Papers please

Vaguely similar: end of the day, I was returning a rental truck, dropped it off, heading out, and the sole guy manning the place says (paraphrasing): "Wait, you've got to help me check the truck's signal lights". Power-of-suggestion, I complied, but later I started thinking about it. Basically I was an unpaid employee for about 10 minutes...

 

Lots of dictatorial nations out there but the US still, I believe, is not one of these - unless you wish to cheapen the meaning of 'dictator.'
Note the grey nations.
I have it on good authority that in many of these nations you "should" be able to produce valid ID upon demand.

HERE IN THE US....(source: The Googles)
....."You must provide your driver's license if you are pulled over while driving. However, if you are stopped on the street, you are generally not required to show an ID unless you are in a state with a "Stop and Identify" statute, you are being lawfully detained, or you are arrested. You can remain silent, but in a state with a "Stop and Identify" statute and reasonable suspicion, you may be required to give your name. "

 

I find it downright eerie, that you (in the States) can drive a new car of the dealership lot, and drive for months, with dealership placards or what have you, in the license plate holders, and the license plates "in the mail".

 

They just wanted to make sure that you left your SSI check there....

They now print and install a plastic identifier temporary plate before you leave the dealership. I guess too many people blow red light cameras and travel down car pool lanes, since the car can't be ID'ed by aforementioned cameras. At least that's what they started doing in my state about 5 years ago.

 

Did the elevator exit onto the casino floor?
I've seen casinos that man every single ingress point to verify ID, regardless of age, due to underage trying to slip in, along with people that have been banned. Probably just a guy trying to do his job without getting himself or the casino into trouble.

 

every state is different. in ma, plates are available immediately. for a new car, the dealer actually has them in house.
if you want to transfer your old plates, they run the paperwork through the registry of motor vehicles.
we we lived in new hampshire, there were plates available at the post office, and you could get license and registration there as well.
i think ma tried some registry kiosks in shopping malls, but they may have been closed during some cost cutting.

 

Good to see that not all of my tax dollars are wasted....
As a person who LIVES less than 50 miles from the border AND a person who has more than one ESL clan member.....I'm good with that.

 

Long ago as a young and self-perceived spunky Californian, I always responded in Spanish at Border Protection road stops.

--
It is suggested to always have one's US passport in hand in China, but I have never been asked for 'papers' here. Exception being hotel check ins that need to photocopy passport. Rules.

I recently returned from Japan (in a Chinese tour group) and all of them (but not me) needed to give hotel their passports to hold during stay. So Nipon blue shading in map above might need to be shaded towards red.

 

Japanese citizens are not required to carry ID cards in the Japan nor are Americans required to do so here, and very broadly speaking pretty much have to have a reason to ASK for an ID with the exception of driving a motor vehicle on a public street - which is a privilege and not a right.
SO....
Culturally speaking, Japanese tend to be rule followers and I would not want be some blue-haired incel trying the whole "sovereign citizenry" thing out on one of their Prefecture police ossifers - especially if I were an obvious non-local.
Japan DOES have a Constitution and their citizens DO have rights.
It's about the only thing in Japan that was "made in the USA"
HOWEVER (comma!)
Their 5-0 doesn't like to hear 'no'......from what I've been told.

As the OP himself stated,
One ID request at a hotel or a casino does not a totalitarianism regime make.

It's just Bob being Bob.

 

Yeah, that’s basically it. Japan isn’t some ID-papers dystopia, but culturally it’s very “don’t make it weird” - especially with the police.
And you’re right: a hotel or casino checking ID is normal anywhere. That’s not authoritarianism, that’s admin. Sometimes it really is just Bob being Bob

 

Yup. The thought there is, if you insist on being in the system, you're already guilty of disturbing the peace... contributing to (but not the only reason for) the 99.8% conviction rate.

Being in prison in Japan is really just a much more strict and regimented version of being in open society there -- if you insist on breaking rules and being insubordinate no matter your grievance against being incarcerated, you will be punished harshly and indifferently... and some of the methods they use, veer dangerously close to Stasi tactics, esp when a confession's being sought.

But follow the rules and obey all authority figures... and your life becomes much less torture and much more routine, almost serene.

Of course, that's applicable mostly to JDM nationals, lots of leniency given to foreigners -- up to a point. Past that point, better have a family member in the State Dept. But if you're that far gone, should already be in prison

 

In Victor Hugo's classic novel, Les Miserable, in early post Napolianic 19th Century France a special passport was needed to travel between cities and provinces.

That's apparently what's happening currently in the US.

 

WHOA!
It is?
That's not even CLOSE to being true.
You do need a driving license to operate a motor vehicle on PUBLIC ROADS but I'm unaware of any law or regulation that requires automobile passengers to have any ID at all.
Same with pedestrians.
The US is a Non-Compulsory ID nation.
That didn't change just because democrats lost the last Presidential election.
Heck....in some US states you do not even have to have an ID to vote!

 

Victor Hugo was writing about 1800's France, not the present in France.

 

I'm content to let France be France.

 

Your correct; cops needs probable cause to ask for your ID - assuming your not the driver of the car. That's a civil rights violation, which turns into a he said, she said; unless the body cam is rolling and the footage doesn't get "lost" - wink, wink, nod, nod.. That's the main reason ICE mask-up, shows NO credentials other than the amazon tactical gear they're wearing, and no body cameras. Good luck trying to ID who or what agency violated your civil rights. I just consider it an armed daylight mugging and calling 911 LEO to show up to make sure they are who they say they are. I've seen this kinda crap in other countries, never thought I'd see it here......
This erodes civilians' trust in government authority; which is probably why the current administration is doing this. To deflect from the widespread graft of current high office officials. IMHO and allegedly- for legal purposes. If they ever do get prosecuted, they will point to this issue, that they've created as proof that the government is out to get them. That's a neat little bow, of course a presidential pardon would shield them from federal prosecution too. We've already seen that happen.