Several residents of Tokyo's Suginami Ward contacted us in response to C.W.'s experience, which appeared in our March 6 column, "Immigration 'informers' call on foreigners in Suginami Ward."
Victoria admits she was also concerned at first: "I live in Suginami Ward and have already been visited by two 'officers' regarding the upcoming changes to the alien registration system. They showed me some identity information, which I probably should have looked at more closely. I mentioned that I had received the information and read it. Then they asked me to write on a form that I had received their visit.
"Not much explanation was given, just a confirmation that as a permanent resident I didn't have to change my registration straightaway. Initially I, too, wondered whether this was some kind of undercover crackdown on non-Japanese residents of Suginami Ward. However, I guess it's just a genuine desire to make sure that all us non-Japanese understand what is required of us with the change.