A new lawsuit has been filed against the national government of Japan and local governments alleging police have engaged in illegal racial profiling.
The three plaintiffs are all foreign-born residents of the country. Their complaint was filed in Tokyo District Court and has asked that the national, Tokyo Metropolitan and Aichi Prefecture governments formally recognize that police have been illegally stopping and questioning people based on their race, ethnicity, or perceived nationality in violation of the Japanese constitution. The plaintiffs report being repeatedly questioned by police, which they say caused distress.
Motoki Taniguchi, one of the lawyers representing the men, told Fox News that it is “difficult for foreigners or Japanese of non-Japanese ancestry to sue the government because of their concerns about being targeted by police.”
The plaintiffs include a man who was born in India but has lived in Japan for the last 20 years, a man born in Pakistan who became a Japanese citizen after moving as a child, and an American man who says he has been questioned by law enforcement 16 or 17 times by police over the last decade. They are seeking 3 million yen (or $20,250 USD) in damages for each plaintiff.
Hearings in the case are expected to last about a year.
“It is the first such lawsuit in Japan, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyers, and comes amid a sharp rise in the number of foreign workers coming to the country to help stem labor shortages as its population ages and declines,” per Reuters.
Foreign-born residents still only make up roughly 2.3% of the population of Japan, according to Barron’s.
The lawsuit comes days after a Ukrainian-born model was crowned Miss Japan — sparking public outcry.
Carolina Shiino won the national pageant on Jan. 22. Shiino speaks fluent Japanese and has lived in the country since she was five after her mother married a Japanese man. She is the first naturalized citizen to ever win the pageant.
"There have been racial barriers, and it has been challenging to be accepted as Japanese,” she said of her victory.
"I have often had to fight against obstacles that prevented me from being accepted as Japanese, which is why I am extremely grateful to be recognized as Japanese in this competition,” Shiino added, per DW.
The pageant’s outcome irritated many social media users, who felt the judge’s decision had political undertones and was not truly reflective of Japan.
“This person who was chosen as Miss Japan [and] is not even a mix with Japanese but 100% pure Ukrainian. Understand she is beautiful, but this is 'Miss Japan'. Where is the Japaneseness?” one person wondered on X, per the BBC.
"If she was half [Japanese], sure no problem. But she's ethnically 0% Japanese and wasn't even born in Japan," wrote another user.
A third speculated, “If she were born Russian, she wouldn't have won. Not a chance. Obviously the criteria is now a political decision. What a sad day for Japan.”
