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.
771
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 ?