This rather impressive (in a bad way) tale of incarceration (or should that be In Carceration, given the way the story is being spun) takes the sting off fully-documented cases from Amnesty by telling a story so full of holes that it quite frankly stinks. By the way, if you wish to indulge in full-blown character assassination, may I recommend this thread instead.
First off, one thing not clearly stated is his visa status, although given that he went to Seoul for three days, there is a smell of never-ending 3 month tourist visa renewals, yet he is working for Japanese national newspapers, which would be a violation of his visa status.
Oh, and if this does get reported by a reputable source, I will happily eat humble pie.
Now, let’s get to the bits that are more than a bit off:
In reality, "overstaying" means they were dedicating their lives to working for Japanese bosses or employing Japanese in their own businesses
What, all overstayers? Why, they should be getting the Order of the Chrysanthemum for their efforts!
That 2010 number — 18,578 individuals with names and families, often in Japan — is enough to fill about 100 jets flying out of Japan during the mass foreign exodus from aftershocks and radiation fears in March.
That number — 18,578 — is similar to the official death toll from the March 11 tsunami, which triggered a wave of international sympathy for the plight of Japan.
"The airline let me on, so there shouldn’t have been a problem."
Wrong.
The immigration officer at Narita, however, didn’t even look through my passport, where he would have found proper visas dating back years. While taking my fingerprints, he saw my name pop up on a list on his computer.
Every time I go through immigration they verify the passport and the stamps before taking the fingerprints.
denied landing rights
No, foreigners do not have landing rights.
The Immigration Bureau said it deported 33,192 foreigners in 2005.
Yeah, how dare the Immigration Bureau enforce the law!
It is the best place in the country to make someone — anyone — disappear.
At one moment he seemed like a drunk and deranged o-taku, with zero human relations skills. Another moment, he was laughing wildly, shaking my hand. Then he threatened me, with fearless eyes that reminded me of the death row convict I once interviewed in a Pennsylvania jail.
"But I do have proof," I said.
This is the crux of the story – proof of what? The author never tells us.
I tried to make a mobile phone call but there was no signal in the room. I wandered into other rooms, hoping for a signal that didn’t appear.
I thought he’d had his belongings confiscated? What’s he doing wandering from room to room during an interview?
The immigration officers called them "KBs"
He elsewhere claims to have good Japanese, yet here seems unaware of 警備員, or is just spinning a story.
Since I could understand their Japanese, they spoke to each other in a language I didn’t recognize: a dialect of North Korean, Mongolian, Manchurian perhaps?
Oh really?
Luckily, I spotted three police officers on patrol in the tunnel. "Onegai! Onegai!" I called out for help, waving my hands in the air like a drowning swimmer. They rushed over. Seeing a foreigner being led away by two men, they sensed something sinister — an abduction perhaps? — and called in another 10 officers.
Oh really?
I dropped the names of various Japanese politicians and public figures, until it occurred to me that these guards might not even be Japanese!
I had done work for NHK dating back to 1994, and knew all about their shadows behind the scenes.
They strip-searched him, feeling everywhere. "Oh, come on! Don’t put your finger in my ass!" he pleaded, but they did.
His knuckles were badly bruised and deformed, like he had been punching a tree, or a human being.
He told me to make a "very strong argument" against the racist officers, the Nazi translator, Asiana Airlines, and the whole decrepit process.
Maybe they had been let out of prison, on condition of working here.
The great writer, Dostoevsky, sentenced to death, standing outside in the freezing Siberian winter waiting to be executed by the firing squad. I though of Solzhenitsyn, finding the courage to write about his experiences in the Gulag Archipelago. I thought about the great political leaders, such as Gandhi and Aung San Suu Kyi.
Somebody new was in the jail’s common room to listen to my phone calls. She was a foreigner, like me. "Great," I thought. "She’ll help sort out this mess." She struck me as being from India, Pakistan or Afghanistan — all countries I’ve visited. She wore a blue blazer and a name tag. The strap said "US Department of Homeland Security."
What is a DHS officer doing in a Japanese detention facility? This would make a great movie.
