Immigration authorities Friday granted a woman from Myanmar and her Japanese-fathered daughter, who is stateless, special one-year permits to stay in the country, their supporters said.
The mother, a 52-year-old Tokyo resident identified as Soesoemin, and her daughter, Minsoeseet, 11, who was born in Japan, have faced the threat of deportation. The daughter has no nationality because her father, who did not formally marry her mother, vanished before her birth.
"Children before entering junior high school have rarely been given the permission as they are considered to be able to pick up the language of their home country again after deportation," said Tomoyuki Yamaguchi of the Tokyo-based Asian People's Friendship Society.
The pair applied for the permission, saying it would be inhumane for the girl to be deported to Myanmar, where she would not be able to speak the language and was unaccustomed to the habits.
The woman arrived in Japan in October 1992 and became pregnant, but by that time she had already lost contact with the child's father, whom she had been acquainted with since before her arrival in Japan, according to the application letter.
The girl was born in May 1994 and can speak only Japanese.
The woman was arrested last November for overstaying her visa. She was not indicted but immigration officials detained her at an immigration facility until January.
