But out walking your dog? OH hell.. That doesn’t fly with me. I wonder how much this program is costing the government to implement. Any numbers we could look at?

Alex, I do think we should have to carry some form of identification. It’s sort of a necessary evil; Japan (and every nation) has to make some sort of effort at border control.

That said, I don’t agree with the ‘random checking’ of foreigners on the street. It’s obviously profiling, and it makes Japan look bad. The police should have an actual job to do; profiling has not been proven effective as a crime prevention method by any statistics I’ve seen. I know someone who was walking his dog and his daughter in the suburbs when asked to produce his gaijin card for a cop - a pure waste of resources, to say the least.

A small anecdote if I may. I keep my house keys on a key chain that I bought at Yasukuni Shrine. The key chain has on it a flag, the hino-maru and on the other side has the Kyokujitsuki flag of the Imperial Navy.

I once had my keys on a table in a Chinese Restaurant when I was accosted by an angry woman who thought I was some kind white version of an Uyoku. (Right wing extremest in Japan). Pretty ridiculous right?

Well the same thing here. Just because Abe passed some laws that the country should take pride in itself more, and that they are -finally- developing steps towards having a military, it does NOT mean Abe subscribes to the right wing agenda…

Its wrong and The Times should be ashamed. They should be going after the people that are making us carry around Gaijin- Identification Cards… THAT is where the story is at…