Japan's immigration control reform has proved to be fraught with pitfalls that could cause unwitting foreign residents to be expelled or face other serious problems.
The immigration control law was revised in July 2012, primarily to bolster the crackdown on cross-border terrorism-related activities. However, during its first year in force, the reform has caused various unexpected quandaries.
In January, a woman from Myanmar married to a Japanese man lost her permanent resident status after temporarily returning to her home country, because of a paperwork problem related to the reform.