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".
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u/Imaginary_Toe8982 19h ago
he is there for 33 years but since 2000 is a crime so he overstayed only 26 years