You’ve probably all heard the story about Michael Q Todd, the dolphin-botherer-botherer who got nicked in Taiji for not having a passport and chucked in the Gaijin Gulag (© CJ). When the story first broke I had a soupçon of sympathy for him as he apparently had a fiance and a child in Tokyo, but now it has all vaporized. An update on his fundraising page says (scroll to the bottom):
Michael is in Japan on a tourist visa.
His LinkedIn profile suggests that he has been running a company for seven months – two tourist visas plus an overstay, perhaps – in Tokyo. Strike One!
Michael knew his Japanese visitor’s visa was going to expire and [his fiancé] reports that he had applied for an extension.
You cannot extend a visitor’s visa except in exceptional circumstances, or by doing a visa run… Strike Two!
Before he connected with the Canadian filmmakers, he was then asked to produce his passport by the authorities. He could not produce it as he had left his passport in Yokohama where he has lived with [his fiancé].
Not carrying your passport as required by law. Strike Three!
There’s a bit of extra information/rumour/scandal in a Japan Probe comment here, and Eido clears up tourist visa issues here.
Perhaps after deportation he can ask Christopher Johnson to write up his case? 
Wow – not only is Debs staying away from this one, he’s also now deleted a comment he approved yesterday about fookooshima with this link Certainly becoming a discerning editor of information, that library card must be doing him some good.
As for MQT story: He was in the country illegally (probably doing activities outside his entry permisssion anyway), so if he get deported, only himself to blame. Always surprised that people can’t keep a handle on their immigration status, surely enough scare stories are out there. But it does clear a few things, white people should apparently be allowed to do whatever they like in these backward countries and wishy-washy animal rights supports on t’internet are as gullible and ignorant about immigration as they are about animal welfare
In this case, it’s not too much of a surprise to me. There is no “Hanging Out in Japan, Banging Chicks and Doing Odd Jobs” visa, nor a “Engaging in Illegal Activities/Trespassing/Protesting/Con jobs” visa. No choice but doing multiple tourist visas.
Well, there’s the grow up and get a fucking job choice.. but that’s another issue.
But when a “professional journalist” can’t keep visas in order? No, they don’t really have an excuse.
Still, it’s another lesson for all of us. If your life in Japan for some reason turns to shit or you have just decided to leave, make up a sob story and gullible people will send you a few thousand bucks. In a way, I admire this guy for conning the fish-huggers out of some cash they would have given to Sea Shepherd. And I imagine his translation fees were in-advance/no-refunds. Bravo.
Well, I’ll bet Thailand is going to get one more aging pathetic white guy drifter.
@Impressed:
Won’t give debito much credit for not giving this guy another outlet. (Besides, he’s too busy stealing credit for that major victory
with the “gaikokujin” mask) I imagine it’s more about a feeling of being used.
Wow, that link was fun. Skimmed the first 2 pages. It’s one of the loons who (as predicted) seems to claim that it was a massive nuclear explosion (mushroom cloud = nuclear fireball!
) and the reactor building(s) aren’t even there, what we’re seeing now is stock footage or something? Oh, and of course he “worked for the NSA”. Yup. That’s 3 tinfoil hat crazy.
Again, maybe someone is more worried about being used by the loons trying to sell books, because it’ll take a lot more positive editorial choices to even begin to think he’s motivated by a new need for accuracy. Though I’m willing to be surprised.
Todd sounds extremely weird, and I won’t be donating money. Having said that, I don’t know why so many people think he deserves such a kicking.
Unless there have been some changes – which is certainly possible, and I haven’t checked – extending a short-term visa isn’t necessarily a major hassle. As Eido Inoue points out, there’s no specific “tourist visa” category because short-term visitors often come for work & family reasons rather than to view the sights.
The link here still shows the category in the list of statuses which can be extended:
http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/tetuduki/kanri/shyorui/03-format.html
Certainly, in the past, you didn’t have to jump through too many hoops to get an extension on a short term visa, provided you had a legitimate reason, and started the process in good time. It helped a good deal, as Eido Inoue notes, if you demonstrated you had the finances.
When you arrive on a short term visa, you are asked your intended length of stay and purpose of visit. If you say you are over for two weeks and then turn up towards the end of a 90 day stay looking to extend, you’d better have a good reason why your plans changed.
