846 refused entry into Japan under revised immigration rule

Friday 28th November, 10:55 AM JST

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realist at 10:44 PM JST - 28th November

A strange story - and what about those missing persons - the 304 unaccounted for? Japan seems to be becoming more peculiar with each passing day.
moccachan09 at 11:21 PM JST - 28th November

I am not impressed with this revised immigration rule. Why? there are still many foreigners who can enter the country with false identities or training visa but will work in the factories.
smithinjapan at 09:06 AM JST - 29th November

The system is half decent for catching people with minor visa infringements, as is the case with most of the abovementioned in the article, but there's no way this system is protecting Japan from terrorism.

Personally, though, I don't care. I find that the separate lines for registration card holders is quite fast... perhaps faster than before.
Nessie at 10:53 AM JST - 29th November

Does it mean 846-542= 304 westerners were refused entry ? Is it some kind of taboo to say a white person was refused entry in a non-white country ? Every time we hear about foreigners being deported or refused entry we only talk about Third World or from asian countries but you won't make believe there was not a single white person among those 846.

The implication is that these were the top three groups, in which case it it is a perfectly acceptable journalistic practice. Do we really want to have the whole list, down the two Uzbeks and the half-Lithuanian traveling on an Estonian passport?

There is no such thing as a person with white nationality, by the way.
onewrldoneppl at 11:49 AM JST - 29th November

the revised immigration laws are helpful to the elimination of human trafficking. japan is among the top nations as a destination/transit point for criminal organizations who traffick in sex-slaves from china, korea & the philippines. if you would like to learn more about international efforts, such as this immigration law, to stop human trafficking; i submit the following:

sex-slave traffic from china → http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/china

sex-slave traffic from korea → http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/south_korea

sex-slave traffic from philippines → http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/philippines

contrary to what some of you might not think, it is not only japanese xenophobia but, also an effort to reverse decades of neglect regarding a very serious global problem.
bdiego at 12:54 PM JST - 29th November

This system is simply a more effective version of what several countries have already implemented. I don't like having my photo taken just to visit, but having gone through it it's really not a big deal. I've had my fingerprints and photo taken several times in the US for legitimate purposes (fingerprinting compulsory for every male adult in the US for selective services, it's common for a lot of immigration applications)
jayrvox at 09:32 PM JST - 29th November

I just went to Busan, Korea by a 2-day package tour last Wednesday through the Fukuoka seaport. Upon departure, the immigration officer even asked for my alien card even though he saw my passport with a valid Korean tourist visa and a multiple re-entry permit. That pissed me off a little since that day was my birthday.

Have any of you guys experience this scenario when traveling to other countries (not to your home country) coming from Japan?
OssanAmerica at 12:04 AM JST - 30th November

Nothing wrong with this practice. We do it here in the US. The only people who have a problem with it are people who have some kind of record. And they already know who they are.
jonnyboy at 08:52 AM JST - 30th November

OssanAmerica at 12:04 AM JST - 30th November

Nothing wrong with this practice. We do it here in the US. The only people >who have a problem with it are people who have some kind of record. And >they already know who they are.

well, if that's so i suppose you would also be happy to be obliged to visit the local police station ever day in order to turn in a detailed itinerary of your comings and goings. after all, if you're not up to any mischief this shouldn't be a problem, eh? a classic argument but a flawed one
gaijintraveller at 09:52 AM JST - 30th November

OssanAmerica says, "Nothing wrong with this practice. We do it here in the US." That justifies nothing. You still have capital punishment, sell guns pretty freely, spy on your own citizens, imprison people for years without trial or fair access to process of law and ignore the the Geneva Conventions under the Bush administration.

There might be more freedom than in America these days.
Yelnats at 07:12 PM JST - 30th November

I wonder if they made a mistake with one or two of those people. nightmare
elbudamexicano at 10:45 PM JST - 30th November

I think these newly revised Japanese immigration rules are great! I wish the EU countries got with the program and started to finger print and digitally record all of it's citizens and just anybody visiting the EU. Why? How many British citizens (with Pakistani faces) were part of the killing spree in Mumbai, India? Enough Brits of Pakistani heritage were part of that terrorist group. All of these future terrorists must be identified now and dealt with a.s.a.p!
notimpressed at 02:56 PM JST - 1st December

Well I guess that it is a legitimate security measure, as much as we dislike it. But, Fingerprinting 120million Japanese on top of the foreign nationals entering would be too much for Japanese beaurocracy to deal with, not to mention that Japanese people themselves would not stand for it. Singling out foreigner entering is kind of an insult, but not that big an insult if we have nothing to hide. I think the main point is they should just say the real reason behind it, if they even know themselves.
taiko666 at 04:35 PM JST - 2nd December

OssanAmerica: I believe the American security services also listen in to random phone conversations. As you have nothing to hide, is this also ok by you?

The only way for any biometrics-based security system to have any meaning is for everyone to be checked. Checking only certain groups (ie foreigners) justs yells to everyone "This is all bullshit, we just want to be seen to be doing something, and we don't give a monkey's toss about the dignity of foreigners who want to come to our beautiful country."

Thanks USA for introducing this xenophobic sh1te, and well done Japan for sucking up to the USA like a good little ko-inu.
taiko666 at 04:42 PM JST - 2nd December

elbudamexicano

And how would fingerprinting have helped? They arrived in Mumbia on a small motorboat. Oddly, they didn't present themselves at immigration for passport and biometric checks; nor did they didn't tick 'I am a terrorist' on their immigration cards. This must be causing more than a little tooth-sucking in the office of the Japanese immigration control policy makers.