{"id":15785,"date":"2019-10-15T16:01:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T23:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15785"},"modified":"2019-12-15T11:22:20","modified_gmt":"2019-12-15T19:22:20","slug":"last-word-on-nj-hotel-passport-checks-thanks-to-a-lawyer-its-as-we-said-nj-residents-exempt-from-showing-id","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15785","title":{"rendered":"Last word on NJ hotel passport checks (thanks to a lawyer): It’s as Debito.org has said for more than a decade: NJ Residents are exempt from showing any ID."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0With the influx of sports tourism (Rugby in 2019<\/a>, Olympics in 2020<\/a>), the National Police Agency (as reported before for years on Debito.org<\/a>) has been erroneously telling hotels to demand passports and ID from all “foreigners”, including NJ Residents of Japan with addresses in Japan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Japanese police have been told for more than a decade now (even by the US Embassy<\/a>!) that this is not lawful<\/a>. \u00a0NJ Residents are exempt from passport AND ID checks after indicating their residency in the hotel Guest Book<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

(And if you want to carry a file substantiating that you don’t have to show any ID as a resident of Japan, download it from here: https:\/\/www.debito.org\/newhotelpassportlaw.jpg<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

So the police have become misleadingly legalistic, as Debito.org Reader Mamoru reports. \u00a0He sends along this poster from the Shizuoka Police that lays out the letter of the law as follows:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Courtesy https:\/\/www.pref.shizuoka.jp\/police\/kurashi\/gokyoryoku\/documents\/syukuhakusya.pdf<\/a> (now dead link<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Here they are making clear in the introduction that they are asking for hotel managers to target foreigners without addresses in Japan, and ask for their passport numbers (the justification proffered: incidents of overseas terrorism, of course, since apparently there are no Japanese<\/a> terrorists<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Even visually (the green bits), the Shizuoka Police are saying that there are two tracks grouped together: \u00a01) Japanese<\/strong> (Nihonjin<\/em>) and Resident Foreigners<\/strong> (Zainichi\/Zaijuu Gaikokukjin<\/em>), who have to note (kisai<\/em>) their name, address, and occupation (under the Hotel Management Law Art. 6); and 2) non-resident Foreigners<\/strong> (Rainichi Gaikokujin\/Kokugai Zaijuu<\/em>), who have to reveal their nationality and passport number under additional Regulation 4.2 (more on this below).<\/p>\n

HOWEVER,<\/p>\n

Then the yellow bit says that all parties have to have a RELIABLE (kakujitsu<\/em>) entry for their data.<\/p>\n

For Japanese and NJ Residents<\/strong>, this means that the hotels must put into effect an identity check (mimoto kakunin<\/em>) (although it notes that if they have a copy of the passport then data entry (kisai<\/em>) is not necessary, which is suss since most Japanese guests would not be carrying a passport).<\/p>\n

But unlike other entries, this is not grounded in any law mentioned in the flyer, making this even more suss.<\/p>\n

Especially since the final yellow bubble asks for “cooperation” (kyouryoku<\/em>) with the police in case they want to inspect the Guest Book (shukuhakusha meibo<\/em>); note that “cooperation” in practice means the police merely asking nicely, because the police don’t have the force of law to compel. \u00a0(It also asterisks that if there is a copy of the passport it is not necessary to write it down.)<\/p>\n

As grounding in legal writ, the poster here does cite a “Notification” (tsuuchi<\/em>) from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare that enables police inspection of the Guest Book. But as the below-mentioned Fukuoka Now website<\/a> (citing a Japanese lawyer) states, these ministerial “directives” are “not laws and are therefore not legally binding<\/em><\/strong>, however, they are in practice extremely important as administrative bodies, who execute\/enforce laws, follow these internal notifications until the law is clarified by amendment or a judge denied a specific interpretation at court.”<\/p>\n

The point is still this is not grounded in actual law. \u00a0Hence the request for “cooperation”. \u00a0But any hotelier not a legal scholar will no doubt interpret these “weasel words” as a requirement to ask guests for ID.<\/p>\n

What’s misleading in these yellow sections is whether or not ALL people regardless of nationality have to show ID (they don’t; they didn’t before, and there’s no law cited now to say that they do). \u00a0But in practice, hoteliers will interpret this to mean that all “foreigners” will have to show ID, and the regular unwillingness to inconvenience “regular” Japanese customers will mean that Japanese won’t.<\/p>\n

Finally, in the magenta balloons the Shizuoka Police mention that if the person asked for ID refuses to cooperate, then the hotel has the obligation to refuse that person accommodation. \u00a0The law cited is not the Hotel Management Law, but a local Shizuoka Prefectural Ordinance (jourei<\/em>) governing hotels.<\/p>\n

