We want to live in Japan as a family! We held a parade in Ginza!

On April 29, 2015 (a public holiday), we held a parade in Ginza with the slogan "We want to live in Japan as a family!" This was part of an emergency action taken in response to the fact that families of undocumented foreign residents were being told by the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice that they might be separated from their children.

Approximately 70 people, including those directly affected and their supporters, participated in the parade, walking through Ginza and pleading, "Don't tear our families apart!" Children also cried out, "We want to continue living in Japan as a family!" Throughout the parade, we felt that many people along the route listened attentively to the appeals of those affected. Many people also accepted the flyers calling for support.

The parade has ended without incident, but the activities of those involved and us, their supporters, will continue until the families can obtain their residency status. Going forward, we will accelerate our activities, including establishing support groups in the community and holding symposiums to consider the pros and cons of family separation, with a focus on children.

Please note that we are raising funds for this emergency action through the crowdfunding platform READYFOR?. There is less than a month left until the deadline. Please support our activities by purchasing a READYFOR? voucher!

You can find more details about READY FOR? below.
We want to support families of undocumented foreign residents so they can live safely and securely in Japan!
https://readyfor.jp/projects/livingtogether2

*The Japan Times also published an article about the parade.
You can read the article at the following URL.
　http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/04/29/national/crime-legal/visa-overstayers-march-right-remain-japan/#.VULtfZMkqBU

The article has been translated into Japanese using APFS.
You can view the following.

——————————————–
Japan Times article, April 30, 2015

Visa-less workers fight to stay in Japan, the country they've grown accustomed to living in.
Overstayers of their visa gather in Tokyo

On Wednesday afternoon, the 29th, overstaying visa holders who have been issued deportation orders marched through Ginza. The participants appealed for permission to remain in Japan, a country they have considered their home for decades.

The parade was organized by the non-profit organization ASIAN PEOPLE'S FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY and featured over 70 people who had exceeded their visa requirements, their families, and supporters. Participants came from various countries, including the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Iran.

"We deeply regret breaking Japanese law. However, for the sake of our children's future, we desperately want to stay in Japan," said one of the participants, a 45-year-old Filipino woman and mother of two.

After losing their case against the government, the immigration bureau informed her and her husband that only their eldest son, who is now 18, would be allowed to remain in Japan, while the couple and their younger son would have to return to the Philippines.

According to Jotaro Kato, head of APFS, many of these individuals, including themselves, came to Japan in the late 1980s and early 1990s to fill the labor shortage during the bubble economy. The Japanese government, desperate to meet the demands of the labor market, accepted them and they came to Japan.
Even after the tourist visas issued to them had expired and a long time had passed, their existence was ignored. However, once their labor was no longer needed, the government began to treat them as criminals involved in shady businesses and criminal activities, such as drug trafficking, and cracked down on them severely.

According to the Ministry of Justice, as of January 1st of this year, there were 60,007 people in Japan whose period of stay had exceeded their legal limit, a decrease to about one-fifth of the peak number recorded in 1993.

"Some people might think that since they are breaking the rules, the appropriate course of action would be to send them back home, but it's not that simple. In many cases, the situation they find themselves in is created by factors beyond their control—for example, the government's labor policies," Kato explains.

Kato concluded by stating that it is absurd for the government to arbitrarily change course and not only separate foreign workers from their children, but also to forcibly deport them.

Article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted by the United Nations and ratified by Japan, stipulates that "States Parties shall ensure that a child is not separated from his or her parents against their will."