TOKYO - Japan hopes to thwart potential terrorists from entering the country by fingerprinting and photographing all foreigners aged 16 or over on entry starting next month, an official said Friday.
Only some permanent residents, diplomatic visitors and children under 16 will be exempt from the measures after the system goes into effect Nov. 20, Immigration Bureau official Takumi Sato said.
Under the new system, all adults will be photographed and fingerprinted on arrival in Japan. Incoming aircraft and ship operators also will be obliged to provide passenger and crew lists before they arrive.
Resident foreigners will be required to go through the procedure every time they re-enter Japan.
Immigration officials will run the images and data through a database of international terror and crime suspects as well as against domestic crime records. People matching the data on file will be denied entry and deported.
The bureau plans to store the data for "a long time," Sato said.
It is unclear how many people will be affected; Japan had 8.11 million foreign entries in 2006, Sato said.
Front Section, Pages 10 on 10/27/2007