New Fingerprint/Photo Immigration System Begins, Japanese Media Reports
Photo: Justice Minister Hatoyama, a known friend of terrorist sympathizers, demonstrates the new immigration system.
Japan’s new immigration system began today, and foreigners at Narita Airport were not happy. The system, which requires nearly all non-Japanese entering Japan to have their fingerprints scanned and photos taken, resulted in incredibly long waits. While the old immigration system usually had maximum wait times of about 15-20 minutes (even less for those who are residents with re-entry permits), non-Japanese arriving at Narita were forced to wait over an hour, with some reporting waits in excess of one and a half hours. This long wait could probably be attributed to the greater time each individual foreigner must now spend being processed by immigration, but a few technical problems with the system have also contributed to the frustratingly long waits.
Not long after passengers from the first international flight of the day started making their way through the immigration one of the machines locked up and became inoperable. It also became apparent that the Japanese government had not carried out realistic tests with the system, as the cameras on the machines proved incapable of photographing the faces of tall foreigners. In such cases, the foreigners in question had to keep re-do their scans until they could properly maneuver themselves into the camera’s range of vision.
This new system is one of the top stories on Japanese TV news today, and most channels have included mention of the privacy and rights complaints from groups, as well as clips of foreigners who are very annoyed by the long wait. Let’s take a look at a few examples.
A report from Fuji TV [mentions some of the technical troubles experienced & includes foreigners complaining about the wait (but not the privacy issue) ]:
A report from TBS :
A report from NTV [30 seconds of basic information on the system, no mention of the difficulties or issues]
Have you entered Japan since this morning? Let us know about your experience with the new immigration system!
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Will this new system make Japan less attractive as an international tourism/business destination?
Well, lets see. This system is modelled on the system in the US, who most likely pressured Japan into adopting the same.
Fingerprinting foreigners was their first step down a path of unwelcoming (to put it lightly) border security.
“The overall 17-percent decline in overseas travel to the U.S. since 9/11 has cost America $94 billion in lost visitor spending, nearly 200,000 jobs, and $16 billion in lost taxes.”
http://www.theage.com.au/news/news/unwelcome-tourists-avoid-the-us/2007/11/02/1193619101824.html
Well done Japanese government. I hope the benefits you get from pandering to the “War on Terror” outway the cost of this bonehead move.
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Since US-VISIT was introduced, tourist numbers to the US have in fact increased each year, although not sufficiently enough to recover from the 9/11 shock yet, although I think this year they might get back to pre-9/11 levels.
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Do you have stats and breakdowns of those numbers?
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Here for instance:
http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/outreachpages/inbound.intl_arrivals_historic_visitation_2000-2006.html
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Thanks. I note that Japan provides more than half of all incoming Asian visitors – though considerably lower than 2000. The Grand Total is about what it was in 2000, but much of the regrowth has been from NA – 2004-2006 shows a bit over one million for other Overseas and about four million for NA.
However this is all arriving people, not just tourist numbers. Still, I wonder where The Age got their figures.
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The quote I pulled was a quote from Discover America, which is apparently “the official travel and tourism website of the United States” according to their website:
http://discoveramerica.com/
The Age article is actually from AP, so this was reprinted everywhere. I read it first on The Age though…
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Has anyone tried out the automated ticket gate? Any stories there?
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I guess Japan is trying to be safe. Rather be safe then be sorry.
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No, they are not trying to be safe. They are trying to convince their citizens that the government is making them safe. Big difference.
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What exactly is “safe” about treating everyone entering your country as a criminal? It won’t stop people intent on doing harm from still doing so.
Someone determined to to commit a crime can still easily wear gloves and a mask.
It’s ridiculous to think this will make anyone safer.
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It’s not “treating you as a criminal” just to know who the heck you are.
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I note the TBS clip refers to its role in preventing the re-entry of illegal overstayers. This is a pathetic excuse. To re-enter Japan while being an illegal overstayer you still need a re-entry permit, and re-entry permits are never given for longer than your visa. So anyone without a re-entry permit cannot re-enter but must come in as a normal tourist (and how are you going to catch those in ways you couldn’t before?). And the claim that they don’t know how many illegals are in the country is dodgy. Aside from the small number that are literally smuggled in using container ships etc, everyone who comes into Japan is checked, everyone who goes out is checked, and all you need to do is compare the two numbers while making allowances for short-term tourists. And since the embarkation card number is the same, it should be easy.
