J-rock star Miyavi on mission to change Japan's tune on refugees

While in his lesser-known role as a refugee advocate, Miyavi, aka the samurai guitarist, asks that people look beyond the headline numbers before declaring Japan unwelcoming to asylum-seekers.Despite taking in only 42 refugees in 2018 -- accepting less than 1 percent of applicants -- compared to 35,198 for the United States and 16,875 for Canada, Miyavi says the bump from the previous year's 20 is encouraging, albeit still underwhelming."As a UNHCR ambassador, I have to say, talking those numbers is like pulling teeth," says Miyavi, who in November 2017 was chosen as Japan's first Goodwill …READ FULL ARTICLE