Boy, that brings back memories. Back in the 1980’s, it was very common for the police here in Japan to stop you and ask for your papers just for being non-Japanese while walking down the street. Happened to me a lot. And if you were caught without your papers (in those days, it was a paper booklet too big to fit in your wallet; today, it’s a credit-card-sized ID), then they would haul your ass down to the station. They would make you wait there until your papers could be produced. And if you were unlucky enough not to have someone to do it for you, they would take your keys and do it themselves, presumably searching your apartment for whatever they wanted in the process. And however you acquired your papers in the end, you would then be required to write a long and sincere letter of apology to the police (commonly referred to as the “gomen nasai”, or “I’m sorry” letter), explaining your grievous error and promising never to do so again. Presumably so that it they did catch you again, they could wave it in front of your face.

There were stories from people who got stopped by police in aggravating circumstances. A famous example was for a foreign resident of Japan to be on the street and see the bosozoku hot-rodders zig-zag down the street, violating half a dozen laws, like not wearing helmets, having illegal passengers, violating noise ordinances, having illegal modifications to the bikes, speeding, and running stop signs and traffic lights–but the local cop would ignore them and ask the foreigner for his papers. And while the police never needed a reason to stop you, riding a bicycle was always golden–they would simply accuse you of stealing the bicycle. This happened to me at least a half dozen times, once with a group of cops and a squad car deployed to check me out (while Japanese passers-by got a strong-yet-bogus reason to believe the stereotypes of foreigners being criminals). I was stopped maybe as many times on foot as well. Only once I can think of right now did I not have my gaijin card in such a circumstance, but I was lucky enough that the cop allowed me to walk the 100 feet to my residence to produce the ID–maybe the leniency was because I was coming back from the local bath house and was dressed in a yukata (kimono-styled robe), and so he understood why I might not have my ID on me.

One reason this was more prevalent back in the 80’s was because international tensions were worse back then, and anti-foreigner sentiment was at a peak. Also, Japan is rather notorious for being less civil-rights friendly than most industrialized countries, with police being able to incarcerate you without charges for several weeks, even extending that by releasing you and then immediately taking you back into custody. People held such have been known to suffer interrogation techniques such as sleep deprivation and even physical assault which leaves little visible evidence, and false confessions are believed to be widespread.

The irony here is that Japan has eased up in recent years, and this kind of checking is rare nowadays in Japan–but looks like the U.S. might be picking up the mantle for most foreigner-unfriendly industrialized country. Of course, it’s very different in the U.S.–they will stop people who are potentially citizens, not just legal immigrants, who could also be jailed for not carrying their ID with them.

The best way to fight what we’re seeing in Arizona is what we’re seeing happen: economic boycotts. The public scorn is good too, but stop doing business with them, and they’ll reconsider right quick. Hopefully, in a year, this will be nothing more than an embarrassing footnote.

Postscript: I also should voice my agreement (again) with the sentiment: when is the Tea Party movement (not just a few individuals in it) going to lash out against the Arizona law which violates their stated core beliefs in the most outrageous manner yet seen? And if they aren’t, then why not? The answer is evident, of course, but one would like to hear them come up with some BS excuse.