[dirtboy]

Fascinating, captain...even a goodly number of the normally conformist Japanese resist such measures. Maybe there's some hope for us after all...

[lavaroise]

"To start with, giving a number to people is a violation of our individual human rights," said Eiji Yoshimura, one of the protesters. "We have absolutely nothing to gain from this system."

Gasp! and to think we have 8 number social security number. I remember Soljenetsin talking about those nuns in the Gulag who refused to get a prisoner's number because they thought it was satanic. The soviets gave up on them. However, to get new prisoners' underwears, the bureaucracy requested a number. Result was the nuns' underwears fell appart but they held up.