Her dream to teach English in Japan ended with a lesson for the country

Wishma Rathnayake's death in immigration detention in Japan has fueled debate over the treatment of foreigners in the country and exposed the lack of transparency in a system where people can languish for years with no prospect of release.

Urged by her father to emulate her hero, Rathnayake started learning Japanese with a dream of one day moving to Japan from the small Sri Lankan town of Gampaha, northeast of Colombo.

When her father died, the university graduate convinced her mother she could earn enough money working abroad as an English teacher to fund her retirement.