Mexican Man Who Landed on Japan’s Senkaku Islands Referred to Prosecutors for Not Completing Departure Procedures

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:32 JST, August 20, 2024

NAHA — The Ishigaki Coast Guard Office sent papers to public prosecutors Monday on a Mexican man in his 40s who landed on the Senkaku Islands on suspicion of illegally departing from Japan.

According to the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Naha, the man allegedly left the territorial waters around the prefecture’s Yonaguni Island and headed overseas without completing departure procedures. He is suspected of violating the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law.

A Japan Coast Guard patrol ship spotted the man landing on the eastern shore of Uotsuri Island of the Senkakus at around 2:38 p.m. on Friday. He allegedly was swept away by the tide on his way to Taiwan by canoe from Yonaguni Island — the westernmost island of Japan — and washed ashore on Uotsuri.

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