Whenever when anyone mentions gaigin crime figures, there's usually a
lot of hand-waving about a third of them being visa offences, so they
shouldn't count.

I've always thought that was a poor excuse, but I've also had my
suspicions that getting chucked out of the country could be masking
real crimes - if there's a gaigin charged with a string of offences,
maybe just sticking him on the first plane back home is a more cost-
and time-effective way of dealing with him.

So, today's Yomiuri had a story mentioning this very situation:

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20030920wo22.htm

"The Japanese man was arrested in June on suspicion of fraud and the
Chinese woman, 34, a former hostess at a gambling den in Chuo Ward,
Osaka, is on trial for violating the Immigration Control and Refugee
Recognition Law."

That's one out of the 7000 or so - how many of the other 6999 are
hiding real crimes?

Ken