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As the Japanese population shrinks, Chinese, South Koreans and Vietnamese arrive in growing numbers
- Japan’s ageing society has contributed to a labour shortage – in response, more relaxed employment regulations have opened the doors to foreigners
- The newcomers are mostly from other parts of Asia: China accounts for the single largest immigrant population, followed by South Korea and Vietnam
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Japan is experiencing a “demographic crisis” as its population ages and deaths outnumber births year on year. But as the native population shrinks, the number of foreigners calling the country home has moved steadily in the opposite direction and has of late been propelled to new heights by an acute labour shortage.
There are now 2,667,000 foreigners living in Japan – an increase of about 170,000 from 12 months earlier, according to annual statistics released this month by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
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After five consecutive years of increases, these foreigners now account for 2.09 per cent of Japan’s population.
The newcomers are mostly from other parts of Asia: China accounts for the single largest immigrant population, followed by South Korea and Vietnam.
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“We first began to see a gradual rise in foreign nationals living in Japan about 30 years ago, but it has increased in the last 10 years or so,” said Masataka Nakagawa, a senior researcher with the government-run National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
“The figures dropped around 2010 because of the global economic crisis and again the following year because of the earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan but the numbers have continued to grow again since then.”
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