A petition with more than 60,000 signatures supporting asylum for two Kurdish families from Turkey who staged a 72-day sit-in outside the United Nations University this summer was handed to the Justice Ministry on Friday.
The signatures were brought in by Diet members, including Kazue Fujita of the Democratic Party of Japan, and a few other volunteers.
According to Fumio Azuma, one of the supporters, the Justice Ministry has not given a specific response to the families' pleas. Both families have been seeking asylum here since the late '90s.