Canadians planning visits and business trips to Japan are shocked and angered by the move to fingerprint and photograph all foreigners entering the country.

Japan began taking fingerprints and photographs last month of foreign nationals aged 16 or older upon their entry at its 27 airports and 126 seaports nationwide under a revised immigration law as part of anti-terrorism measures.

“This is ridiculous and a violation of my privacy,” said Vancouverite Nicole Jung, who is planning a holiday in Osaka.

“I have bought my tickets and will go but if I had known about this earlier that would be a different story,” said Jung.

Travel agent James Ng in Richmond said he believes the move will make people think twice about visiting Japan.

“The numbers are already coming down and I have had a few calls from people asking about this new process . . . many were concerned about how Japan would store and use this information,” he said.

Japan became the second country after the United States to introduce the system that collects biometric data from foreign visitors amid lingering calls for a review by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations and human rights groups that claim the data could be made available for criminal investigations on an unlimited basis.

Entering foreign visitors must show their passports and submit entry cards before they are guided by immigration officials to have their facial pictures taken and index fingers scanned.
If they refuse, they will be deported.

Arata Nakae, a spokesman for the Japanese Consulate in Vancouver said the new system is part of Japan’s national security policy.

He said the Canadian government and airlines flying into Japan have been informed of the new rules.

He said Canadians do not need a visa to enter Japan if they are staying for less than 90 days but they would still need to be fingerprinted and photographed.

The revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law was enacted in May last year in a bid to block entry into Japan mainly of individuals designated as terrorists by the justice minister.

Under the law, scanned fingerprints and other biometric data will be stored in a computer to be instantly checked against those of past deportees, in addition to about 800,000-900,000 pieces of information relating to suspects wanted by the Japanese police and Interpol.

The measure excludes ethnic Koreans and other permanent residents with special status, those under 16, those visiting Japan for diplomatic or official purposes, and those invited by the Japanese government.

Amnesty International is calling for the immigration plan to be abandoned.

“Making only foreigners provide this data is discriminatory,” said Sonoko Kawakami of Amnesty’s Japan office.

“They are saying ‘terrorist equals foreigner’. It’s an exclusionary policy that could encourage xenophobia.”

Immigration Bureau official Naoto Nikai said in a briefing on the system, which started on November 20, that “this will greatly contribute to preventing international terrorist activities on our soil.”

Critics, however, said the measures discriminate against foreigners and violate their privacy. A group of nearly 70 civic groups from around the world delivered a letter of protest to Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama.

“We believe that your plans . . . are a gross and disproportionate infringement upon civil liberties, copying the most ineffective, costly and risky practices on border management from around the world,” the letter said.

Critics also said the new procedures reflect a deeply entrenched view in Japan of foreigners as more likely to commit crimes and plays down the possibility of home-grown terrorism.

 “In Japan, fingerprinting has been limited to those arrested for crimes, so treating foreigners the same way is a serious human rights violation,” said Mitsuru Namba, a lawyer at the Japan Federation of Lawyers Associations. 

“The government says the aim is to prevent terrorism, but in the background is discrimination linking foreigners with crime and overstaying visas,” Namba said, noting the data would be kept even after a visitor was deemed not to be a terrorist suspect.

Immigration officials say the bureau plans to store the data for “a long time,” without saying how long. It is unclear how many people will be affected; Japan had 8.11 million foreign entries in 2006.

The European Business Council in Japan and the Australian and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan said that the policy will hinder tourism and frustrate business travelers.