Post-Election, Japan Reassesses Policies on Foreigners

The Diplomat

2 days ago

Japan's famed hospitality is under strain as a post-pandemic tourism boom pushes the country's infrastructure and patience to its limits. A surge of foreign visitors crowding popular attractions and public transit has set off a national debate over the economic benefits and social costs of the country's growing foreign presence.
At the same time, Japan's foreign resident population is growing at twice the pace the government had forecast, reaching a record 3.77 million at the end of 2024. A recent NHK opinion poll found 64 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that 'foreigners are overly favored in Japanese society.'
At the tip of the iceberg are the daily missteps committed by foreign tourists and residents. Foreigners have attracted criticism for flouting Japan's social norms with littering, jaywalking, and boisterous behavior, which locals say disrupts the country's emphasis on order and public courtesy.
But, on a deeper level, Japanese society has begun to question policies underpinning the influx of foreigners. In the lead up to the upper house elections on July 20, opposition parties sought to spell out their position on foreigners in light of growing public concerns ranging from reckless driving by foreign nationals to the misuse of Japan's healthcare and welfare systems.
In response, the government launched the Office for the Promotion of an Orderly and Cooperative Society with Foreigners in mid-July. The new body serves as a cross-ministerial 'control tower' within the Cabinet Secretariat and aims to address a mixed bag of issues arising from the country's growing foreign resident population.
The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research estimates that Japan's foreign resident population could grow by about 165,000 a year, surpassing 10 percent of the total population by 2067. But, with births falling faster than predicted, that threshold could be reached much sooner if current trends continue. According to the Immigration Services Agency, the surge is driven by an influx of workers from Southeast and South Asia.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's policy on foreign residents hinges on a dual strategy – sustaining the economic role of foreign workers while enforcing tighter compliance. During the upper house elections in July, the LDP unveiled its 'Zero Illegal Foreign Residents' initiative. It's a hardline, action-oriented message tapping into public unease over immigration, national security, and 'orderly coexistence.'
The LDP has pledged to tighten what critics call overly lax rules for converting foreign driver's licenses, crack down on rule breaking, and impose tougher restrictions on foreigners buying property.
In 2024, more than 76,000 foreigners swapped overseas driver's licenses for Japanese ones – more than double the number a decade ago. The increase coincided with a rise in hit-and-run cases and foreigners driving the wrong way on roads, fueling criticism that the current 10-question traffic test is too easy and open even to tourists.
Most foreign license conversions in Japan involve drivers from countries that have not signed the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic. From October 1, 2025, the traffic knowledge test will contain 50 questions, require a 90 percent pass rate, and will ban temporary visitors from converting their license.
A shift is underway in Japan, driven in part by social media claims that an increase in foreign residents is making Japan less safe and that they are moving in to buy vast sums of real estate. These narratives helped fuel the popularity of the populist right-wing party Sanseito and its 'Japan First' message.
With metropolitan Tokyo land prices climbing, opposition parties plan to submit a bill this fall to tighten restrictions on property purchases by foreign individuals and companies.
Japan is also planning to tighten visa rules to target foreign residents who are behind on taxes or social health insurance premiums. The plan would let immigration and welfare officials share payment records, after a survey showed foreign residents' health insurance payment rate was 63 percent, far below the 93 percent among Japanese citizens. Officials warn that arrears could strain social systems and fuel public resentment.
Immigration is a sensitive subject in Japan. Research has shown that the word 'immigration' is rarely uttered in politics. In parliamentary debates, lawmakers from across the spectrum tend to avoid the term altogether, opting instead for phrases like 'foreign human resources,' or 'foreign workers.'
The softer language presents the issue in economic terms and skirts a deeper, more uncomfortable reality – which is that for decades, immigration has remained one of the country's most enduring political and cultural taboos. As a result, Japan still lacks an official immigration policy.
The government defines an immigration policy as 'accepting a certain scale of foreign nationals, including families, without a set time limit, relative to the size of the national population, to sustain the country.'
As part of its growth strategy, the government has sought to expand the admission of highly skilled professionals as well as young workers from developing countries to learn skills in sectors plagued with labor shortages. The ruling-LDP maintains that these programs do not constitute an immigration policy, since residency is only granted for a limited period.
Right-wing populists, viral social media posts, and deep-seated economic anxieties have amplified the belief that foreigners enjoy special treatment in Japan. Official data suggest otherwise, but the misperception has proved a powerful political tool.