72-year-old man arrested for overstaying 15-day tourist visa by 26 years
Police believe the South Korean national came to Japan using his brother's passport in September 1993 in search of higher-paid work.
In June, Shizuoka Prefectural Police received a tip that led to the arrest of a 72-year-old South Korean man for overstaying his tourist visa in Japan for over 26 years, according to police. The man entered Japan using his brother's passport in September 1993 under a 15-day visa, with the intention of finding a better-paying job, police reported.
He was apprehended on Wednesday in the city of Yaizu, located in Shizuoka Prefecture. The suspect has been residing in Japan since 1993. Notably, overstaying in Japan was not a criminal offense until February 2000, when a revised immigration law came into effect. Consequently, the police charged the man for his alleged overstay from that point forward.
The individual, who claimed to have been employed in multiple day jobs, has confessed to the charges. As of January 2026, there were 68,488 overstayers in Japan, a significant decrease from the peak of 298,646 in 1993, according to the Justice Ministry.
Written by urgent.news from Japan Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
