I had to trudge over the to the city hall today, because I had to get my Alien Registration Card changed. The ARC, more commonly known as the Gaijin card, is issued to all non-Japanese people living in Japan. It`s rather strange. It`s a simple plastic card that has my picture, my address, my visa number, passport number and where I`m from, but when you think about it, it has some eerie Soviet Empire echoes to it. I`m supposed to keep it on my person at all times, and if an official demands to see it, I have to show it our I could go to jail. I`ve never been asked to show it by a cop, but you need it to do anything -- get a phone, rent an apartment, all that. I heard that a few years ago they even had your fingerprints on it, but they got rid of it because people complained about it. It`s creepy to think that there is some government record of me, so if things sour between Canada and Japan, the government could come and round me up.
I had to changeit because when you move, you have to make sure your address is changed withing 14 days or something bad will happen. What that might be is not explicitly said, but I`ve been told that it`s `bad`.
Perhaps the stranger thing is that Japanese people have to register when they move as well -- my fiance has to go to the same office and change their resident status. And when students go off to university they have to get a piece of paper that says that they live where they say they live.
I could imagine if something similiar were attempted to be implented in Canada -- well, it wouldn`t, would it?