Travel News Kagawa Prefecture asks local hotels not to request foreign residents' IDs

[thomas]

Kagawa Prefecture has called on local hotel operators to stop asking foreign residents for identification when they check in. Prefectural officials said it is "problematic on human rights grounds" to ask foreign residents to show their passports or other forms of ID when checking into a hotel.

I hope other prefectures will follow suit.

The hotel business law requires only foreigners who live outside of Japan to present ID. But hotel receptionists sometimes ask foreigners who live in Japan for ID based on their name or appearance. "If a guest provides a domestic address, even if their name or other information suggests they are a foreign national, no further confirmation is required," the notice says. The notice comes after a case in August last year in which a South Korean woman living in Osaka was asked to show her residence card ahead of a stay at a hotel in Utazu. An official at the hotel said it has "asked for ID from foreign nationals living in Japan on a voluntary basis." Similar cases have emerged at other accommodations across the country, with some even stating on their websites that they will "refuse" guests who do not comply. "While there may not be any malicious intent behind the requests, they are effectively an infringement of human rights," a Kagawa prefectural government official said.

Hotels in western Japan urged not to request foreign residents' ID

The government in the western Japan prefecture of Kagawa has called on local hotel operators to stop asking foreign residents for identification when they check in, local officials say.

english.kyodonews.net

 

[mdchachi]

Natives never have to show ID to stay at a hotel? That's helpful for anybody who's on the lam.

 

[thomas]

Not sure how it's handled when you show up without a reservation, but producing your online booking usually suffices. This has been an ongoing nuisance for foreign residents, Arudo's website has a lot of info on the issue:

Onur on continued racial profiling at Japanese hotel check-ins: Discrimination is even coin-operated! | debito.org

 

[bentenmusume]

Good on them. It's been a while since I've been "carded", either on the street or at a hotel, so I just kinda assumed that sometime in the past ten or so years, the powers that be realized that making people who might have lived here for 10- or 20-plus years feel like criminals probably isn't the best PR for your country, but still, it's good to know that some prefectures and municipalities are making it official.

 

[Petaris]

I never had it happen to me but I had heard that some hotels used to collect/keep foreign passports from guests until they paid and checked out. The did take a copy of my passport at each hotel I stayed at though.

Keeping my passport would probably have made me a bit annoyed but seeing/copying it didn't really bother me as I have had that happen at any hotel I have been to in the US as well (for my drivers license/ID).