U.S. Embassy Warns of Suspected Racial Profiling by Japan Police

[brooklynite]

Source: Bloomberg

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo issued a warning Monday about foreigners being stopped and searched by Japanese police in what it said were suspected to be “racial profiling incidents.”

The unusual move by the embassy of Tokyo’s only formal ally came after Japan closed its borders to new entries by foreigners amid concern over the omicron variant, just weeks after beginning a cautious re-opening. The closure was backed by almost 90% of respondents to a media poll over the weekend.

The alert posted on the Twitter account of the American Citizen Services section of the embassy warned that U.S. citizens should carry proof of their immigration status and notify their consulate if detained. The alert added that several foreigners “were detained, questioned, and searched.”

The prime minister’s office did not immediately provide a comment when asked about the warning.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-06/u-s-embassy-warns-of-suspected-racial-profiling-by-japan-police

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Link to tweet

[IronLionZion]

1. One can tell a person's COVID status and immigration status based on race

only if one is racist.

[Martin68]

2. Japan is a racist country by law. Landlords can advertise that foreigners will not be considered for

a lease. Employers an actually advertise that they will not employ people of a particular blood type. There are many more examples.

[brooklynite]

3. "Landlords can advertise that foreigners will not be considered for a lease"

Same thing applies in the US. There's no civil rights protection for foreign citizens.

[Martin68]

4. Can you provide a reference for that? A landlord can advertize "no foreigners accepted?"

[brooklynite]

5. Department of Housing and Urban Development...

It is illegal to discriminate in the sale or rental of housing, including against individuals seeking a mortgage or housing assistance, or in other housing-related activities. The Fair Housing Act prohibits this discrimination because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. A variety of other federal civil rights laws, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, prohibit discrimination in housing and community development programs and activities, particularly those that are assisted with HUD funding. These civil rights laws include obligations such as taking reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to their programs and activities for persons with limited English proficiency (LEP) and taking appropriate steps to ensure effective communication with individuals with disabilities through the provision of appropriate auxiliary aids and services. Various federal fair housing and civil rights laws require HUD and its program participants to affirmatively further the purposes of the Fair Housing Act.

https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/fair_housing_rights_and_obligations

Nothing about citizenship.

[dalton99a]

6. +1. There is no country on the planet that gives foreigners the same constitutional rights

as its citizens

Foreign nationals are generally only entitled to the most basic protections under customary international law

[Miguelito Loveless]

11. "National origin" "citizenship"

[Farmer-Rick]

13. National origins IS a protected class

So in the US you can not declare you won't rent to them. At least not without someone bringing complaints and possible lawsuits.

[Martin68]

14. Umm, I believe "nationality" includes citizenship.

[Just_Vote_Dem]

10. No they can't

https://nationalfairhousing.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017-02-01_Fact_Sheet-Fair_Housing_Laws_protect_immigrants.pdf

It is illegal for a landlord or real estate agent to treat you differently because of your immigration
status, national origin, or religion. That means people involved in renting or selling homes cannot:

-Refuse to rent to you because you are not from the United States;

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's the meaning of no discrimination because of "national origin"

[soryang]

7. I listened to a legal presentation from a lawyer practicing in Japan

...several months ago which suggested that if you were merely accused of shoplifting or other wrongful act in Japan as a foreigner, that you would be held for a significant period of time in jail (like six months) before you would get a hearing, and probably the best you could hope for would be to be deported at that point. Don't think I'll ever be visiting there although I had a stopover there once.

[Martin68]

15. I lived in Japan for 21 years, and often heard anecdotes to that effect. You don't mess with the

Japanese police. That said, a quick "gomen nasai" (I'm very sorry) goes a long way.

[soryang]

18. just listened to Bill Hagety's intro at the Rahm confirmation hearing

He described the Japanese legal system as "outdated and barbaric" and a "hostage justice system." He's the former ambassador.

[betsuni]

9. Obviously-foreign-looking men have always complained about being stopped by police in Tokyo.

Nothing new. Some guys have been stopped so many times on suspicion of stealing the bicycle they're riding that they wear their foreign registration card and bicycle registration around their necks to save time.

[Martin68]

16. For the first few years I lived in Tokyo, police often stopped foreigners to ask for their alien

identity card. If you did not have it on your person, it would mean several hours of interrogation down at the police box at best or detention at worst. I think by the middle 80s that practice lightened up. But it was still illegal to leave your home without your ID card.

[betsuni]

19. I'm still a little paranoid about taking out the garbage or going anywhere without

my alien card, although I've never once been stopped by the police and asked to show it. I have a clever disguise to fool them from suspecting my foreign criminal activities: middle-aged white woman walking around with bags from the supermarket.

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

12. I have lived in Japan ...

I have lived in Japan twice - 1992 & 2004. While there are racist elements common in Japanese law and practice a lot of how you are treated as a foreigner depends on what sort of foreigner you are.

I am a white male American. I had to be sponsored by my Japanese employer to rent a house. I had to register with the police. I was young with long hair and an earring the first time I lived there. At 6’ and 200lbs I was the largest person in my small city and occasionally frightened grandmothers and small children if I came upon them unexpectedly. I think I once heard them scream "Gojira!" as the ran away. The second time, I was an English professor at the university with a wife and children with me. The cute kindergarten-aged kids helped break down a lot of barriers.

While I was always aware I was different and would never be accepted as a native, all in all I experienced very little negative treatment. I occasionally even traded on my status as gaijin to avoid some onerous expectations. But talking with or observing people of different demographics showed different experiences.

Women, Japanese or foreign, have more issues than men in general. Non-white people have more issues than whites and seem to experience more distrust. Foreigners of Japanese descent often have great difficulties as they are not cut the sort of slack I was and are expected to follow the rules and customs for natives, whether they know them or not. They are often expected to speak fluent Japanese, regardless of their actual experience with the language. Not following these customs or speaking the language comes at a high social cost, or so I have been told.

I enjoyed both of my stays in Japan and have some plans to go back for a semi-retirement in a few years. But, I could easily see people becoming more distrustful of gaijin as the pandemic worsens. Just as we become more distrustful of each other here in the States. I will look closely at the ground truth before committing to another visit, but unless it is far greater than in the past I will likely not let being treated differently than a native stop me from going there.

Just my experience.

[Martin68]

17. I was a very well-behaved foreigner there, and I will agree that I encountered very few negative

situations. I spoke Japanese and was always well dressed. Twice I was forced to get out of a taxi cab, for which I had been waiting in line, because the driver specifically said he wouldn't drive foreigners (they didn't notice I was a foreigner until I got in the back seat and they could see me in their rear view mirror). I also saw ads in the newspaper specifically excluding foreigners from various jobs and living quarters.

[alphafemale]

20. Japan is racist? Who was slow to that bell?

Really?