There can be good reasons. If your company has sent you over to run a project, it might overrun. Illness might play a part. You might find there’s an important funeral or wedding which you’d appreciate more time to attend. Tell your story, show your evidence, and things can work out (at least, they used to). I know of two such cases, but neither are recent.
The key is not to show any indication you are trying to game the system. Most people who want to extend a short term visa – and I doubt there are many – aren’t trying to do that, though, because you draw attention to yourself. Anyone trying to reside and work longer term would be ill-advised to put themselves on Immigration radar in that way.
Not sure about Todd’s situation. Since he is a lawyer, he has no excuse for not being on top of this, even if immigration law was not his field of expertise.
He could, however, have declared his intention to stay for the longest possible duration when he entered, giving personal reasons. An extension for personal reasons would have been possible too (again, unless things have changed) but he would have needed more than just “I fancy staying longer”).
I see people suggesting he was working illegally on a tourist visa. This isn’t necessarily true. It’s a short term visa, and you are allowed to conduct business on it.
In the situation described, an overseas film crew wanted an interpreter. Todd could handle that legally, provided he was paid offshore. If the crew had instead brought out an interpreter with them, he or she would have the same legal working status as Todd. It depends entirely on how it was structured.
So far, then, Todd just sounds like he has been dumb, not duplicitous. It’s especially stupid to head off to Taiji with some activists without your ID in order.
Mind you, I’m not going to damn every foreign visitor who doesn’t carry a passport. Japan is trying to attract more tourists to the country but it’s striking that there is relatively little publicity given to the law that visitors should carry their ID at all times. Todd certainly should have known, however, so has to accept the blame there too.
I don’t recommend donations to the man but he certainly does need a lawyer. The suggestion that a lawyer is not relevant to his situation is wrong. Todd still may not get the outcome he wants, but he has little to no chance of improving his situation without one.
@Justin Thyme:
I think the visceral reaction is because, while each individual facet of his story may seem mild, taken all together they paint a picture of a self-centered mooch at best, or a scam artist and deadbeat at worst (several of the comments at Japan Probe mention some extremely negative things about his past, although they come from userIDs I’ve never encountered before).
Maybe that’s just me. I’ve met more than a few 40-something ‘consultants’ whose professional expertise didn’t extend beyond thinking up a title for their business card. People whose total lack of accomplishment was always due to bad luck, institutional unfairness and vindictive rivals; never their fault, and they know exactly how to revolutionize your business/life/finances/whatever. That’s colored my perceptions, and fair or not, I set a heavier burden of proof on people like Mr. Todd to demonstrate that they’re legit.
Plus there’s the fact that, after CJ and the Fookooshimars, wolf has pretty definitively been cried. Anyone asking for sympathy and/or cash because of problems in Japan (problems that the people here, as well as their friends, family and colleagues, seem to navigate without crisis on a regular basis) can expect a double helping of skeptical scrutiny, deservedly or not.
One small addition to the comments here:
I was reading the immigration/MoJ FAQ on the new Residency Cards. Apparently not having your Residency Card (probably means ARC too) on you is a max ¥200K fine. And refusal to comply with showing it is a max 1 year and/or max ¥200K fine.
But two things caught my eye in the FAQ:
* You have to have you Residency Card (guessing that means legacy ARC too) on your person even if you have your passport with you. I always thought this was a either/or deal. Has the law changed?
This makes sense, as they probably don’t want to train non-immigration/customs domestic cops on the street to need to recognize and understand the hundreds of combinations of passports and immigration stamps; they’d rather train them to understand one unified domestic card, which is simpler and less prone to misunderstanding.
So the above post should say that if you have a Residency Card/ARC, you have to have that on you. even if you have your passport on you and you’re legal.
* Special Permanent Residents are exempt from having to carry their special version of the Residency Card (特別永住者証明書) on their person at all times. I do not know if this was true for the old ARC system.
@havill
Under the new law, your passport is not given any visa or re-entry stamps to prove your residency; the only proof is the new Residency Card. I guess that’s why you are asked to always carry the RC.
I don’t think the police would have much of a problem if you leave your passport in your hotel, which is what I imagine most travelers do. In fact, I think you are permitted to do so by law (I’m in Debito mode, so someone else can check). It might piss the police off a bit, but I’m sure if they really need to see it, they will accompany you to the hotel.
