Overstay, a feature-length documentary, is a timely and intimate exploration of the lives of foreign migrant workers in Japan. Four sets of young people from Iran, Pakistan, Peru, and the Philippines tell their unique stories--why they came to Japan and how they have adjusted to an unusually insular and traditional society. The filmmakers had an extraordinary degree of access to the workers' lives: Overstay follows migrants at work and at play, trying to make a new life while homesick for a familiar culture.

More than 10 years have passed since the first waves of international migrants arrived in Japan. There are frequent immigration raids. Many workers have no papers or have overstayed their visas. Japanese attitudes toward foreign workers range from suspicion to resentment to support. Jobs have grown tighter. How do immigrants survive? Overstay probes the legal, cultural, racial, and class biases that these new residents struggle to overcome. Viewers are challenged to question and rethink their preconceptions about the nature of international migration and the social and economic factors that propel young people to move far from home, often leaving spouses and children to seek work in foreign countries.

Stylistically Overstay combines beautifully composed 16mm imagery with intimate Hi-8 video footage, emphasizing the contrast between the formalized issues and the lived reality.

Background
Waves of international migrants from Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa came to Japan during the prosperous late 80s and early 90s. Among these "newcomers," undocumented workers tripled from approximately 100,000 in 1990 to 300,000 in 1992. Migrants perform the "3K" work [kitsui (hard), kitanai (dirty), and kiken (dangerous)] which few young Japanese have been willing to do since the shift of the economy to the service sector. Despite the small numbers of "newcomers" relative to other developed countries, this unprecedanted influx of migrants has been watched with interest by the media, officials, and scholars. Immigration laws, a formidable language barrier, and cultural and racial biases make it difficult for foreigners to assimilate into their adopted home. Under these circumstances, how do newcomers find their niche in the society? And how is Japan adjusting to these changes? What about the government's general immigration policy of turning a blind eye to their illegal status, only enforcing immigration laws when there is pressure to send them home?

A striking characteristic of Japanese migration is the diversity of countries from which people come. Consequently, Overstay focuses on four disparate stories, which reflect the broad range of experiences under which migrants come to Japan. The film is in Japanese, English, Tagalog, Urdu, Persian, and Spanish and will be subtitled in English.

Now as the Japanese economy suffers from the hard-hitting economic crisis, the situation of foreign migrant workers has become more desperate. Unemployement has risen and crime among foreigners has also increased, making it difficult for foreigners to avoid immigration crackdowns and the critical eyes of Japanese citizens.

The Characters
Overstay follows four stories: Hassan, an Iranian political dissident; Sally, a Filipina woman, working as a hostess in an Ito club; Ashraf ("Sunny"), Mujahid and Nasir (a.k.a. "Nakamura-san"), three Pakistani men who live together in Kamata; and Hikari, a Peruvian woman living in Nishinomiya who was a victim of the Great Hanshin Earthquake. Each migrant proves the opportunity to explore different aspects of the "foreigner" issue. The migrants' stories are tied together by their common experiences in Japan--where they all have come with the objective to work and save money to send home.

Support
Funding was provided by a Japan Foundation Artist's Fellowship and Post-Production Grant and a production grant from the Hoso Bunka Foundation which is affiliated with NHK Japan. The project is also backed by the UCLA Center for Pacific Rim Studies, UCLA Department of Film and Television and the Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC), a non-profit organization in Tokyo devoted to issues dealing with Japan's relationship to Asia and the rest of the world.