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August 14, 2026
 

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EXPATS

Potential health care workers hoping to find work in Japan take Japanese language instruction in Jakarta. Not all applicants for permanent residency should be expected to reach this level of proficiency.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2026
What Japan¡¯s language rules for permanent residency should look like
The main question is how Japanese language ability will be assessed. Japan must avoid turning the Japanese Language Proficiency Test into a de facto national filter.
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Issues
Aug 11, 2026
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The question can be a difficult one for many, particularly those with religious beliefs that might not conform with how death is traditionally handled in Japan.
The building housing the Immigration Services Agency in Tokyo
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2026
Japan shares data on foreign nationals facing deportation with local governments
Previously, such information was shared only when there was consent from affected individuals.
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2026
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Japan¡¯s changing permanent residency rules
The proposed requirements have left many angry, anxious and unable to plan for the future, with some reconsidering whether they can remain in the country at all.
The results of a public opinion poll conducted in May suggests that a growing number of people are becoming cautious about accepting more foreign workers.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 5, 2026
Support for accepting more foreign workers in Japan drops below 60%
The public opinion poll also found that more than one-third of people oppose the idea of expanding the number of foreign workers.
Holders of the Type 2 specified skilled foreign worker status are currently granted periods of stay for six months, one year, two years or three years.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2026
Japan to add five-year stay period for Type 2 foreign workers
Holders of the status are currently granted periods of stay for six months, one year, two years or three years.
Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2026
Current permanent residency applications to be judged using new income criteria
The income requirement the government introduced may be applied to applications submitted as early as April of this year.
Volunteer Vicky Parthasarathy (right) believes that people from various cultures can understand each other better through food.
COMMUNITY
Aug 2, 2026
This children¡¯s cafeteria in Shikoku serves up free meals and global perspectives
As immigration becomes an increasingly contentious issue in Japan, a children¡¯s cafeteria in Shikoku is bridging cultural gaps, one hot meal at a time.
An illegally converted e-bike seized by the Osaka Prefectural Police
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 31, 2026
Osaka police arrest two men over illegal e-bike conversions
The two men were suspected of fitting e-bikes with throttles that made them run twice as fast without the need to pedal.
Japan's new basic plan for immigration control and residency management calls for greater use of digital technology and data analysis in immigration screening.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2026
Japan unveils new immigration plan focused on tighter regulations
The government¡¯s latest plan comes as the number of foreign residents reaches record levels, while Japan faces a shrinking population and labor shortages.
Students in Tokyo participate in a Work In Japan job fair. The country needs to support both academic Japanese studies and children¡¯s family languages to promote educational success.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 31, 2026
Japan¡¯s overlooked language crisis
Conversational fluency is different from the language needed to follow classroom lessons, understand abstract concepts and produce sustained academic writing.
Cars queue to enter a gas station in the city of Uki in Kumamoto Prefecture on Thursday, two days after an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 struck the area.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 30, 2026
Kumamoto¡¯s foreign community leans on 2016 lessons after quake
The prefecture¡¯s foreign residents checked in with neighbors, translated information and warnings, and helped to secure emergency supplies after the 7.1 magnitude earthquake.
As of Jan. 1, the population of Japanese residents in Japan stood at 119.74 million, down 0.76% from the previous year.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 30, 2026
Japanese population falls below 120 million for first time in decades
The population of Japanese residents has been declining for 17 consecutive years since peaking in 2009.
Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi holds a news conference Tuesday in Tokyo as Immigration Services Agency staffers hold up a poster promoting recruitment for inspectors and security officers.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2026
Immigration Services Agency to add 226 staff amid rise in foreign residents
The Immigration Services Agency will add 176 immigration inspectors, who review applications for residency status, and 50 immigration control officers.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks in a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 28, 2026
PM stands firm on LDP-JIP ties and notes public concern over foreign influx
Despite growing speculation that Takaichi is planning to reshuffle her Cabinet before the fall Diet session, she said there is nothing to comment on at this point of time.
Mauricio Ojeda (center) takes part in a flood prevention drill in Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, in June.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Chubu
Jul 27, 2026
More foreign nationals joining fire brigades in Japan, but barriers remain
Volunteer fire brigade members of foreign nationality can only engage in activities within the scope of acts that do not constitute exercising public authority.
The Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau in the capital's Shinagawa Ward in March. Japan's revised guidelines for permanent residency are set to be introduced as early as Oct. 1 and applied to applications filed from April 2027.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2026
Tough new permanent residency measures trigger concern in Japan
The draft guidelines would introduce clearer income, pension, language and integration requirements, as the government seeks to tighten immigration controls.
Myanmar national Nyan Linn, who works at a Lawson outlet in Tokyo¡¯s Shinagawa Ward, is one of over 110,000 foreign workers employed by Japan's three largest convenience store chains.
COMMUNITY
Jul 26, 2026
How foreign workers became an essential part of Japan¡¯s ubiquitous konbini
Despite the fact that most are relatively new to Japan, konbini officials say foreign staff display impressive language and customer service skills.
The government is planning to create stricter requirements for foreign nationals seeking permanent residency in Japan.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2026
Japan to impose tougher requirements for permanent residency, reports say
Income and pension requirements are expected to be part of revised requirements for foreign residents seeking the status.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara (second from left) addresses a meeting of ministers responsible for policies concerning foreign residents, held at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2026
Japan to set up expert working group on accepting foreign nationals
The group will consider the social and economic impacts of immigration and help the government compile its basic policy.
Forty-five meters down, a diver races to record a fleeting moment of WWII history
Kingo Wakasa photographs the kamikaze plane wing section he discovered at the USS Emmons wreck site.
New ¡®Katsu Curry Index¡¯ aims to show how weak the yen really is
A CoCo Ichibanya curry house in Tokyo.
Mexican man arrested over attempt to smuggle some 200 lizards into Japan
Mexican alligator lizards seized by Tokyo Customs from a Mexican man who attempted to smuggle them into Japan on Saturday through Haneda Airport
Gut bacteria may be behind many of Japan¡¯s colorectal cancer cases
A Japanese research team found that a toxin produced by certain E. coli strains, colibactin, caused genetic mutations in nearly half of colorectal cancer cases studied
She is Russia¡¯s richest woman. Her business empire is going up in flames.
Tatyana Kim, the head and co-founder of Wildberries, speaks about Ukrainian drone attacks on the company's warehouses in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at an unidentified location, in this still image from a handout video released on July 31.
Forty-five meters down, a diver races to record a fleeting moment of WWII history
Kingo Wakasa photographs the kamikaze plane wing section he discovered at the USS Emmons wreck site.
Ikarigata closer to emulating older brother Fujinokawa than many think
The future Fujinokawa (third from left) and Ikarigata (right) compete against each other at ages 5 and 3, respectively.
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Japan¡¯s changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
As Japan¡¯s concrete jungles sizzle, urban forestry offers an all-natural fix
People and birds find relief from the sun in Tokyo's Nakano Ward earlier this month. While experts agree that urban greening is crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change, trees are becoming even more scarce in Japanese cities.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Japan¡¯s earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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