Kathleen Morikawa
Encyclopedia
Kathleen Morikawa, is a native of Pittsburgh who lives in Japan
since 1973. Her Japanese husband Jun is a college professor.
She was the first foreigner in Japan to be court-sentenced for refusing giving her fingerprint
.
Under Japanese law, all non-Japanese citizens staying in the country for more than 90 days must apply for an alien registration card. Until the law was revised in 1993, this required the imprint of the left index fingerprint each time the alien registration card was being renewed.
Morikawa refused to be fingerprinted on Sept. 9, 1982, because, she said "I got a bit tired of it, it's discriminatory, and I wasn't willing to accept it."
During that time, an increasing number of foreigners living permanently in Japan, mostly of Korean or Chinese descent, refused to give their fingerprints because they saw it as discriminatory. Morikawa was the 27th person to refuse, but the first to be sentenced. She was fined 10,000 Japanese yen (at that time about $43) by Judge Yoshikatsu Uehara, half the penalty demanded by the prosecutor in Yokohama.
Furthermore, she wasn't issued the necessary re-entry permit for traveling abroad for several years following her sentence.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
since 1973. Her Japanese husband Jun is a college professor.
She was the first foreigner in Japan to be court-sentenced for refusing giving her fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
.
Under Japanese law, all non-Japanese citizens staying in the country for more than 90 days must apply for an alien registration card. Until the law was revised in 1993, this required the imprint of the left index fingerprint each time the alien registration card was being renewed.
Morikawa refused to be fingerprinted on Sept. 9, 1982, because, she said "I got a bit tired of it, it's discriminatory, and I wasn't willing to accept it."
During that time, an increasing number of foreigners living permanently in Japan, mostly of Korean or Chinese descent, refused to give their fingerprints because they saw it as discriminatory. Morikawa was the 27th person to refuse, but the first to be sentenced. She was fined 10,000 Japanese yen (at that time about $43) by Judge Yoshikatsu Uehara, half the penalty demanded by the prosecutor in Yokohama.
Furthermore, she wasn't issued the necessary re-entry permit for traveling abroad for several years following her sentence.