On the one hand, it is good that attention is being brought to this issue. On the other hand, it doesn't seem to be taken seriously by the people who are in a position to rectify this. Not sure if it's a translation issue, but in the above article the National Police Agency (NPA) issued an advisory to not question foreigners in a way that would be perceived as racial profiling. Notice the wording - almost like they're saying it's OK to do so, but don't make it so obvious. Why not just say "don't racially profile people" or "don't be pulling up foreigners unless you have reasonable cause to do so" ?
Fortunately, my run ins with the police have been very few, with probably only two encounters ever. The first of which was when I was travelling to Tokyo with a friend for a holiday, and an undercover police officer flashed his badge, and wanted to see our passports, and then asking questions to the purpose of our visit to Japan (hint: it was travel).
The other time was a bit more irritating. In preparation for starting my ALT job back in mid-2016, I decided to go to Kyoto and spend a week with my gf before heading to Mito. As soon as I got out of the arrival gate at Kansai international airport, I was approached by an undercover officer, who wanted to see some ID. Again, I showed my passport. Hadn't even got out of the airport, and already being I was being hassled. Probably didn't help I was wearing a black leather jacket in the middle of a hot August day.
Since I had been living in rural parts of Ibaraki for the past 5 years, I have had no run ins with the police. Though, now that I'm in Saitama, I hope I not to have any encounters with police, as I have heard stories from foreigners being frequently harassed by police, for ... being foreign, more or less.
I won't deny I don't have the answer to this, but unless Japan wants more foreigners to work in Japan, and for tourists to come back in numbers again, the government and police need to start taking this problem seriously.
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