News Foreign residents in Japan amount to a record 3.2 million

The Immigration Services Agency reported yesterday that the number of foreigners living in Japan rose to a record 3.2 million in 2023. As of June 2023, 3,223,858 foreigners resided in Japan, up 148,645 from the end of December 2022.

Significant increases were seen in the number of specified skilled workers, who can immediately take on jobs in designated industries without training, and trainees taking part in the country's technical internship program.

Some stats:

• Permanent residents are the largest group at 880,178 (+1.9% from December)
• Technical interns total 358,159 (+10.2%)
• Engineers, specialists in humanities and international services, including foreign language teachers, 346,116 (+10.9%)
• Specified skilled workers 173,101 (+32.2).

By nationality, China has the most nationals in Japan, followed by Vietnam and South Korea. The number of arrivals of foreigners, excluding re-entry by residents but including tourists, increased in the first half of 2023 to 10,154,249, up about 9.77 million from a year earlier, due to the easing of border restrictions associated with COVID-19. The number has recovered to about 70% of the pre-pandemic level, compared with the figure in the first half of 2019. In the first half of this year, over 3.61 million Japanese nationals left the country for reasons including tourism, an increase of about 2.99 million from a year earlier. There were 79,101 foreign nationals who have overstayed their visas in Japan as of 1 July, according to calculations based on immigration records.

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"By nationality, China has the most nationals in Japan, followed by Vietnam and South Korea."

With that stat, I'd suppose this is not counting zainichi (~1 million), maybe half of those still retain korean nationality, with special permanent resident status.


EDIT: And since it's not separated out, I wonder if people on spouse visas are counted as permanent residents? Not saying something about the spouse category seems like an omission--like some people actually have PR/永住権, others on other 'visas' (status of residence) are residents but up to five years are not yet the unfortunately named 'permanent tax residents' (after that time they are, and if someone is on a spouse visa I think you may be a permanent tax resident automatically), and so on.

Here's another article, with a "how it has changed over time" graph.

johnnyG said:

Here's another article, with a "how it has changed over time" graph.

Origins of Japan's foreign residents shift over 3 decades, further change expected: expert - The Mainichi

Japan's population of foreign residents has continued to grow over the last three decades. The Mainichi Shimbun explored the background and outlook of

mainichi.jp

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Very interesting. This helps explain why I see so many non-Japanese Asians in retail positions here in Tokyo. Significantly more than just a few years ago. I also noticed all the train signage includes Chinese and Korean now. Maybe they need to add Vietnamese now too.

Japan now has a record-high foreign resident population exceeding 3.5 million. Tokyo's "Little India" district offers valuable insights into fostering harmonious coexistence within this increasingly diverse society.


In Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, home to approximately 40% of the city's Indian population (over 7,000 individuals), Nishikasai stands out as the neighbourhood with the highest concentration of Indian residents in Japan. Jagmohan Chandrani, 72, a tea importer who has resided in Nishikasai for 46 years, shared that he was among the first Indians to settle in Edogawa Ward. In the late 1990s, when India was a prominent IT force, many Indian engineers arrived in Japan to address the Y2K issue. Chandrani became a valuable resource for these newcomers, assisting them in adapting to life in Japan. He recalled acting as a guarantor for many Indian residents renting apartments, a fact he initially kept from his wife due to her concerns.

Chandrani has organized an Indian festival for 25 years, providing a valuable platform for interaction and cultural exchange between the Indian community and residents.





The number of foreign residents in Japan's subtropical Okinawa prefecture has soared 50% in two and a half years, with overseas workers flocking to opportunities in hospitality and other industries hit hard by a labour crunch.

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Wikipedia on this: