TOKYO, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The number of asylum seekers in Japan fell in 2018 for the first time in eight years due to tougher rules, statistics from the Japanese government revealed Wednesday.
According to the Justice Ministry, the number of applicants for a refugee status in 2018 stood at 10,493, decreasing by 47 percent compared with the previous year.
Among them, 42 were granted asylum, up from 20 in 2017, the ministry said.
The asylum applicants were of 74 nationalities last year, among whom the Nepalese accounted for the largest portion, followed by applications from those from Sri Lanka, Cambodia, the Philippines and Pakistan.
According to the statistics, asylum seekers from these five Asian countries decreased by 41 percent compared with 2017. However, they still constituted about 55 percent of the total number.
Among the 42 applicants who were granted asylum, 13 were from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with five from Yemen and five from Ethiopia.
In January last year, the Justice Ministry decided that those seeking refugee status "misused" the work permit system with the faulty notion that they can work in Japan as long as they were applying for asylum.
Thus, the ministry introduced a tougher screening process to correct improper applications.
In the wake of a work permit reform in 2010, the number of asylum seekers in Japan surged radically as those waiting for government screenings for over six months were granted work permits.
