Job Discussion Forums

[Zzonkmiles]

I went back to the US for winter vacation and I had a great time. It was my first trip home since I first came to Japan a year and a half ago, so it was very therapeutic. By the end of my trip, I had recharged my battery and was ready to return to Japan.

Obviously, due to the heightened flight restrictions after September 11, I had to undergo rigorous screenings at the airport in the US. They made all the passengers take off their shoes, get screened with the wand, take their laptop computers out of their bags, etc. It was a hassle, but it was understandable. No big deal.

So I finally arrive at the Kansai Airport (KIX) and am tired after a 15 hour flight and am ready to go home. After a long wait at the baggage claim, I collect my bags and pass through immigration with no problem. Then when I was about to leave the airport, I had to go through customs. Of course I had nothing to declare. I then showed the agent my passport and ticket and suddenly he starts asking me all these questions in Japanese:

"Why did you come to Japan?"

"What is your job?"

"What's in your suitcase?"

"Do you have any merchandise?"

Okay, I'm getting a little bit flustered now. But I'm not angry, yet...

Then the customs agent took out a knife and asked if he could open my fucking suitcase and inspect it. Perhaps where I went wrong here was allowing him to do it without asking him why.

So he cuts the wire lock, opens the suitcase and starts rifling through my belongings. I had bought a lot of toiletries, such as toothpaste, face soap, and even vitamins, in addition to omiyage (magazines, books, candy). Then he'd hold something up from my suitcase and ask me what it was. Meanwhile my underwear and other clothes are falling out of the suitcase for all the passengers behind and around me to see. Then he takes the bottle of vitamins out and even opens it only to find that its safety seal is still intact. I had to identify half of the items in my suitcase to this guy, including lotion, shampoo, and even Dr. Seuss children's books! Fucking incredulous. Meanwhile, all the other passengers are just going through the other lines with no problems at all.

So then the customs agent calls another agent over to look through my suitcase. After the second agent inspects it, he then asks if he could do a fucking BODY SEARCH and instructs me to come to an area that is partitioned off. In this area, he told me to take off my shoes and he started looking inside both of them and inspecting them closely. Obviously, I had nothing suspicious in my shoes or in my suitcase, which they should have realized since I had already been screened to get on the airplane in the first place. He also asked me who I had bought those gifts for (which was none of his business) and asked where I worked. Then he said I was all clear and then said in English "thank you for understanding."

Yeah, whatever. I can only imagine how this situation would have played out if I couldn't speak Japanese at all...

Of course, none of the Japanese people who were going through customs were stopped. And, even though I don't want to say this, none of the Whites who were passing through customs were stopped either, even though some of them had more bags than I did. There were maybe 3 other Blacks on the plane with me, but I don't know what happened to them.

When I finally left the customs area, another Black guy and his Japanese wife approached me and told me they saw what had happened to me. They then told me that the customs agents have been doing that a lot recently to Black passengers (only) and they are looking for a way to solve this. This guy told me that it even happened to him the last time he flew into Kansai and that the agent stopped interrogating him when he found out that his wife was Japanese. Maybe the agents were looking for drugs and marijuana, since everyone knows only Blacks use and smuggle that stuff.

Anyway, this experience made me so angry and I was so taken aback by what was happening that I didn't know how to react to this, which is why I complied without making a scene. I wish I got those agents' names because I would love to report them. This experience was fucking humiliating, unnecessary, degrading, and unprofessional. I did make it back home though, which is the most important thing. But suddenly, living in this country has become a lot more unattractive to me. I can deal with the suspicious stares and the apprehensive women (pedestrians) who move away from me when I approach a traffic light and want to cross the street. But this was in an entirely different league. This level of racial profiling is something I would expect in the US, but not in Japan. Maybe I was just being naive.

And people wonder why Blacks in particular have a chip on their shoulder with respect to skin color...

[canuck]

You made this determination based on your experience and hearsay, that there is racial profiling. How many people go through the airport everyday? They search a lot of people to varying degrees. Big whoop. They searched you a little extra. They were just doing their job. You're making a mountain out of a mole hill. Move on.

