The Chinese woman who sought special residence permission after being diagnosed with a rare disease is seen in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward ahead of a news conference after the Tokyo High Court dismissed her case, on July 15, 2021. (Mainichi/Shigeto Tanji)
TOKYO -- The Tokyo High Court on July 15 dismissed a Chinese woman's plea for special residence permission for treatment of an illness in Japan following her receipt of a deportation notice, upholding the Tokyo District Court's initial ruling in January 2021.
According to the appeal ruling handed down by Presiding Judge Takao Nakayama, the 49-year-old woman, a resident of Niigata Prefecture, married a Japanese man in 2006 and entered Japan the following year under the residency status "spouse or child of Japanese national." She was later arrested on suspicion of filing a fake marriage notification claim that a relative of hers had married a Japanese citizen, and was detained at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau.
Her application to renew her residency status was subsequently rejected, and while she was later granted a provisional release from the immigration bureau, she was diagnosed in 2012 with a rare disease which causes her kidney function to deteriorate.
The woman argued that if she were sent back to China, she might not be able to receive treatment to slow the progress of her disease, but the Tokyo High Court determined that she would "be able to be treated in China, including going through surgery." Presiding Judge Nakayama concluded that the court could not recognize her being at any risk of serious damage.
During a press conference following the ruling, the woman said, "I'm deeply saddened (by the ruling). I want to get treatment in Japan and be with my husband." Her attorney Shoichi Ibusuki criticized the high court's ruling, saying, "From a humanitarian perspective it's tragic. The high court was wrong in its decision."
(Japanese original by Kazuhiro Toyama, Tokyo City News Department)
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