[Columbine]

Actually, I found my ARC to be kind of useful. Rules and regulations aside, it was the ONLY form of ID I had that made any sense to some Japanese people; I could waggle my UK provisional license (AKA my usual ID) at them till I was blue in the face, and it would just cause mass confusion because a) I don't think they'd ever seen one before and b) they couldn't tell which number on the card was what. It also meant I didn't have to carry my passport around with me, which I hate doing in case I lose it. At least the card just slots into the back of my wallet. Even then, though, I think I only had to use it once or twice. Most of the time it just languished in my wallet until I handed it back to customs.

I also know of one guy who must have been darn glad he had his ARC on him. He collapsed out the blue whilst he was away from the university over a weekend and had a massive seizure. Naturally he was hospitalized, but he was in the middle of nowhere, the hospital had no idea who he was, and he was pretty much solidly unconscious. He wasn't carrying his passport or university card, however, they did find his Gaijin card which obviously he was only carrying because the law said he had to. Ok, so maybe he was stupid to wander around without any other ID, but it's easily done and the card meant that the hospital could contact the university, who could contact his family, embassy, doctors back home, whatever and send someone down there to look after him.

So it's not all doom and gloom; they do seem to serve a purpose other than to help Big Brother follow you around the country. I'm sure there is some abuse of the system, but I also think this whole "The police will pick on you and make you show your card, isn't that just the meanest!" thing to be exaggerated. I cannot think of a single person there during the whole year who was ever pulled over by the police merely to make them show their card. Pulled over because they were drunk and disorderly, for sure, but that's a whole different kettle of fish. Hell, my teacher witnessed a suicide and they didn't ask him for his card once, throughout the entirety of the investigation. I don't know, maybe I'm lucky and all my personal experiences are just at odds with the scare stories, but I do think some people are whipping it into a storm and scare-mongering when they needn't be.