I am no longer a resident of Japan, but on my frequent trips back there, I never carry my passport around town. Of course, I have this magical property that allows me, as almost a parody of what a typical gaijin is supposed to look like, to nevertheless avoid being carded despite years of residence in Japan and frequent trips back to the country. Maybe it is because I don’t hang around ports and airports waiting to be picked up. I’m also not particularly afraid of the Japanese police. That’s because I’m a sheeple apologist.
Of course, if your passport is in another city altogether, that’s a different story.
Japan Probe reports he has a new excuse today:
http://www.japanprobe.com/2012/09/28/michael-q-todd-living-and-working-in-japan-without-a-work-visa-a-victim-of-passport-theft/
I can’t get worked up about someone failing to get their visa status sorted out; I know people who are pathologically crap at that sort of thing who are good-hearted, decent people.
I’ve nothing particular against people protesting the killing of dolphins per se. I myself would rather dolphins weren’t being killed. There are all kinds of views on animal welfare, most of which are not unreasonable.
It’s the lying to get charity that depresses me. You have to be a certain kind of shit to ask people for money like this.
@The Chrysanthemum Sniffer:
I remember reading somewhere (No “Source Please!” please, I can’t remember where; It was either here or the D. place) that the Japanese police basically admitted to someone that they were not interested in nailing people who stepped out the front door without their wallet. – It basically means more paperwork for them.
Which is not to say that if they think they can use it to break up a more bothersome situation, that they would hesitate to do so.
And as regards having your passport stolen or lost, I did this once with my ARC. (I am pretty sure it was not given back to me when I got a re-entry permit for the first time. – This was back when you had to go to TCAT for it!)
If this happens to you, go to your local police station and report it missing or stolen as appropriate. You will be given a copy of the “todoke”(report), and I was told at the time that this will keep the police off your back.
(It proves you have officially reported the fact that you don’t have it and why, so the ball is in their court, so to speak.)
Of course, I’m not a lawyer, so usual disclaimers apply.
@Sixth Sense:
One of the very, very few people I know who’ve ever been carded didn’t have it with him (it was two in the morning and he was going to the convenience store). The police officer asked him where he worked, and he named his university employer. At which point the police officer was very embarrassed and apologetic to sensei, and he was on his way.
I agree, they don’t want to do the paperwork.
Wow, I’ve been carded twice, but perhaps because I live in an area with lots of foreigners (and not the uppity white kind).
To me all this story is is an animal rights activist (nothing wrong with that) having no idea how to utilize social media, or do proper paper work. Shame (and strange), as both things seem very important to properly get your message across as an activist.
Oh.. and the whole swindling people out of money thing. Kind of goes against “fighting the good fight” and all that.
Wait, I didn’t read the first post, holy shit.
FFS!
http://www.debito.org/?p=10627
Brilliant! Looks like annother round this month of quality and insightful journalism from our man in Japan.
@The Chrysanthemum Sniffer:
Wait, wait! Did he just heavily imply that all the hub-bub is actually being string pulled by the government of Japan?!?
Doesn’t that fly in the face of all his whinging about how incompetent the Japanese government actually is?
I should really wait and read the article in full but to be honest, after the last 2 steaming piles (er…”articles”) of his, I really don’t want to suffer any more abuse and drop my IQ any lower.
@The Chrysanthemum Sniffer: @Beanstalker: @chuckers: But, but… How can you say all these things? Mr Arudou has in past columns showed himself to be nothing but astute when it comes to geo-political issues.
Oh, and Jim Di Griz is deliberately misleading the group, and the group is too anti-Japan (or too heavily censored) to correct him.
Still in the Gulag apparently. But there’s been updates/backpedalling and videos on his blog/Facebook. Says he was on a “visitor visa” although was livng here and showed an ARC to police. Still no sense of the stolen passport (reissued a week before his arrest) or the visa extension application/flight out of japan. question for the experts: as a ARC effectively acts as a resident card, is it automatically void for the temporary visitors with ARC that don’t qualify as residents in the new system?
@Beanstalker:
The validity of the ARC (it’s expiration date) is a non-issue, a distraction.
It’s kind of like claiming that although your drivers license has been suspended by the courts for drunk driving for 1 year, you can still drive legally during that year because you still have the license physically in your wallet (maybe because you told the judge you “lost” it and therefore couldn’t surrender it
) but it’s expiration date is still 2 years from now.
The date on the card has (had) nothing to do with the legality of your residence status, though letting the card expire but having a valid visa was not good, it likely only got you a talking to, not deported, because you were not an overstayer. Kind of a parking violation vs. reckless driving matter.
