AT JALT, “WANTED” POSTERS
FORMER GIANTS PITCHER YAMAMOTO PROFITEERS, GETS FP FOR MONEY
OFFER YOUR FP EXPERIENCES AT IMMIG AFTER NOV 20 AT DEBITO.ORG
3) ECONOMIST: YOMIURI OWNER WATANABE INTERFERES WITH POLITICS, AS USUAL
4) OSAKA REALTOR HAS CATALOG WITH “GAIJIN OK” [sic!] APARTMENTS; WHAT TO DO
5) CRIES DU COEUR FROM INTL RESIDENTS RE POLICE GAIJIN CARD SHAKEDOWNS
6) UN REP DOUDOU DIENE WARNS RACISM INCREASINGLY VIOLENT WORLDWIDE
7) SPEECHES ON JOB SEARCHES, NOVA COLLAPSE AT JALT TOKYO THIS WEEKEND
8) VALENTINE CASE NEXT COURT HEARING TUES NOV 20 11AM
(SAME PLACE AS AMNESTY MOJ FP PROTEST AT NOON–SO DO BOTH!)
…and finally…
9) “NO BORDERS” MEETING NOV 18: KOKUSAIKA AND KEIDANREN LAID BARE
“NO BORDER” Nov 18 Meeting: Kokusaika & Keidanren laid bare
Report on Nov 18 2007 meeting with NO BORDER, a group which wishes to promote greater integration of NJ within Japan: A lovely glimpse into Japan’s multicultural future as Japanized NJ children of immigrants reach college age. And an even more informative glimpse into the darkness behind Keidanren’s deliberate visa policies for getting cheap labor with all the trimmings–no labor law protection, and no social safety net. Special non-guest: Tony Laszlo
UN Rapporteur Doudou Diene warns “racism is increasingly manifest as violence”
Hi Blog. Giving a speech in a few hours, so I’ll be brief. Here’s a recent report from Doudou Diene, who has been so assiduous in reporting on Japan’s human rights violations to the UN.. Not about Japan in specific, but still worth a read. Debito in Tokyo. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From: UNNews@un.org Subject: UN EXPERT WARNS …
Two Cries du Coeur from ethnic residents of Japan being shaken down by the Japanese police
Hi Blog. Two Cries du Coeur from ethnic residents of Japan being shaken down by the Japanese police–one by Zero, a Issei Japanese-Filipino, the other by Ali Rustom, and Englishman of Egyptian descent. Racial profiling and the lingering anger it creates towards the authorities… Arudou Debito in Tokyo =============================== An Isseijin’s Outcry By Reijiro “Zero” …
American Chamber of Commerce Japan on negotiations re NJ Fingerprinting
New Immigration NJ Fingerprinting Entry Procedure: the following mail was sent by the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan for your information.
Economist on J Media (particularly political collusion between LDP, DPJ, and Yomiuri Shinbun!)
Finally, we are getting the articles coming out that should have done so long ago–and would have been done if reporters were either competent or not complicit in the media machine. What follows is an excellent article in The Economist (London) on that very media machine in Japan, and how it meddles with the political process here. (Pity it’s only confined to the web–the weekly article from Japan in the print version was a different one about Ozawa only.)
Let’s hope The Economist or someoone else someday does an entire survey on the situation. This kind of corruption runs very, very deep in Japan, and will ultimately keep our country on its future path to economic obscurity (and an untoward degree of xenophobic isolation) unless something drastically changes in the power structure. Exposing it to the light of the media spotlight is one way.
Letter to Dr Deepu Sadhwani, President, Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club, re protesting NJ Fingerprint policy
A letter I sent out tonight in response to Dr Deepu Sadhwani, President, Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club, who introduced himself today, and asked what he and his members (long-term residents of the Kansai) could do to protest the NJ Fingerprinting policy. Feel free to forward it around to others that need convincing of the the whats, whys, and hows.
NUGW’s Louis Carlet: “NOVA collapse a turning point in language industry”, Lesson For Food
Louis Carlet of NUGW Nambu Union offers his thoughts on why the NOVA collapse marks a turning point in the eikaiwa industry, plus schedule of “Lessons for Food” Campaign, JALT Speech, and other general meetings.
Japan Times on Gaijin Carding in workplace, and downloadable wallet-size Gaijin Card laws from Erich Meatleg
Excerpt from Japan Times article re how laws have changed to enable all employers to run Gaijin Card Checks on their foreign staff, just like any cop on the corner. Except that the laws are a little more sophisticated than that–download wallet-sized color-coded versions of them for the next time you’re racially profiled.
Official instructions on Narita automated gate for NJ fingerprinting
[For Foreigners]
(Reference Material for the PR Dept.)
Operation of the Automated Gate
Ministry of Justice, Immigration Bureau
1. Introduction
Automated gates will be placed at Narita Airport from November 20th, 2007, in order to improve convenience of immigration procedures by simplifying and accelerating them. We would like to ask foreigners who wish to use the automated gates to provide their personal identification information (fingerprints and a facial portrait) in advance and register themselves as applicants in order to use the gate.
2. Registration as an Applicant to Use the Automated Gate…
Operation of the Automated Gate
Ministry of Justice, Immigration Bureau
Former Giants pitcher tarento promotes Narita Fingerprinting NJ system as “Anti-Crime” measure
TV celebrity Kazutomo Miyamoto urged immigration officials during a photo-op to use a new process to fingerprint inbound foreigners to fight foreign crime, not terrorism as the government claims the system will be used for.
