From: fester@island.COM (Mike Fester)
Subject: Re: Fingerprinting Gaijin
Organization: /usr/local/rn/organization
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 17:36:25 GMT

In article <1992Nov18.060308.27770@leland.Stanford.EDU> underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe) writes:
>In article <Bxw8Ip.8zr@world.std.com> cmr@world.std.com (Charles M Richmond)
>writes:
>>	TOKYO (UPI) -- Japan's Supreme Court on Monday upheld the government's
>>authority to fingerprint alien residents of Japan in a case that has
>>kept an American woman living in the nation from traveling abroad for
>>10n years.
>>	The court rejected the appeal of Kathleen Morikawa, 42, a columnist
>>who had demanded the justice ministry's decision denying her a re-entry
>>permit because she refused to allow the fingerprinting be declared null
>>and void. ...
>
>Excellent.
>
>I won't comment on the morality of finger printing, but I wish to point
>out the following.  The Japanese gov't has been, in general, fairly unbiased
>in its treatment of foreigners, regardless of ethnicity.

This is not true. And, in several cases, (for no known reason) the fingerprint
requirement has been dropped for some foreigners. The "case-by-case" system
allows this. And, assuredly, it is much more difficult for certain ethnic
groups to get permission to immigrate to Japan than others. 

>(Note that Kathleen Morikawa is a Japanese by ethnicity but is an
>American citizen.  I applaud UPI for referring to her as an American.)

Out of idle curiousity, how do you know she IS "Japanese by ethnicity"?

>Most Koreans have made a huge issue out of fingerprinting and
>citizenship.  For years (and very loudly) they have complained and whined
>about how the Japanese gov't is discriminating against them specifically.
>That was and continues to be a lie.  Koreans who do not have Japanese
>citizenship are treated in just the same way that other foreigners have
>been treated.

No, they are not. First of all, the ancestors of most other foreigners 
were not forcibly relocated into Japan. 

>In particular regard to citizenship, most Koreans do not want citizenship
>but do want the rights that are associated with it.  The Koreans have never

As has been pointed out ad-nauseum, most of the Koreans DO want citizenship
in Japan: many of them simply do not want to give up their names. And even
if they get citizenship, they registry carries a "new citizen" stamp on it,
and in many cases this can (though not legally) prevent them from gettting
certain jobs.

>once presented a case of a specific person who was denied citizenship by
>the Japanese gov't and who (1) wanted citizenship and (2) met the terms of
>citizenship.

While it is not TECHNICALLY required by Japanese law, such name changes are
effectively required. Thus, numerous requests for citizenship have been 
turned down. 

>The Koreans have to meet the same requirements for citizenship and residency
>that all the other foreigners must meet.  It's too bad that they can
>not bear to pledge allegiance to Japan and not Korea.  (Even in the USA,
>a person with permanent residency cannot vote for political candidates,
>regardless of the whining.)

However, any person born in the US (as the 1.2 million "Koreans" were born in
Japan, some of them 3rd generation by now) CAN vote, once they turn 18.

>By contrast, Korean immigration laws explicitly favor ethnic Koreans,
>regardless of nationality.  They explicitly favor a Korean-American over either
>a Japanese-American or a Taiwanese-America.  It's much easier for a
>Korean-Japanese to become a Korean citizen than for a Taiwanese-Japanese.

It is also easier for people of Japanese descent from other nations to get
Japanese immigration permission, and permanent residence, and (if they wish)
citizenship. this was discussed at length in the Japanese papars a couple of
years ago, due the influx of Brazilian-Japanese. "Returnees" have always been
dealt with differently than other groups in Japan.

Mike
-- 
Disclaimer - I'm only doing what the little voices tell me to do.