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August 29, 2025
 

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FOREIGN WORKERS

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.
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya in Tokyo on Sunday night
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 21, 2025
‘Japanese First’ Sanseito emerges as powerful force after Upper House poll
The small rightwing populist party led by firebrand Sohei Kamiya won 14 seats in Sunday’s Upper House election.
Pham Thi Bich Hau (fifth from left) began translating and interpreting for the Vietnamese community in Japan in 2013, when she was working for a trainee management organization. She went on to found the Vietnam Women's Union in Japan, organizing activities like the Tet festival pictured here.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Jul 21, 2025
The mothers holding up Japan's Vietnamese community
Online support groups and in-person events are helping Vietnamese women from all walks of life manage motherhood abroad.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda said it is obvious that Japanese society could not function without the help of foreign workers in manufacturing, health care, construction and public transportation.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 17, 2025
CDP leader criticizes ‘Japanese First’ policy and calls for inclusive society
Foreign residents are critical to maintaining Japan’s economy, said Yoshihiko Noda, as he issued a call on the campaign trail for a multicultural society that respects minorities.
The new administrative body would serve as a cross-agency "control tower" to respond to issues such as crime and overtourism involving foreign nationals, according to the government.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 15, 2025
Japan launches government body to address concerns over foreign nationals
The body will serve as a cross-agency "control tower" to respond to issues such as crime and overtourism involving foreign nationals, the government said.
The Sanseito party, led by Sohei Kamiya, is surging in the polls with anti-immigration talk, but its rise is likely just a short-lived protest vote rather than the start of lasting right-wing populism.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 15, 2025
Japan’s right-wing fringe is no MAGA or reform movement
The Sanseito party is surging in polls with anti-immigration talk, but its rise is likely just a short-lived protest vote rather than the start of lasting right-wing populism.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Confusion over Japan’s ‘hometown’ plan overshadows African development event
First Lady Yoshiko Ishiba (center, in white and blue dress) hosts an event on Japanese culture with the first ladies of African leaders on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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