A group of foreign residents who have overstayed their visas rallied in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district Sunday to call on the government to grant them special residency permits to remain in Japan and avoid disrupting the lives of their long-settled family members.
Rally organizer Asian People's Friendship Society said it wants to make more Japanese aware of the nation's 67,000 visa overstayers and their place in society.
"We have lived diligently, and we will continue to do so. Please don't forget that we are here," said Abbasi Majid, 44, an Iranian who has lived in Japan for 21 years and has an 11-year-old daughter with his Filipino wife.