Overview

• Three foreign-born residents in Japan have filed a lawsuit against the country's authorities over alleged racial profiling.
• The plaintiffs, who are of Pakistani, Indian, and African-American descent, claim they have been subject to repeated illegal questioning from police due to their appearances.
• The lawsuit is the first of its kind in Japan and seeks to confirm that racial profiling is illegal, demanding 3 million yen (around $20,000) in compensation for each plaintiff.
• The case comes amid a renewed debate on what it means to be Japanese, following the crowning of a Ukrainian-born model as Miss Japan.
• The lawsuit targets the National Police Agency, the Tokyo metropolitan government, and the Aichi prefectural government.