Hotel Stays and Your Legal Rights

[Mandylion]

This deserves a look for anyone going to Japan, and for long-term residents, planning on staying in hotels.

http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20051018zg.htm

 

[Silverpoint]

Pretty standard Debito fare... Got his passport checked. Didn't like it. Phoned a lot of people to complain.

 

[Mandylion]

Pretty standard Debito fare...

Very true, but he often turns out to be right in the end.

 

[Mike Cash]

And makes a total *** of himself all along the way, often as not.

There are those of us who think his efforts tend more to tarnish the image of foreigners in Japan than to polish it.

 

[Mike Cash]

Click on the first link to his article, look very carefully at the pamphlet in question, and tell me if you spot a glaring factual error in his article.

 

[Mandylion]

And makes a total *** of himself all along the way, often as not.

There are those of us who think his efforts tend more to tarnish the image of foreigners in Japan than to polish it.

I would agree with both, but on the whole he comes up with stuff that are worth knowing - even if you have to sift through all the rest of the baggage that comes with it. I posted the link for the product, not the process, which is how I approach all of his stuff.

Click on the first link to his article, look very carefully at the pamphlet in question, and tell me if you spot a glaring factual error in his article.

I'd love to as I enjoy a good mess-up as much as the next guy, but I am a bit short of time today...

 

[GaijinPunch]

I love these articles. It's not like someone has a gun and is forcing the writer to live in Japan. Leave if you don't like it. Having your passport checked at random is one of the least racial hazards of Japanese residency.

Click on the first link to his article, look very carefully at the pamphlet in question, and tell me if you spot a glaring factual error in his article.

Yeah, I got it. Pretty bad. Should I spoil it for everyone?

 

[Mike Cash]

Go ahead. You may have spotted one that I didn't, and the more the merrier.

 

[GaijinPunch]

Heisei Year 2 was not in 2000.... at least as far as I remember.

 

[Mike Cash]

But it says Heisei 12, not 2.

I was referring to "The Shizuoka Prefectural Police have an egregious history of targeting foreigners, best embodied by one of their handbooks, "Rainichi Gaikokujin Hanzai no Tokuchou" (Characteristics of Crimes by Foreigners Coming to Japan)."

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

Editorial Comment: To anyone who doesn't know, Heisei 12 and 2000 are the same year using different calendars. Heisei 2 is thus 1990.

 

[GaijinPunch]

But it says Heisei 12, not 2.

I'm currently undergoing tests to determine the level of dislexia I posses.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's a "glaring error". He didn't specify that they go after foreign residents (that I remember -- I can't be bothered to trudge through that thing again). As a former resident of Shizuoka (for a whole 3 months as a student) I can say that I personally had no run-ins with local law enforcement. I also didn't see any Brazillians either (people or wax jobs).

 

[Mike Cash]

I was referring more specifically to the "one of their handbooks" part. Although the group which put it out almost certainly consulted with the police, a glance at the 窶敖ｭﾂ行ﾅｽﾃ shows that it was not put out by the police....not was it a "handbook". In the article he makes it sound like it's an official police training/operations manual.

From other of his writings, it is obvious he has some sort of deep-seated authority resentment issues when it comes to the police.

He also has more than a smidgen of Walter Mitty in his makeup:

4) A VISIT TO THE LESS-SECRET POLICE
OCT 11, 2000, 4PM

I drove to the neighboring town, where the local traffic safety division was headquartered, and, presenting my Juuminhyou, stated that I was a naturalized Japanese and would like my driver licence to reflect that.

The cop there looked at my licence and said, "Okay we'll put your new name and Honseki [address of Registry] on the back of the licence as an amendment."

"B-but wait. I need the front of the licence to say my Japanese Honseki. Right now it says 'America' and nothing else. It has to be very clear on the front or else I will still appear to be a foreigner."

"The amendment on the back will take care of that."

"But can't you just reissue me a licence?"

"Until this old one expires, we cannot reissue." And when would that be? More than two years from now! Darn these licence validity extensions for newly-reformed safe drivers. (Arudou Debito/Dave Aldwinckle's Essay Page)

Me: "But listen, without this licence properly reissued, I will not have wallet-size proof that I am a Japanese, clear, present, and up front. I don't have a Gaijin Card anymore and I am not going to carry my Juuminhyou with me all the time. This is a special case, a naturalization. I need an exception made or else I'm in trouble."

"Oh come now," the cop said, "you're exaggerating. The amendment on the back will suffice. It will have the proper inkans et cetera and anyone who needs proof can just look on the back."

"I don't think you understand my position. Japanese police nowadays do stop foreign-looking people at random for Gaijin Card checks, because we are seen as a source of rising crime. And if I do not have persuasive proof that I am not a foreigner anymore, under the Gaitouhou Jouji Keitai rule I could be arrested. Seriously. Any cop having a bad donut day could just say that I forged the back and give me hell."

"Oh, we police wouldn't do that."

"That's easy for you to say. You are not in my position. So I want the appropriate ID done in the most official-looking way possible."

"Sorry. Can't do it until your current one expires."

I stood there like Tom Cruise in A FEW GOOD MEN, facing down Jack Nicholson in the courtroom, sweat on his upper lip and wondering what to do next. Then I said:

"But what if I mislaid my licence? What would happen then?"

"We would have to reissue you another one. It would take two to three weeks and cost you 3350 yen."

