All went well until the Shah was overthrown. The first people to overstay were pro Shah Iranians who brought useful skills and kept on the right side of the law. Japan generously offered them a path to get working visas and remain legally.
Fast forward a decade or so and Islamist jerks begin taking advantage of loopholes in large numbers. They would support themselves with criminal activity like selling altered telephone cards.
Finally, Japan had enough. One day, they sponsored a "Persian festival" in the Harajuku/Yoyogi Park area of Tokyo, a popular hangout for foreigners. There was food, music and socializing with a large number of the legal Iranians enlisted to set up booths. When the event was at its peak, Japanese police surrounded the venue and anyone who even remotely looked Iranian and couldn't produce legal documents was thrown into a paddy wagon and hauled off for detention.
During my 16 years in Japan, my legal "document" was a credit card sized registration card that showed I had the right to live and work in Japan. So no big hardship there. If you were a visitor without that document, you were supposed to carry your passport.
Anyway, long story short, once they sorted them out in detention, the 5% or so that had a legitimate story (forgot their passport or registration card and could prove it) were released with a warning. The other 95% were deported over the next month or so with a very abbreviated or even no hearing at all.
The human rights leftists were very vociferous in their criticism of how quickly the Japanese acted. The government figuratively just responded by showing them the middle finger.
Good for them. Thanks for the feel good report.
Thanks for that.
L
Reminiscent of the Sicilian Vespers...
The Japanese government seems to have its head screwed on straight.
What a shame this cannot be said for most Western governments these days.