The Financial Times
By Bayan Rahman in Tokyo
Published: October 30 2003 12:25 | Last Updated: October 30 2003 12:25
A Burmese pro-democracy activist may be imprisoned on Friday and deported from Japan, separating him from his wife and children in a case that is putting the spotlight on Japan's immigration and asylum policies.
Khin Maung Latt may be detained on Friday when he goes to the immigration office to process formalities. Japan's high court this week rejected a plea that he be allowed to stay in Japan while he appeals for his asylum application to be reconsidered.
Mr Latt faces being sent back to Burma, despite Japan's apparent support for the country's pro-democracy movement, while his Filipino wife Maria and their two daughters would be sent to the Philippines, even though the children speak only Japanese and regard Japan as their home.
The family's plight highlights Japan's inflexible interpretation of international asylum conventions and its strict and sometimes bizarre immigration procedures. Asylum-seekers like Mr Latt often have to fight deportation procedures at the same time as their asylum application is being processed. This and other rules lead to the large majority of asylum applications being rejected. Japan granted asylum to only 14 people last year, compared with the UK's 8,100.
However, a UN report has estimated that Japan needs to allow 380,000 foreign workers into the country every year to offset the country's declining birthrate. Another UN report has said Japan needs to increase the number of immigrants by 609,000 a year to keep its working population at the level it was in 1995.
The Latts' case, which unusually has attracted the attention of the Japanese media, also comes at a time when Japan is seeking a bigger international role in humanitarian efforts and is trying to present itself, in trade talks and over other international issues, as a champion of developing countries.
Japan has 1.7m immigrants, many of them from China or Korea, who have lived in the country for generations, in a total population of 127m.
Despite their relatively low number, immigrants are often blamed for crime and a deterioration of morals by populist politicians such as Tokyo's governor Shintaro Ishihara, and sections of the media.
"I don't know what will happen to us," Mr Latt said on Thursday. "I work for a transport company, my wife works in a computer factory, we have many Japanese friends, we contribute to this society but that doesn't seem to help us with the courts."
Shogo Watanabe, Mr Latt's lawyer, said he would appeal to Japan's supreme court. The Justice Ministry declined to comment on Mr Latt's case.
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