Newsletter No. 911
News-Analysis
February 17, 2008

 

COLLATERAL DAMAGE FROM JAPAN'S DISCRIMINATORY "ANTI-TERRORISM" POLICIES

Anyone who has read this Newsletter in recent months know that I have a very decidedly negative view of the Japanese Justice Ministry's newest "anti-terrorism" policies. I view many of these latest moves as a thinly-disguised justification for Kunio Hatoyama and like-minded Japanese conservatives to give free rein in the world of policy to their deeply-entrenched cultural xenophobia. They say that it is about protecting the Japanese public from Al-Qaida; I say that it is more about the long-standing Japanese cultural tendencies toward anti-foreignism. And when emissaries from the Bush Administration come here on their own crusading agenda and push Tokyo toward even more restrictive measures, I can't help but feeling outraged at the pure stupidity -- and, indeed, the patently "un-American" -- nature of contemporary policy in Washington.

It was therefore with strong interest that I read the following news article in the Asahi Shinbun a couple of days ago. It demonstrates, I think, some of the real problems of the new fingerprinting policy, and how it can have unintended consequences for Japanese society as a whole. The article below highlights one major issue, but there are others as well.

The article's title poses the important question: "Why treat foreign students like terrorists?"

My response: "Why treat any of us as terrorists?" To date, every single major incident of terrorism on Japanese soil has been committed by ethnic Japanese -- not by foreigners. Why shouldn't the current policies reflect that historical reality?

Why Treat Foreign Students as Terrorists?
By Tatsuya Chikusa
Asahi Shinbun
February 15, 2008

OSAKA -- A nongovernmental organization on Thursday asked Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama to exempt foreign students on school trips from anti-terrorism legislation requiring foreigners to be fingerprinted when they enter Japan.

Since last November, people with non-Japanese passports aged 16 and older are required to have their fingerprints and photos taken upon entry to Japan under the revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law. The law was revised as a step to tighten anti-terrorism measures, but members of the Osaka NGO that has dealt with educational issues surrounding ethnic Koreans living in Japan said it was unthinkable that children would engage in terrorism.

"There is no need to include high school students who are leaving Japan for a school function as subjects for anti-terrorism measures," said Kim Kwang Min, secretary-general of the Korea NGO Center. The NGO said that those studying in Japanese high schools who want to join their classmates on overseas study tours will be unfairly singled out when they return to Japan because they do not hold Japanese passports.

One school that has already taken steps to minimize the effects on the students is Osaka Prefectural Sumiyoshi Senior High School. "I am worried that some students will be hurt when they think 'why am I being singled out?' when they are being fingerprinted and having their photo taken," Principal Etsuji Nakano said. Sumiyoshi High School is planning a school trip to Taiwan in October.

Of the school's 840 or so students, about 50 are either ethnic Koreans whose ancestors have lived in Japan since before or during World War II or ethnic Koreans and Chinese whose families moved to Japan after the war. About 15 of those students will be among the 280 or so second-year students taking part in the Taiwan trip. Under the revised immigration control law, those entering Japan with foreign passports will be led to separate lines for fingerprinting and photographing. Koreans whose ancestors have lived in Japan since before and during World War II, who hold special permanent resident status, are exempted from the requirements.

Nakano said school officials have been sensitive about the concerns of students holding foreign passports. "There are students of foreign citizenship who become nervous about the difference in citizenship even during the process of applying for a passport before an overseas trip," Nakano said. "Some students may feel 'I don't want to participate in a trip that will make me uncomfortable.'"

Another Osaka prefectural school, Nagayoshi High School, is planning a trip to South Korea in September for some of its second-year students. About 70 students at the school have foreign citizenship. Vice Principal Hirotoshi Nakata said, "It is difficult to explain to the students why there has suddenly arisen a need for fingerprinting and photographing." Kim of the Korea NGO Center is proposing that the Justice Ministry use a provision that allows it to exempt certain individuals from the fingerprinting and photographing requirement through a ministerial order.