For more than three years, Dr. Junpei Yamamura has visited the Higashi-Nihon Immigration Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, once a month.
Through the glass partition in the visiting area, he spends a whole day talking to one detainee after another about their health problems.
Yamamura charges that foreigners without visas and people seeking asylum held at the center receive poor medical care, and some are suffering serious illnesses during their protracted detention.