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Does Japan have a “foreigner problem”?
Yes—but it is not what populist politicians say it is
Jan 8th 2026|4 min read
JAPAN is consumed by talk of a “foreigner problem”. The story goes that the country has been overrun by ill-mannered migrant workers, misbehaving tourists and opportunistic foreign investors. But Japan’s real problem is not that it hosts too many foreigners. It is that it has too few.
Foreigners moved to the centre of political debate after the upstart Do It Yourself (Sanseito) party rode a “Japanese first” platform to big gains in last year’s upper-house election. In October the panicked ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) chose as its new leader Takaichi Sanae, who launched her campaign for the job bylambasting foreign tourists who, she said without evidence, had been “kicking” sacred deer in Nara, an ancient capital. In Japan’s polite political culture, this was nearly as provocative as Donald Trump’s false claim that Haitian immigrants were eating American pets.
Since becoming prime minister, Ms Takaichi has proposed tightening the screws on foreigners in the hope of winning voters back to the LDP. Her administration has talked of crackdowns on people who overstay visas, taxes on tourists, restrictions on property purchases and caps on foreign labour. A package of measures may be put forward later this month.
Vilifying outsiders may make for good politics. But in the long run it is misguided. The true causes of voters’ frustrations are economic struggles. Cracking down on foreigners will not heal the underlying malaise. If anything, it will make it worse.
The backdrop is demographic change. Japan’s population is expected to decrease by 30% to 87m in 2070. Ms Takaichi’s mentor, the late Abe Shinzo, recognised that Japan needed to open up if it was to keep thriving. When he served as prime minister he let in more migrant workers and encouraged tourism. The number of foreign residents in Japan has doubled since 2010 to 3.7m. The number of foreign visitors has quadrupled over the same period, reaching some 40m last year.
Many foreigners live in Japan on temporary work visas. Such programmes are better than no immigration at all. But in Japan, where migrants are often treated as expendable cogs, not people who might settle and have families, such schemes hold back integration, which in turn causes tension. And as the foreign population in Japan has risen, mainstream politicians have often been reluctant to talk about it. That has helped populists paint the arrivals as a “silent invasion”.
Some popular worries reflect real problems that can be fixed. Stricter oversight of foreign investors who buy land next to sensitive sites such as military bases is wise. Imposing Japanese-language requirements for permanent residence is reasonable, too. Over-tourism has turned Kyoto’s best-known temples into mosh pits during cherry-blossom season.
But broader fears about social breakdown and loss of traditions are overstated. Japan is an island country with strong borders. It faces no surge of refugees from war or poverty. Its neighbours are either prosperous or North Korea, which locks its people in. Foreigners are only about 3% of Japan’s population; the average across the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, is 15%. And there is plenty of room for tourism to grow.
Japan already relies on foreigners in industries including hospitality, farming and nursing. Migrants help sustain many of the traditions that nativists fear losing: they catch and harvest the raw ingredients for Japanese cuisine; in some ageing rural communities they help carry portable shrines during festivals. Japan will need far more workers in the coming decades to maintain even modest growth. That is why business leaders and governors tend to favour admitting more foreigners, not fewer. As for curbing tourism, that would mean stifling Japan’s second-largest export, after cars.
Instead of discouraging tourists, Japan could** lure **more of them to the many beautiful places that are currently off the beaten track. (Even Kyoto has plenty of spectacular yet barely visited sites.) Instead of cracking down on foreign workers, it should design an immigration system that attracts and selects newcomers with useful skills, integrates them into society and ensures that they pay their fair share of health-care and welfare costs. The real problem is not foreigners. It is the failure to take advantage of one of Japan’s greatest strengths—that it is a wonderful place to live and work. ■
日本真的有所謂的「外國人問題」嗎？
有——但並非民粹政治人物所宣稱的那種
2026 年 1 月 8 日｜閱讀時間 4 分鐘
日本正被有關「外國人問題」的討論所籠罩。流行的說法是，日本已被不守規矩的移工、行為失當的觀光客，以及投機取巧的外國投資者所「淹沒」。然而，日本真正的問題並非外國人太多，而是外國人太少。
外國人議題之所以成為政治焦點，是因為新興的「自己動手黨」（Sanseito）在去年的參議院選舉中，憑藉「日本優先」的政綱取得顯著進展。10 月，驚慌失措的執政黨自民黨（LDP）選擇高市早苗為新任黨魁。她在競選期間，毫無證據地抨擊外國觀光客，指稱他們在古都奈良「踢踹」神聖的鹿群。在日本一向溫和的政治文化中，這樣的言論幾乎可與唐納．川普聲稱海地移民吃美國人寵物的虛假指控相提並論。
高市上任首相後，為了重新贏回選民支持，提出多項針對外國人的強硬政策，包括打擊逾期居留者、對觀光客課稅、限制外國人購置不動產，以及對外籍勞工設置上限。一套完整的措施可能將於本月稍晚提出。
妖魔化外來者或許有助於短期政治操作，但長期而言卻是誤入歧途。選民不滿的真正根源在於經濟困境，而非外國人。打壓外國人無法治癒結構性問題，反而可能使情況惡化。
其背景是人口結構的劇烈變化。日本人口預計將在 2070 年減少 30%，降至 8,700 萬人。高市的政治導師、已故前首相安倍晉三早已意識到，日本若要持續繁榮，必須對外開放。在他任內，日本引進更多移工並鼓勵觀光發展。自 2010 年以來，外國居民人數已倍增至 370 萬；外國旅客數量更在同期間成長四倍，去年達約 4,000 萬人次。
許多外國人在日本持短期工作簽證居留。這類制度固然勝過完全不接受移民，但在日本，移民往往被視為可替換的勞動齒輪，而非能夠定居並建立家庭的成員，這種作法阻礙了社會融合，也因此引發緊張。隨著外國人口增加，主流政治人物卻長期避而不談，反倒讓民粹勢力將移民描繪成一場「無聲入侵」。
部分民眾的擔憂確實反映了可解決的問題。加強對購買軍事基地等敏感地點附近土地的外國投資者之監管是明智的；對申請永久居留者設立日語能力要求亦屬合理。過度觀光確實讓京都的知名寺院在櫻花季期間人滿為患。
然而，對於社會崩解與文化流失的恐懼被嚴重誇大。日本是島國，邊境管控嚴密，並未面臨戰爭或貧困所引發的難民潮。其鄰國不是富裕國家，就是將人民封鎖在國內的北韓。外國人僅占日本人口約 3%；而經合組織（OECD）成員國的平均比例為 15%。日本的觀光成長空間仍然相當大。
日本早已在旅宿、農業與護理等產業仰賴外國勞工。移民實際上也在維繫那些排外者所擔憂失去的傳統：他們捕撈與收成日本料理所需的原料；在一些高齡化的鄉村社區中，他們協助在祭典時抬神轎。未來數十年，日本若要維持即便是溫和的經濟成長，也將需要更多勞動力。正因如此，企業領袖與地方首長多半支持增加而非減少外國人。至於抑制觀光，等同於扼殺日本僅次於汽車的第二大出口產業。
與其打擊觀光，日本更應將旅客引導至仍未被充分探索的美麗地區（即便是京都，也仍有眾多壯麗卻鮮少造訪的景點）。與其限制外籍勞工，不如設計一套能吸引具實用技能的新移民、促進其社會融合，並確保其公平負擔醫療與福利成本的移民制度。真正的問題不在於外國人，而在於日本未能善用自身最重要的優勢之一——它是一個極適合生活與工作的國家。■
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