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July 04, 2026
 

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EXPATS

An industrial complex in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture. The Mie Prefectural Government is considering stopping the hiring of foreign nationals amid concerns over leaks involving agricultural production information and residents’ personal data.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 24, 2025
Mie Prefecture considers stopping hiring foreign nationals
Officials cited concerns about information leaks, particularly in light of China’s national intelligence law requiring its citizens to cooperate with intelligence agencies.
Tape marked 'immigration' indicates where people should wait in line. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s headquarters on foreign-national policy has compiled an interim draft of recommendations to submit to the government in January, aiming to tighten coordination across ministries and local governments on policies affecting foreign nationals.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 24, 2025
LDP policy panel drafts interim report on foreign nationals
The party has set up three project teams to tighten coordination across ministries and local governments on policies affecting foreign nationals
Under the plan, only sectors where shortages remain severe after those adjustments would be permitted to accept foreign labor.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 23, 2025
Japan aims to take in 1.23M foreign workers under labor migration programs
The number was calculated by estimating labor shortages at the end of fiscal 2028 and subtracting expected gains from productivity improvements and domestic recruitment.
According to the Justice Ministry, 12,248 people applied for naturalization in 2024, with 8,863 approved.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2025
Japan eyes stricter residency requirement for naturalization
By extending the necessary period of residency to at least 10 years, Japan would bring the nationality requirement into line with that for obtaining permanent residency.
Tourists visit Fujikawaguchiko for sightseeing on May 20, 2024. The total number of foreign entrants to Japan reached approximately 40.34 million in 2024, the highest figure on record.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 22, 2025
Advisory council calls for digital border controls and tighter immigration oversight
The advisory council for immigration policy said in its report that digitalization was one of the core pillars of future immigration policy in Japan.
Anton (right) came to Japan in 1975 and, through her participation in the community, formed long-lasting relationships with her neighbors.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 22, 2025
Making a home in Japan with holiday meals and memories
An American writer reflects on Christmas cake, New Year’s food and the communities she has found in Japan over the course of 50 years.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party says that an envisaged new requirement of Japanese proficiency for obtaining permanent residency was prompted by many reports of issues involving foreign residents in local communities and administrative procedures resulting from their lack of Japanese language skills.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 20, 2025
Japanese proficiency eyed as permanent residency requirement
To obtain the status, foreign nationals will also be mandated to take a program aimed at helping them smoothly integrate into local communities.
A government survey released Tuesday showed that there were 49 cases of groundwater use by individuals or entities believed to be foreign across Japan as of October.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 16, 2025
Groundwater survey finds 49 cases of use by parties believed to be foreign
The survey, the first of its kind to be conducted by the Japanese government, was carried out following concerns about foreign parties acquiring water sources.
Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Nov. 28.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 16, 2025
Japan aims to require nationality declaration to register property from fiscal 2026
While nationality information will be available in public registry, it will stored in the government’s real estate system for interagency sharing.
Bilateral relations between China and Japan may be tense, but life goes on for the hundreds of thousands of Chinese people in Japan. “Politics and daily life are very separate,” says Zhang, a mother of three.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Dec 15, 2025
Japan-raised Chinese children navigate complex cultural terrain
Despite bilateral tensions, daily life goes on for the hundreds of thousands of Chinese people who call Japan home — including the children and teenagers who have grown up here.
Southern California native Hector Herrera is one of three pastors at Tokyo Union Church in Omotesando.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 12, 2025
Hector Herrera: ‘Tolerance means remaining in the conversation’
Music, incense and natural wines — a pastor at Tokyo Union Church talks about his hobbies and inspirations, both in and out of the church.
People walk on a back street in Akihabara, Tokyo, on Nov. 13.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 10, 2025
LDP compiles proposals to address crimes by foreign nationals
The package, among other things, calls on the National Police Agency to secure a list of interpreters to be dispatched to prefectural police departments to speed up investigations.
More than a quarter of married people in Japan report spousal violence of some kind, and nearly 1 in 10 women have experienced financial abuse, according to a 2023 survey by the Japan Cabinet Office.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Dec 8, 2025
Finding a way forward from financial abuse
In Japan, nearly 1 in 10 married women have been the victim of financial abuse. Two expats share their stories, along with the resources and advice that helped them through.
Visitors head to Shirakawago, a popular tourist spot, in Gifu Prefecture in November.
JAPAN / Explainer
Dec 4, 2025
The key points under discussion on policies affecting foreign nationals
Policymakers are looking at tighter restrictions on real estate purchases, higher visa-related fees and better Japanese language education, among other things.
A native of the Jura region of France, Severine Lamielle moved to Tottori Prefecture in 2024 and found a job as a taxi driver.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Dec 1, 2025
A French cabbie behind the wheel in small-town Japan
In Tottori, Japan’s least populous prefecture, Severine Lamielle’s career as a taxi driver is both a curiosity and a small sign of demographic change.
State Minister of the Cabinet Office Hayato Suzuki (left) delivers opening remarks to the government's expert panel on policies regarding foreign nationals on Thursday. Reiko Hayashi, the director-general of the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (right), chairs the panel.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 28, 2025
Japan eyeing much higher visa fees for foreign nationals
The government is considering raising the fee for permanent residency to as high as ¥300,000.
Ukrainian-born Aonishiki (right) is promoted to ōzeki during a ceremony in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Nov 28, 2025
A sumo champion shows Japan’s real feelings about foreigners
Japan recognizes that it needs foreign nationals. Foreign residents bring energy and innovation to this country, and they help Japan and the Japanese create and produce.
Based in Hokkaido, Canadian-Japanese couple Alex and Mami St-Jean are keeping busy with their candle business and raising two children.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 28, 2025
Alex and Mami St-Jean: ‘Home feels like the family we’ve created in Hokkaido’
The Canadian-Japanese couple behind North Candles, a soy wax candle business, reflects on their origin story, cross-cultural inspirations and the meaning of home.
Located just one stop away from Shinjuku on the Yamanote Line, Shin-Okubo has long been known as Tokyo’s Koreatown — but in recent years, a range of immigrant communities from across the Asian continent have made it a hotspot for food, services and even spirituality.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Nov 24, 2025
A perfect day in Shin-Okubo, more than just Tokyo’s Koreatown
Long known as Tokyo’s Korean enclave, Shin-Okubo has grown even more multicultural over the years in everything from its restaurant options to its spiritual sites.
Along with planned higher fees for foreign residents to stay, Japan is looking to raise the ¥3,000 single-entry visa fee for inbound tourists to Western standards in the next fiscal year.
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2025
Japan plans higher visa fees for foreign residents
The government is aiming to raise fees to match those charged by Western nations in fiscal 2026 amid an increase in the number of foreign residents.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

Podcast

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

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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