Arab News Japan

TOKYO: After the vote in the House of Representatives on May 9 on the disputed reform of the Immigration Law, around 150 Japanese, including several lawmakers, staged a demonstration in the Ginza district of Tokyo to protest the changes in the law.

 

The reformed law stipulates that after two refusals to be granted asylum, applicants can be expelled from Japan. Previously, three attempts to gain refuge in Japan were allowed.

 

Members of the Democratic Constitutional Party, the Socialist Party, the Reiwa Party and Communists spoke at the demonstration in Ginza to express their opposition to the law,which will be confirmed by a vote in Japan’s upper house at the end of the week.

 

The politicians in Ginza said they were concerned about the image of Japan and feared that xenophobic feelings would increase around the country and on social media.

 

In 2021, a similar law was rejected after the death of a young Sri Lankan woman in a detention center in Nagoya after she was refused medical treatment. Representative KIMURA Eiko was among those who were shocked by the death of the youngwoman and campaigned for changes in the law.

 

The parliamentarians also regretted that human rights are, as they see it, “not respected” in Japan at a time when it is presiding over the G7. They worried about the situation of immigrants such as some Kurds who have lived in Japan for decades without residence or work visas and who face severe problems in addition to the danger of being detained and/ or deported.