Anna and her two children, Fatima and Chloe, sought political asylum from Malasia 6 months ago and were traveling from Malasia to Canada where they already had an approved Visa. However, at Tokyo Airport for unknown reasons Japanese Custom Officials confiscated her passport, put her in detention, and separated her from her children for 6 weeks. She was eventually reunited with her children and currently lives with them in Tokyo in a refugee program. She has human rights advocate lawyers working on her behalf so she and her children can continue on to Canada. Japan has not granted her even temporary asylum. It has been extremely stressful for Anna and her children and she hasn't been outside the city since arriving. Jody and I invited Anna and her children to stay with us over last weekend so she and the kids could get out of Tokyo and experience some fresh air. Hopefully, it helped. Jody and I plan to remain in touch with Anna.
Fatima, Jody, Anna, and Chloe, from L to R.
On Sunday, we all took a walk around the beautiful Soka U. grounds.
The Poi in the University's pond all came up to greet us, opened their mouths and begged for food.