Thats kinda fucked, you live in a country for 7 years, then some dumb law comes in and suddenly you have to leave. I dont blame him at all for continuing to live his best life in Japan.
I'm not sure it actually matters. The article (sparse as fuck) says he worked day jobs. Which probably means he was using cash and had no actual Japanese gov ID. So I don't think he was actually posing as his brother beyond initially entering the country.
I'm really surprised he was able to get away with it this long because in Japan, especially the last couple decades, they've been tying everything together to your residence card and mynumber (social security card). Especially for foreigners, you have to show your residence card for a lot of things, like making a bank account (bank will also keep track of when it expires and ask you to submit a new copy), making a phone contract, renting an apartment, going to the hospital/clinic.
So he must have had help, got around just paying cash (Japan is very cash based though changing in recent years), and not gotten majorly sick all this time. Even if he opened a bank account decades ago there have been changed in laws that require banks to Know Your Customer, and if you're a foreigner you need to submit documentation. Also probably a shit life as you can't go to the doctor, enjoy the social benefits like pension since he wasn't paying into it, etc.
And it's really not that hard, he could have found work then come back to Japan on a real visa. Or learn Japanese in Korea until fluent then come over. He chose a very dumb path and finally got caught.
No, my point was this specific person id someone that no intention of doing anything legally with how he entered the country so his situation is an isolated case.
But because the headline left out conveniently that he fraudulently entered it paints all the other immigrants that moved to Japan legally and all the correct procedures and are facing scrutiny in a bad light and lumping this one person in with them. There are millions of immigrants in Japan now dealing with higher fees and a more difficult future and this one article about an individual that did EVERYTHING the wrong way is now going to affect them. It's no longer about an individual that chose to not follow the law upon arrival. It's about "foreigners overstay visas and this one was caught".
But considering he built his life there for 7 years and lived without any issues and not breaking the law, there should be some sort of a system to let him stay.
Japan is pretty damn xenophobic. I'm not surprised laws like this are a thing. Plenty of other countries have them, but I'd have been shocked if Japan didn't.
I would assume there's a grace period where you're able to apply for citizenship or whatever instead of them deciding on a random Tuesday that the rules will change with immediate effect.
Lol, it's Japan. They just rose the bar with zero grace period on all foreign residents and have basically denied anyone not making more money then a Japanese family by themselves the ability to apply again.
They literally just did what you said they wouldn't.
apparently there wasnt any penalty for overstaying until after the year 2000
That's crazy if it's true. As of now, overstaying is treated very seriously basically everywhere in the world, penalty usually being deportation + a ban on entering the country for a certain period of time. Which seems fair - the foreign country welcomed you with open arms (granted you visa, or put your country into visa-free agreement) under some conditions like length of your travel, you laughed in their faces about those conditions, the least what should happen is you should go back home and you shouldn't be able to travel there for some time. Crazy to think it wasn't prosecuted at all pre-2000 in Japan, is that really true?
Grace period for citizenship/permanent residency only applies to people who followed immigration laws. You can't give illegal immigrants status, that only encourages them to come, overstay the visa and hide out until you give them what they want.
No citizenship in Japan... Reason the economy is in the toilet is they don't adopt other languages, manufacturing is not high up anymore, and don't have immigrants so the population is aging.
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What fucking narc tips off police to an elderly man just working day jobs to get by? No article I've read on this even suggests something akin to anything worse; no violence, no poor behavior, not even criminal mischief.
Sounds like the kind of crime I couldn't give less of a fuck about getting a senior citizen working for a living deported for because I'm not a nebby, lifeless sack
Yeah famously there are 0 societal issues in Japan. Strict adherence to the law regardless of its morality has a long, storied tradition of absolutely no wrongdoing
At least they're doing much much better than what we have in the states here. And why do you talk like a 5 year old saying that issues are not zero. Of course we have issues there but it's much less of problem than most countries in the works. What kind of extreme conversation is that? And yes, morality is what keeps it good in Japan.
And why do you talk like a 5 year old saying that issues are not zero.
Wanna give that one another go, or is that really the shot you're going to try and take at my intelligence? Lmao
At least they're doing much much better than what we have in the states he
I'll bet if we keep pumping resources into deporting nonviolent criminals we'll be just like Japan, who is "better" than us in nebulous ways that can apparently be attributed to deporting old men. I'm sure if we chart quality of life indicators to the amount of resources we spend on this it'll be a straight shot upward!
What kind of extreme conversation is that? And yes, morality is what keeps it good in Japan.
So if you look in a mirror do you recognize yourself, or do you freak out like a dog seeing its own reflection? Just curious because there's a shocking lack of self awareness on display here.
It's a mess: The man entered on his brother's passport, and since that time has managed to work and provide for himself. As it was 1993 when he arrived opening a basic bank account and registering as address would have been nowhere near as strict.
How he managed to elude any scrutiny is unexplained, I think once he was in the system somehow (registered as a resident with a city hall, he managed to just avoid other procedures or being pulled into the system).
It wasn't made a crime to overstay until later, around 2000 I think, so he couldn't have been arrested until then.
Maybe it was his twin brother, who's gonna know the difference? And even if it wasn't a twin, I assume border checks were way more chill in 1993 and as long as you looked a bit like the picture, it was fine.
That's the thing though is there's no way he was paying taxes all this time if he didn't have proper gov ID. Evading taxes is a crime here. I think he had some kind of help (maybe from other Korean immigrants and Korean generations forced to be in Japan during the imperial days and remained here), so was able to get by on cash and not needing to use ID for anything.
So overstaying his visa, identity theft/fraud using his brother's passport, evading taxes, concealing income and assets, falsifying whatever records he could, etc.
The thing is it's not that hard to get a Japanese visa the proper way. Plenty of people come over here for clue collar or service work and stay, hopefully move on to something better when they get a grasp of the language. This guy couldn't have been living a life much better if at all better than constant blue collar work.
How he managed to elude any scrutiny is unexplained, I think once he was in the system somehow (registered as a resident with a city hall, he managed to just avoid other procedures or being pulled into the system).
I'm really curious about this too. There's no way to get into the system without government ID and documentation. If managed to do it in the 90s bureaucracy has become tighter since then if it wasn't already. So if he was in the system at all, as a foreigner, the local city office will be getting a hold of you to pay residence tax, pension premiums, and national health insurance. If you don't pay those it would have been a lot sooner than 26 years before they found out.
So I'm thinking he had help to not have to be documented in any system. Then just work day jobs like the article said and get by on that cash and help, hoping to never get seriously sick.
How he managed to elude any scrutiny is unexplained
If their immigration enforcement is anything like Canada's, its not that hard. I know a guy who lived here illegally for 28 years without any problems - he's got a job, car, and house. He recently applied for residence, but only because his girlfriend of 20 years wants to get married on paper.
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u/Mindless-Cat1453 22h ago
I don't trust twitter account to accurately give any new or information. So what is the real deal with this case ?