Those who use fake passports are usually the people with somekind of criminal record during their past stay in Japan and cannot re-enter the country without using fake passports. And their fingerprints are already taken at the time of their arrest in Japan.

Immigration officials are basically coming from two bureaucracy, MoJ and MoFA.
While the immigration agency itself is the asset of MoJ,issuing visas at the embassy are under the jurisdiction of MoFA. ANd there is potential tention with in the agency between these two fractions. Recently,MoFA has been very keen to open wider gates to neighboring country like banning tourist-visas to South Koreans, and Taiwanese or relaxation of the tourist visas to Chinese and South East Asians in relation with various FTA agreements with ASEAN countries.
Parallel to this,the internal pressure to deal with rise of foreign crimes and illegal aliens got larger and it was MoJ,not MoFA who issues visas to potential trouble makers, gets all the criticism. Understandably,MoJ is not very amused with the situation.
And there comes 911. MoFA now gets external pressure to insert more draconian conterterrorism measure at the immigration from the United States. So both fractions now have something they can agree on.

“Why fingerprint permanent residents but not special permanent residents? The answer would seem to be that the latter group has tangible political clout and would have kicked up merry hell. If Japan views North Korea as a threat then fingerprinting special permanent residents would seem also to be appropriate.”

Zainichi Koreans do have political leverage over Japanese society and politics as Mulboyne says here that other permanent residents don’t,but looking back in the history, we can find something similar situation 50 years ago.

Back then,there were numbers of Korean coming back and forth between two nations. And some smuggled in to Japan and illegaly acquired Koseki from Japanese citizens. And the MoJ was in urgent need to halt these identity theft.
North Korea was using this situation to infiltrate operatives inside of South or tried to gain leadershipl of Korean organization in Japan. And South Korean strongman ath the time.Synman Rhee had demanded Tokyo to have stricter border control and screening of Pyongyang operatives.
Getting pressure from both Seoul and Washington.MoFA was very willing to adopt finger printing scheme. So there was mixture of Gai-atsu,Nai-atsu element in installing fingerprinting over Korean population in Japan. Ofcourse,now that the post-colonialistic element had diminished from Korea-Japan relation and Seoul brought up this issue as “human-right abuse” from the late 80’s.
ANd now,for both MoJ and MoFA,the need of continuing fingerprinting had dissapeared thus the scheme was abandoned.

Also, it’s not just gaijin that get stopped: since mama-chari are so easy to nick around stations, many businessmen grab one after a night drinking. So there may be this idea that looking for people who look ‘out of place’ on one is a good way to catch a thief. This includes abandoned bikes as well. In fact the second time I was stopped, I was riding a bike with a very flat rear tyre (don’t try off-roading in the Tama hills on a mama-chari, folks) and it could easily have been stolen/abandoned. Incidentally, neither time I was stopped was the bike mine, but I was legitimately using it.

Talking of laws and bikes, the one that annoys me slightly is the recently-emphasized one about no drunk cycling.

Bryce: “So why then didn’t the publicity directed outwards make that point?”
While I certainly agree that kissing US arse was a prime reason, I think the GOJ figured that sugar-coating this pill with the excuse of “war on terrorism” would play best overseas. After all, they’ve seen how, for example, many Americans have just blindly gone along with the Homeland Security department’s regulations.

M-Bone: Yes, I know it’s not the infamous one, but it sounds actually researched and accurate.

I don’t think cops were effected by Hatoyama. This was already an official policy for five years now.
From Ministry of Justice HP
http://www.moj.go.jp/PRESS/031017-1.html.

“Admittedly, “we” don’t do ourselves many favours here.”

Indeed. The content of some net posts basically says – we can’t trust J-police, they are racist, don’t cooperate. This type of attitude has caused some people who have had run-ins with the cops to push officers, etc. (and brag about it on the net lately). This is EXACTLY the way to ensure that they stop more foreigners and to convince the authorities that foreigners are untrustworthy.

I’m no fan of the “if you don’t like it go the %#$@ home” argument that gets thrown around from time to time, but I would certainly say that if you have no plans of cooperating with the police, its probably time to start thinking about buying a ticket.

“I was told that this is to prevent people entering on fake or stolen passports.”
“That’s also my impression but a lot of the domestic-oriented publicity made precisely that point.”

So why then didn’t the publicity directed outwards make that point? Instead, the promotional video in English sounded like a Giuliani commercial (9/11 bad, safety good). Why not just say, “we are taking biometric data to prevent passport fraud”? I’m not sure, by the way, what the connection between taking biometric data and the prevention of passport fraud is.

