Japan to fingerprint all visitors and foreign residents

If you've been inspired by Mathew's excellent Big in Japan feature here on Gadling and are thinking of visiting this fine country, you might want to spend a moment to check out a disturbing article in yesterday's LA Times, Japan's welcome mat getting prickly.

It seems that the Japanese government is cracking down on not just foreigners but foreign residents as well, requiring them to be photographed and fingerprinted every time they enter the country.

The official story is that theses measures are to help thwart terrorism. Critics charge, however, that Japan is hardly a terrorist target and that the government is enacting these measures to keep a closer eye on foreigners who spend lengthy amounts of time in the country. Civil rights activists argue that the government is racially profiling foreigners because of accusations that non-Japanese immigrants and visitors are the cause of rising crime in the country.

Yes folks, it's the immigrants that did it! You know, the ones that don't look like the rest of us.

How sad.

Filed under: Activism, Japan