But within minutes, a posse of police officers showed up. Armed, they stood tall and proud over the immigration officers and the sleazy airline KBs. They folded their arms and stared down the smaller men.
Oh really?
Here was the generational divide in Japan, in full force: the younger cops warming up to the foreigner speaking Japanese, and the older cop stereotyping him as a criminal. It was an anecdote loaded with symbolism, something to write in a story.
She had grey streaks in her black hair, dark freckled skin, and the tortured look of an ex-con. She showed no hint of any Japanese manners, and I wondered if she was from North Korea.
:lol:
My heart burst open like a seawall against a tsunami.
>> and you have a business card from a well-known company, … Japan might be a safe country for you.
Great. If I ever get mugged in Japan, I’ll just flash my meishi (TSE quoted company, thank you very much!) and watch them quiver!
This thread has gone on so long now that the comments are broken.
Actually, they have been broken for quite a while….
As I’ve said, I’m not 100% convinced by Mr Johnson’s story. That said though, the reason this thread has gone on for 5 pages is quite simple.
Mr Johnson did what Japan Apologists such as tepido.org can never stand, that is to criticise Japan.
Laxman,
Not sure I can agree with that-between CJ’s story contradicting itself and CJ himself trying to tear a new one on anyone that would ask any reasonable question, a lot of people are talking about this. And not just on tepido. Sure, had he been denied entry to another country, I’d wager very few expats in Japan would care. Speaking personally, I started reading CJ’s account with a “holy crap, that sucks and hope it doesn’t happen to me” mindset, which slowly turned into a “WTF is with this guy?” and now it is simple morbid curiosity to see how bad this train wreck will get.
My point is that because this happened in Japan I’m interested, but for more selfish reasons than defending Japan from the criticisms of a habitual storyteller.
Just friggin give it up Lazyman,
Again I challenge you, find a quote of someone saying “Japan can do no wrong”..find a quote of someone here saying “I’m glad the cop/Immigration guy/private security guard/Mongoian thug/whatever threatened him with a gun”
Cite and and THEN you can continue your silliness “apologism”
Are you really this simple-minded? Are you deliberately ignoring the concept that the thread is so long because he keeps changing his story, and being a such a whiny bitch that even debito got sick of his antics!
Why do I feel this all could play out like this story, except without the fame, tons of published articles and the full time position as an actual journalist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Glass_%28reporter%29
Just think, if Glass had done more stories about stuff happening abroad, or in other languages, it would’ve been much harder or even impossible for editors to check much of anything…..
“Expect more and more of these staged incidents throughout 2012.”
Thought it would take longer. 3 stories in 1 month? Except this one is almost certainly not the fault of the gaijin in any way, and any “staging” was probably some stupid racist old loon who wanted to have fun with the Tokyo “rat out a gaijin” hotline.
http://www.debito.org/?p=9900
At least this guy has a credible story and even pictures. Fuck Immigration.
Is that “apologism” debito fans?
As VK pointed out, the “reviews” seem both unpublished and unbelievable:
http://tepido.org/dont-put-your-finger-in-my-ass/629/comment-page-4#comment-11269
I wonder if these people really wrote the praise that CJ claims they did:
Colin Donald, The Scotsman, Book Reviewer
Claire Leow, Bloomberg News, Singapore
Fred Varcoe, Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, Secretary
Elaine Chapman, Medicine Hat College
Probably he sent them free books, they replied by e-mail with some so-so opinions.
Perhaps CJ then got a little “creative” and “enhanced” what they actually wrote about his book.
Perhaps CJ then used these “creatively-enhanced” sentences as sales blurbs for his book, without telling them.
At the very least, someone should e-mail them asking whether they gave CJ permission to use their words, and if they actually wrote exactly what CJ claims they wrote.
I’d have told them to bugger off too! They do look like a dodgy bunch, and the hand-written ID card looks fake with a capital F! Looks more like North Korean agents out to recruit a new English teacher for Kim III.
I hope someone will get to the bottom of this (good advice was to take it higher up the chain), but I don’t really see it going anywhere on Debito.org.
Seriously.
How can you tell if a J government ID is fake?
My gym ID card looks more official.
