Foreign residents in Japan top record 4 million

According to the Immigration Services Agency, 4,125,395 foreign nationals were residing in Japan at the end of 2025, up 9.5% from the previous year, hitting a record high for the fourth consecutive year.

They accounted for 3.36% of the country's population, up from 3.04% last year. Around 947,000 were permanent residents, while 475,000 were holders of visas in specialized work fields such as engineering or the humanities.

By nationality, the Chinese topped the list of foreign residents in Japan at 930,000. Vietnamese came second at around 681,000, followed by South Koreans at around 407,000.

Japan also had around 356,000 Filipinos and around 300,000 Nepalese. Sri Lankans, at around 79,000, ranked ninth, up from 12th place in 2024.

Known for its strict immigration policy, Japan has been gradually opening its doors to foreign workers in recent years amid labor shortages due to the aging of society.

Its refugee recognition system is also seen as stringent. The agency announced that 187 foreigners were recognized as refugees last year, down 3 from the year before. The total includes 123 Afghans, 26 Yemenis, and 11 Chinese.

Japan accepted a total of 474 people, mostly Ukrainians, under what is known as the complementary protection system that treats those fleeing conflict as equivalent to refugees. The number fell sharply, by 1,187 from 2024.

The government granted residential status to 525 people on humanitarian grounds.

The number of foreign nationals applying for refugee status dropped 8.7 percent to around 11,000. The figure has been on a downward trend since the agency introduced a plan to eliminate "illegal immigrants for the safety and security" of Japan in May last year.

The agency said the plan helped reduce cases in which the system was either misused or abused.

 As reported earlier, over 90% Japanese students secured job offers

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