Foreigners stage hunger strike in Japan

TOKYO: Dozens of foreigners seeking permission to stay in Japan have staged a hunger strike while in detention, highlighting what human rights advocates say is shoddy treatment of foreigners here.

Supporter Mitsuru Miyasako told reporters yesterday many had been recruited to work in Japan during the “bubble economy” about 30 years ago, but are now being told to go home.

None of them have been charged with a crime. About half are seeking refugee status, although only about 0.3% of such applicants are awarded asylum in Japan. Many have had children in the country.

The hunger strike, which started on May 9 with 22 people in a Tokyo immigration detention centre, expanded to 70 people there. Thirty people in another city also joined.

It ended on Tuesday because they were suffering health problems and had “reached their limit”, Miyasako said.

During the initial days of the hunger strike, some people did not even drink water. Three became unconscious and were hospitalised, Miyasako added.

Immigration officials say such people simply need to leave Japan.

“The decision has been made that they are to return, so we keep talking to them to convince them of that,” said justice ministry official Kazuyuki Tokui.

Nearly 1,300 people are being held at detention centres nationwide, said the ministry.

The hunger strike has not produced any change to their status, and a request submitted with the hunger strike for better conditions and a chance to live with visas in Japan has not been officially accepted.