The US embassy in Tokyo has claimed that foreign tourists were being stopped by the Japanese Police in a suspected case of racial profiling.
The embassy in a tweet said it had received reports that a number of foreigners were detained and questioned by the police.
It asked the US citizens to carry proof of immigration and request consular notification if detained.
The tweet is being perceived as an unusual move from the United States, a key Japanese ally.
Reacting to the warning, top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told Reuters that police are questioning suspicious individuals only based on various factors, but that those decisions are not based on a person’s ethnicity or nationality.
