Dante-san, endeavoring to support for Tohoku reconstruction, was re-detained.

On January 20, 2014, Dante-san was re-detained by Tokyo immigration office.

 He turned himself in to immigration officials because he thought it was not good to stay as illegal.

 Although he filed a court after the application for special permission for residence was not accepted, the case went against him.

 The point that there is no reason to grant him a provisional release any more since he lost a case was what the immigration office claimed.

 

 Although he did not have any family in Japan, Dante-san strongly wanted to live in Japan by making use of his skills in construction experience and Japanese which he acquired through over 20 years of living in Japan.

 

 He took part in “Volunteer activities for Tohoku reconstruction support” organized by APFS in Rikuzentakata, Iwate (May, 2011) and Izu Islands (Nov, 2013) twice before.

 Dante-san had a big proportion and was such a gentle man with few words.

 He did great in Tohoku volunteer as he had a powerful strength more than anyone.

We asked him a reason of participation in Tohoku support, his answer “I would like to do my best for Japan as my second country” has still been standed out in our memory.

 

Although we visited him after his detention and gave him some information on cases of provisional release granted after the re-detention, Dante-san made his decision to go back his country. He said “I might be able to endure this situation if I had a child, but cannot endure this by myself.” But he also mumbled “I want to stay here if possible”, which we felt that we could not stand remaining there.

 

In preparation for Tokyo Olympic, the government is setting a policy to accept construction workers from overseas with a time limit.
 However, will workers work as the government is expecting?
 We feel our deep resentment and think that why Japan cannot such workers with considerable experiences in construction and Japanese skills like Dante-san before accepting new workers from overseas.

 

We all cannot help but wishing that there will be good things for him.