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New IC cards planned to keep track of nikkeijin
12/19/2006
The Asahi ShimbunThe government plans to enhance its system of tracking foreign nationals of Japanese descent by issuing new IC cards containing information controlled by the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau, sources said Tuesday.
The electronic information will include name, date of birth, nationality, address in Japan, family members, and duration and status of stay, the sources said.
The cards will be issued by immigration offices when they grant visas to the foreigners of Japanese ancestry, or nikkeijin.
With the information under its control, the Immigration Bureau will be able to follow changes in the foreign residents' addresses when they present the IC cards to municipal governments in reporting that they are setting up residence there.
The Justice Ministry will also consolidate information on private companies and municipal governments that hire foreign workers, the sources said.
The moves are part of the government's efforts to expand the scope of legal systems to prepare for a growing number of foreigners working in Japan, officials said.
The IC cards will be issued mainly to nikkeijin and their family members who came to Japan in the 1980s and thereafter, according to sources.
The nikkeijin have been practically exempted from the government's policy of refusing entry to unskilled workers. Their whereabouts and duration of stay are often difficult to grasp, the officials said.
Special permanent residents, including those from former Japanese colonies, mainly on the Korean Peninsula, and their descendants, as well as travelers and others here for a short period, will be exempted from the IC card program, the officials said.
Those who opt for the IC cards would not have to obtain an alien registration card from their municipal office. But they would have to present the IC cards when they register at new municipalities, the officials said.
The draft proposal was compiled by a working group of a Justice Ministry council on crime-fighting measures. The council, headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was expected to receive the proposal Tuesday, they added.
A working group of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in 2005 proposed that all foreigners be required to carry such IC cards, much like alien registration cards issued by municipal governments.
But the move was quashed after opponents said such action could lead to intensified supervision.
For the new IC card plan, the government plans to submit a bill to revise related laws, such as the Alien Registration Law and the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law, to the ordinary Diet session in fiscal 2008, the sources said.
The government also intends to submit a bill next year to revise the law concerning employment promotion that would require all companies to submit reports on the employment status of their foreign employees.
In line with the IC card system, the government intends to expand the scope of information covered under the revised employment promotion law to include the name, age and nationality of foreign workers. Currently, private companies are required to report only the number of their foreign workers and their sex.
The Justice Ministry would be able to obtain such information from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare under the new system, according to the sources. (IHT/Asahi: December 19,2006)
Seems to me, it's good. But I wonder if Japanese government listens to the opinions which the people involoved with this system are saying. Long time ago, I've heard they refused to be taken their fingerprints. Of course, it might not have been all of the people to do that, though. Supervision and privacy. It's very hard to find the compromised point.
（日本語）
俺はいいと思うんだけれど、、。でも日本政府は関係する人々が言っている意見を聞いたのかしら。昔、彼らが指紋をとられるのを拒否したと聞いた事があります。そりゃ、拒否したのは全部の人達って訳ではなかったんでしょうけれど、、。監督とプライバシー。妥協点を見つけるのは非常に難しいです。
