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October 03, 2025
 

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FOREIGN WORKERS

With the average farmer in Japan over 65, the agricultural sector, like others, faces the challenge of demographic decline as an aging workforce strains productivity and growth.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 30, 2025
Graying Japan needs both globalization and immigration
Japan has the highest ratio of elderly to working-age people in the world — over 50% — meaning there are only two workers for every person over 64.
The Justice Ministry's figures show the number of specified skilled worker visa holders hit a record high as of the end of June.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2025
Skilled worker visa holders hit record high ahead of new visa program
The Justice Ministry stated that the goal for a new program set to be rolled out in 2027 is to make Japan a "country of choice" for foreign workers amid a labor shortage.
Sensoji Temple in the Asakusa district of Tokyo on Sept. 16. All five candidates in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race demonstrated a tougher stance on foreign tourists and nationals.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 26, 2025
LDP presidential hopefuls take hard-line stance on immigration
Unruly tourists, visa overstayers and increasing land purchases by foreign nationals were some of the issues spotlighted during debates.
False social media stories about Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba planning mass immigration obscure Japan’s real and growing reliance on foreign labor.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 12, 2025
Japan needs an immigration debate, not social media myths
There’s no mass immigration from the Global South into Japan, though you might not know that if you primarily consume your news on social media.
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 29, 2025
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
The government is set to create a task force to review its immigration plans and prevent social division between foreign nationals and citizens.
The former main building of the Justice Ministry. The ministry is requesting ¥877.5 billion in overall funding, of which ¥22.9 billion would be used for measures linked to foreign workers.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 28, 2025
Budget requests from Justice Ministry focus on foreign nationals
Of the ¥877.5 billion requested, ¥22.9 billion would be set aside for measures linked to foreign workers and ¥18.3 billion for measures that respond to a rise in foreign tourists.
The number of foreign residents with business management residency status had reached a record 41,615 as of the end of 2024.
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2025
Japan aims to tighten rules for business manager visas from October
The move comes amid concerns that foreign nationals are using the visa as an easy loophole to settle in the country.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda (second from left) walks with Fed Chair Jerome Powell (left), European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde (second from right) and Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey outside the Fed’s Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 24, 2025
BOJ's Ueda expects tight labor market to keep upward pressure on wages
The remarks are likely to support growing speculation of another interest rate hike this year, although the BOJ governor didn’t directly discuss monetary policy in a presentation.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung meet ahead of a summit in Kananaskis, Canada, in June. The two leaders will meet again on Saturday.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2025
Japan and South Korea to expand working holiday program
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung are expected to agree on the matter when they meet in Tokyo on Saturday.
Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 19, 2025
Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot
Japan’s capital topped the rankings for its “exceptional broadband speeds, transport infrastructure, safety, culture, and new digital nomad visa.”
The streets of Tokyo's Ginza district in April. The number of foreign residents in Japan hit a record high at 3.76 million as of the end of last year, comprising just over 3% of the population.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2025
Welcoming foreign residents benefits Japan, three quarters of economists say
Some highlighted the need to avoid conflating foreign nationals who may be in Japan temporarily with long-term foreign residents.
In the most recent regular session of parliament, problems were highlighted regarding some foreign workers leaving Japan without paying outstanding taxes.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2025
Japan starts survey on foreign nationals' unpaid resident taxes
Some foreign workers end up leaving the country without paying outstanding taxes.
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 7, 2025
Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable
Under certain circumstances, overseas inheritance can pass tax-free to foreigners who are residents in the country.
A street in Tokyo's Shinjuku district on Wednesday
JAPAN / Society
Aug 7, 2025
Biggest drop in Japanese nationals seen alongside record high in foreign residents
The number of Japanese nationals on Jan. 1 was 120.7 million, while the number of foreign residents had risen 10.65% in a year to 3.68 million.
Hiroyuki Goto, president of GTN. The company started after Goto personally co-signed leases for around 20 non-Japanese people, including some friends and friends of friends.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2025
GTN takes a chance on newcomers to Japan
People said GTN President Hiroyuki Goto was "a bit crazy" guaranteeing leases for foreign residents.
Shizuoka Gov. Yasutomo Suzuki (left) hands a proposal to promote a multicultural society to Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiko Aoki on Wednesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2025
Japan prefectural chiefs seek to promote multicultural society
The project team of the National Governors' Association asked the central government to help the country accept more foreigners to address labor shortages in regional areas.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki attends a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 31, 2025
Japan's foreign population could top 10% in 2040, says justice minister
A 2023 estimate had projected that Japan's foreign population would exceed 10% in the 2070s.
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya speaks at a rally in Tokyo on July 21, a day after the Upper House election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 29, 2025
A fringe party or political force: Will the real Sanseito stand up?
There were a few things that might raise eyebrows, but nothing especially scary. Sanseito's published policy platform is relatively benign.
Students hoping to work in Japan attend a Japanese class at a job placement company in Hanoi in October 2022.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jul 28, 2025
Japan to start new residency system for foreign workers
The aim is to systematically develop foreign human resources and ensure they stay in Japanese workplaces for the long term.
Sohei Kamiya, founder of the Sanseito, which campaigned on a “Japanese first” message and tough immigration rhetoric, speaks at a rally in Gunma Prefecture on July 6.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 23, 2025
Ignore the election hype, foreign residents are here to stay
While the number of foreign residents reached a record high last year, it’s still barely over 3% of the total population, low by international standards.
A secret no more: Russia and North Korea's battle against Ukraine is celebrated in Moscow exhibit
A woman visits an exhibition of North Korean art at a museum in Moscow on Monday.
Prices to rise for 3,024 food products in Japan in October
A wide range of products will see higher prices due to rising material and labor costs.
Koizumi and Takaichi continue to lead in LDP presidential race, polls show
Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi (right) reacts as former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during the Liberal Democratic Party Presidential Election Candidate Debate at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, on Sept. 24. Koizumi and Takaichi remain head-to-head in the race, media polls show.
The party that ruled Japan for decades is in danger of crumbling
Haruo Tsukamoto, a rank-and-file member of the Liberal Democratic Party and a rice farmer in Ibaraki Prefecture, questions if the party still stands for people like him.
Same-sex partners recognized under more laws in Japan
A couple poses with the rainbow flag, which they brought from their home for a wedding photoshoot in Tokyo in November 2023.
Japan's far-right party courts Trump allies and vows not to get 'wacky'
Sanseito party leader Sohei Kamiya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Sept. 25.
How Ohtani has boosted Japan's soft power and made LA even more baseball-obsessed
Fans at Dodger Stadium pose in front of a mural highlighting the Dodgers' Japanese stars from past and present during a game earlier this year.
Japan faces fresh energy challenge as it seeks to expand power-hungry data centers
Data storage tapes at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center facility in Berkeley, California. Data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and water, and that will only rise as generative artificial intelligence takes off in earnest.
Architecture art exhibition highlights unsung industry artists
Yuanhui Li's illustration is one of the awardees in the student category of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators' annual award for artists.
On defense and foreign policy, LDP candidates largely align — except where they don’t
The Liberal Democratic Party presidential election candidates in Nagoya on Friday

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