Surveillance after 9/11: a view from Japan

David Lyon, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Seminar, Thursday 6 May 2004, 3-5pm, i-studio5

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Abstract

Security and surveillance have been stepped up in many countries since the attacks on the USA in 2001. New laws have been passed and new techniques developed in the so-called war on terror. However, the similarity of responses can obscure the differences in approach taken in different situations which can in turn throw light on local developments. Potentially, not only New York and London, but also Madrid and Tokyo are terrorist targets.

In Japan, an attack on the subway system in 1995 by Aum Shinrikyo led to some new security arrangements, but it was 9/11 that prompted changes in many other locations including Narita Airport and Tokyo Disneyland. Surveillance in Japan must be understood in relation to Japanese history and circumstances. The automation of surveillance there has also taken particular forms, including the widespread tracking of motor vehicles. The systems are being integrated on a massive scale, the most striking of which is the Juki-Net data registry and the 11 digit citizen ID number.

Surveillance is also globalising in Japan, as seen in airport security. But it has other targets, which also have to do with the mobility of certain groups, notably Koreans. Lastly, popular resistance to the new surveillance has been strikingly evident as certain towns have refused to cooperate and opposition has been widely mobilised. Doubts about the effectiveness and appropriateness of the emerging systems seem as common in Japan as elsewhere. A view from Japan is instructive in understanding surveillance after 9/11 in other countries, too.

This seminar is part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded ICTs in the contemporary world: work management and culture series and is open to the public. UK PhD students are particularly encouraged to participate and their travels costs are subsidised. For more information about support for doctoral students email e.s.keys@lse.ac.uk.

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