The death of a 33-year-old Sri Lankan migrant, trapped in the bowels of Japan's immigration system, triggered national calls to reform the bureaucracy that allowed her to waste away in a detention center without proper medical treatment. A government report Tuesday detailed the missteps that contributed to the tragedy, including insufficient medical resources, communication failures and a lack of proper oversight. But activists and politicians said the proposed changes did not go far enough to address the fundamental failures in an immigration system they describe as opaque and capricious. The nearly 280-page document describes the series of events that led to the death in March of Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali, who had been detained for overstaying her visa. While the report said her death was the "result of illness," it noted the possibility that her health was affected by several factors, "making it difficult to concretely determine the cause."

The death of a Sri Lankan woman detained at a central Japan immigration facility has been in the spotlight as the Diet debates a controversial bill to revise the immigration law, with critics fearing the revision will worsen conditions for asylum-seekers in Japan. While ruling parties aim to pass the bill during the current Diet session through mid-June to resolve the long-term detention of foreign nationals facing deportation orders, opposition forces have called for its abolishment as the government has yet to figure out the circumstances surrounding the Sri Lankan's death. Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali, 33, who had been detained since August last year at the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau in Aichi Prefecture for overstaying her visa, died on March 6 after complaining of a stomach ache and other symptoms from mid-January. In an interim report over the incident released on April 9, the Justice Ministry did not determine the cause of her death, while her supporters allege the tragedy was caused by the insufficient medical treatment provided by the immigration facility. Opposition lawmakers have argued the bill currently being deliberated at the Diet is meant to expand the immigration authority's power and discretion and that similar problems could happen again as long as the cause of the Sri Lankan woman's death remains a mystery.