[ArtDodger]

I don't think the article's reasons are correct. I was living in Tokyo in the early 90s and the Muslims were a real problem. They had been coming into Japan from the middle East in droves on tourist and work visas and overstaying their allotted times. They were engaging in thievery and other bad stuff, including reactivating depleted phone cards and reselling them. As in other places, when their density reached a certain level they became aggressive, especially to all things American. You have to understand that only documented zealots are given permission to leave a Muslim country to travel abroad.

It got really bad, crime up, murders, harassment's on the streets.. Tokyo's Ueno Park became known as ‘Little Tehran’ and was at the point of being a no-go zone such as exists in France now.

One day, without warning. What seemed like every policeman in the country, shoulder to shoulder, closed in on Ueno Park and the other communities. Every Middle Easterner was netted and detained. If they had no card or it was expired, they were deported immediately. Thousands were surgically removed and overnight, the country's crime rate dropped to almost zero again. After the big nests were gone, it was easy to pick off the stragglers and deport them.
Japan learned a lesson and won't let it happen again.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Every Middle Easterner was netted and detained. If they had no card or it was expired, they were deported immediately. Thousands were surgically removed and overnight, the country's crime rate dropped to almost zero again.

Didn't know that. Thank you!

[DannyTN]

Sounds like a game plan to me!

[DannyTN]

Sounds like a game plan to me!

[BobL]

No clue either...but here’s an article from back then:

http://www.businessweek.com/stories/1992-10-04/fear-eats-the-soul-in-little-tehran

[GATOR NAVY]

including reactivating depleted phone cards and reselling them.

I remember that-it was mostly Iranians IIRC.