NEC helps Big Brother watch foreigners in Japan
To anyone planning a visit to Japan, please note: YOU WILL BE TREATED AS A POTENTIAL TERRORIST WHEN YOU ARRIVE. As many foreign residents in Japan are already painfully aware, a new law that takes effect November 20 will require non-Japanese people entering the country to be fingerprinted and photographed in the name of fighting terrorism.
Over the past few days, Ministry of Justice officials at airports across Japan have been staging promotional events and showing off the new hardware that will be used to collect the fingerprints and scan the faces of the estimated 5 to 6 million foreigners potential terrorists that enter the country each year. The devices, which proudly bear the NEC logo, consist of a monitor, two fingerprint readers (one for each hand) and a camera that captures mugshots. The devices are being installed at immigration counters nationwide so that you can be fingerprinted and photographed while immigration officials ask you the usual questions about the purpose of your visit and your intended length of stay. Your biometric data will then be stored for an extended period of time in a database, which law enforcement officials will somehow use to thwart terrorist attacks.
Under the law, called the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, all non-Japanese citizens — except for state guests, visitors using diplomatic or official passports, people under the age of 16, and special status permanent residents (such as Korean nationals who grew up in Japan) — are to be treated as potential terror threats and must be fingerprinted and photographed when they enter the country. The law makes Japan the world’s second country to fingerprint and photograph its foreign visitors. The United States was first.
Japanese lawmakers, who passed the law with little public debate, conveniently overlooked the fact that Japanese people — not foreigners — are the ones with a proven history of committing terrorism in Japan. In fact, Japanese citizens have been responsible for every terrorist incident in modern Japanese history (i.e. the Aum Shinrikyo gassing of the Tokyo subways in 1995), which raises the question of why there is any need to fingerprint and photograph foreigners to begin with.
Or, at the very least, if lawmakers truly believe that blanket fingerprinting and face-scanning is the way to prevent terrorism, then why not require all people in Japan — citizens and non-citizens alike — to keep their fingerprints and other biometric data on file? Without a doubt, NEC and other companies that develop biometric system hardware and software would be more than willing to supply the government with the extra equipment they need to do the job.
Regardless, for now at least, the xenophobic government seems content to invade the privacy of millions of law-abiding foreigners who live, do business, visit and study in Japan each year.
Thanks a lot, Japan.
Well, xenophobic US government invades privacy for several years already. I just wonder why it took so long for others to do so.
I was planning a trip to Japan… But now I will avoid the country like I do our unfriendly neighbours to the south and take my thousands of tourist dollars elsewhere. Welcome back to the Cold War, everyone, just in case you missed it the first time around.
The US government has been doing this for the last 2 years to all aliens/foreigners entering the country. They take your left and right fingerprints and take your photo with a webcam. But for some reason you don’t have to do it if you’re Canadian.
I agree it’s completely unfair to only do this to foreigners and not to the citizens of your own country.
Big Brother is watching you !!
That’s strange, when I lived in Japan in 1990 I remember being fingerprinted and photographed for my “Mars Card”. (Alien Registration Card - Don’t leave home without it!) How is this any different other than it’s digitized, and required upon entry into the country, rather than having to register at a city centre within 90 days?
D’oh! Sorry, didn’t realize this was required for a mere visit to the country, not to live there for a year like in my case. This is a completely different kettle of fish if so!
Paranoia is a globally rampant disease. When I leave my country and travel to another I leave my rights behind and am SUBJECT to the conditions placed upon me by the country which grants me the privilege of entry. Why is that hard to stomach, It’s common sense. I’m sure that your life is so dull no one wants to watch you anyway, I know mine is, so get over it.
“the privalege of entry”?? give me a break. this earth is for everyone. it is a moral obligation to provide entry in dignity.terrorists exist because of “privaleges of entry”.none of you get that
“this earth is for everyone.” Give ME a break. What fantasy world are you living on. Inequality is the rule, not the exception, and that isn’t going to change. I suggest you take a deep breath, and get a grip on reality. I know it sucks to be an adult, do you need a hug?
It’s interesting to note that the picture shows electronic dermatographic line readers, not ink pads and paper fingerprint cards. When used in keyless access systems, these devices have the notorious record of being right about 90% of the time. That means they’re wrong about 10% of the time, and may produce a flawed electronic recording of one’s fingerprints at ports of entry. (It also means that computers and building doors secured with these gadgets are only slightly more secure than being completely unsecured.) Whatever, NEC will be happy to sell you a few.
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I find it a little hard to believe that Japan would need to do something like this, but it’s their country, so they can do it if it’s not breaking any laws, which it isn’t. Although, I do have to admit…the whole “how long are you going to stay” thing is a bit outrageous, especially if they give you a hard time because you stayed in Japan for a few extra days like on vacation or something :x But, as stated before, what they’re doing is legal, so there’s not a lot people can do
When talking with my friends about this I made the EXACT same point that the only terrorists in Japan have been Japanese. It’s just another example that the Japanese gov hates foreigners, and wants us out. I bet you they would have loved to fingerprint the special status people as well but didn’t want to deal with the political fallout. I heard about this a while back but assumed it would never happen. My bad. Had I known this actually went through I would have quit my job and moved home. Too late now.
The only upside of this is they will apparently delete your information if you file a request. However, the means you need to actually trust and believe the government that thinks you’re a terrorist by default since your not Japanese will actually do what they say. I, do not.
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I don’t think I have a problem with fingerprinting foreign visitors, but to fingerprint non-Japanese permanent residents is wrong and makes no sense. It is proof of Japans anti-foreign resident attitudes.
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NEC is now on my Do Not Buy list.
http://www.jdonuts.com/2007/11/fingerprinting-in-japan.html
Hee - messing with the Americans who ask your length of visitation is fun. I usually give it to them in minutes, rather than weeks or days. They give me this confused, frightened look. I suspect it’s because they would have to do math. I wonder if it’d work in Japan? Anyone willing to try it?
japan is a nice country
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Interesting discussion.
Well in my opinion such type of behavior is like giving signal for real terrorists “look, I am target you’re looking for”.
The truth is that it works like with secured software, always someone crack it. So if some bad guys are going to do something bad, they will do this over the security.
Aga (Canada): Lets live your dollars here www.whatryoudoing.com ;)
there is one word that describes this, in romaji it is written as:
baka
…
[…] Pink Tentacle posts a picture of the actual hardware being used–but maybe you’ll be seeing first-hand yourself soon enough! Since the post is titled “NEC Helps Big Brother Watch Foreigners in Japan,” seems the blog does not think much of either institution or the new policy itself. […]
I’ve just added you to a report on the Japan Blogging communities reaction to the fingerprinting issue.
http://www.jdonuts.com/2007/11/fingerprinting-in-japan-blogs-eye-view.html
Hope you get some buzz from it.
Meh. I can’t get too worked up over this. I think it’s one of the true responsibilities of a national government to keep a record of foreign nationals within its borders.