On July 28, a 39-year-old man from Myanmar died alone in the International Medical Center of Japan in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.
It was only 10 days before his death that he was finally taken to the hospital -- almost in a state of coma -- after other institutions refused to accept him. Suffering from brain inflammation and pneumonia, he did not have legitimate resident status or health insurance.
His friends say the man wanted desperately to go back to his home country to die, but he was unable to renew his passport and acquire permission to re-enter Myanmar because he didn't have the money to pay the "tax" charged by the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo.