The Oct. 5 front-page article "Visitors face fingerprinting from November as security tightens" was both confusing and incomplete. First of all, it is special permanent residents (tokubetsu eijuusha) who are exempt from the law, not permanent residents (ippan eijuusha).
The article also does not mention the legally specified establishment of an automated gate system to facilitate the entry and re-entry into the country of resident foreigners who have pre-registered their biometric data. Since Aug. 23, I have repeatedly applied to Kobe Immigration to register the biometric data of my wife and me -- to no avail. Kobe Immigration has simply confirmed by letter that the automated gate system would be established at Narita but that there are no plans to establish the system at any other international airport in Japan.
Let's get the facts stated correctly and then protest this law, which is doubly and insultingly discriminatory against resident foreigners living outside the immediate Tokyo area.
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