NGO urges Fujimori to go home with plane ticket

Japan Policy & Politics, Jan 22, 2001

TOKYO, Jan. 16 Kyodo

About 50 people from Japan, Peru and five other countries marched Tuesday to the house in Tokyo where deposed Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is staying to hand him a letter urging him to return home and an economy-class air ticket to Peru.

The demonstrators from the Japanese civic organization Peace Boat were unable to hand the ticket, however, because police who kept guard in front of the house, belonging to Japanese writer Ayako Sono in Tokyo's Ota Ward, maintained that nobody was home.

They therefore merely dropped the multiple-signature letter into the mailbox.

Fujimori, a 62-year-old son of Japanese immigrants from Kumamoto Prefecture, has been in Japan since mid-November. He has ruled out returning to Peru in the foreseeable future, where authorities want him to give testimony on allegations that he amassed illegal funds while in office.

He has permission to stay in Japan indefinitely as his Japanese citizenship was confirmed by the Japanese government.

''There's no reason for him to stay in Japan because he's a Peruvian and it's not his country. We are not accusing him. We want an explanation and want him back as soon as possible,'' said Marelly Midzuaray, 21, a Japanese-Peruvian university student in Lima.

She said that all Peruvians are angered by Fujimori's sudden submission of his resignation in Japan and that if is he innocent as he claims, there will be no problem for him to return home.

Midzuaray also said the solidarity of the demonstrators, including those from Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, Canada and Brazil, suggests global concern about the matter.

Tatsuya Yoshioka, a representative of the Peace Boat, said the group will try to make an appointment with Fujimori to hand him the plane ticket for a flight on Jan. 25.

The Peace Boat has sponsored global cruises on chartered passenger ships to promote peace since 1983. The demonstrators arrived at a Tokyo wharf on Monday following a three-month voyage, which included a stopover in Peru.