Immigration raids curry restaurant chain in Tokyo
February 19th, 2009 by James
Tokyo immigration raided a famous chain of curry restaurants yesterday and Fuji TV was on hand to capture the action:
Authorities were acting on information that the Jhonny, the Bangladeshi owner of the “Curry Kakumei” restaurant chain, had created fake documents in order to obtain skilled labor visas for his Bangladeshi staff. When raided, Jhonny initially claimed that he had nothing to do with the fake chef credentials his employees had been using, but he eventually admitted his involvement.
The raid also revealed the cramped room in the restaurant building that was provided as housing for the Bangladeshi employees. The floor of their single room had only enough room for their futons. A former employer interviewed claimed that he was forced to work 14-hour days and paid only 100,000 yen a month (a little over $1,000).
Before being taken away, Jhonny told the reporter that this was probably the end of his restaurant chain. It seems that it is, since immigration authorities plan on deporting him.
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sorry..but I cracked up at the “ひどい..ジョニーがひどい”
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Sigh, why can’t America act with the same celerity when it comes to our own illegal immigrants.
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Because the American economy and capitalism itself is largely based on exploited menial labor; jobs that middle-class families have come to reject outright. If you ejected all of the illegal immigrants we’d be in an even bigger mess.
Why is it possible for immigrants illegal in the first place? Because they are perceived by some as the “Others”, and are convenient scapegoats when problems with capitalism arise. Welcome when useful, blamed when problems arise.
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Fantastic post Alex.
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No, illegal immigrants exist because countries would like to protect the prosperity they have cultivated by setting standards for who can come and share in it. These standards are ideally set so that contributors are allowed in while moochers are kept out. You don’t meet the immigration standard and choose to disobey the law of the country you’d like to live in? Congratulations, you’re illegal.
Where do you get that violators are welcome until a scapegoat is needed? They’re “allowed” until discovered.
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Mr. Honduras – That’s just propaganda and you know it. In a capitalist economy, businesses strive for laissez-faire conditions not for the benefit of the country, but for the prosperity of their own business. The ironic part is that the U.S. promotes a free market on the one hand, but on the other hand denies entry into it. U.S. businesses are free to import labor, so long as the labor is only a service provided by another country, and not a physical relocation of workers.
But that’s an entirely different story. The truth is that people don’t want any immigrants for a variety of reasons, mostly stemming from personal intolerance or misconceptions. “They’re taking our jobs,” is probably the worst excuse, especially if the discussion is about illegal immigrants. The only way illegal immigrants can get jobs is if they are illegally employed. In terms of the capitalist ideology, immigrants in general should be a legitimate, highly pursued addition to the system as it promotes a competitive wage structure.
In reality, illegal immigrants have no meaningful impact on the lives of U.S. citizens. There is absolutely no economic burden. Actually, it’s quite the opposite – a considerable portion of undocumented immigrants are actually paying into the tax system, but they’re not claiming the benefits. (You can find more research done into this topic at The Yale Center for the Study of Globalization)
Quite often, opposition to immigration is not limited to just the illegals. This debate is about whether immigrants in general are “ruining traditional American life”, which is a fantasy that never existed. Even at its inception, America has never had a standard way of life.
>>>>> “Where do you get that violators are welcome until a scapegoat is needed? They’re “allowed” until discovered.”
At least that’s what it says on paper. In reality, illegal immigrants are a major pillar supporting a significant amount of micro economies, particularly in low-population regions in the southwest, and officials sweep the issue under the rug. At times, they’ll put on display a show of trying to “clean things up”, but it’s really just to satisfy the opposition for a period.
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uhm…is anyone else bothered that news crews are tipped off and allowed IN THE OFFICE while Immigration officers are conducting an investigation?
Nothing like being put on trial on national TV before even being arrested….
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Comment by jmadsen
2009-02-19 13:01:41
uhm…is anyone else bothered that news crews are tipped off and allowed IN THE OFFICE while Immigration officers are conducting an investigation?
Nothing like being put on trial on national TV before even being arrested….
^^
they just happened to be in the area when it happened. Nothing out of the ordinary.
*sarcasm button explodes*
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Yep — that bothered me too.
California agriculture would collapse if it weren’t for illegal aliens who come to do our picking, canning, etc. It is true that illegal aliens place a tremendous strain on social services, but their contribution is also huge.
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This is so stupid and unneccesary. They were obviously doing their jobs in his restaurants, and yet he gets arrested for hiring “unskilled” workers.
I have friends who have not been able to work in Japan because they don’t have university degrees – even if Japanese companies want to hire them because of their Japanese skills.
Stupid.
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Perhaps he was also arrested for exploiting workers, or did you miss the bit about doing 14 hours a day for $100,000 per month and living in a shoe-box?
If it was a Japanese employer, I’d bet they’d be a whole lot more people jumping up and down, screaming “Racism!” and “Slavery!” Look up here and elsewhere for lots of stories on abuse of the trainee visa scheme – this is on a par with these, if not worse for the fake certificates.
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100000 yen/month for working in a kitchen is pretty high by Bangladesh standards.
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Well, if these people can buy rice at Bangladeshi standards of price at the local market, maybe this would be acceptable….
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Hidoi Jhonny did nothing to resist the temptation of exploiting illegal labor and subsequently being deported. Therefore, I think, he’s got his fat reward and red carpet to Narita airport.
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Japanese govt should be careful who they let into Japan.
Any culture that continues slavery, to this day, should not be allowed to enter any democratic country.
It’s the oil stupid. Dump oil and the j govt can slam the doors shut.
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