Since last year, immigration has been dominating the news in North America and Europe. Recently, it's become a hot topic in Japan as well.
Business weekly Shukan Diamond (July 7) ran a 34-page, three-part special titled "Nippon no Chugokujin: Zen kaimei" (The Chinese of Japan: A full clarification"). Its subhead reads, "The unknown world of Chinese in Japan."
As of June 2017, reported Diamond, the number of resident Chinese nationals, including those on short-stay or posted here by the government, reached 878,000. "Add to this the more than 100,000 kajin (ethnic Chinese) who have naturalized as Japanese and illegal sojourners, and they're on the verge of passing 1 million," the magazine remarks. "In less than 20 years, from 320,000 Chinese in the year 2000, they've increased approximately threefold."