If you need to get out of a bad situation then I would advise UK over Japan any day. Go UK and make some money and then come to Japan from UK.
UK system is very easy to abuse and you will find many of your people already there.
Use your $2k to get new papers in France or claim refugee status to get into UK. If you can fly there as a tourist then do it and just disappear into London.
You can earn good money as a private taxi driver