I’m still fairly convinced this policy is designed more to please the U.S. than for any practical terror/immigration fraud/crimefighting application.

That’s also my impression but a lot of the domestic-oriented publicity made precisely that point. It’s a legitimate target but whether the form of fingerprinting which has been introduced is the best measure to address that issue is unclear to me.

While agreeing again with M-Bone about the unrepresentative nature of internet forum testimony, I think it is likely that, at least in parts of Tokyo, police have been stopping foreigners more frequently. I don’t believe it is a specific policy, however. News reports have indicated that “stop and search” has increased for certain types of Japanese with geeky otaku particularly in the headlines. This is surely just police responding to pressure to increase their arrest and conviction rates and the current interest will probably die down soon enough. In Britain, police also have some shooting-fish-in-a-barrel arrests they can make when they need to up the numbers: busting a pub known to tolerate underage drinkers or ambushing speeding drivers on well-known stretches of road. The irritating thing is that police believe that foreigners are a legitimate target during such campaigns and the press coverage surely influences this attitude. Admittedly, “we” don’t do ourselves many favours here. Foreigners often complain about being stopped while cycling but the reason is that many were ignorant of the need to transfer registration of their bikes which made them an easy catch when they couldn’t prove ownership. I can only hope that cycling foreigners are aware of the new regulations which make it illegal to ride while using a keitai or listening to earphones etc. These are the laws of the land and we should respect them.

The reason for police to stop someone foreign-looking who is on foot is the hope that they can catch an illegal or expired visa or, if the person allows them to search, perhaps some illegal substances. It’s not a very efficient way to pursue either goal. A few targeted raids on hostess clubs, love hotel cleaning staff and factories would surely yield a higher haul. Factories, with a few exceptions still remain largely untouched. Hostess clubs get more frequent visits and the results have been tangible except in the case of high profile raids which are more for publicity purposes: the 160 strong team who went through Kinshicho one evening last month uncovered only four visa violators among the twenty people they detained.

Its not the notorious one (which should be impossible to find at Book Off). Here is the link –
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%A4%96%E5%9B%BD%E4%BA%BA%E7%8A%AF%E7%BD%AA%E8%80%85%E2%80%95%E5%BD%BC%E3%82%89%E3%81%AF%E4%BD%95%E3%82%92%E8%80%83%E3%81%88%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B%E3%81%AE%E3%81%8B-%E4%B8%AD%E5%85%AC%E6%96%B0%E6%9B%B8-1911-%E5%B2%A9%E7%94%B7-%E5%AF%BF%E7%BE%8E%E5%AD%90/dp/4121019113/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201401563&sr=1-1

I actually asked, when I got my re-entry permit. The answer was nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism. I was told that this is to prevent people entering on fake or stolen passports. Re-entering, as much as anything. Of course if they don’t have your prints on file in the first place, then they can’t compare, but I presume they print people who are deported, and can compare those to make sure that you are really are who you say. Although I wonder if biometric passport holders couldn’t be exempt, due to the inability (???) to fiddle with that. So it’s not about terrorism at all – that’s just the publicity. It’s all about controlling (illegal) immigrants.

That “Gaikokujin Hanzai” book does sound interesting – must keep an eye out next time I hit a Book Off….

This is pretty much my reason for opposing the fingerprinting as well. If it were just visitors it would be easier to see the logic.

“The average policeman on the street is influenced by this kind of talk and its difficult not to see a link with an increase, admittedly only anecdotal, in people being stopped for “walking while gaijin” over the last few months.”

While there is no way to determine this, I wonder if there really has been an increase? Perhaps the impression of an increase is due to the rise in individuals complaining on certain internet forums (which may be due to people being drawn there by the fingerprints).

A certain “human rights” page has seen an explosion in the number of blog comments over the past few months (seems mostly to be the same dozen or so regulars, some of whom compare Japan to Myanmar or North Korea on human rights). This is, of course, the same site that has described the number of “no foreigners” signs in Japan as increasing for years now while only posting a handful of new pictures (some of which are “unconfirmed” and could literally have been made by anyone with a printer, laminating machine, a glass door anywhere in the world, and a bone to pick).

I’ve started to notice a decline in foreign crime reportage in the print media (when compared with 2005-2006) but, of course, this viewpoint is far from scientific. A search of Amazon Japan, however, reveals only a single pop “Gaikokujin Hanzai” title in 2007 (a Chuokoron Shinsha Shinsho). This book is not scaremongering. It is actually based on the results of a survey of 2000 foreigners serving time in Japan about what drove them to crime, why they thought that they could get away with it, etc. Fascinating reading.