Foreigners protest over forced fingerprinting
(外国人、入国審査での指紋採取に抗議)
Protesters inflated a 3-meter-high yellow hand with an extended forefinger and thrust it toward the Justice Ministry’s offices in Tokyo on Nov. 20 to demonstrate against a controversial fingerprinting policy beginning at ports of entry across the country the same day.
About 80 protesters turned toward the ministry building and shouted in unison their opposition to the new policy, which requires all but a handful of foreigners to have their fingerprints and face photos taken to gain entry into Japan.
Representatives of human rights groups, labor unions, foreigners’ groups and individuals spoke out against the system — similar to the US-VISIT policy operating in the United States since 2004, but also targeting residents and not just tourists — calling it, among other things, “racist,” “xenophobic,” “retrogressive” and “an invasion of human rights and privacy.”
“It’s an expression of Japanese xenophobia. Japan is using this system as a tool to control foreigners,” said Kawakami Sonoko, campaign coordinator for Amnesty International Japan.
2007年12月1日号
毎日新聞 2007年12月3日