But… This Is Japan, so it’s not totally surprising. So much official stuff is still handwritten. It’s like it’s still the 19th century or something.
I vaguely remember one or two J cop encounter stories in which the unfortunate gaijin tried to get a photo of the cop ID, but the cop made some bullshit excuse like “if there are photos, then people could try to make fake IDs from it”
The whole problem is moot if nobody knows what a REAL ID looks like.
Does anyone know a journalist who could look into this? If people are abusing the immigration hotline, or even if there is simply no safeguard against using it to harass people, that’s a news story. We can’t rely on Arudou’s site for reliable information.
(The ID does look a bit odd, doesn’t it?)
A question for the more fluent J speakers among us (doubtful whether you lot are as fluent as Chris-chan is, since he’s been in war zones! :wink:):
Would you be calling out Onegai! to summon someone for help, or would you be going with the more-familiar-to-my-ears Tasukete!
Now its gotten weird. That ID is bizarre, some Yakuza angle? casing the place? I’d be flipping out too.
Where are the suits and ties? These official types usually wear these really lived in looking suits, lived in because they live in them day in day out.
Reminds me of a joke a Japanese guy once told me, maybe you heard it. How do you know a man is homeless in Tokyo? He’s wearing last years suit.
The landlady called immi and confirmed who they were, so either she’s in on the conspiracy, or they were indeed a heavy handed bunch of government clerks out on a field trip.
And CJ says:
http://www.debito.org/?p=9900&cpage=1#comment-308408
Shh, Chris. Grow ups talking…
Oh! really? oh oh, I guess the point of the post will be, can they do that sort of thing? Can they?
http://www.debito.org/?p=9900#comment-308475
Couldn’t agree more with this.
” My deep concern was that I might “disappear” and wind up in some windowless dungeon, so I wanted to be sure I had some lifelines established.”
If that’s your deep concern, I recommend to expose your real name so that people may know if you “disappear”
And if you want a help, give me a mail and tell me your landlord’s name and her phone number. Then I’ll call the relevant immigration office to ask their side of story.
I wonder why people still want to post their story on Debito org where lies are often protected and a liar prefer to post .http://megalodon.jp/2009-1118-0849-52/www.debito.org/?p=5129
一般論としては、しかし、これはどこでもーー日本でも、外国でもーーーありえる話だとは思います。
不法滞在の嫌疑、その他何らかの理由で、ある人を訪ね、身分証（外国人登録証・パスポート）の提示を求める。
（求めに応じて）警察ないし警備官が身分証を提示した。
”I asked this gentleman to show me his badge so that I could write down his name and badge number. He quickly flashed me some ID,”
なにはともあれ、見せたにもかかわらず、少なくとも同様に、パスポートをみせなかった。それからすったもんだがあった。
仮に、入国警備官たちが、彼を違法ななにかで疑っていたらーーー本件ではそれがなにかわからないわけですがーーー、その疑いはよけい深まって、調査に必要な範囲のすったもんだはありえる。
このすったもんだが違法かどうか微妙でしょうけど、この程度のすったもんだは、職務質問に相当な範囲で許される、ということになるのではないでしょうか。
こうした場合、たとえばアメリカの人権関係の啓蒙ビデオなんかで、扉を開けず、弁護士と相談する旨伝えろ、なんて言っていたのをみたことがありますが、まあ、私なら、身分証を見せながら、なんか「警備官さん、私が疑われるような事件かなにかおきましたか？」などと聞く。
因みに、この警備官の身分証が本物かどうかの議論があるようですが、ググっても、見本がない。
新宿の出張所、
http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/soshiki/kikou/address/03.html#3_15
に電話して聞いてみたら、名前など手書きということはありえるそうです。
（もっとも本人たちが本物かどうかはわかりません。
服装については聞きませんでしたけど、私はありえるとは思います。）
Anyway, if you are are deeply concerned, consult the lawyer.
この身分証が本物かどうかも含めてちゃんと調べてみたらどうですか？
I don’t really see it going anywhere on Debito.org.either ,but that’s what they want; the supporters of the debito org don’t want see it going anywhere, they just want to rant about Japan and the Japanese. lies or not.