Further, the cards we all used to get had an expiration date 6 years from the year of issue. Even if you had a 1 year visa. Should be apparent to anyone that one has nothing to do with the other.
My new super RFID card expires the same day as my current visa (I guess they all do?) so at least they seem to have fixed this inconsistency, giving overstayers one less BS excuse to use.
(And my reward for my lucky timing in getting one of the first new cards? Just got a mail from Immi saying, “We forgot to include the electronic signature on all the new cards, please send yours in by registered mail if you want us to update it..but you don’t really need it and the card is still valid…trust us”.)
Further, an “alien” returning under a visa waiver should not have an ARC. You’re supposed to turn them in when you leave Japan.
from the Alien Registration Act
第十二条 外国人は、本邦を出国する場合（入管法第二十六条の規定による再入国の許可を受けて出国する場合及び入管法第六十一条の二の十二の規定による難民旅行証明書の交付を受けて出国する場合を除く。）には、その者が出国する出入国港（入管法に定める出入国港をいう。）において入国審査官（入管法に定める入国審査官をいう。以下同じ。）に登録証明書を返納しなければならない。
Article 12 In cases where the alien leaves Japan (except when he/she leaves Japan with the re-entry permission provided for in Article 26 of the Immigration Control Act, or he/she leaves Japan with the refugee travel document under Article 61-2-12 of the Immigration Control Act), he/she shall return his/her registration certificate to the immigration inspector (meaning the immigration inspector provided for in the Immigration Control Act; hereinafter the same) at the port of entry or departure (meaning the port of entry or departure provided for in the Immigration Control Act) from which he/she departs from Japan.
http://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/law/detail/?id=36&vm=04&re=01
Though (as is common with this law, or at least the English translation) there seems to be no accomodation for common special cases – here, the case of someone leaving Japan “for good” while holding a multiple re-entry permit.. some would interpret that the person could retain their ARC legally by the letter of the (English version) law, but certainly not in the spirit of the law. (Turn in your ARC when you leave Japan 出国, it could all hinge on the definiton of 出国)
In principle, people coming as tourists should not have an ARC in the first place. And I suspect that this law is one of the items on the list of violations this guy is likely being investigated on.
The whole thing becomes a bit moot now. As since the dolphin guy arrest, the timing means it’s no longer correct for a temp permit holder to have a card as they must have arrived after the new system was started.
There’s still lots in this case that doesn’t make sense. Be interesting to see what comes out after the hearing. I wouldn’t be surprised if they take pity on him and not ban him and he walks away with a healthy bank balance.
@Level3:
Now that I think about it, the exception about a person leaving Japan “for good” without turning in their ARC because they may still have a reentry permit is pretty much moot, and needs no clarification. (It’s completely moot now that reentry permits are a thing of the past)
1. If you changed your mind and returned to Japan while the visa and reentry permit were still valid, then there was no problem, you presented the card as if you never left.
2. If you returned after your visa expired, then the reentry permit was also expired. You could only enter as a tourist with your passport. The ARC is not an issue because there is no reason for a tourist to present the expired, illegally retained ARC instead of a passport. In theory, nobody aware of the law would be stupid enough to do so.
You’d think a lawyer would who knew he was in trouble with the law would have at least read up on it. But maybe he did, and is just throwing up every kind of smokescreen he can..including his various kids. (Makes me feel sick mentioning that, but he brought up the issue)
Apart from all the Immi laws that have been broken, I’d wager Immi just might be investigating whether he has been supporting them (all of them, in every country) or not, and whether he can use that to get a visa or even PR status on humanitarian grounds. I’d imagine some people would also be aware that the Japanese legal system is generally powerless to enforce civil judgments (or something like that..anyone?) which includes letting deadbeat Japanese fathers get away with not paying any child support. (Or at least I see plenty of expose stories about it in Japanese TV, anyone confirm?)
I don’t envy the Immi judge’s dilemna in this otherwise simple case.
“If we don’t let him stay, we can’t make him support his kids. If we let him stay, we can’t make him support his kids.”
Just speculation, not claims about whether any particular person has/does/will pay child support. Certain people really could be doing it all for their kids – just doing it very badly. Too bad for the kids.
