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Current Affairs

Japan’s detention system under scrutiny after ruling on abuse of restraints

A court order requiring Japan’s government to compensate the family of a Peruvian man who sustained a broken arm at an immigration facility has intensified…

By Samantha Johnson / July 2, 2026
A court order requiring Japan’s government to compensate the family of a Peruvian man who sustained a broken arm at an immigration facility has intensified scrutiny of the country’s detention system, with rights experts saying the case shows reforms are urgently needed.

On June 25, the Osaka High Court ordered the government to pay 880,000 yen (US$5,400) in damages to the family of Vladimir Burgos Fujii, a Peruvian man of Japanese descent, who was injured while being restrained at the facility in Osaka in 2017.

Fujii died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 49 in 2023. His relatives attended subsequent hearings.

Observers say the harsh treatment of detainees such as Fujii reflects attitudes long embedded in Japan’s prison system, where for decades the emphasis has been on punishing inmates rather than rehabilitating them.

“Immigration detention centres are controlled by the Ministry of Justice, but the people who work in these places are not specialists. They are not trained to deal with foreigners and do not have the necessary language skills,” said Shinichi Ishizuka, founder of the Tokyo-based Criminal Justice Future think tank and a former criminal lawyer.

“A lot of them discriminate against people – foreigners and those from developing countries in particular.”

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