Chang-Ran and Elaine Lies

TOKYO, Reuters – On Monday the United States Embassy in Tokyo warned via a tweet that incidents were being made by Japanese police of suspected racial profiling against non-Japanese.

Japan is predominantly ethnically homogeneous. Many people associate more immigrants with increased crime. But, it is increasingly dependent on foreign labour to meet the needs of a growing and ageing population.

The U.S. Embassy received information about foreigners being stopped by Japanese police and searched in connection with suspected incidents of racial profiling. Numerous were detained and questioned.

U.S. citizens are required to show evidence of immigrant status, and request consular notification in the event that they are detained.

It is a rare tweet from the United States. Japan has been a close ally of theirs.

A spokesperson from the U.S. Embassy stated that there was nothing more to be added to the tweet by the embassy, while the National Police Agency couldn’t immediately respond.

Hirokazu Matesuno, the government’s top spokesperson said police only question people suspiciously based on different factors. However those decisions do not depend on their ethnicity or nationality.

Japan’s closing of borders to foreigners other than Japanese citizens was one of the toughest global actions taken to combat the Omicron virus.

Naomi Kawahara is the founder of Japan for Black Lives advocacy group. She said that Japanese police have been using racial profiling to identify foreigners and mixed-race Japanese peoples of color for decades.

She spoke out about her friend from Africa, who had been questioned more than thirty times by the police during his six-year stay in Japan.

“Sometimes it was just in front his house as he was going to walk his dog.