Among the industrialized nations, Japan has been notably resistant to immigration. Only 2.3 million foreigners reside in the country of 126 million—less than 2 percent of the total population. (By ...

For hundreds of years, Japan was notorious for being closed off to foreigners. But over the past decade the country has been forced to start opening up to immigration, in need of foreign workers to ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Japan’s migration debate is increasingly turning against foreigners wishing to come to the country [File: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg ...

Foreign residents in Japan holding the country's specified skilled worker status totaled a record 390,296 at the end of 2025, ...

Right-wing populists, viral social media posts, and deep-seated economic anxieties have amplified the belief that foreigners enjoy special treatment in Japan. Japan’s famed hospitality is under strain ...

A group of men eat dinner at Taruichi, a traditional Japanese izakaya restaurant that focuses on whale dishes and sake in 2019 in Tokyo. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post) Regarding the May 2 online ...

Japan is set to impose some of the sharpest immigration fee increases in its modern history, with the cost of applying for ...

Japan is also considering closing its foreign trainee program and implementing a new worker recruitment system aimed at “protecting and developing” human resources. Tokyo is considering easing ...

In January 2026, the government of Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae unveiled a policy framework titled Comprehensive Measures for Accepting Foreign Nationals and Orderly Coexistence. It replaces ...

Foreign tourists enjoy cherry blossoms in full bloom in this file photo. (Mainichi/Kenjiro Sato) TOKYO -- The Japanese Cabinet approved a bill on March 10 to amend the Immigration Control and Refugee ...

Today, Japan is an international hub for both business and pleasure. However, this was not always the case. The Japanese Archipelago was relatively isolated during the Jomon period until around 3000 ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The "yokoso" (welcome) sign at Tokyo's Narita Airport is "clearly provisional and time-limited", said Philip Patrick in The ...