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Been to multiple Don Quijote stores many times, never seen such a sign or had anyone ask for my passport unless I applied for the VAT refund. Possibly a bad tra
by gregjor 1y ago
Been to multiple Don Quijote stores many times, never seen such a sign or had anyone ask for my passport unless I applied for the VAT refund. Possibly a bad translation. Photo or I won’t believe it.
Edit: Japan (like many other countries) requires everyone to carry official ID at all times. Japanese have government ID cards. For foreigners that means your passport. Americans find that requirement off-putting because we don’t (yet) have to “show our papers” to police on demand.
I travel a lot. Only had immigration or customs ask anything in the USA (my native country), Canada (had my young son with me so understandable), UK multiple times. Never anywhere in Asia, and I live in SE Asia. It mainly comes down to appearance and attitude and the mood of the officer at the moment, hard to extrapolate to a national or ethnic tendency from a few anecdotes.
I’ve never had Thai immigration hassle me but I’ve seen them take young people who look rough aside, maybe to check for drugs, probably to make sure they had sufficient funds and an onward/return ticket. Asian cultures tend to more formality and higher expectations of appearance in public, so foreigners may call negative attention to themselves with their clothes or tattoos, and their entitled attitude.
Japan may feel closed off and xenophobic. On the other hand they don’t have foreigners marginalized into ghettos or rounded up by ICE. The USA and Canada have no ethnic identity, whereas Japan and other Asian countries do. Unfamiliar perhaps but I don’t interpret that as racist or hostile.
- yencabulator 1y ago> Americans find that requirement off-putting because we don’t (yet) have to “show our papers” to police on demand. In many places you do. https://lawshun.com/article/can-law-enforcement-require-you-to-produce-id https://lawshun.com/article/can-law-enforcement-require-you-... On top of that, with the current ICE activity, what happens if they don't like your face and you don't show ID?