Aspiring Canadian cosplayer living in Tokyo arrested for immigration fraud sham marriage

Approached Japanese man she met at cosplay event and offered to pay him to be her husband for visa purposes.

In 2012, Canadian citizen Shannon Wong came to Japan on a four-year student visa. But while that may sound like a long time, anyone who’s fallen in love with life in Japan will tell you it’s not nearly long enough to experience all that the country has to offer, and Wong wanted to keep living the dream of residing in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward while pursuing her interests in cosplay and Lolita fashion.

With her student visa winding down, though, it was looking like Wong would have to head back to Canada, until she met Narimichi Sasaki, a Japanese construction worker eight years older than her and living in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward. The two became acquainted at a cosplay event held in Shinjuku’s Kabukicho district, and Wong later approached Sasaki with a preposition. She would provide him with 700,000 yen (US$6,300) upfront and an additional 30,000 yen a month, and he would become her on-paper husband.

Sasaki agreed, and on June 17, 2016, the pair turned in their marriage paperwork at a ward office in Yokohama, two cities south from Tokyo. However, this February immigration officers in Tokyo began an investigation into the pair, uncovering the fraudulent arrangement and determining that the pair had not been cohabiting or otherwise living as husband and wife.

On July 11, officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s arrested Wong and Sasaki, now 29 and 37 years old, respectively. No longer a student, Wong’s employment has been reported as both “restaurant worker” and “fuzoku worker,” the latter referring to the adult-oriented service sector, including jobs ranging from bar hostess to topless dancer and erotic masseuse.

▼ Wong in custody

日本でコスプレしたくて偽装結婚　カナダ人の女逮捕 日本でコスプレをしたいと、コスプレ会場で知り合った男に偽装結婚を持ちかけた疑いで、カナダ国籍の女が警視庁に逮捕された。 fnn.jp/posts/00397630… #FNN https://t.co/ishDkT1WaG

—
Fuji News Network (@FNN_News) July 31, 2018

Wong has admitted to the charges, and given Japan’s customary hardline stance on immigration fraud, is unlikely to secure a visa which would allow her to continue living in the country.

Sources: Livedoor News/Jiji Tsushin, FNN via Otakomu
Top image: Pakutaso

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