Japan says hosting record number of foreigners

Tokyo has witnessed a record number of foreigners residing in the country this year, despite increasing anti-immigration sentiment, as Japan confronts the challenges posed by an aging and diminishing population. According to data released by the Immigration Services Agency on Friday, 4.28 million foreigners were recorded as living in Japan by the end of June, excluding short-term visitors.

This represents a 156,000-person increase from the end of the previous year and constitutes approximately 3.5 percent of Japan's total population, based on government estimates.

Immigration expert Toshihiro Menju expressed Japan's labor shortage, spanning from highly skilled professionals to service workers. With Japan's population dwindling by over 900,000 annually, Menju stated that the country has no alternative but to rely on foreign workers. He emphasized that government measures like the adoption of AI and robotics, as well as promoting workforce participation by women and older individuals, are insufficient to compensate for the deficit.