While I sympathize with Dierk Brockschmidt's unfortunate stay in a Hakodate prison, in my experience Japanese authorities make it quite clear that the only valid identification for foreigners in Japan is a passport or a foreigner registration card. If I were pulled over by police here in Germany without my passport, as a noncitizen I would be treated the same way. The Hakodate police were well within their rights to believe that Brockschmidt wasted their time by not having valid ID on him when he boarded the ferry to Hokkaido.
catherine munroe hotes
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