Easy there, 空さん
While there may be some inevitable over-reaction from the peanut gallery, I think PS does have a legitimate concern. And he is not railing against Japan or Japanese, but a small group of government clerks who could have handled themselves better. Just so happens this occurred in Japan.
Now immi dudes have a job to do and they’ve got to make a living, but at the same time a legitimate, law-abiding resident does have the right to be treated with a modicum of respect.
You can see how this escalated. One immi guy came to the door to do the check (random or otherwise — one has to hope not random). PS is caught off guarded and taken aback. He asks for ID, then the immigration officer mishandles it by getting sniffy.
When PS starts to close the door, they assume guilt — this guy’s got something to hide! — and the reinfocements come charging in. Whatever information they’re working off, they think they’ve got their man. They haven’t.
They must have records of who is living there and their status (seems fair to assume PS kept his paperwork up to date). Don’t really understand why they would ask for his passport instead of his ARC, though.
But the point is, they shouldn’t have shown up assuming guilt. Should have done their homework, been polite, explained what they were after and kept the situation from escalating, because they are the professionals who do this all the time and are supposed to know how to handle this and keep it under control. For PS, it’s a one time thing.
I’m with PS (but not necessarily all of the peanut gallery) unless it transpires there’s something he’s not telling us. But why would there be?
Is it my imagination, or does debito.org use “systematic” an awful lot when really he means “systemic”?
Iago san
”While there may be some inevitable over-reaction from the peanut gallery, I think PS does have a legitimate concern. ”
Assuming that the story is true, I agree PS does have a legitimate concern. That’s why he shouldn’t ask Debito org for help. It won’t help and it will just decrease his credibility.
It is a pity that after 8 years in Japan the only person he can relies on is Debito,
Isn’t it time to introduce a real activist, Japan Times?
What a surprise 空 decides to defend the J establishment, of which I suspect he is a part of.
Master Race defending the Master Race.
Once again this is a disgusting abuse of official powers, and these immigration officers deserve to be fired.
The MoJ Immigration Officers KNOW (using their computer database) whether someone has a visa or not, so this whole idea of going to someone’s house, (and when that person tries to close the door PHYSICALLY PULLING OPEN the door and walking in against the person’s will) is totally absurd.
There is no reason for Immigration Officers to ever need to go to someone’s house to “check” their visa status.
I agree with you, John. The only logical explanation I can think of is that they assume someone else might be there who is not on their database. Through an anonymous tip-off? Because that apartment building has some history? Who knows?
So I guess they want to see his passport to confirm he is the person on their database and not some other visa violator.
But it’s an intrusion, and if you’re intruding in the course of a routine check, the least you can do is be sensitive to your impact and be courteous if not apologetic.
Even considering the idiocy of going to check at an address that they must have in their database as showing an American with a valid visa of many years is living there – which should close the case on a random “I saw a gaijin!” Rat-a-Gaijin Hotline call -
You’d think they’d like, at least look at the photo they have on file ahead of time, if not bring along a copy of the whole file, and when the dude in the photo is the dude who answers the door, immediately start apologizing for wasting his time.
And if they were expecting some serious shit if (we assume) the tipster came up with a grand old tale of drugs and gangs and such, wouldn’t they might have brought along a few real police?
It just doesn’t make sense.
But I don’t expect Immigration policy to make sense.
Maybe business is slow at the Rat-a-Gaijin Hotline, and they’re eager to get out of the office. Probably spent the whole day on this case.. long lunch, get back to the office at 4:30, shuffle a couple papers and leave at 5:00PM on the dot.
One would certainly think there are more serious issues for them to be chasing down.
Unless… Could it be that PS posted a statement in support of CJ somewhere online and as a result popped up on their “list”??
Going to go out on a limb and say the fellows account has the ring of truthiness.
Obvious emotional embellishment? Nope.
Leaving out obvious key facts? Nope.
Whining about racist Japan? Nope.
Seems to pass the smell test, the only thing that obviously stinks is how he seems to have been treated. Wonder if there’s anything a group of active type activists (well, we have a couple of people who are good at making phone calls and digging up information which puts us 100% ahead of the debheads) could do?
