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[/floatr]Yomiuri: Transsexuals in marriage scam / Filipinos wed Japanese men by passing themselves off as women
Police have uncovered an illegal business brokering "marriage" between Japanese men and Filipino transsexual men staying illegally in Japan, it has been learned. According to an official of the Saitama prefectural police, to enable the transsexuals stay in Japan as the "wives" of the men, a broker arranged bogus marriages between the men and Filipino women and used the women's passports to register the marriage of the couples in Japan. The prefectural police have arrested three such couples on suspicion of a false entry in an officially authenticated instrument. All the six have been indicted, and two have already been convicted...At the instruction of a broker, the three men visited the Philippines between 2006 and 2007 to enter into marriages of convenience with women living there. The broker placed photos of the transsexuals on the women's passports and instructed them to obtain visas as the men's spouses using the passports. The carriers of the passports, who passed themselves off as the legitimate holders of the travel document, entered Japan and handed the passports to the transsexuals. The carriers stayed in Japan illegally after delivering the passports, the police official said. Using the passports, the transsexuals obtained alien registration cards and registered their "marriage" with municipal governments in Japan...According to the police official, the men said they agreed to take part in the plot because they "wanted to stay with the transsexuals officially"...more...
Another easy-to-understand graphic, this time from the Tokyo Shimbun