Frankly, looking at the news, I can’t help wondering if there’s a “America’s got this new gadget so Japan must have it too!” aspect to the whole thing….
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I think you’re overthinking things a bit.
By saying they want to prevent the re-entry of illegal overstayers, I think they are referring to those people who have already been sent home to their country of origin after overstaying their visa and have returned with falsified passport information. I think they are assuming that if they have fingerprints on record that even if the person returns with a fake passport they can verify it with biometric data.
I in no way support the introduction of this system but since terrorism is obviously not the reason for its installation, I would assume that this overstayer ‘problem’ is the heart of the matter.
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There’s something at the heart of it. I’m not sure how big this point you mention is – it could be significant. Personally I think this is not remotely enough justification, but then I’m too cynical to think that any form of safety or security is really behind this – just control, in any form, plus large government contracts, plus pacifying the citizenry to keep them pliable.
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Basically the government is trying to look like they are doing something to fight foreign crime while at the same time looking for new ’sources’ of crime (i.e. artificially increasing crime rates) to feed the media. There was a drop in crimes committed by foreign nationals in 2006 and this fact probably has conservatives and police really scared. If the crime rate by foreigners is dropping and yet the crime rate overall begins to rise it means a)they’re not doing their job properly or b)Japanese people really were the source of the crime – this gets back to the whole cultural crisis that you hear all the time.
And just for the record, I would say A right off the bat because crime dropped overall for both foreign and Japanese people. I can’t definitively say crime is on the rise, but it sure doesn’t feel any safer.
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Bleh, this is just part of Japan’s “all foreigners are criminals” propaganda.
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This bureaucrat really does think that all foreigners should just stay home.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/fl20071120a1.html
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That’s a joke, right?
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At the bottom of the page, it says:
“Note: This is a fictitious e-mail from a fictitious government official.”
*WHEW*
Had me going there for a minute!
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That must have been added – definitely wasn’t there when I first saw the article.
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Definitely was not there. The JT is playing with us.
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I find this fear of terrorism ironic considering that Japan was the home for some terrorist organizations (ie. Nihon Sekigun) and that the last major ‘attack’ in Japan was done by Japanese (Aleph). I think they should focus on fingerprinting their own than foreigners; they seem more likely to be violent in a large scale than foreigners.
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Yeah, right you Korean-Chinese-Philipino confused person!
That’s why there are 2 MILLION Koreans in the USA. Right? And most of them don’t even try to learn English. That’s how sad both America is, and how Korean people are in the USA.
Geez
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Huh…? The quality of posts on Japanese issues, as always, never seems to change. I’m still not sure how this relates to anything, but yes, yelling about Koreans’ mess seems to always be a reliable retort.
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i agree with you considering the number of crimes commited by some japanese, compare it in quantity.
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I read somewhere that they won’t do it to military members. Is that true?
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Welcome to the future.
Japan will not be the only to be doing this in the future.
I know for a fact that the Foreigners who are going through the ports who are experiencing this system is absolutely amazed at how technologically and totally organized it is, compared to the mess and shamble that they experience in other parts of the world, including the sad state of affairs at places like the USA.
When was the last time you went through the Delta terminal at JFK? So, so sad. I was just going through there the other week, and I could not believe how disorganized, how confused, and how totally unsafe I felt seeing all those NYPD and Homeland Security agents not wanting to help each other.
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I think that there are two issues at play here. One is inconvenience as the kinks in the newly introduced system get worked out. The other is privacy concerns. Once the kinks get worked out, this system should not be nearly as controversial as it apparently is. All sovereign governments have the right to subject foreign nationals to immigration controls at their ports of entry. If you think they’re treating you like potential criminals, I think you should learn to develop thicker skin (or try entering the States for some perspective – see comment by K above).
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So, when I go to Japan in July, I have to get fingerprinted? Does it apply to minors?
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All foreigners under 16 will not be fingerprinted.
“the cameras on the machines proved incapable of photographing the faces of tall foreigners. In such cases, the foreigners in question had to keep re-do their scans until they could properly maneuver themselves into the camera’s range of vision.”
Awesome! Now they have us gaijin terrorist scum also physically bending over.
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The best part of the Fuji TV report is when they go to VO narration–two out of the 6 or 7 people they show footage of actually being photographed/fingerprinted are women wearing headscarves.
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According to comments on this site:
http://www.debito.org/index.php/?page_id=745#comment-95045
the process seems to be generally smooth for re-entry (but don’t try pre-registering) and there still seem to be re-entry lines (so residents don’t have to line up with the tourists).
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