Japan has reluctantly agreed to help Sri Lanka overcome its economic crisis–worse than any other the South Asian island nation has faced in its seventy-year history–in part because of Tokyo’s concerns about Chinese political influence.
News Headline: “Prosecutors drop case over death of detained Sri Lankan woman.”
Since 2008, I have always devoted my end-year columns to counting down the Top Ten human rights issues as they pertain to Non-Japanese residents of Japan. This year I’m moving this feature to the Shingetsu News Agency.
Japan’s decision to exclude most foreigners, including many foreign residents, from entering or reentering the national borders during the Covid pandemic has had a human and reputational cost which the mainstream media has tended to either ignore or to downplay.
Although there have been calls for immigration reform following the death of Sri Lankan national Wishma Sandamali in a detention center, the actual prospects for improvement in Japan’s controversial refugee and immigration system are not particularly bright.
During a May 30 demonstration in front of central Tokyo’s JR Takadanobaba Station, my labor union, Tozen Union, called upon the Japanese government to overhaul its immigration system and to protect the human rights of foreigners.
Tozen Union joined other labor unions and rights groups in a sit-in Wednesday outside Japan’s Diet Building, as the House of Councillors deliberated a bill to get tough on refugees, migrants, and other foreigners.
The Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau opened its Facebook page with a cute koala mascot at the same time that its refusal to provide medical treatment to a Sri Lankan detainee cost her life.
Sri Lanka has announced that it is pulling out of a deal with Japan to develop a section of its main port of Colombo, marking the second time within six months that a major agreement has fallen through.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on April 30, 2019.