“I think it’d be best if we could cut the amount of crime foreigners are committing and make Japan a safer place,” Miyamoto said at Narita Airport, where he was serving as the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau Chief For a Day as a promotional event for the fingerprinting process.
毎日：タレント宮本和知は東京入管成田支局で指紋採取について、「外国人犯罪が減り、日本が安全になればベストだと思う」
毎日：東京入国管理局成田空港支局は１３日、タレントの宮本和知さん（４３）を「一日入国管理局長」に招き、指紋などの個人識別情報を活用した新しい入国審査手続きを公開した。宮本さんは入国審査場で指紋採取などの手続きを体験。「外国人犯罪が減り、日本が安全になればベストだと思う」と話した。
Japan Times on NJ Housing Discrimination, and how people are trying to help
Hi Blog. Pursuant to my post this morning on how an Osaka realtor has clear “foreigners OK” labels in its apartment catalog (meaning default mode is refusing them), here is an article in the Japan Times with some more evidence on just how systematic discrimination by nationality is in the housing market. Unfortunately, this is …
Rogues’ Gallery: Kansai Kensetsu Inc., a “No Foreigners” realtor in Osaka–according to its catalog
Information from a realtor in Osaka called Kansai Kensetsu, which has a clear system (even a snappy logo) in their housing catalog for refusing “gaijin” renters. Don’t encourage this practice. Take your business elsewhere. Entered onto the Rogues’ Gallery of Exclusionary Establishments.
Valentine Lawsuit: Next Hearing Nov 20 11AM Tokyo High Court, join his support group.
Hi Blog. Nov 20 promises to be a busy day. If you’re not attending the Amnesty/SMJ Protest against Fingerprinting, then consider attending this event–in fact you can probably squeeze both of them in, since they’re both in Kasumigaseki. About a person allegedly brutalized by the police, but undoubtedly denied medical treatment while incarcerated, and crippled …
バレンタインさんの警察官による外国人への暴力事件：【裁判傍聴に ご参加をお願いします！】 平成１９年１１月２０日(火)１１時 開廷
ナイジェリア国籍のバレンタインさんは、新宿歌舞伎町で私服 警察官に不法な暴力を振るわれ障害者となりました。東京都を 相手取り裁判を起こしましたが、一審敗訴。東京都は暴力の事 実を認めず、バレンタインさんが勝手に看板に足をぶつけて怪 我をしたと虚偽の主張。証拠となる防犯カメラが現場にありま したが、都は防犯カメラを撤去し最初からなかったと主張しま した。初診のカルテも東京警察病院が「受診カルテを紛失した 」として裁判所命令にもかかわらず提出を拒否しています。一 審判決は原告側証人を「外国人だから信用できない」としまし た。原告は強大な公権力に翻弄され窮地に追い込まれています 。
Fingerprinting Protest: Lionel Dersot on making your own “WANTED” poster
Interesting idea: “Hello, I am Lionel Dersot, a French resident of 22 years in Tokyo. Following a post on my French blog about alternative, vital ways to express discontent with the biometric filling of foreigners reaching Japan from November 20, I have created a Flickr public photo gallery where I will host any Wanted Poster candidate picture of people wishing to tell others that ” I am not a terrorist”.”
DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 12, 2007
1) NEW JAPAN TIMES ARTICLE TUES NOV 13 ON NEW WORKPLACE GAIJIN CARDING
2) NJ FINGERPRINTING UPDATE:
A) PROTEST WORKS: NARITA INSTITUTES NEW SEPARATE LINES FOR RESIDENTS
B) RECENT MEDIA: FP “AN UNMITIGATED PR DISASTER FOR THE GOJ”, “INEFFECTIVE”
C) CUTE ANIMATION RE FINGERPRINTING: DOWNLOAD AND SPREAD AROUND
D) TUES NOV 20, NOON, ASSEMBLE AND PROTEST AT JUSTICE MINISTRY
3) JAPAN TIMES: US GOVT FORCED PM ABE TO BACK DOWN RE COMFORT WOMEN
4) LA TIMES: HOW J POLICE IGNORE CERTAIN CRIMES. LIKE MURDER.
5) IHT/ASAHI, METROPOLIS, NUGW ON EIKAIWA NOVA BANKRUPTCY AFTERMATH
6) NOV 17 FED OF BAR ASSOC (NICHIBENREN) MEETING RE DIVORCE AND JOINT CUSTODY
…and finally…
7) UPCOMING SPEECH TOKYO NOV 18, “NO BORDER” GROUP ANNUAL MEETING
Global Voices Online: Some J bloggers’ view of NJ Fingerprinting
Here is a link to translations, by Hanako Tokita at Global Voices Online, of some domestic voices in Japanese regarding the NJ Fingerprinting issue. Japanese and English T.
LA Times and Terrie’s Take on NJ Fingerprinting: “an unmitigated public relations disaster for the GOJ”
The fingerprinting issue just keeps on rolling. LA Times article says everything we’ve been saying, only to a big US Pacific Coast audience with close ties to Japan; Terrie’s Take, with an even more timely article this morning, calls this policy an “unmitigated public relations disaster for the Japanese government… the measures have in fact proven to be disjointed, unorganized, and ultimately unworkable. They have also managed to infuriate pretty much every long-term, tax-paying, foreign resident in Japan.”