Foreign Residents in Japan Reaches 4 Million, a New Record in the Middle of a Labor Crisis

Many factory workers in Japan are now filled with foreign workers. (Illustration: dok. Antara)

JAKARTA - The number of foreigners living in Japan has crossed 4 million people for the first time in 2025. This increase marks a significant change in a country that has long been known for its strict immigration affairs, but is now increasingly dependent on foreign workers amid the pressure of an aging population.

Kyodo News quoted Friday, March 27, reported that based on data from the Japanese Immigration Service, the number of foreign nationals living in Japan at the end of 2025 reached 4,125,395 people. The figure was up 9.5 percent from the previous year and was the highest record for four consecutive years.

Foreign residents now account for 3.36 percent of Japan's total population, up from 3.04 percent last year. Of that number, about 947,000 are permanent residents. While another 475,000 hold visas for special fields of work such as engineering and humanities.

Based on nationality, Chinese citizens are the largest group with around 930,000 people. The next position is occupied by Vietnamese citizens with around 681,000 people, then South Koreans with around 407,000 people.

Japan also recorded about 356,000 Filipinos and about 300,000 Nepalese. Sri Lankans number about 79,000 and rise to ninth place, from 12th place in 2024.

According to Kyodo News, this surge occurred as Japan slowly opened up more space for foreign workers due to labor shortages. The change comes amid immigration policies that remain known to be strict.

The tough attitude was also seen in the issue of refugees. Last year, Japan only recognized 187 foreign nationals as refugees, down three people from the previous year. Of that number, 123 people were from Afghanistan, 26 from Yemen, and 11 from China.

Japan also accepted 474 people, mostly Ukrainians, through a complementary protection system that treats people fleeing conflicts as equivalent to refugees. However, this figure fell sharply, by 1,187 people less than in 2024.

The Japanese government also granted residence permits to 525 people on humanitarian grounds.

On the other hand, the number of applications for refugee status fell by 8.7 percent to around 11,000 people. This decline occurred after immigration authorities implemented a plan to remove "illegal immigrants for the safety and security" of Japan since May last year.

The immigration agency said the policy helped curb abuse of the system. But the latest data also shows that when the refugee door remains narrow, the foreign labor door is opened.