For the past two weeks, Japan’s foreign community has been embroiled in a heated debate about a controversial app from the Immigration Services Agency. Officially known as “在留カード等読取アプリケーション” (zairyuu kaadoto yomitori apurikeeshon), or Residence Card Checker, the app was originally released back in late December 2020. It’s free to download in most app stores including Apple and Google Play.
According to the Agency, the purpose of this app is to check the validity of a foreigner’s residence card by scanning the IC chip inside. This is to combat a recent uptick in card forgery. Multiple factories operating solely for the purpose of making fake residence cards were uncovered in Aichi, Osaka, and Saitama back in 2019.
Other forms of identification were forged as well, including student IDs and health insurance cards. According to the National Police Agency, these fake IDs were used illegally in order to gain employment. Roughly 60% of deported foreigners in 2018 were accused of working illegally in Japan.
App Apprehension
Because the counterfeit cards are becoming more sophisticated, it can be hard to distinguish a forgery with the naked eye. As such, equally sophisticated technology might be necessary to spot said forgeries. The National Police Agency in particular has urged employers in Japan to make sure their foreign employees are documented, at risk of being fined.
However, the main issue that the foreign community has with the Residence Card Checker App is that it is accessible to the general public. At the time of writing this essay, the app is not region-locked, nor does the app prompt any confirmation that the downloader is in law enforcement or an employer.
Moreover, with Japan’s notoriously low-level digital security, fears of potential data breaches rippled throughout the foreign community. It also doesn’t help that COVID-19 xenophobia has been on the rise. Such attitudes, in combination with the already strict residence card laws, and closed borders which have separated many foreigners from their families and professional prospects, seem to result in nothing more than an onslaught of accusatory exclusion. Consequently, we will take a closer look at the contributing factors and reactions to this debate.
The Zairyu Card Laws
Before we dive further into the controversial app itself, it’s important for us to understand the legal aspects of residence/zairyu cards in Japan.
By law, all mid-to-long term residents must carry their zairyu cards at all times as proof of their immigration status. Any foreigner who is living/working in Japan for longer than three months is considered to be a mid-to-long-term resident. Foreigners can be stopped at any time by local police to show their ID.
If you do not have the card with you upon demand, you can be fined up to 200,000 yen (approx. $1800). On top of that, if you refuse to show your card to authorities, you can be imprisoned for up to a year. Needless to say, these are rather heavy fines.
As such, many foreigners have to be prudent about having their zairyu card on their person, even if just running a quick errand. While keeping one’s ID seems like a pretty simple responsibility–and for the most part, it is–the criminalizing apsect of not having ID on hand can be a nerve-wracking experience. Misplacing one’s wallet is a mistake many foreigners cannot afford to make.
Off-Label Xenophobia
In addition to the zairyu card laws, it is well-documented that xenophobia makes it difficult for foreigners to assimilate in Japanese society. This ranges from housing discrimination to colorism. On top of this, because Japanese society is deliberately insular, it can cause a critical social gap between the two groups.
This social gap has only increased in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite border control banning new entries into Japan since early last year and creating a convoluted path for foreign residents to gain re-entry, a notable amount of Japanese people blame foreigners for spreading the virus. (Chinese residents have borne a particular amount of unsubstantiated blame.) Unfortunately, this mindset is par for the course, especially when it comes to crime.
As is the case with most marginalized communities, foreign criminals are overrepresented in Japanese media. This bias is especially strong in reference to the ID forgery. While there was indeed a rise in identification fraud, the actual numbers are marginal; in 2015, there were 369 total such cases. By 2018, the number rose to 620 cases. For context, there are 2.6 million residence card holders in Japan as of last year. This brings the occurrence of fraud to a mere comparative 0.02%.
In Search of a Crime
Indeed, even if there we were to massively increase the number of occurrences to 100,000 cases of forgery, that would still bring it up to only 3%. Considering this, why would the Immigration Agency create an app for a notable, yet uncommon offense?
While the Immigration Agency insists that the app can only be used by authorities and employers, this is offset by the fact that it’s been advertised in public, even at train stations. This has caused many foreign residents to fear that ordinary citizens will attempt to scan their zairyu cards, even when they have absolutely no right to. Other foreigners have doubted this possibility.
Nevertheless, despite the heated debate, foreigners have no suffrage in Japan, and as such, no electoral heft to bear when disputing this app. Such a task could only be completed by Japanese citizens. Fortunately, some of them have spoken up against this app on behalf of not only foreigners, but human rights in general.
Local Objections
In a rare but much-needed sign of solidarity, Japanese netizens have created the hashtag #入管は在留カード読み取りアプリを回収してください. (Nyuukan wa zairyuu kaado yomitori apuri wo kaishuu shite kudasai.) It roughly translates to “Immigration, please recall the Residence Card Reader App.” A more snappy translation would be “#RecallResidenceCardReaderNow.”
Like their foreign counterparts, Japanese people cite concerns of vigantilism and wanton discrimination. Though the Immigration Bureau cites no plans to withdraw or recall the app, many people have moblized to both report and submit negative reviews for the app as well.
But, as previously mentioned, the Immigration Agency sees no issue with the application. In a press conference, agency members gave a variety of reasons as to why the app is both necessary and harmless:
Mochizuki, Tokyo Shimbun: “Would you consider putting the app on hold and restricting its usage?”
Ryo Nishiyama, Immigration Agency Information Systems General Manager: “We have no wish to withdraw the app. We might consider usage restriction, but have no plans for it in the foreseeable future”.–
“What’s your logic behind making this app available to ordinary citizens?”Eriko Suzuki (Deputy Representative Director of Immigration Federation) : “This is a confrontation based upon nationality, born of those who carry out surveillance and those who are surveilled. Is this not the society based on coexistence which the Immigration Bureau so desires to create?
Translated excerpts from press conference with the Immigration Bureau, as transcribed by the Choose Life Project, June 15, 2021.
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Koichi Yasuda (freelance journalist): “Is the Immigration Bureau at all concerned about the app potentially being used for harrassment, discrimination and xenophobia?”
Nishiyama: “We have no evidence to suggest such usage.”
The App Indignities
To be quite frank, the concept and rollout of the Residence Reader Card App is an insult to Japan’s foreign community. Not only is it an invasion of privacy, but it is also an overblown solution to the serious, yet uncommon problem of ID fraud. This author has a hard time believing that this app is solely for legal documentation reasons, especially considering its public availability.
On top of this, it reinforces the idea that foreign residents are always to be held under a sort of legal scrutiny that citizens never will be. As of writing this article, there seems to be no evidence of a similar app used to scan driver’s licenses, student IDs, or health insurance cards–all of which were discovered in the multiple conterfiet factory raids.
In a nation where foreign residents are required to pay local taxes and health/social insurance, among other financial obligations, we are not seen as worthy of respect or nuanced representation in Japanese society. Until an overwhelming segment of the local populace agrees that foreigners should not be treated as second-class citizens, foreign residents will always be seen as guests in Japan, no matter how many financial or social contributions we make.
