Japan's visa exemptions attract more Indonesian and Thai illegal workers

A greenhouse of a green onion farmer in Asahi, Chiba Prefecture, where Thais and others were working illegally. - The Yomiuri Shimbun/ANN

TOKYO (The Yomiuri Shimbun/ANN): The number of Thais and Indonesians remaining in Japan illegally has doubled since the government exempted visitors from these countries from obtaining visas for short-term stays, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

A total of 9,649 people had overstayed as of July last year. Among them are people who came to Japan under the guise of being tourists, but then began working illegally at a farm near Narita Airport in the Kanto region.