Alien registration was a prerequisite to many activities in Japan, such as purchasing a mobile phone, opening a bank account or obtaining a driver's license.
The tōroku genpyō was closed when the alien left Japan without a re-entry permit, and was then kept in an archive at the Ministry of Justice.
[5] Registered aliens are allowed to adopt an alias (通称名, tsūshōmei) or 通名 as a second legal name.
This resembles the 通称 that Japanese are allowed to use — for example, to continue using a maiden name at work and on bank accounts after marriage.
Ethnic Japanese who live in Japan as resident aliens may use a legal alias to reflect their ancestral name.
The exact criteria vary by locality, but the most common evidence is mail addressed to the alias name.
Any registration certificate which is subsequently issued will show the alias in type in parentheses just below the holder's name.
Kathleen Morikawa saw fingerprinting as violating the Golden Rule and fought for a level playing field.
The fingerprint law was described in an Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights report, Prevention of Discrimination: The Rights of Non-Citizens (final report of the special rapporteur David Weissbrodt), as follows: "An amendment to the Japanese Alien Registration Law recently abolished a fingerprint requirement to which all non-citizens had been subject.
Although the fingerprint law (was) repealed, foreigners are still required to carry their alien registration cards at all times and violators face heavy penalties including incarceration for up to three years or fines of up to 300,000 yen.
"The Japanese government has since introduced fingerprinting and photographing of foreigners, claiming that this is a terrorism control measure.
One side effect of this situation was that it was impossible for an alien married to a Japanese national to be registered as the head of their household on a koseki or juminhyo.
It was possible, however, to add a footnote to the Japanese spouse's records indicating that the alien is a de facto head of household (事実上の世帯主, jijitsu-jo no setainushi).
With the system, the maximum length of a status (other than statuses such as eiju long-term residence or teiju special long-term residence) for foreign residents was extended from three to five years, and shorter periods for Students and dependent statuses are permitted; the maximum length of multiple re-entry permits also has been extended to 5 years (eiju status) or 6 years (teiji), in addition for stays of up to one year, a special re-entry permit can be applied for at the point of departure at no charge rather than having to apply to an Immigration bureau in advance.