I live in Japan for quite some time (multiple years) and never had to, or heard about, having to "register at local police station".
Also as a "fun" fact, residence cards features the logo of the ministry of justice. Just like if all foreigners were criminal with such a high probability that this minister handle the matter from the beginning.
Your residence card gets updated every time you change your address and you do have to go to the ward office for them to update it, but that's hardly "register at the police station".
Edit:
Most if not all the things we have to do, as foreigners, Japanese also have to do it.
The big difference is we're required to have an updated/valid residence card (ID), while Japanese don't need to carry ID.
I'm from Europe, and in my country everyone has an ID and is "required" to have it so I don't actually see the big deal, maybe I'm just uninformed.
Chinese also have to register at the local police station when they move. It's not just for foreigners.
The 'registration at local police station' was just an example of one such policy.
No different than US which takes a presumption of guilt when people apply for a visa isnt it?