This report is based largely on information gathered by AI during a visit to Japan in October 1992 and on the experience and knowledge gained by AI’s Japanese Section in monitoring Japanese asylum policies over the years. It analyses procedures for determining asylum claims, pointing out unfair procedures and inadequate protection for asylum-seekers. The cases of a number of categories of people seeking asylum in Japan are described, namely students and others from the People’s Republic of China (Zhao Nan, Hong Jianbing, Lin Guizhen and others); Burmese nationals “illegally” resident in Japan; asylum-seekers from Iran; and members of the Ahmadiyya community from Pakistan.
