Fingerprinting, Anagrams, etc...
Recently Japan started fingerprinting foreigners entering Japan, for which
it received some bad press from the western media. I can't help but thinking
that this is li'l bro Japan trying to imitate big bro U.S.
I was fingerprinted on my last trip to U.S. and though I don't understand
the logic behind the Bush-created paranoia in that country, I didn't mind
that process.
Why? Because, I had gone through that process in Japan long time ago. Japan
used to fingerprint all legal aliens in the country, but stopped the practice
a few years ago after much criticism. So, essentially they were just reinstating
the process. The only thing that bothers me is their tying it to terrorism
problems. The only terrorist attacks Japan ever had were the ones by the
homegrown Aum cult guys. Can't think of any foreigners ever wanting to
target Japan (N.Korea ...hmm!! Perhaps.) This terrorist mumbo-jumbo is
getting out of hand even here in the boondocks of Kitami where I live now.
Imagine Kitami, in Hokkaido. It's a small city with very few foreigners.
Still, when driving around, I see boards proclaiming, "special anti-terrorism
measures underway" in remote areas (still part of the city, which
I'll explain later). The only living beings around are cows, and maybe
some deer and foxes. What is with these people? The only targets, I think,
are the couple of guys working at the lone Indian restaurant in town and
me, and, maybe the Egyptian in the college here. Most others are white
Mormon or J's witness missionaries or Southeast Asian brides at the farming
families, who probably don't fall under the Japanese definition of terrorist.
Well, it gives the policemen something to do. Like, for instance, putting up posters on country roads!!!
Kitami: Though I earlier described it as a small city, it is in fact the
fourth largest city (according to the city's website) in Japan. Not in
population, which is only about 130,000, but in size. And I think it's
crazy. If you consider a city as a contiguous, densely populated area,
then the definition of city in Japan is in violation of this fundamental
concept. Because, in Kitami, you can drive out of this so-called thickly
populated area, drive through mountains, forests and valleys for miles
and miles and it's still technically Kitami city.
Friend calls you up on your mobile: "Where're you?"
You: "I'm in Kitami"
Friend: "Go out for a drink?"
You: "Sure"
Friend: "Ok, see you in 10 mnts."
You: "No. I'm 100 kms away right now. It's going to take me another hour or two to drive back to civilization!"
Some interesting statistics:
Kitami is 1427.56 sq km in area. Compare that to Trivandrum - my home town - which is 141.7 sq km, or 1/10th of Kitami, but with a population 7 times that of Kitami. In fact this place is almost 3/4th of the entire district of Trivandrum. Forget Trivandrum, it is almost 2/3rd of Tokyo, which has a population of 12 million.
This is something unique to Japan. Some years ago, there was a town which
wanted to be part of Yokohama city, though it was geographically not close
to Yokohama. How is that possible? Another of those "only in Japan"
scenarios.
Well, we're getting ready to celebrate Christmas in our family like all
authentic Japanese do (I'm the only non-Japanese here). It, as you all
know, doesn't have anything to do with Christ or Christianity. It is just
one big shopping festival with Santa as the main character. And, Santa,
as G. Carlin once said, is Satan spelled inside out.
Wish you all a happy new year.