Japan is enforcing the letter of its law on foreign visitors who overstay their visas. Predictably, cries of racism, xenophobia, and unnecessary cruelty are being heard from the usual suspects.

 "There is racial profiling going on, and no one is questioning it," said Makoto Teranaka, secretary general of Amnesty International in Japan."

In its coverage of the story of Japan's new get—tough overstay policy, The San Francisco Chronicle illustrates with the story of two Bay Area people who overstayed their visas by two weeks, one of whom is named Richard Nishizawa. In his photograph accompanying the article, he appears to be of Japanese ancestry. So much for the racism argument. The Japanese are in fact discriminating on the basis of citizenship. What an outrage! Immigration authorities regulate non citizens, and leave citizens alone. It's an outrage.

Various eminences opine that Japan is 'blaming' its rise in crime on foreigners. Conveniently enough, no crime statistics are cited. In fact, for about a decade and a half, Japan has experienced a harrowing crime wave, driven the growing number of illegal immigrants, many of them visa over—stayers. While they do not yet commit a majority of crime in Japan, illegal aliens, perhaps one percent of the overall population, commit a substantial portion of the crime in many cities, big and small. The Japanese are quite justified in their anger, and their policy of clamping down on visa scofflaws.

I compliment Japan on its even—handed application of the strict letter of the law, even to American students (of any ancestry, including Japanese) who carelessly ignore the expiration of their student visas. If Japan only enforced the law against Filipino day laborers, Pakistani restaurant cooks, and Chinese men with no obvious means of support, the usual suspects would quickly scream racism.

I have managed to live in Japan four times, with long—term visas, without overstaying. One time I had to make a special trip overseas, so as to re—enter the country without overstaying the term specified in my immigration stamp. Big deal! If you are going to be a guest in a foreign country, it ill—behooves you to be careless of such matters.

I would propose that the Department of Homeland Security commission a study team to examine Japan's experience in rigorous enforcement of its immigration laws. They might learn quite a few lessons from our close and loyal ally in the War on Terror.

Posted by Thomas  05 10 04