While Japan accepts very few refugee applications annually, legal changes designed to crack down on what the government says are abuses of the asylum process are expected to make it even harder for genuine refugees to find shelter in the country.
Japan has been criticized by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees for accepting only around 1% of applications it receives. In 2020, it certified just 47 people as refugees out of the 3,936 applications lodged.
Moradi, an Iranian who fled to Japan in 2007 and declined to give his full name, was granted refugee status last year after winning a case at the Tokyo High Court to conclude a 13-year legal struggle. He filed a total of three applications and two lawsuits.