The detention centers are part of the Japanese penal system operated by the Ministry of Justice. There are 17 facilities for the detention of foreign nationals.
The immigration control authority will detain any foreign national if there is reason to suspect they should be deported from Japan. These reasons can include:
- Entering irregularly or overstaying a visa
- Committing certain crimes
- Forging documents
- Working illegally
- Involvement in migrant trafficking
- Having been suspected of terrorist activities
However, over the years, many asylum seekers have also been detained as they apply for refugee status. The reasons for their detention are usually:
- Overstaying their visas
- Working illegally
- Rejection or cancellation of their previous Karihoumen status
At the end of 2023, 432 people were detained in detention centers across Japan. The five major detention centers, located in Tokyo, Ibaraki, Nagoya, Osaka, and Nagasaki, held 398 detainees.
Shinagawa Detention Centre
The Tokyo detention center, located in the Shinagawa Immigration Bureau, is the largest in Japan. It is extremely hard to notice the facility if you were to visit the Immigration Bureau, but at the end of 2023, this center was holding 221 people. The first seven floors of the building serve as the bureau, while the floors above function as the detention center, where detainees live under arduous conditions. During this research, detainees explained that the facility is divided into two sections, one male and the other female, and that each section is further divided into smaller segments called “blocks”. The several rooms located within each block are shared, meaning that sometimes up to six people live in a single room, with only one bathroom and toilet to share between them. Each block has a shared living space where detainees are able to socialize with each other, study, or watch the news, though it is always in Japanese, which most of them do not understand. Several detainees have also shared with us that everyone is required to follow the same schedule. They are woken up early in the morning, have to go through a roll call, and then can eat breakfast. The roll call is to ensure no one inside the center is missing, as there have been reports of detainees trying to commit suicide. Roll call is repeated again at night.
Meeting a Detainee
Meeting a detainee is a long procedure. The detention center is open on weekdays and the meeting times available run from 9 AM to 12 PM and then open back up again from 1 PM to 3 PM. The center remains closed on weekends and national holidays. Upon entering the detention center at the Immigration Bureau, a visitor has to complete a form for each detainee they wish to meet. These forms require the detainee’s information, such as their full name, gender, and home country, as well as the visitor’s information, including their full name, age, gender, place of work or study, relation with the detainee, and purpose of visit. A visitor also has to present proof of identity, which can be a residence card, a special resident certificate, or a passport. Other proofs of identity, such as a student’s ID card or a driver’s license, are accepted for Japanese nationals only. If the visitor wishes to give a detainee an item or money, that also has to be mentioned on the form. The forms are then thoroughly checked by the immigration officers on the first floor, after which a visitor is sent to the 7th floor, where both the documents and items or money are checked by officers. After everything has been thoroughly examined, the visitors are told to leave all their belongings in a locker. The only materials they are allowed to take inside with them are writing materials like pens or a /notebook. The visitors are then assigned a meeting room, inside which 2-3 people can fit at a time. However, the detainee is made to sit on the other side of the room, separated from the visitors by a thick glass wall. The meeting can last a maximum of 30 minutes. On a busy day, the officers may designate a shorter time limit.
Detainees & the Detention Centre
Many asylum seekers have lamented facing mental stress during their time in the detention center, the uncertainty over if and when their detention would end adding to this stress. They often refer to it as the ‘jail’ of Japan, due to the lives they lead inside. The detainees expressed their sense of loneliness coming out of the rejection they feel from Japanese society which ‘others’ them on the basis of their origin, their language capability, their visa status, and beyond. For example, they have expressed feeling like “unwanted outsiders”. Their experiences within the detention centers lead to them feeling they are being “mentally tortured” by the authorities who pressure them to return to their home countries. This becomes extremely hard for asylum seekers who fear death if they were to return back, and so choose to stay even if it means being detained in hopes of finding freedom. However, a lot of the mental anguish stems from the long periods they spend in detention and the lack of transparency on the situations surrounding their eventual release. The environment inside the centers also adds to their stress. The guards inside speak little to no English, making it hard for the detainees to communicate their needs, express how they feel, or get their messages across.
COVID-19
Due to the current threat that COVID-19 poses, the detention center has seen a decrease in visitors. The authorities reduced the number of visitors allowed inside, but the detainees still live in close proximity. They have little to no information about the spread or prevention of the virus, as their main source of news is visitors and sometimes Japanese news, which is largely hard for them to understand. The rooms are still packed with just as many people, which is worrisome for the detainees. The constant incoming and outgoing of guards and new detainees escalate anxiety over the situation. The people detained inside do not have medical insurance or enough resources to earn money to pay a medical fee in case they contract the virus, as they rely on support groups and their visitors for money for their necessities.
