Report from the gaijin lane

I take the liberty to expose here a testimony of someone called Donna Louise Close who left the following comment over the online petition.

It was humiliating being "processed" like a criminal coming into Japan last week. My husband is Japanese. He had to wait about 20 minutes for me to get through the line, and he couldn't understand why I had taken so long. For Japan, I think that having an "alien" registration card is already a good way of keeping track of the HONEST people coming to live/work in Japan. I don't like being discriminated in that way (most Japanese are extremely surprised when they find out that foreigners have to have them), but I understand that in some ways Japan is still afraid of the outside world. The very small number who ruin it all for us, the DISHONEST people, who come to Japan to hurt this country and its people will go to extra measures now to avoid giving their identification. And not just those people coming in, but the dishonest Japanese citizens helping them to come. I am only 25 years old. I have no criminal record, not even a traffic fine. I have had police background checks in my own country, not because I was suspected of anything but in order to become a registered teacher; (even for that they did not need my photograph or fingerprints). Foreigners entering my country are not required to be fingerprinted or photographed. They do not even have a "foreigner" card, like the Japanese government requests of foreigners in Japan. (If they need to show ID and they don't have it on their person, they are given time to produce it - accompanied home if necessary.) Everyone is treated as fairly as possible; treated as "innocent until proven guilty". Why don't you look at some governments other than the United States for examples of how they process the huge amounts of foreigner/immigrants coming into their country? e.g., compulsory thorough customs declaration forms for ALL incoming people, Japanese and non-Japanese; tougher background checks for visa requirements - a criminal history check from the police would be good. (I've never had to get one done for a Japanese visa, but my husband had to get one for a visa to my country).