▼About the fact that Japanese and Spanish were detained in Malaysia
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First of all, I would like to apologize to everyone who has worried or confused about this time’s news.
We would like to thank and give our appreciation to our acquaintances, friends, and family who prayed for our safety and also our overseas friends. We appreciate the prayers given by people who are unfamiliar to us as well.
The first malicious news article appears in Japanese and many other news media and I know that there are many friends who have investigated and inquired about the issue or incident happened last week. To those who believed in us and patiently waiting for our release, I am truly grateful for believing in us being innocent.
Thank you once again for accepting our humble apologies for making everyone worry. Following a similar incident that was happened in the country, we have been very cautious and double-checking permits and requirements before reaching the event.
I would like to begin with a summary of the situation and reasons when we were detained during this time in Malaysia, the story covers the scope of discussion between the multiple embassies and the immigration officials.
▪ ️ First
This incident this time is the Malaysia Qualifier of selecting Malaysian participants of the World Cosplay Convention held in Malaysia, and it marks the time when we, the judge of the convention, were detained during the event.
Explanation from the event organizer, and the truth ⇒ https://www.facebook.com/35327779884473/posts/454977858674466?s=100012391755155&sfns=mo
First of all, the Japanese and Spanish detainees are not "arrested" but personally detained for proper statement and why they are here in Malaysia.
It is not an illegal immigrant because we do not pay a fine etc. in the end.
In each media, the part "Cosplayer Arrest" was emphasized, and there were also photos that only we cosplayers were listed for some reason.
Moreover, the photos are shown with blur (mossaic) only in the eyes or just like a caught criminal. The pictures were taken by only immigration officers who presumably sold those photos to the media.
Some of those detained this time are not just cosplayers, and "because they are cosplayers" used by the media are not the reason for the real detention.
I felt the intention of negative image manipulation to cosplay and the Japanese subculture and a malicious way of writing such coverage of each media, I will talk about this later in this post.
In addition, we have not received any guarantee for this appearance, and it has been confirmed in advance between the Malaysian government and the organizer (the secretariat office representation of Japan).
Therefore, it is said that the government has obtained certification for no work visa as we are just here under witnessing the appropriation of the competition in Malaysia.
▪ The reason for the detention this time.
※ This is still under investigation, but we
The reasons for the detention are summarized by the staff members of the official immigration office, local police, and verbal stories from ambassadors from each country.
1) It was possible to be taken (interpreted) as work when we are invited as a “contest judge” regardless of whether or not the award had occurred.
Therefore, it was safe to keep a work visa.
It was a result that it was not necessary to take between the event organizer and the government, but it was the Japanese ambassador's view that it would not have been this if it had been done just in case.
However, there was also an opinion that it was possible that it would be difficult to get a work visa even though it was taken, and it was also said that it might have happened even if it fell over in the end.
2) Some immigration officials consider hotel expenses and travel expenses as revenue.
In other words, if people feel that these are profits, and sometimes these are not profits. This is also very vague.
It was widely said that these two points were the reason for reaching restraint.