Tweet of the Week #49: Racial Profiling For ID Check Has Twitter Fuming

We’ve all heard the classic line “Japan is an incredibly welcoming country.” A place where everyone’s kind, polite, and eerily silent on the trains. And the crime rate? Oh! Ridiculously low! That’s in part thanks to the approximately 6,000 24-hour-staffed police boxes that cover the country in a network of uniformed protection.

Papers, please!

But does all that security come at a cost?

In Japan, walking around without identification papers on your person is technically illegal. Japanese law allows patrolling officers to stop a random person at any time to check their ID. The people they inevitably choose? Those who don’t look “Japanese.”

Even if you’ve done nothing wrong at all, if you’re caught empty-handed you could be arrested and taken straight to the police station. A couple of months back, an unlucky Indonesian tourist forgot her passport at her hotel and, while separated from her travel group, got held for several days by the police who mistook her for an illegal immigrant worker.

But I’m Japanese!

For a long time, Japanese society has entertained the myth that Japan is a homogenous homeland, free of discrimination because, well, everyone is the same.

But, in recent years, in particular, there’s been a steadily growing number of Japanese nationals of foreign descent (in addition to an increase in the number of foreign residents) that is challenging that misconception loud and clear.

Whether we choose to see it or not, discrimination exists in Japan. Among the body of evidence is how appearance-based identity control checks are conducted on the street.

Japanese nationals don’t have an ID card and they have no reason to carry their passport on them day-to-day either. But incidents like the one @zainulabaden experienced suggests that some Japanese people might have to—just to be safe.

僕はパキスタン系日本人です。国籍も日本です。顔はこれでも日本人なんです。
職質には協力します。しかし最初から「在留カードは」「パスポートは」「ないなら逮捕しなきゃいけないよ」と言う聞き方は嫌な気分になります

「本人確認書類の提示をお願いします」が適切です。この顔でも日本人なんです pic.twitter.com/Kbw6FjYesN

— zain ul aladdin (ゼイン) (@zainulabaden) September 28, 2019

僕（ぼく）はパキスタン系（けい）日本人（にほんじん）です。国籍（こくせき）も日本（にほん）です。顔（かお）はこれでも日本人なんです。

職質（しょくしつ）には協力（きょうりょく）します。しかし最初（さいしょ）から「在留（ざいりゅう）カードは」「パスポートは」「ないなら逮捕（たいほ）しなきゃいけないよ」と言（い）う聞（き）き方（かた）は嫌（いや）な気分（きぶん）になります

「本人（ほんにん）確認（かくにん）書類（しょるい）の提示（ていじ）をお願（ねが）いします」が適切（てきせつ）です。この顔でも日本人なんです

= I’m Japanese of Pakistani origin. My nationality IS Japanese. Despite how I look, I am Japanese. I do a good job cooperating. But this way of asking from the start “Where’s your alien card?”, “Your passport?”, “If you don’t have it, we’ll have to arrest you” makes me feel bad. “Please provide a document showing your identity” is the appropriate way to ask. Yes, even with this face, I am Japanese. 

Shedding a not-so-glamorous light on identity controls in Japan, @Zainulaben’s tweet prompted people—Japanese citizens and foreign residents—to share their own experiences as well which you can read on the thread.

That’s the way to do it!

Time to learn how to use the suffix 方（かた which expresses “the way (manner) to (perform an action)” or “how to (perform an action)”.

The construction is easy peasy, you attach 方 to the stem of the verb, minus the ます form:

• 履歴書（りれきしょの書（か）き方（かた= way to write a resume
• 考（かんが）え方（かた= way of thinking
• やり方（かた= way of doing
• 使（ つか）い方（かた= way of using

When the verb becomes a noun it looks like this:

• 彼の考（かんが）え方（かたが面白い = his way of thinking is interesting.
• 漢字（かんじの書き方（かたは難しい = the way of writing kanji is difficult
• パソコンの使（ つか）い方（かたを教（おし）えてください = tell me how to use the computer

Vocabulary

For more on learning Japanese

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