@Level3: Hmm, there’s a video up on his Facebook page and he says he got busted for having a visitor’s visa – I don’t think it would take that long to sort out if all it was was whether he was working outside the scope of his visa by helping someone out with translation.
He also seems now to be saying that he wants to help foreigners understand the Japanese position on whaling/dolphining, not just STOP ALL STABBY MURDERERS. 
But I agree, with a kid he needs to support (was he supported it already? Is there that much money in Social Media?) and a potential wife number four who apparently wants a baby, what to do? Mind you, I don’t think any judge will want to set a precedent that would let any overstaying divorcee stay.
Everyone has their own lives to lead, and divorces happen for all kinds of reasons, and people (men, usually) end up with two or three families not through any calculated heartlessness. But your children are people who will call you Mum or Dad not just until the day you die, but until the day they die.
Someone so publicly moral has to have some odd priorities to risk access and the ability to support like this when he’s not exactly unfamiliar with law.
Predicted!!
There’s been a hearing say the vague details on FB (https://www.facebook.com/michaelqtodd always vague, hiding something? Or not understanding what important to know?) it basically say he is still gulagged, but will get married and then be allowed to apply for special permission to stay. Meanwhile wife-to-be has received the cash. He seems sensible and patience in the vids, so maybe that money has bought him good advice.
Pretty amazing that someone overstaying his visa, who was working and living as resident on a temp landing permit, didn’t have valid papers when stopped for disobeying police instructions – someone who doesn’t meet any of the immigration requirements for residency, is allowed to get married whilst in jail so to have grounds to apply for permission to stay. I thought Japan was supposed to be the big anti-immigrant meanie ? can’t see many other countries being so sensitive to a deadbeat
@Beanstalker:
Can’t be so quick to judge if he’s a total deadbeat. Could be that he is/will be supporting all his kids, in every country, from past and future partners using scads of money from social media whatever.
His Oct 25 video (apparently from behind the plexiglass at detention) he says
“I’m probably gonna be here about another month while the Japanese government complete their processes about whatever they’re doing. I’ve got really no idea [odd laughter] what they’re trying to do or what they’re accusing me of doing…”
huh. All that money ($5774) “for a lawyer” and he doesn’t know what’s going on or why he’s being held for another month?
I guess that’s possible.
Can you sociologist types
remind me what nervous laughter in the middle of a statement which may or may not be entirely truthful usually means? 
I love all the repeated mentions at his blog that it is “PUBLIC” and open to comments by anybody!!!
http://helpmichaelqtodd.blogspot.jp/ (the odd parallels to another infamous overstayer are a laugh, love the list)
But also they wrote in an older update (I guess they forgot) “A Closed Facebook Support Group has been formed to help MQT and his Girlfriend”
Social media geniuses.
The laughter marks a possibly problematic utterance, in this case linked to an account which might be oriented to as something a possible interlocutor might challenge.
But, you don’t need to be a sociologist to get at that :p
FYI:
http://www.japanprobe.com/2012/09/28/michael-q-todd-living-and-working-in-japan-without-a-work-visa-a-victim-of-passport-theft/#comment-703482809
@havill:
wow.
So, his entire support group is a money-making scam and a pack of lies that has nothing to do with him, he just found out about it and he’ll be giving back all the money?
Well, it’s better than the Christopher Johnson approach.
@havill: Thanks for that! I always had a feeling that Mr Todd seemed straight and honest about what he was doing, but his support group gave me the willies. I should do an update article.
@Ken Y-N: Good stuff – hope he can rebuild and move on – but 2 months locked up for what claims no reason, must be hard to take. after the initial statements, he seemed sensible and conciliatory , rather than angry, which must have helped. I waited for the full details to come out, it doesn’t make a lot of sense yet, let’s see what happened and why. I think its important for all those which rely on it to understand J-immigration as much as possible. Maybe something to learn to avoid his problems?
It does all highlight anti-Japanese racism from his fans and the outside world –
If he is in fact on a visitor visa (as he previously stated), it’s a good thing his detainment didn’t last longer than his landing permission. Wasn’t it previously established that an exit and reentry is required to extend the duration?
Glad to hear he intends to return the money but find it quite incredible that, of all the people involved, during all the visits, no one told him about the fund raiser.
However, now that the money is out of indigogo’s hands, I don’t see how he could possibly return all of it . The least expensive route to return overseas donations would be paper postal money orders sent by regular mail, which is still going to cost more than a $10 donation. Wiring it back would maybe cost ¥4000 or so plus whatever service fees the recipient is charged, so maybe $50 to $60US.
