Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007

By WILLIAM WETHERALL

Abiko, Chiba

In his Nov. 1 article, "Not so welcome to Japan any longer", Kevin Rafferty dwells on the fingerprinting and photographing of most aliens when entering or returning to Japan, to begin later this month, as "tedious" and "discriminatory." He wonders if Immigration Bureau officials are "so shallow and stupid, as well as xenophobic," to believe that such measures will protect Japan against terrorism. But perhaps those who take this official pretext at face value are the ones who need a reality check.

One of the unspoken, and truer, aims of the system is to prevent the re-entry to Japan of deported and other aliens banned from entry. The fingerprints and photographs of deported aliens will be in the bureau's database. The new system will deter such aliens from attempting to re-enter, as many have been, on the strength of only passports reflecting new identities.

Deployment of imaging devices -- high-tech toys, yes, but toys with a future -- at ports of entry ultimately has little to do with immigration. Over the next several years, the Justice Ministry (the true perpetrator) as well as allied agencies in Japan and other countries will learn a great deal about the use of biometric systems as tools for identification. New hardware and software will encourage greater use of biometric data in everyday life -- not only in Japan, but worldwide.

All this experience will be applicable to tomorrow's social control and security measures. Aliens are merely the guinea pigs in a massive image discrimination and data processing study that someday will benefit everyone, including those now spared the honor. The Japanese government is definitely not stupid.

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.

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