"Well, um, guess what," dropping my licence to the floor in the best Hollywood dramatic tradition, "I just lost my licence. Could you please reissue me another one?"

The cop smiled, asked me if I was willing to fill out the forms, pay the fee, and bring in a photo. One quick round trip home and I got the stuff in before the 5PM deadline.

Cop: "Okay, all set. Just wait a couple of weeks. We'll call you when it comes in."

"Great. Thanks very much for your understanding."

"Oh, and Sugawara-san." He handed back my old licence. "Don't forget this. You have to drive in the interim."

 

[Maciamo]

The clerks played Checkpoint Charlie with verve: "Show us your passports. Sorry, it's the law. 'Shikata wa gozaimasen.' "

They were asked with equal verve what law they were citing. Not to be thwarted, they brandished the second multilingual document, clearly designed for cocksure people like foreign guests.
...
"Effective April 1, 2005, Japanese legislation makes it mandatory that you, as a 'non-resident foreign guest,' present your passport and have it photocopied."

The original Japanese of the legal text was even clearer, stating that these passport checks apply to "foreigners without addresses in Japan," not "every foreign guest."
...
When I read back the sections of the second document and asked the staff to resolve the discrepancies, we got bent necks and hissing teeth. "Well, anyway, um . . . please cooperate."

We didn't. "Shouldn't we be asked whether we have domestic addresses first? Won't we be writing them down on the sign-in form anyway, like everyone else who checks in? There are better ways of doing this than by just looking at our faces," they were asked.

I completely agree with that part. It's another good example of how typical it is for Japanese people to assume that foreigners are necessarily non-residents (and therefore cannot speak Japanese, do things the Japanese way and blablah). I travelled to various parts of Japan this year (Kyushu , Shikoku , Hokkaido ...), and didn't take my passport with me. It's not necessary for domestic flights, nor for hotels. I just carried my alien registration card. I always stayed at the same business hotel chain, and they never made any problem. Sometimes they asked for my passport, and I handed my alien registration card and they never complained. But had they insisted on the passport, I would have reacted like Arudo Debito, as I didn't have it and was not required to.

 

[Maciamo]

From other of his writings, it is obvious he has some sort of deep-seated authority resentment issues when it comes to the police.

The article you posted was excellent. I would have done the same, in any country. In fact, I may have already. When I meet stubborn civil servants that will only do things by the book, there is usually a way to circumvene the rules. Rules are made to be bend. That's like a game; try and find how we could do something that is against the rules without breaking them ! I also love to pick holes or make fun or the 'oh so formal official rules and laws' like the ones we find on immigration cards or custom declaration at the airport. In Thailand, they asked on the form whether I possessed any Buddha image (as their import and export is apparently regulated). I said that my guidebook had several Buddha images to their utter confusion. In China, the form indicated that among prohibited items at departure were "Manuscripts, printed matter, films, photographs, gramophone records, cinematographic films, loaded recording tapes and videotapes, etc. which are detrimental to China's politics, economy, culture, and ethics". That is a very subjective regulation. Just holiday pictures could be detrimental in the image of the country's politics or culture, if one of the persons who saw them didn't like them.

In general in airplanes, signs indicate that it is prohibited to carry gas, explosives, weapons, sharp objects, toxic substances, virus and bacterias. I always craved to ask whether I could boar the plane in all safety as I was a carrier of intestinal bacterias or virus such as the common cold (without mentioned intestinal gas), and did not want to risk violating the rules. It seems that few people really care enough about the wording of the law to avoid absurd situations like that.

 

[Mike Cash]

It's another good example of how typical it is for Japanese people to assume that foreigners are necessarily non-residents (and therefore cannot speak Japanese, do things the Japanese way and blablah).

That must be a function of living in a city that actually attracts a large number of tourists. Out here in the countryside people sort of assume that foreigners are residents, I think.

 

[Maciamo]

That must be a function of living in a city that actually attracts a large number of tourists. Out here in the countryside people sort of assume that foreigners are residents, I think.

What about Shizuoka, as in Debito's article ? I suppose that you are right about non-touristical regions of the countryside. But most of the Westerners living in Japan (and indeed most of the Japanese population) are to be found in the big cities.

 

[Mike Cash]

The Shizuoka hotel guideline thing was obviously a case of asinine policy and dubious legality implemented without much reasoning or forethought.

On an ever-so-slight tangent, I'm sure you must have encountered rules in Japan that made no sense whatsoever. Not even when viewed with the most generous allowances for cultural differences.

An illustrative example:

At my city's indoor pool facility, they have a wave pool. It normally makes small waves of about 30-40cm. At times, they turn up the power and the waves are about 100-110cm.

There are two ropes stretched across the pool. Nobody is allowed past the second rope, ever.

During the small wave sessions, only people of high school age or higher may go past the first rope. Junior high students are not allowed between the first and second ropes.

During the high wave sessions the first rope is removed from the pool. Small children aren't allowed in the pool. Only people of junior high age or higher are allowed in.

So junior high kids aren't old enough to handle the very gentle action of the 30cm waves....but they are old enough to get hammered by the 100cm+ waves.

I suspect that the two rules were decided at two different meetings. I hope they were decided at two different meetings.

 

[GaijinPunch]

You'd have to be a pretty bright kid to remember all that crap about ropes while being excited about swimming at the same time. I know would've forgot back in my haydays at the water park.