Immigration Nightmare in Japan

[DiscoBerry]

Watch out for Japanese Blackwater

Still the case of Christopher Johnson beggars belief. Returning to Tokyo after a short trip on December 23rd he was ushered into an examination room, where his nightmare began. Over the next 24 hours he was imprisoned and harassed. Most of his requests to call a lawyer, the embassy or friends were denied, he says.

Officials falsified statements that he gave them and then insisted that he sign the erroneous testimony, he says. Guards tried to extort money from him and at one point even threatened to shoot him, he says—unless he purchased a wildly expensive ticket for his own deportation, including an overt kick-back for his tormentors. Once he was separated from his belongings, money was stolen from his wallet and other items removed from his baggage (as he has reported to the Tokyo police).

The problems to do with Japan’s immigration bureau have been known for years. Detainees regularly protest the poor conditions. They have staged hunger strikes and a few have committed suicide. A Ghanaian who overstayed his visa died in the custody of guards during a rough deportation in 2010. (In that case, the prosecutor has delayed deciding whether to press charges against the guards or to drop the case. A spokesperson refuses even to discuss the matter with media outlets that are not part of the prosecutor’s own “press club”.)

Mr Johnson’s ordeal closely matches the abuses exposed in a 22-page report by Amnesty International in 2002, “Welcome to Japan?”, suggesting that even the known problems have not been fixed. One reason why the practices may be tolerated is that the Japanese government apparently outsources its airport-detention operations to a private security firm.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/01/japans-immigration-control

[Eniliad]

Holy shit.

[Smurfette Principle]

Not surprised. One of the reasons that Japan's population is dropping even though they have the same amount of births as we do is because their drop in birthrate isn't offset by immigration like ours is. The Japanese can be very racist.

[DiscoBerry]

Not surprised. One of the reasons that Japan's population is dropping even though they have the same amount of births as we do is because their drop in birthrate isn't offset by immigration like ours is. The Japanese can be very racist.

Racist against Canadians, why do I find this funny for some reason?

[Jodie]

To quote a thread title in the NSFW forum - WTF Japan?

[DasFuchs]

Not surprised. One of the reasons that Japan's population is dropping even though they have the same amount of births as we do is because their drop in birthrate isn't offset by immigration like ours is. The Japanese can be very racist.

Racist against Canadians, why do I find this funny for some reason?

Fucking round eyes