Topic: Never go to Japan

[Harrycombs]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/01/japans-immigration-control

What the fuck Japan?

Tl;dr, Canadian who lives in Japan gets back to Narita after a trip to Seoul, is detained by immigration, taken underground, denied phone calls, denied a lawyer, gets an interpreter who lies in her translations, starves, is forced to pay the guards for putting him in prison, the guards steal his wallet, makes him pay for a $5,000 ticket to go back to Canada (although he lives in Tokyo) at gun point, then finally leaves. He had done nothing wrong. Also, in 2010 a person from Ghana died while in custody just because his visa had expired, and the guards were never prosecuted.

Honestly, until this gets cleaned up, I don't think I would ever go to Japan.

[Mooning Freddy]

That's horrifying. I heard that Japan has tough anti-immigration laws, but what the hell? That sounds more like the way they'd treat freelancing journalists in an Arab state.

[Highwind Dragoon]

Some of the comments on the article page sound like government officials trying to cover for the fallout.

[Kale]

The japanese hates Canada too!

Joking aside, that's pretty shitty.

Lots of those comments do sound biased as hell, wouldn't doubt it's a cover up. I seriously doubt the person sitting next to the canadian would be on the site to comment on it.


EDIT: Then again... his visa is still in question.

[Flame]

Apparently his whole story is in question too, since he apparently keeps editing it, removing certain parts and changing certain parts of the account.

There IS also the fact that at the beginning of the story he requires a translator, whereas later on in the story, he seems to speak Japanese just fine.

It also just... feels a bit too over dramatized... i mean, yeah its a horrible thing if it is true. But...

I could only notice that the vast majority of space below was filled with a deep and utter darkness. Somewhere out there, in the gulag of detention centres dotting the land like black holes in the heart of Japan, were the cries of innocent people who would not be heard

I can't take this part seriously. it's too dramatized and flowery for whats just supposed to be an account of his experience with immigration officials.

[X]

He could be one of those people who views the Japanese as the barbaric, fanatic clansmen. Kinda like that Christian girl who posted that disgusting You Tube video just shortly after the big quake (that was sickening  ). He could've had an unpleasant experience with customs officers and decided to go all-out with his story just to get as much attention and publicity as possible. And to score as many low blows as possible to the Japanese as a form of revenge. I can understand something like this happening in North Korea, but I'm a little iffy about it happening in Japan.

[uzo]

Kinda like that Christian girl who posted that disgusting You Tube video just shortly after the big quake (that was sickening  ).

What now? What happened here?

[X]

What now? What happened here?

If it's not on You Tube anymore then thank god! My brother was only able to watch 15 seconds into the video before he had to shut it off because it made him feel sick to his stomach. I'll try to recall what I heard; This girl was so full of herself and so ecstatic to hear what had happened to Japan that she decided to make a video and post it online. She had said that her and her friends got together and prayed and prayed to god to punish the Japanese. And she goes on and on about how god grabbed them by the throat and shook the s**t out of them. Needless to say her popularity was below zero and haters had their way with her. There was even a Christian guy who responded to the video and said: "This is why everyone hates Christians." Later on she said that this video was nothing more then a little joke. That made her even more the enemy then before. Her credibility is essentially gone...that's if she ever had it to begin with.

[Kale]

Wow, girl sounds like she's going to hell.

[beingthehero]

I could only notice that the vast majority of space below was filled with a deep and utter darkness. Somewhere out there, in the gulag of detention centres dotting the land like black holes in the heart of Japan, were the cries of innocent people who would not be heard

I'm fairly positive that was added in after Harry-sama linked to the story.

Anyways, yeah, his story is full of pretty big holes like the aforementioned language issue. I guess you can only take this guy at his word, but I dunno if that's good enough. I've never heard of anything like this happening before, and if it happened in Japan of all places it'd be a thing by now.

[Flame]

That Christian girl sounds vaguely familiar. I might have seen the video. Or heard of it.

[Gunlord]

Depending on which "Christian girl" you're talking about, it could have been a troll who was very successful at offending people. ;o

That said, Japan isn't all bad, but at times the xenophobia and stuff can get pretty skeevy. This might have been one of those instances. T_T

[Omegasigma]

every nation has their darkside, It doesnt surprise me, since corruption is everywhere and as Dr house says "everybody lies"

[Lumi Kløvstad]

and as Dr house says "everybody lies"

I prefer Kingpin's "Ain't NOBODY innocent!"

[Karmoon]

The last time I went to Japan I had a wonderful time.

I bought a ticket and Japan Rail Pass from a travel agent's and zipped straight over from somewhere in Europe.
With the rail pass I took someone on a tour through several places in Japan: Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Sakurajima and Hiroshima.

Every place we went we were treated politely and with kindness. We had a lot of fun, saw some amazing things and ate a lot of damn good food! In particular I'd like to draw attention to Hiroshima. It was brutal going to the Bomb Museum, worse than any horror film or book, and I've got quite a stomache for that kinda thing. Yet, we noticed everyone there had a smile, and was just getting on with life. There were loads of old folks at the station when we arrived. They were handing maps and stuff out to tourists. I speak Japanese, so I asked what they were doing, and an old bloke just said, 'Oh, nothing much. We like to see foreigners visit our city so think it's important to welcome them.'

Previously to this, I went and studied in Japan for a year, having secured a scholarship at one of their universities. I can safely say it was the best year of my life. I have memories from those days that will keep me smiling for the rest of my days. That time was around the spate of terrorist attacks and "9/11" paranoia. From the looks of me...well, I fit the bill of how the media portrays terrorists. >_<
At the time, there was an alert, and the police actually stopped me.
I thought I'd get a rough time, but they just stopped me and spoke to me. Furthermore, when they saw the scholarship in my passport, they actually apologised for bothering me.

Now let me ask you, if Japan was such a deathtrap for foreigners, if that guy's account was true, do you think they'd let a suspected terrorist off so easily?

Japan's not perfect. I've been around the world - no country is perfect. Mankind is truly equal in his ability to use, abuse and sully everything in his grasp. But I'm just giving a positive account to let people know another side - one which was true in my reality.
It's really insane to put people off going to Japan based on a dramatised anecdote on a rag.

Am I telling you to believe me instead?

Heh. Tell you what. Why don't you actually GO to Japan and make up your own mind?
(and while you're there check out Akihabara, cos I'll wager they've got some sweet Castlevania merchandise there )

Peace.

(seriously...the food there...you gotta try it!)