A few months ago a video was put up on youtube (8.3 Million hits) of a grandma being bullied on a bus, the video was nasty, little shits. A fund was started on indigogo by a guy in Toronto so she could have a holiday and the last I heard she was picking up a cheque for $654.000 dollars. Since then, I’ve noticed a jump in victimhood and accounts looking for donations for people in dire need of help. Perhaps it’s always been there and I only noticed because such a whooping amount of money has been raised. Confirmation bias?
Hi guys
Has been a great read.
1. I have never overstayed. I have a “live” application for an extension to my visa application. I missed a “reporting date” in Tokyo because Immigration sent a letter to an old address and never emailed me as they had agreed to do. So their computer told the Police my period of stay had elapsed. Thus the confusion and the investigation. It is getting cleared up but the wheels of Justice move carefully and slowly. I have another hearing about this on Nov 22 as the case officer from the Tokyo immigration office never turned up in Osaka for the one next week. Basically I was being held waiting for that hearing but have now been released.
2. Yeah I intend returning the money to those who want it and will pay pal it back so if some of you have donated please be patient. I will need to gather email addresses for 120 or so people. I have zero idea why my fiancee or I were never consulted about it. Just good intentions from my concerned friends. It seems to have created quite a hornet`s nest as access to exact was difficult as you can neither telephone nor be telephoned not even write letters while being investigated by Police
3. It never intended to do any interpreting. My wife was going to do some. As a volunteer. Neither of us were ever going to be paid anything. We were sent train fares but this money has been returned to the Canadian documentary company some time ago.
4. I do some social media work but online and pay tax in New Zealand (we have a reciprocal agreement with Japan). Lots of people are getting paid from work done in other countries while on visitor visas in Japan.
As you have suggested who would be stupid enough to go to Taiji or work in Japan without a valid visa.
Hope that this clears a few things up but am happy to answer any other questions.
Michael
PS The law now says foreigners must carry a passport or a Zairyu card. Alien Registration Cards finished July 7 and even it is had yet to expire you still need the new Zairyu card or you are committing an offence if you do not have your passport.
Strange, I got a letter from immigration stating my ARC would “count” as my Zairyu card until the time came to renew it. It specifically said that holders of the ARC wouldn’t have to update until the ARC expired, and that the ARC would serve the same role until it was updated. I’ll have a look for the letter at the weekend.
@Rob:
My ARC has actually been extended with a note on the back until I renew my visa next year. (It expired this year, but when I renewed my passport they put on the note and a free multiple re-entry visa in my passport running until next year). I think the idea is to get the visas and cards in sync.
I also thought that there was a period of grace for old ARC card holders, although when I registered a new passport this summer, I was made to get a Zairyu card that now turns out to be defective!
@Rob:
This is correct. No problems with ARC for resident. However, an ARC issued to non-resident on a temp permit is not going to act as a zairyu card that they can’t be able to get. I think also someone said that a passport wouldn’t be acceptable anymore fore a zairyu holder and it won’t have the stickers in anymore.
@Michael Q Todd:
Thanks for coming back on this – so rarely hear the end of stories like yours (for obvious reasons). But it good to get the information from you so that all can learn.
Well done on keeping a level-head through the process and I hope time will heal, it cannot have been a pleasant experience.
The address thing is odd – did you not have to enter address on the application form? I guess things would get confused though as ARC holders were supposed to register for a juminhyo – but you probably couldn’t as not resident. Maybe you slipped through the holes in the transition period – things will be better under new system – as applications will be put onto a resident card information, whereas before you just had that stamp in the missing passport.
I am sorry you have all this speculation about you without being able to defend yourself – but I hope you understand when you read the nonsense/changing stories your friends have written on your behalf. Pretty typical of the animal rights bunch jumping in making claims without facts and failing to do even the most basic research. Then flinging a sob story to get money out of decent people wanting to help. They also lie as they specifically said you knew about the money and your girlfriend was controlling the account – did she not mention it to you either or did she not really get the money? I think it will help your fans if you mention your views on the money an the repayment on your facebook and blog – not everyone reads these great discussion sites about Japan unfortunately.
The working on a temp landing permit is a tricky one – really you shouldn’t be doing work in Japan, but the system was made before remote working was common. I think it’s a bit muddy – but if you bought into Japan the proceeds of your work done in Japan, but paid abroad – then you need to declare it on your Japanese tax return and submit your NZ tax statement for offsetting.
