Photo/Illutration Junpei Yamamura gives medical advice to Burmese people at Hibiya Park in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on April 9. (Provided by the Federation of Workers’ Union of the Burmese Citizen in Japan)

Junpei Yamamura’s follow-up checks on his patients often take him overseas, and the results can be heartbreaking.

Yamamura, 68, a doctor who runs a clinic in Yokohama, offers medical help to foreign overstayers and people who have applied for refugee status. They seek consultations for a variety of reasons, such as pregnancies, COVID-19 infections and medical bills.

He also visits immigration facilities and asks detainees about their health conditions. And he has tried to find out what happened to those who were deported.

Yamamura visited the Philippines, Vietnam and three other countries to interview about 25 deportees and compiled their accounts into a book.

“Nyukan Kaitai Shinsho: Gaikokujin Shuyojo, Sono Yami no Oku” (New analytic book on immigration control: The foreigners’ detention center and the heart of its darkness) was published from GendaiJinbun-Sha in March.

“I want people to learn about the current landscape from their accounts and know the structural problems of Japanese society,” Yamamura said.

The doctor learned that a Sri Lankan was imprisoned after the forced repatriation, while a Vietnamese and a 5-year-old child were separated after the parent’s abrupt deportation.

A Ghanaian once treated by Yamamura died during the deportation process.

The book also contains vivid accounts of those who were exempted from deportation.

One person was rolled up in a blanket and tied with a rope, while another was gagged with a towel and could barely breathe.

The government is moving to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law. One proposed change will allow Japan to deport foreign overstayers after their refugee-status applications have been twice rejected, even during the appeal process.

“Those who will be persecuted if they return home and those who can’t leave their families behind (in Japan) will be pushed into a corner because of the bill,” Yamamura said. “I want people to understand what it is like to be deported, listen to what deportees have to say and learn about their actual conditions.”

Yamamura said problems concerning the conditions of overstayers occur long before the deportation process.

Twenty-six foreigners died while in detention in Japan between 1993 and 2022, including Wishma Sandamali, 33, a Sri Lankan woman, who fell ill and died in 2021.

“There have been many instances where immigration officials assumed the detainees were pretending to be sick without listening to their complaints, resulting in their deaths or aggravated conditions,” Yamamura said.

However, the doctor has seen some happy endings.

One day in April, Yamamura was at Hibiya Park in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward where a Burmese community was hosting a festival.

Instead of enjoying the festivities, Yamamura was giving free medical advice in a booth.

A smiling Burmese woman came up to him and said, “Thank you for helping me that time.”

About 20 years ago, she had consulted Yamamura about her health when she was held at the Higashi-Nihon Immigration Center in Ibaraki Prefecture.

She has since obtained residency status and can work in Japan without worrying about being deported.

“You look well,” Yamamura said, returning the smile. “I’m happy for you.”

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