Ouch, in the airport! That sounds annoying as hell. I’m not surprised they’re also targeting Africans. A couple of African Americans I know have reported being stopped randomly on the street and having the cop act shocked that they were American. That sounds really terrible with your friend being dragged into a Koban. What a thing to be subjected to right after arriving!

Thank you for the links to those organizations. It wouldn’t hurt all of us to put in more (or some) volunteer hours! (Cash helps too I’m sure!)

ask to volunteer for an anti-discrimination or human rights organization.
Here are a couple.

IMADR – http://www.imadr.org/
Hurights Osaka – http://www.hurights.or.jp/

He tried to be all chummy, asking where I was going. Complementing my Japanese. Asking how long I would be gone, before asking for my ID card. I asked him how he was selecting his targets, and he gave me the “oh it’ll totally random” story. I told him I felt bad because I think he is actually only selecting me because of my race. He said he was sorry, but he was just doing his job. I told him that if I had an Asian face, he wouldn’t have stopped me, and I could have enjoyed my nikuman in peace. He said that he was also stopping Asians, I said yeah right.. and he showed me his little memo book showing the other names of people he had stopped. I didn’t get a good look at it, but I noticed other western names on it as well. Anyway…

So, in my case it wasn’t only Asian’s he was after. I guess there are many illegal Africans as well that they’re watching out for? I’m American btw.

That really made me mad though. I hate that stuff.

One of my friends, a black guy from Princeton here on research, was taken into a Coban for hours because the police randomly stopped him shortly after arriving in Japan and he didn’t have his gaikokujin registration card yet. He was locked up for hours.

I’m not sure about feeling awful being counterproductive. It doesn’t of course help, but I think it’s a step in the right direction. It’s a lot better than just taking it for granted.

I am not so sure that the cop we talked will behave any differently, but maybe it’s good for them to be aware of how they appear.

You are of course correct in the nature of policing. I perhaps exaggerated a little bit how my wife spoke with them. She used very polite and official language, but was just very direct in questioning the nature of what he was doing and how he was targeting specific groups. She specifically addressed what she found to be wrong with what he was doing and when he denied it she pressed confidently, but still keeping polite language. And she did wait until he got off the train and did it when we were alone so there was no shame factor for him, etc. It was funny how she dismissed him when it was clear he would keep denying everything. (A polite dismissal, but a dismissal none the least.)