Good luck and hope future hearings work out for you.
Hi Michael. Thanks for your reply. Three quick comments:
1. What were you doing with a ARC (Alien Registration Card) after you had lost your SoR (status of residence), as you were in Japan on a “Temporary Visitor Landing Permission”? As foreign residents of Japan know, one is required by law to return that card to immigration (usually handed over during exit procedures at the airport, or returned to the local city/ward office that issued it) when you lose your (non-Visitor) SoR. Anyway, as you were in possession of an ARC, it means that you were once a legal alien resident of Japan with a SoR and you have since let that status expire without renewal and reentered the country with a Temporary Visitor Landing Permit, correct?
2. How was the indietogogo group able to transfer money to your fiance’s (or your) account without consulting either one of you? To transfer money, they would have had to know your bank, your bank account number and possibly branch, and registered name. Your support sites were explicit in saying that “the funds have been transferred to Japan and is being handled by Yoriko”. This seems to contradict your statement saying that Yoriko wasn’t consulted.
3. As both you and I mentioned, it is possible to extend a Visitor’s Visa, but it is extremely difficult and rare. A quick web search of the procedure and a check of MoFA (Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs) website says that a Temporary Visitor Landing Permission is generally only extended in the following cases:
* the person who cannot fly to home country due to a disease or an injury
* the person who must look after his/her family in Japan
* the person who need more a little time to finish some business for the company in a foreign country
… and other extraordinary reasons.
You have to sign an oath on that extension form (I can point you to the application form PDF online) that says “I promise that I go back to my home country soon.” on the application form of visitor visa extension. So you cannot apply for visa extension because of “I love Japan”, “I want to stay in Japan” or “I cannot live in my home country”. Also, you cannot apply for visa extension because you are waiting for Long-Term visa, either.
So if your intention is to live in Japan it seems weird that you’d attempt to apply for that extension, as that would defeat your ability to do this.
I’m glad to see renewed interest in this issue on this site, Japan Probe and others. (I’m posting here because Japan Probe won’t allow me to join the discussion, and also because I’m a Japologist.) Please understand that thousands of foreigners have been caught in these same bureaucratic tangles and systemic abuses of rights. We shouldn’t blame MQ Todd or anybody else for being the victim here. (Japanese spouses, friends, families are also victims of this archaic system.) Clearly, MQ loves Japan and was staying here for his daughters and friends (more than 1000 Japanese friends on FB). All of you have made good points and raised valid questions. Ken Y-N is correct in wondering if foreigners can get “gulagged” for not carrying passports in Taiji and other areas. I’m told that police there, in a declining community desperate to hold onto one of their last remaining industries, are accustomed to checking passports of tourist protesters, who don’t have ARCs. Thus they got suspicious and overzealous when they found a gaijin “tourist” without a passport, which they mistakenly thought was illegal. They even took his Japanese partner in for 5 hours of interrogation, and she works for a major Japanese corporation. Please remember that these are under-prepared local cops in an isolated backwater, not sophisticated officers in cosmopolitan cities who help give you directions. Tracey on Japan Probe and others here are correct in noting that various levels of police and immigration officers have much more arbitrary power than we might think. Thousands of documented cases support this fact. Your experience at an immigration office in say, Kobe, is not the same as in Shinagawa or at Narita or Haneda. It really depends on the officer, and their mood or prejudices. Facts overwhelmingly indicate that rules are indeed prejudicial against foreigners, no matter how much you love Japan and your level of fluency. It seems that MQ got caught in a very dysfunctional, messed up system, which even the former immigration chief wants to overhaul. Instead of blaming the victim, let’s try and comprehend the human reality — not the theory — of the system, and let’s try to change that system, for the good of Japan.
Hey! It’s that speed freak Sherbets hanger on dude CJ!
For reals!
The war zone shabu pipe fantasist self romance dude!
I feel like I’m in the presence of self-medicating fucked up royalty!
Oops. I just spermed…
CJ, a question for you: If you speak fluent or even passable Japanese, how come you don’t know what a “KB” is?
To be fair to Michael Todd,as far as I know, he’s never made threatening and obscene telephone calls, tried to silence critics with groundless legal threats, written bogus news stories to take revenge on former employers, tried to exploit the suffering of others (Solzhenitsyn, Mandela, Suraj ffs) to cover up his visa screw-ups, or indeed written a truly dreadful novel.