[Nismo]

I got searched on the way out of Japan last time, almost exactly as you described. I'm white.

[Cshannon]

I dunno... sounds pretty harsh to me. Of, course one can only speculate about RACIAL profiling (as if anyone would admit it anyway), but I for one wouldn't be too surprised. My opinion is that racial discrimination can happen anywhere in the world, but I have been told by Japanese friends that racist views towards blacks in particular is not uncommon. Either way, the whole experience seems severe regardless of race. I just don't see how 'randomly' interrogating/body-searching the odd person (no pun intended) can be an effective way to stop anything. Maybe I just don't get it, but if it happened to me I'd be just as pissed of as zzonkmiles.

[Gordon]

Zzonkmiles, it may not have to do with race, but perhaps because you are a young male and were alone. They may feel there is a greater likelihood of smuggling than a female (harder to stash a gucci bag on your person) or someone with kids or an old person. That's no excuse how they handled it, but we all know how blunt people can be at airports. They are not hired for their kindness.

How were you dressed? I always make a point of wearing something semi-professional (and comfortable) when I travel through airports. Can't hurt.

[Glenski]

Zzonk,

Sounds fairly strict, but you said they spoke to you in Japanese. I know you have studied very hard in the last year or two, so you probably didn't make any attempt to force them to speak English, did you? That could explain why they spoke in Japanese, and I would expect that if you feigned innocence and that you couldn't speak Japanese, they would have found a way to communicate in English.

As for racial profiling, there's a guy on www.gaijinpot.com with a similar experience to you. Again, as someone pointed out here (and you yourself admitted), nobody knows who else on that flight was treated the way you were.

Accept the fact that it happened peacefully, and from the sounds of it, relatively politely, and move on. If it happens repeatedly, then consider the reasons why.

[Mike L.]

I'm going to disagree wiht the mob and say that the "3rd degree" search was probably because he was black!

I 'm white and have never been checked before until I came
back last week from a trip to SEA.

Even then he simply looked over my stuff quickly, was very polite, and sent me on my way. It wasn't a thorugh search at all.

I've never seen them bother a Japanese ever!

It's defintiely a racial profilling deal with more emphasis on certain races than others.


Why does this happen?

I've said it many times before. JAPAN CAN'T COPE IN THE MODERN WORLD!

Simple linear ideas don't trickle down easily here! Especially any kind of acceptance of other cultures and races.

I rember years ago at a bon enkai being asked all kinds of questions like Why is Canada so open to foreigners? Why are there so many foreigners living in Canada? How can a Chinese be Canadian?

I replied that once you get your Canadian passport it dones't matter where you were originally from you're Canadian and entitled to everything theirin.

Of course there are issues but this group, public school teachers, couldn't understand our tollerance.

These poeple were teachers!

Japan often seems trapped in a sort of edo era thinking where isolation is "Goodo" and strange foregin and by consequence foreigners are "bado."

Japan will be blaming it's problems of foreigners forever simply because of the fact they don't have the wherewithal to fix them themselves.

The Japanese government can't ballance budget. Manage an independant foreign policy. Deliver one full reform of anyhting or produce any leaders of note.

As a consequence it will be unable to deliver social programs effectively in the future.

Will the Japanese do asnything about it?

NO!

Japanese people will never stand up and to their masters and thus will just do as they are told hoping the "nanny state" will look after them.

They will simply blame foreigners for all of their problems.



Zonkmiles: That IMO is why you were searched! You should pity the ignorant and stupid!

[JimDunlop2]

I'm really sorry you had to endure that. How humiliating! Unfortunately, what are the alternatives? Not travel by air at all, I suppose.

I don't suppose this will make you feel much better, but IMO, most police officers, rent-a-cops, customs officials, etc, etc.. are just government-endorsed hired goons. Their job is to intimidate, dehumanize, enforce, and otherwise use any means necessary to show you that THEY are the boss, and the junkyard dogs ruling over their little fiefdoms.

In general, I think the best