Given its current popularity in certain U. S. political circles, it was inevitable that the word « fake » would eventually find traction in Japan. The Septemb
Given its current popularity in certain U. S. political circles, it was inevitable that the word “fake” would eventually find traction in Japan. The September issue of the monthly magazine Bungei Shunju applies it to the headline of an article by journalist Miyu Suzuki titled “ ‘Fake refugees’ being forced on Japan.”
What sort of numbers are we talking about? In 2016,10,901 individuals applied for refugee status here, a sharp increase over the 7,586 applicants in 2015, and a rise of over tenfold from 2007, when the total was fewer than 1,000.
Gaining approval, however, is like winning the lottery: in 2016, only 28 people were accorded refugee status.
“Certainly, the number is small, ” says Shigeo Ogata, public liaison officer at the Immigration Bureau’s Detention Center. “However, even those applicants who don’ t qualify as refugees may be eligible for teijūsha (long-term resident) status on humanitarian grounds, which allows them a one-time stay of up to five years, without extension. In 2017, this was granted to 917 people. It accords them exactly the same conditions as refugees.”
However, Ogata concedes that more people are abusing the system. Even those whose applications are refused can reapply, and since a review takes six months or longer, they are permitted to work while the decision is pending, unlike those in Japan on tourist or study visas.
“I’ d say right from the start, a majority of the refugee applicants come to Japan intending to work, ” Ogata says.
The Yomiuri Shimbun of June 30 reported that immigration authorities were mulling a crackdown on abusers of the system, with the aim of discouraging the growing numbers of applications, but according to an immigration official, the details were still “under review” and no decision has been made as to when it will go into force.
Suzuki then takes the JR Saikyo Line to Toda-Koen station in Saitama, just across the Arakawa River from Tokyo, where she visits a mosque named Madina Masjid Toda.
Separated by a curtain from the space for worshippers is a room filled with futon bedding and storage trunks stacked in the corners.
This is where members of the congregation, unable to rent apartments, temporarily reside. Mostly visa overstayers, they had previously been detained at Ushiku in Ibaraki Prefecture or some other facility, but are on “temporary parole” and have been taken in by the mosque.
Even those who are not bona-fide refugees suffering from political or ethnic persecution, etc.
