Shikoku Transport Bureau to cancel tourist influx survey, judging foreigners by their “appearance” [Kagawa Prefecture]: Asahi Shimbun October 18, 2024 10:15 The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s Shikoku Transport Bureau will cancel the annual influx survey of major tourist destinations from this fiscal year. The reasons given include problems with the selection of tourist destinations to target, but it is also believed that problems with the survey methodology, such as judging foreigners based on their “appearance,” were also a contributing factor. The survey began in 1987, and since 2003 has covered 60 major tourist destinations in the four Shikoku prefectures (15 in each prefecture). Since fiscal 2014, the number of facilities and numbers of foreign tourists visited has also been announced. Last year, there were 529,000 foreigners in 24 locations. When the figures for last year were announced in July this year, a person in charge was asked by reporters about the survey methods for foreigners, to which he commented, “There may be some facilities that make judgments based on appearance.” No specific instructions were given on how to conduct the investigation. In response to an interview by the Asahi Shimbun, one facility said, “We judge tourists who purchase tickets at the counter based on their appearance and language, ask them in English where they are from, and determine their nationality, etc.” The person in charge said, “We had doubts about the investigation methods, but we continued because we had no other choice.” As the number of Japanese people with roots overseas increases, (omitted) they are considering removing the survey results from their website in the future. (Fukaya Tsukasa) *See source for full text.
>>1 Just like India’s Aadhaar, we should make it mandatory to register your face, name, fingerprints and iris, and link it to immigration and my number. It can also be used for identity authentication and to prevent impersonation and counterfeit passports. Fingerprints left at crime scenes also aid in criminal investigations.
>>1 The word “netouyo” means patriot. In other words, the people who make fun of and criticize netouyo are anti-Japanese agents from China and Korea. Their goal is to make people think that being patriotic is uncool and weaken Japan’s national power. Japanese people should be careful not to be misled by the posts of anti-Japanese agents.
I was almost turned away by a black guy working security at an underground casino who told me I was “no Chinese”. On a JAL domestic flight the person sitting next to me asked me in Japanese what I wanted to drink, but he asked me in English. I squeezed closer to him at a restaurant in Thailand and he thanked me. I later found out he was Japanese. I guess he’s being counted and contributing to the self-praise of the achievements of our tourism-oriented national policy.
If they want to investigate that, they should have someone show their passport accurately. I went to the Paris Olympics and I showed my passport when I bought tickets or at the ticket office when necessary.
They have a Tokyo accent and use the first person pronoun “washi”. They come from Bizen, Bitchu (most of Okayama prefecture) or Bingo (eastern Hiroshima prefecture).
They could create lanes for foreigners at JR stations and check passports along with tickets, but it would probably only be a visual check. If you download the Ministry of Foreign Affairs app, you could track people by GPS. If they had something like Mobile ESTA or ETIAS, it would probably be possible to track people by GPS.
It’s not about discrimination, but can statistics be generated based on such rough methods? If Neptune’s Nagura or Hirai Ken were to come, would they be considered foreigners?
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