Dave, for IP, if you wish... A ton of interesting news developments have come out of Japan in the last couple of days. It's the fingerprinting that prompts me to write, but the others are interesting, too. Bear with me for a moment: * Japan is now fingerprinting all foreigners * The CIA (USIS) worked to influence radical young Kyoto U. professors in the 1960s/70s * Japan's whaling fleet is off to the Antarctic, planning to "scientifically" study the flavor^H^H^H^H^H^Hhabits of a 1,000 dead whales * The Michelin Guide comes to Japan, and Tokyo has more stars than any other city Everyone foreign (including you, Dave) will have their fingerprints and photo taken when they come into Japan. This includes visa holders like me and permanent residents, but not including those foreigners with "special status": people born here but whose ancestry is Korean. Those traveling on diplomatic passports are also exempt. This will happen every time you come in, unless you register for the special fast-screening program, which only works at Narita; they will keep you on file. As one friend pointed out, this means that Japan will have prints and photos of every CIA agent who comes and goes using a regular blue passport -- the ones who prefer not to be recognized. As expected, the Japan Times, which is a bit more of a foreigners' mouthpiece, is more outraged than the Daily Yomiuri, but both featured it above the fold and ran several articles. One article was subtitled something to the effect of "no glitches", then the second paragraph described the glitches. I haven't had time to check the Japanese press, but I'm curious how the coverage compares. (This week is the big research exhibit for my campus, Keio SFC, being held in Roppongi. While we were debugging problem with the Reversible Lego Babbage Difference Engine (intended to demonstrate the principle of reversibility in computation) last night, a motorized wheelchair drove by. No rider, just the wheelchair. No idea if it was autonomous or remotely controlled...) Tons of links for the interested: [NATIONAL NEWS] Foreign arrivals get biometric scan Japan begins fingerprinting and photographing foreigners arriving in the country under a revised immigration law to keep terrorists out, drawing criticism from rights groups and foreign residents that their data might be abused. [MORE] -> http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20071121a1.html [NATIONAL NEWS] Rally targets Justice Ministry MASAMI ITO http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20071121a2.html [NATIONAL NEWS] Kansai smooth; other areas suffer glitches ERIC JOHNSTON http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20071121a4.html [LIFE IN JAPAN] Starting today, 'gaijin' formally known as prints GRAEME JARVIE http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/fl20071120a1.html [LIFE IN JAPAN] Security cameras: Ensuring safety or invading privacy? JACKIE HOFFART http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/fl20071120vf.html [LIFE IN JAPAN] Watching them watching us MICHAEL HASSETT http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/fl20071120zg.html [BUSINESS NEWS] Michelin's first Tokyo guide names eight 3-star eateries http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nb20071120n1.html [NATIONAL NEWS] 67 civic groups protest against screening system http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20071120a9.html [NATIONAL NEWS] Go home whalers, says N.Z.'s Clark New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark lashes out at Japan's whaling program, saying its fleet should have stayed home rather than operate under the "deceptive" guise of a scientific operation. [MORE] -> http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20071120a3.html [NATIONAL NEWS] U.S. envoys involved in '60s secret nuke arms pact http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20071121f2.html [NATIONAL NEWS] USIS role revealed in Japan's tilt toward West HIROKI SUGITA http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20071121f1.html http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20071121TDY01303.htm http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20071122TDY03103.htm http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20071121TDY02308.htm http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20071121TDY02309.htm Regards, --Rod -- Rodney Van Meter Assistant Professor of Environment and Information Studies Keio University, Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Japan http://web.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~rdv/ ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE