US embassy in Tokyo warns of ‘suspected racial profiling’ by Japanese police

The United States Embassy in Tokyo on Monday warned in a tweet of incidents of suspected racial profiling of non-Japanese by Japanese police.
Japan is a principally ethnically homogeneous nation the place some folks equate extra immigrants with an increase in crime, though overseas labour is more and more wanted to make up for a declining and ageing inhabitants.
“The US Embassy has received reports of foreigners stopped and searched by Japanese police in suspected racial profiling incidents. Several were detained, questioned, and searched,” the tweet mentioned.

The U.S. Embassy has acquired stories of foreigners stopped and searched by Japanese police in suspected racial profiling incidents. Several have been detained, questioned, and searched. U.S. residents ought to carry proof of immigration and request consular notification if detained. pic.twitter.com/a8BkAU7eCR
— U.S. Embassy Tokyo, ACS (@ACSTokyo) December 5, 2021
 
“US citizens should carry proof of immigration and request consular notification if detained.”
The tweet is an uncommon transfer from the United States, a key Japanese ally.
A US Embassy spokesperson mentioned the embassy had nothing additional so as to add to the tweet, and the National Police Agency couldn’t instantly remark.

Asked in regards to the US embassy warning, prime authorities spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno mentioned solely that police query suspicious people primarily based on numerous components however that these selections are usually not primarily based on an individual’s ethnicity or nationality.
Every week in the past, Japan closed its borders to all non-resident foreigners in one of many strongest international measures taken to forestall the unfold of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Naomi Kawahara, founding father of advocacy group Japan for Black Lives, mentioned racial profiling by Japanese police was nothing new, significantly for foreigners or mixed-race Japanese folks of color.
“I had a friend who was questioned by police more than 30 times in the six years that he lived here,” she informed Reuters of her African-American pal, who left Japan just a few years in the past.
“Sometimes it was in front of his house, as he was about to walk his dog.”