MOJ Website on fingerprinting/photos at Immigration from Nov 2007

[amdg]

I came back through KIX on January 4th and this is how things are there:

There are three lines at Kansai now. Japanese and Special PR holders on the right, and over to the left is one huge maze of ropes to hold the expected long lines of gaijin for fingerprinting.

However there are two entrances to this rope maze, on the left for "nama" gaijin, and on the right for wizened FGs (aka re-entry holders). There was a guy standing at the entry point making sure everyone went where they belong.

The re-entry holder line was very short and seemed to be given priority over the other line. There were several people in front of me but I don't think I stood there for 30 seconds.

Overall it went quickly and smoothly and I got through immigration faster than my wife and daughter on the Japanese side.

I still hate the system but at least they seem to have implemented it fairly well.

Thanks for the KIX info Lurker. One question. Did you have to give your fingerprints when departing Japan?

[FG Lurker]

Thanks for the KIX info Lurker. One question. Did you have to give your fingerprints when departing Japan?

Nope, departure was the same as always. Fill out the pointless form and hand it over with your passport and gaijin card.

[amdg]

There's got to be a better way of screening for terrorists and illegal aliens...

[yt]0eZT-f8hzXo[/yt]

[Mulboyne]

AFP: Fingerprinting Harmless To Tourism In Japan

Japan's new practice of fingerprinting and photographing foreigners hasn't discouraged tourism, with last year seeing a record number of visitors, a government survey said Friday...The number of foreigners entering Japan between Nov. 20, the day the new controls were introduced, and Dec. 31, rose 13.4% from the same period of 2006 to 980,000, the justice ministry said..."One factor is thought to be the effects of government policies to promote tourism in Japan," it said, noting a particular growth in visitors from other Asian countries.

[Greji]

AFP: Fingerprinting Harmless To Tourism In Japan

".....The number of foreigners entering Japan between Nov. 20, the day the new controls were introduced, and Dec. 31, rose 13.4% from the same period of 2006......"

Of course they didn't mention that they had been waiting in line to be photographed and fingerprinted since July!

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Foreign students may get to skip fingerprinting

The Justice Ministry will consider exempting foreign students attending Japanese high schools from having their fingerprints and mug shots taken at immigration sections when they return to Japan from school excursions, if the schools make a request. Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama on Thursday said he will consider taking necessary measures including revising a ministerial ordinance, after receiving a request from New Komeito to exempt the students from having their fingerprints and mug shots taken. "This is a thing we have to do," Hatoyama said. The Revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law came into force last year and requires foreigners aged 16 and older entering Japan to have their fingerprints and mug shots taken at airport and seaport immigration checkpoints.

[kusai Jijii]

I flew back into kansai last night, and my experience was similar to Lurk's. The re-entry holding FGs were funnelled off to a seperate line, and I recon I was waiting there about 5 mins max, and most likely made it through immigration faster than the 'real people' - our 'hosts' in the 'Japanese Passport Holders' line. Thats not to say I support the system, just that the logisitcs of it seem to be working ok for the re-entry holding FGs.
I wouldnt have wanted to be a numa FG though. The lines for them went for fucking kilometers! Several planes had just arrived from Thailand, and (guessing) Taiwan / China. Also some people's prints proved much more difficult to take than others, requiring lots of wet tissues, and glass cleaner. It really was quite a joke.
The strangest thing of the whole process was the HUGE yellow sign that read "Strict Processing of Foreigners to Prevent Terrorism" next to another sign reading "Yokoso Japan!"

[GomiGirl]

I came through Narita on Sunday night. It was the fastest I have ever seen. We were on a limousine bus around 20 minutes after the plane landed. There was no-one at the re-entry queue and it took less than 2 minutes to get fingerprinted and scanned. Then we went down and our luggage was there and the bus was only a few minutes later. Didn't even have time for a post flight ciggie. Wasn't looking at the other lines as I was too busy playing with the fingerprint machine.

[Catoneinutica]

Looks like Londonistan is requiring air travelers flying through Heathrow to be fingerprinted...

...for domestic flights as well as international ones.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/07/nheathrow107.xml

[ttjereth]

Looks like Londonistan is requiring air travelers flying through Heathrow to be fingerprinted...

...for domestic flights as well as international ones.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/07/nheathrow107.xml

I've only been through Heathrow twice in my life, but finerprinting or not twice was more than enough...

[Mulboyne]

NHK reports (Japanese) that the Ministry of Justice has confirmed a new fingerprint exemption. If a foreign student over 16 at a Japanese school goes overseas on an official school trip then they will not be required to be fingerprinted when they return and will be treated the same way as their schoolmates. It's a decent ruling but also shows up the way in which the MoJ has tacitly admitted that an obligation to give fingerprints can carry some stigma.

[Greji]

the MoJ has tacitly admitted that an obligation to give fingerprints can carry some stigma.

Dollar to a dog turd that you'll never get them to admit that~

[amdg]

The last time I went through KIX, the immigration guy at the figerprints desk looked just so utterly beat down (presumably from complaints) that I actually felt sorry for him. I suprised myself. He couldn't look at me, he just stared in abject hoplessness somewhere off to his left with his brow crinkled and it looked like he could cry at any minute.

[Iraira]

The last time I went through KIX, the immigration guy at the figerprints desk looked just so utterly beat down (presumably from complaints) that I actually felt sorry for him. I suprised myself. He couldn't look at me, he just stared in abject hoplessness somewhere off to his left with his brow crinkled and it looked like he could cry at any minute.

I had just gone through and had given him a tomato and cabbage soup onara as a omiyage of my fingerprinting....so you were correct, he did want to die. You didn't notice the pungent turpitude & terpentine in the air?

