CL wrote:
> It's happened to me 2~3 times in 20+ years and, each time it turned out 
> that they were looking for a specific person who looked nothing like me. 
>   Asking for the torokusho was a pretext.  Once they established that 
> English was not a prerequisite, they'd show a photo and ask if I knew, 
> or knew of the person or, if I'd seen them around the terminal.  Like 
> all of us gaijin know each other, or something ...
> 
Stereotypes aside, it isn't a bad police technique. If you were looking 
for a specific white guy in a mixed crowd, the whites in the crowd are 
going to be better at paying attention to small details, responding 
appropriately to weight estimates, etc. Nearly everyone is better at 
recognition and differentiation within ethnic groups similar to theirs.
KWW