May 11, 2020 (Japan Today) - Amid requests for people to stay at home to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus in Japan, instances of tailgating or stones being thrown at cars with out-of-prefecture license plates have been growing in areas that have few confirmed cases of infection.
Some local authorities have tried to put an end to these incidents by offering images that residents can print out and display on their cars to prove they live locally, but their efforts have drawn criticism as fanning discrimination toward out-of-towners.
With COVID-19 cases topping 16,000 nationwide, including about 700 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined near Tokyo in February, many living in areas with comparatively few confirmed infections are wary that visitors from cities such as Tokyo and Osaka may bring the virus into their communities.
On April 21, Tokushima Gov Kamon Iizumi ordered a survey of cars with license plates from other prefectures, citing "the danger of traveling" between the western Japan prefecture and areas where there is a high risk of infection.
Tokushima has had only five coronavirus cases.
But the governor told a press conference on April 24 that the message directed at those outside the prefecture may have been "too strong" as it fueled bad behavior toward them.
On April 27, in a move to protect recent arrivals and to prevent their vehicles being targeted, the Tokushima city of Miyoshi uploaded to its website a flyer stating "I am a resident of Tokushima Prefecture" and called on residents via social media to print it out and display it on their car dashboards.
Twitter users were quick to criticize the initiative, however, saying the city is "promoting discrimination" and that the municipality "should clearly state that harassing (nonresidents) is a crime and such behavior can be reported" to police.
After just one day, the city removed the image from its website and Twitter account and switched to handing the flyer directly to visitors to the municipal office, saying it did so for fear that out-of-towners could abuse the initiative by downloading the flyer from another part of the country and pretending to be residents.