[amdg]

I had just gone through and had given him a tomato and cabbage soup onara as a omiyage of my fingerprinting....so you were correct, he did want to die. You didn't notice the pungent turpitude & terpentine in the air?

I just got off an airplane. I couldn't tell the difference.

[Mulboyne]

Chosun: Korea to Fingerprint Foreign Visitors

Seoul will reintroduce the fingerprinting of all foreign visitors when they enter the country. The plan is expected to form part of a policy briefing by Justice Minister Kim Kyung-han to President Lee Myung-bak on Monday. The Justice Ministry said it is also considering photographing foreign visitors like the U.S. and Japan. Fingerprinting of foreigners was abolished under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, which cited possible human rights violations, but fairness became an issue since fingerprinting of the Koreans continues. Abolition coincided with the introduction of the same practice in the U.S., Japan and elsewhere in the wake of the 9-11 attacks. The EU, a region that has been relatively lenient toward foreigners, is expected to keep biometric information of foreign visitors on file by fingerprinting and photographing them on entry from 2015. The ministry apparently changed its mind now that there are 1.1 million foreigners living in Korea, more than 2 percent of the entire population, including some 220,000 illegals. The ministry last Friday said it could revise laws and submit them to the National Assembly in the second half of next year.

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

[B]Woman fools Japan's airport security fingerprint system[/B]

January 2, 2009
A South Korean woman barred from entering Japan last year has reportedly passed through its immigration screening system by using tape on her fingers to fool a fingerprint reading machine.

[Mulboyne]

NHK reports (Japanese) that the Ministry of Justice has confirmed a new fingerprint exemption. If a foreign student over 16 at a Japanese school goes overseas on an official school trip then they will not be required to be fingerprinted when they return and will be treated the same way as their schoolmates. It's a decent ruling but also shows up the way in which the MoJ has tacitly admitted that an obligation to give fingerprints can carry some stigma.

The Asahi reports (Japanese) that, despite this ruling, from May to September last year, a total of 10 non-Japanese students were required to give their fingerprints when they returned to Japan from a school field trip. The students in question have been sent a letter of apology and the MoJ says it has removed their information from its database. All the students had exemption papers in their passports but they were not spotted by immigration officials at both Narita and Kansai airports. The problem first came to light at Kansai when a Chinese and a Korean student, returning from a trip to Korea in September, were both required to give their fingerprints. This prompted an investigation which turned up the other cases.

[Mock Cockpit]

Stupid fucking system this fingerprint crap, pain in the arse. Still KIX is infinitely quicker and more efficient than the abortion that is Perth Airport. Place is a fucking disgrace. Changi, Terminal 3, now that's an airport, they even had a butterfly garden. Fucking butterflies.

[wuchan]

the MoJ says it has removed their information from its database.

[omae mona]

The Gov't Wants Faster Entry Procedures At Airports thread that Mulboyne started is about tourists. But it reminded me of this topic and the impact on foreign residents. 16 months into the new policy, how have all you residents made out with the new system of lines at the airports?

Since I use Narita, the new system has actually made life a lot easier for me. Leaving the country is fantastic. I continue to bypass all the Japanese people standing in 10-minute long lines and walk right over to the automated gate line. Recently they stopped bothering to even staff this line because so few of us gaijin use it. When I walk up to it, one of the nice ladies patrolling the room notices me quickly, dashes into the office, and within a few seconds an inspector literally runs over to my gate to handle my case personally. Hee hee!

When I return to Japan, the arrival lobby I arrive in does not have the automated gates. I could walk another few minutes to get to the automated gates. But the special line for foreigners with re-entry permits usually only has a handful of people in it and is quite fast anyway, so I just wait in this line. On my most recent trip, the inspectors in the Japanese citizen area ran out of customers, so they called the 4-5 re-entry permit holders over to their booths and processed us very quickly.

How have other people fared?

[Iraira]

How have other people fared?

Last time coming through Narita, I got through faster than J-girlfriend...which pissed her off as she got secondary searched at LAX...just to balance the racial profiling to not look so much like racial profiling.

[wuchan]

How have other people fared?

way out, easy
way in with the new line for re-entry permit holders, easy

I have learned something, play dumb. Speak no japanese and answer every question with the answer they want to hear. Most of those cunts only speak a little english and as long as you answer all the questions correctly you won't be bothered, or searched downstairs.

[Catoneinutica]

After the tragicomic chaos of TSA screening at LAX, even worse than usual because of that latest hot British export, The Crotch Bomber (or was it The Hat Bomber? The Shoe Bomber? The Cummerbund Bomber?), Immigration and Customs at Narita were really quite pleasant. The Immigration guy was even apologetic when I got into the wrong line.

-catone
-say what you will about British universities, they do a right proper job of training jihadis where to secret their little explosive devices

[FG Lurker]

Delta is starting an Osaka-Seattle service that will get me to Victoria without having to go through the Tokyo transfer nightmare... After all the bullshit in the US though I was a lot happier to have to do the Tokyo transfer nightmare than the Seattle anal probe nightmare. Wish Air Canada would just bring back the Osaka-Vancouver flight.

[TFG]

So, double amputees are voided of this obligation? LoL

[Taro Toporific]

So, double amputees are voided of this obligation? LoL

I asked.
The standard procedure for amputees and people without clear prints is shoot an additional side view photo of the person for an earprint, if the person's ID/profile looks harmless.
If the person has burned or sanded their prints and/or their ID/profile looks hinky, they are forced to provide copious "additional documentation" (at which point the person in question normally abandons their plans to enter Japan without further legal action).