The number of foreign nationals residing in Japan hit a record high of over 3.4 million in 2023, government data has shown, with employment-related visas seeing significant growth amid the country's efforts to address its acute labor shortage.
As of the end of December, 3,410,992 foreign nationals resided in Japan, up 10.9% from the previous year to mark a record high for the second consecutive year, the Immigration Services Agency said Friday.
The number of specified skilled workers jumped 59.2% to around 208,000, while trainees under Japan's technical internship program grew 24.5% to around 404,000 to approach the record-high level marked in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, the data showed.