Foreigners detained in Japan stage hunger strike to stay

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Bluesky
• Share on X
• Copy Link

During the initial days of the hunger strike, some people didn’t even drink water, and three — from China, Nigeria and Bangladesh — became unconscious and were hospitalized, Miyasako said in a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Tokyo. They have since recovered.

Using it at local businesses

Lacombe Police arrest individual following incidents involving counterfeit money

43m ago

creston, b.c. man

Charges laid in relation to April 2025 crash that killed two Rocky Mountain House women

1h ago

Happened north of Eckville

24-year-old Rimbey resident charged in fatal collision from July 2025

2h ago

Immigration officials say such people simply need to leave Japan.

“The decision has been made that they are to return and so we keep talking to them to convince them of that,” said Kazuyuki Tokui, a Justice Ministry official.

Miyasako, who heads a support group called Provisional Release Association in Japan, said the detention centres have insufficient medical care.

In March, a Vietnamese man in his 40s died of a stroke after being found unconscious in his room at an immigration facility in Ibaraki prefecture, near Tokyo. Tokui said the government saw the death as a serious problem and is investigating.

Although Japan has in recent years begun an aggressive campaign to welcome tourists to boost its economy, it has long had a reputation as insular and unfriendly to outsiders.

Nearly 1,300 people are being held at detention centres nationwide, according to the ministry. The largest number came from China. Those who staged the hunger strike came from China, Myanmar, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, Ghana, Peru and other nations, according to Miyasako.

The hunger strike has not produced any change to their status, and a request that was submitted with the hunger strike for better conditions and a chance to live with visas in Japan has not even been officially accepted.

“I don’t think the government of Japan has any intention to make improvements to the immigration system,” said Shoichi Ibusuki, a lawyer who advises Miyasako’s organization.

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at twitter.com/yurikageyama

Her work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/yuri%20kageyama

Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press