So in that sense, I can see MQT in a more positive light.
Well, I’ll just assume someone hasn’t reached Step 9 yet.
@Christopher Johnson Globalite: (Can you please press the Enter key once in a while?)
Doesn’t he also have children in New Zealand?
By whom? You chide people on Twitter for not naming their sources, but your Mental Meltdown article, for instance, is full of similar unnamed “sources” that are more than likely either (a) made up or (b) from random internet punters who have made stuff up.
You just made that up, didn’t you. And there’s no need for quotes round “tourist”, Mr Todd has said he was on a tourist visa. Or are you trying to hint that he wasn’t a tourist, thus agreeing with me? I also find it strains credulity to suggest that the police didn’t recognise an ARC.
…that every year has lots of foreigners coming round to potentially harrass the locals.
At least I can agree with you there.
One more thing Michael:
You claim that neither “[your] fiancee or [you] were never consulted about [the money].”
Are you telling us that during all those visits you received while you were in the detention center — those visits were people were asking you what you needed and offering to get you books and other things — that they never mentioned the money raising ONCE to you? The money that was supposed to go to a lawyer for your assistance to get you out of detention?!
If that is true, then the filmmakers and activist groups you were with are greater crooks than I possibly imagined!
What the MoJ has to say about renewing a “Visitor Visa”:
１ 短期滞在の更新 -原則-
在留資格「短期滞在」は在留期間１５日、３０日、９０日の３種類の期間が決められています。他の在留資格と同様に更新許可申請を行うことも可能ですが、法務省の下記サイトにあるとおり、
http://www.moj.go.jp/ONLINE/IMMIGRATION/ZAIRYU_KOSHIN/zairyu_koshin10_17.html
—上記サイトから引用—
外国人の方が，疾病等の理由により，短期滞在の期限を延長する場合
※ 「短期滞在」の更新申請については，原則として，人道上の真にやむをえない事情又はこれに相当する特別な事情がある場合に許可が認められるものです。
Translated, given out for very special circumstances or humanitarian reasons only. A person receiving or applying for this would probably have so much going on with their lives to need this that they wouldn’t have time to be doing extracurricular stuff in Taiji.
I’m stating that I don’t believe the story about being in the process of renewing a Temporary Visitor Landing Permit.
To be convinced otherwise, I’ll need to see official paperwork.
Just some advice to Todd. You probably don’t need it, but anyway.
A lot of people who offer to “help” you are probably just trying to use you. You’ve learned it from your fundraising friends and the way they exploit anti-Japan sentiment of the Sea Shepherd crowd. As a person who loves Japan, you must find it very embarrassing.
Now you’re probably getting friendly emails from certain people with their own agenda (a hate Japan agenda) offering to “help” you. Read up on their history and judge for yourself before you make any new “friends”. They may offer you fame. But there’s a big difference between famous and infamous.
Keep in mind that people who never question you and never criticize you are not really friends. Though maybe you’re not looking for real friends.
I just want the truth. I’ve been through some bullshit with Immigration in one of their undefined gray areas so I’m ready to believe they can fuck things up. This is an important case and we need to know if we gaijin should all be worried about this, or is it just a unique case of some really unlucky coincidences and bad planning? Should the typical gaijin lose sleep over this?
But I’m also an extremely cynical bastard. And I love poking holes in arguments and debunking stuff. I have OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Debunking. When a story sends me searching through the Japanese Immigration law, crime statistics, weather records, electric output data, or even just visit a shop someone falsely claimed was racist – I learn things and my Japanese gets better, too. Learning is cool, and it’s better than obsessing about train time tables or something.
But just because I don’t trust Immigration does not mean I will trust you. Not at first, anyway.
Aligning yourself with proven liars will not help that. Then your case becomes a wasted opportunity for all of us who have lives in Japan to learn something about the reality of Immigration rules.
Jesus, Level3, I didn’t want to say anything before, but you are a total nutcase!
Everybody over here is a bit crazy, innit!? Look at all the heavy hitters goin’ on tonight and all the inconventional responses they be draggin’ out of y’all! White lines!
I feel smothered in a nerd blanket, a feisty, tossy-turny nerd blanket, with tinkly winkly bells on.
If Debito comments now, I ‘m gonna shit my pants!