Ugandan Asylum Seeker in Japan Turns to Samurai Filmmaking as Deportation Fears Loom

A Ugandan man who has spent more than fifteen years in Japan without secure legal status is channeling his experience of uncertainty and displacement into an unlikely creative pursuit: a samurai film inspired by his own life. The documentary "Sunday in Japan," directed by Antonio Rui Ribeiro, Leo Nelki, and Golriz Kolahi, profiles this asylum seeker, identified only as Sunday, as he navigates a precarious existence while refusing to be defined solely by his immigration circumstances.

Sunday's life in Japan has been marked by prolonged limbo. For over a decade and a half, he has lived without the stability that formal refugee recognition would provide, relying on charity to help feed his children and reporting regularly to Japanese authorities as a condition of his provisional release. His past includes detention at the Shinagawa immigration centre, a facility that has become a symbol of Japan's increasingly strict approach to immigration enforcement.

The documentary captures a critical turning point in Sunday's life. Recent changes to Japan's immigration laws have intensified the threat of deportation, leaving him and other asylum seekers facing the prospect of removal from the country they have called home for years. These legal revisions, which took effect in recent years, have drawn criticism from human rights organizations that argue they weaken protections for vulnerable migrants and make it easier for authorities to send people back to countries where they may face danger.

Rather than succumb to despair or accept reduction to a mere statistic in debates about immigration policy, Sunday has thrown himself into an ambitious creative project. He is making a samurai film inspired by Yasuke, a historical figure remembered as Japan's first Black samurai. Yasuke, who served under the powerful warlord Oda Nobunaga in the late sixteenth century, has become a potent symbol of cross-cultural belonging and the unexpected ways in which outsiders can find a place in Japanese society.

For Sunday, the choice of subject matter is deeply personal. The story of Yasuke—an African who rose to prominence in a foreign land—mirrors his own journey of trying to build a life in Japan while facing constant uncertainty about his future there. Through filmmaking, he transforms his anxieties and aspirations into a narrative that speaks to broader questions about identity, belonging, and the human need for dignity in the face of institutional indifference.

The documentary's creators frame Sunday's artistic endeavor as an act of survival—not merely physical survival, but the preservation of his sense of self-worth and hope. In a situation where legal status is perpetually contested and basic needs like food security depend on the generosity of others, the act of creating art becomes a form of resistance. It allows Sunday to assert his humanity in a system that often treats asylum seekers as problems to be managed rather than people with stories worth telling.

Japan's immigration policies have come under increased scrutiny in recent years as the country grapples with demographic pressures and debates about opening its doors to foreign workers and refugees. Despite facing labor shortages due to an aging population, Japan has historically maintained strict controls on immigration and has accepted relatively few refugees compared to other industrialized nations. Asylum approval rates remain low, and those awaiting decisions often face prolonged uncertainty about their status.

The Shinagawa immigration centre, where Sunday was once detained, has been the subject of numerous reports documenting conditions and the psychological toll on detainees. Advocacy groups have highlighted cases of prolonged detention, inadequate medical care, and insufficient access to legal representation for those held there. For many asylum seekers, the experience of detention leaves lasting scars even after release, as they continue to live with the knowledge that they could be re-detained or deported at any time.

Sunday's reliance on charity to feed his children underscores the economic precarity faced by asylum seekers during their often lengthy waits for decisions. Prohibited from working legally in many cases, or restricted in their employment options, they exist in a shadow economy or depend on the kindness of strangers and civil society organizations. This dependence can be demoralizing, stripping away the ability to provide for one's family through one's own labor—a fundamental aspect of dignity for many people.

The samurai film project represents a departure from this cycle of dependency and uncertainty. By taking on the role of filmmaker, Sunday assumes control over the narrative of his own life, even if only symbolically. The historical distance provided by the Yasuke story allows him to explore themes of alienation and belonging without directly confronting the daily humiliations of his own situation. Yet the parallels are unmistakable, and the film functions as both a creative work and a form of testimony.

Documentaries like "Sunday in Japan" play a crucial role in humanizing complex policy issues. By focusing on one individual's story, they make abstract debates about immigration laws and deportation policies concrete and emotionally resonant. Viewers are invited to see the person behind the immigration status, to understand the life that has been built in Japan over many years, and to consider what might be lost if that life is forcibly disrupted.

The threats facing Sunday are not hypothetical. Under the revised immigration framework, he could be deported to Uganda, a country he left more than fifteen years ago. The question of what awaits him there—whether he has family, social connections, or economic opportunities—remains largely unexplored in the documentary's synopsis, but the anxiety of returning to a place that is no longer familiar after so long away is a common theme in the experiences of long-term asylum seekers worldwide.

International law and human rights conventions provide certain protections for refugees and asylum seekers, but enforcement varies widely by country. Japan is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, which prohibit the return of refugees to countries where they face persecution. However, the application of these protections depends on formal recognition of refugee status, which many asylum seekers in Japan never receive, leaving them in a legal gray area where deportation remains a constant threat.

Sunday's story also highlights the particular vulnerabilities of Black migrants in Japan, a country where racial and ethnic diversity remains relatively limited and where foreigners often face discrimination in housing, employment, and social interactions. The historical figure of Yasuke occupies a unique place in Japanese cultural memory as an outsider who was accepted, even celebrated, during a period of significant political upheaval. For contemporary Black residents of Japan, Yasuke's legacy offers both inspiration and a reminder of how far the country still has to go in embracing diversity.

The film "Sunday in Japan" premiered as part of Al Jazeera's Witness documentary strand, which focuses on personal stories from around the world that illuminate broader social and political issues. By bringing Sunday's story to an international audience, the filmmakers aim to spark conversations about immigration policy, the treatment of asylum seekers, and the complex identities of people who live between cultures and legal categories.

For Sunday himself, the act of filmmaking may ultimately matter more than the finished product. In a life defined by waiting—for legal decisions, for charity, for a sense of security that never quite arrives—the creative process offers a rare opportunity to act rather than react, to shape a narrative rather than be shaped by the narratives others impose. Whether his film changes his legal prospects or not, it represents a reclaiming of agency in circumstances designed to deny it.

The documentary's closing message focuses on hope and dignity, suggesting that even in the most constrained circumstances, human beings find ways to assert their worth and pursue their passions. Sunday's samurai film, inspired by a historical figure who transcended boundaries, stands as a testament to the enduring human capacity for creativity and resilience. As Japan continues to debate its relationship with immigration and as thousands of asylum seekers await decisions that will shape their futures, stories like Sunday's serve as essential reminders of the stakes involved for real people with real lives caught in the machinery of policy.