Massive layoffs from the current economic crisis are falling heavily on foreign workers, many of whom are opting to leave the country to seek work back home.
But for those who stay, there remain the difficulties of adapting to Japanese society, limited educational opportunities for their children and lack of medical support. Yet a rapidly aging Japan is unlikely to long remain the world's second-largest economy without them.
"Japan's immigration policy has always been a patchwork. We need to have proper laws and regulations in place when accepting people from abroad," Susumu Ishihara, 57, president of the Japan Immigrant Information Agency, said during a recent interview with The Japan Times.