72-year-old South Korean man held for overstaying visa in Japan for 26 Years

A 72-year-old South Korean man in Japan has been arrested for reportedly overstaying his visa by more than 26 years after police received a tip in June, Shizuoka Prefectural Police confirmed on Thursday (August 27). The man arrested on Wednesday came to Japan in September 1993 using his brother's passport on a 15-day tourist visa to get a higher-paying job in the country, police said.

The suspect, a resident of Yaizu in Shizuoka Prefecture, is believed to have been living in Japan without proper status since 1993. At the time, overstaying a visa carried no criminal penalty; that only changed when an amended immigration law came into force in February 2000. As a result, police based his arrest on unlawful overstaying dating from that point forward rather than from when he first arrived.

He reportedly told investigators he had been supporting himself through casual daily labour, and he has admitted to the offence. Justice Ministry figures put the current number of visa overstayers at 68,488 as of January 2026, a sharp drop from the all-time high of 298,646 recorded in 1993.