And for those with better legal skillz than I have. Are you obliged to let immigration officials into your home or can you tell them to go fly a proverbial kite? And if they try to force their way in amd get physical are you within your rights to defend yourself/your home as well as get the real boys in blue involved?
The idea of immigration officials appearing at the door seems a bit unusual. I don’t know how this works in Japan, but on the very rare occasions it happens in Australia, they are always accompanied by police because bureaucrats lack legal authority.
We have heard one side of the story. Now I want to hear the other.
＠John さん
“,The MoJ Immigration Officers KNOW (using their computer database) whether someone has a visa or not”
→
It is not necessarily the case that the person who is registered as legitimate resident is the one who is actually living in the room.
“so this whole idea of going to someone’s house, ….is totally absurd”
→
The point is we don’t know why they went to his room.
I don’t see why there were four officers, three of whom were hiding behind: it is too many to check his passport. It is as if they were expecting the person to run away or resist etc.
Considering that there were two female officers, it is possible they might have been expecting female roommate.
But we don’t know.
There must be a background story to this.
But nobody on Debito org wants to know.
And the person posting on Debito org should know that every post is just to bash Japan and the Japanese, the lies will be protected and the corrections are banned for that purpose. it is not for investigation nor for solving the problem;
＠Jerryさん
”Are you obliged to let immigration officials into your home or can you tell them to go fly a proverbial kite? And if they try to force their way in amd get physical are you within your rights to defend yourself/your home as well as get the real boys in blue involved?”
特に知っているというわけないですが、令状なしに警官や警備官が強制手段を用いることはできないでしょうね。したがって、部屋に入れる義務はないわけです。無理やり入ろうとすれば、拒否することはできる。そして、令状なしに、無理やり入れば違法な捜査なわけです。
ただ、本件ではーーー写真の人たちが本物としてーーー手帳を提示して、パスポートの提示を求めている。これにはたしか法律上従う義務がある。
また、すったもんだに関して、警官による職務質問に準じて考えますと、
までは質問を継続するための行為として違法とまではいえないわけです。
あれが話のすべてであると仮定すると、Ｉａｇｏさんが指摘されるように、警備官たちがもっとやりようがあり、不適切な対応だったとは思いますが、違法とまではいえないであろう、と考えます。
投稿者については、誠実な方かもしれない、そうでないかもしれない。
しかし、真実探求や解決はどうでもよく、うそをしばしば擁護し、日本バッシングのネタにされるのがオチの有道ブログに投稿する、というだけで、私には多少疑念がある。
さらに、身の安全のために、実名を公表したほうがいいにもかかわらず、しないのも要するに、本件に関する真実や解決はどうでもよくて、「センセ、あんたの好きそうなネタでっせ」というだけと思えなくもないーーー本当のところはわからない。
いずれにせよ、もう少し詳しい事情がわからないと、なんともいえない。
本来、なんともいえないのに、結論がでてしまうのが有道ブログの特徴ですが、それは、ご承知のようにすでに結論があるからでしょう。
Hey Ken
Here’s a little request I hope you might consider.
Not just for this thread, but for all threads on this site: it sure would be nice to have the option of hitting a button that would allow one to simply view the thread’s comments in chronological order.
The default can and should be left as you have it now, but it just would be nice to have an optional “chronological order display” button that when pressed would display the comments of a thread in the chronological order in which they were posted.
I’m not sure if implementing this “un-nested” option would be a gigantic task, or a relatively easy one.
I simply think that about a third (or more) of your readers would enjoy the OPTION of chronological viewing.
I would be very grateful if you could consider this possibility.
Sincerely,
John
I second chronological viewing. Nesting replies on long threads are impossible.
Using a smartphone for viewing the site will display the comments in chronological order. Kind of screw up the flow a bit but then it can also be really hard to keep up with the messages if there is a sudden flurry of responses.
OK guys, looking for a plugin or whatever to allow the option!
I might also close this thread and start a new copy as the comments are screwed up…
@Ken Y-N (aka Tepido Naruhodo): Hmm, how does this work…
@Matt@occidentalism.org: How does this work for you?