In sum, the Shizuoka Police are reinforcing the status quo with weasel words asking for “cooperation” when law doesn’t require.<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

On a second page, the Shizuoka Police also cite various bits of the laws as substantiation:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bits of this are backed up by an article at Fukuoka Now (courtesy of Debito.org Reader MR), which cites not only the letter of the law but also a lawyer opining:<\/p>\n

(Courtesy https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/can-hotels-take-a-photocopy-of-my-id\/<\/a>, current as of May 14, 2019):<\/p>\n

\u65c5\u9928\u696d\u6cd5\u65bd\u884c\u898f\u5247 [4]
\n\u7b2c\u56db\u6761\u306e\u4e8c
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Ordinance for Enforcement of the Inns and Hotels Act [5]<\/strong>
\nArticle 4-2<\/strong>
\n(3) The matters provided for by the Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare set out in the Act shall be the following, in addition to the name, address, and occupation of the guests.<\/strong><\/em>
\n(i) The nationality and passport number if the guest is a foreign national who does not possess an address in Japan; and<\/strong><\/em>
\n(ii) Other matters that prefectural governors find necessary.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u65c5\u9928\u696d\u6cd5\u65bd\u884c\u898f\u5247 [4]
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Ordinance for Enforcement of the Inns and Hotels Act [5]<\/strong>
\nArticle 4-2<\/strong>
\n(3) The matters provided for by the Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare set out in the Act shall be the following, in addition to the name, address, and occupation of the guests.<\/strong><\/em>
\n(i) The nationality and passport number if the guest is a foreign national who does not possess an address in Japan; and<\/strong><\/em>
\n(ii) Other matters that prefectural governors find necessary.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(All translations certified by Fukuoka Attorney Miyake Atsushi of Miyake Law<\/a>, Apr. 2019.)<\/em><\/p>\n

The Skinny:<\/strong><\/p>\n

At a bare minimum, this Shizuoka Police poster confirms that there are two separate tracks at check-in: \u00a0One for Foreign Tourists, and another one for ALL Residents of Japan regardless of nationality (Japanese and NJ):<\/p>\n

Foreign Tourists with no address in Japan must show ID, meaning a passport. \u00a0Some places will require, as per local ordinance<\/a>, that passport to be photocopied.<\/p>\n

(I will let various governments continue to criticize the potential dangers of this practice, including fraud and identity theft: \u00a0The Canadian Government, for example, explicitly says, “You take all responsibility for giving information in your passport to a third party.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

But there is still nowhere in the law that requires NJ Residents of Japan to show any ID after writing down their details in the hotel Guest Book.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And the fact that even this police poster is being intentionally confusing and misleading about the letter of the law, even when the law (or ministerial directive) is being selectively cited, indicates once again how the Japanese Police are continuing their SOP to bend the law and encourage hotels to racially profile their “foreign” guests. \u00a0Debito Arudou Ph.D.<\/p>\n

=====================
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Debito.org Reader Mamoru sends along a recent poster produced by the Shizuoka Police confirming that there are two separate tracks for guests at Japanese hotel check-ins: \u00a0One for Foreign Tourists, and another one for ALL Residents of Japan regardless of nationality (Japanese and NJ):<\/p>\n

Confirmed is that Foreign Tourists with no address in Japan must show ID, meaning a passport. \u00a0Some places will require, as per local ordinance, that passport to be photocopied. \u00a0(Despite various governments criticizing the potential dangers of this practice, including fraud and identity theft: \u00a0The Canadian Government, for example, explicitly says, “You take all responsibility for giving information in your passport to a third party.”)<\/p>\n

But then the Shizuoka Police use “weasel words” in their poster that make it look like hoteliers must check the ID of ALL guests. (In practice, however, this will mean that NJ will be checked, as hotels have always thought.) However, still NOWHERE in the law requires NJ Residents of Japan to show any ID after writing down their details in the hotel Guest Book.<\/p>\n

The fact that even this Shizuoka Police poster is being intentionally confusing and misleading about the law (or ministerial directive) indicates once again that, despite well over a decade of corrections and clarifications via The Japan Times, Debito.org, and even the US Embassy, the Japanese Police are continuing to bend the law, and encouraging hotels to racially profile their “foreign” guests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,54,43,34,33,12,4,10,46,64,55,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-embedded-racism","category-pinprick-protests","category-bad-business-practices","category-exclusionism","category-fingerprinting-nj","category-immigration-assimilation","category-japanese-government","category-japanese-policeforeign-crime","category-practical-advice","category-sitys","category-tourism","category-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15785"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15878,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15785\/revisions\/15878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}