Japan Rejects Mass Migration

Concerns around mass migration are a relatively recent development in Japanese politics. The nation was once a prime example of one of the few advanced economies that did not open its borders to large-scale migration. While European nations absorbed high volumes of migrants and asylum seekers, Japan maintained comparatively strict entry requirements.

However, that position has shifted incrementally over the past decade. Pressure from business groups and NGOs highlighting labour shortages and demographic contraction led to expanded visa categories and relaxed enforcement. As a result, the number of foreign residents in Japan has steadily increased. In 1980 they accounted for 0.67% of the total population; in 2010 it was 1.4%; by 2025 it had reached 3.2%. Due to low birth rates among native Japanese, the proportion of foreign residents is higher among those in their 20s, at 9.5%. These figures are not yet on the scale of European nations, which have a much larger share of foreign residents, such as the UK at 14.8% and Austria at 18%. Even if Japan’s demographic shift is not on the scale of Europe, it is nonetheless significant.

As in parts of Europe, Japan has begun to experience social issues and criminal behaviour that were rare in the pre-immigration period. In 2025 alone, a series of serious crimes committed by foreign nationals received widespread media coverage. A Vietnamese technical intern broke into a home, stabbed a female teacher to death, and injured her elderly mother in the neck during a robbery. In a separate incident, a woman in her 30s was stabbed by a Chinese national in Shibuya, Tokyo.

A 37-year-old Nepalese national was arrested for licking the thigh of a schoolgirl as she sat on a bench on a train platform. His reported defence was, “I don’t understand Japanese.” Japanese police also arrested a former taxi driver originally from India on suspicion of drugging and raping a female passenger. Media reports stated that police found around 3,000 videos and images allegedly showing him sexually assaulting approximately 50 women in his taxi or at his home.

With such crimes widely reported, a growing consensus has formed among sections of the public and political class that it is preferable to accept a shrinking population in order to preserve social harmony rather than continue with large-scale migration. Politicians began echoing sentiments such as, “We must prevent Japan from becoming Europe. We need a tough immigration policy.” Japan’s Finance Minister stated bluntly at the World Economic Forum in Davos this January that “Japan will not follow Europe and become an immigrant society.”

One group has received particular attention due to a series of high-profile incidents: the Kurds. In July 2023, following a stabbing linked to an extramarital affair, around 100 Kurds gathered outside Kawaguchi Municipal Medical Center. Their unruly behaviour led to the deployment of riot police and resulted in emergency services being unable to access the hospital for five hours. In 2024, a Kurdish man was convicted of sexually assaulting a schoolgirl in a car park and, while on probation, reoffended against a 12-year-old girl. These high-profile cases, along with more minor complaints such as noise and littering, intensified criticism. Because much of the Kurdish population had been granted residency through asylum claims, there was significant debate around the criteria under which certain groups were permitted to remain in Japan.

Immigration has not been the only source of tension. Tourism has also contributed to public frustration. In the first half of 2025, Japan welcomed 21.5 million foreign tourists, a 21% increase year on year. Alongside rising visitor numbers, a new form of disruptive behaviour emerged in the shape of so-called nuisance streamers. Some filmed themselves playing loud music on the subway, doing pull-ups on sacred torii gates, or recording dance routines on busy streets.

No figure became more associated with this phenomenon than Ramsey Khalid Ismael, known online as Jonny Somali. He spent weeks harassing passengers on the subway, saying phrases such as “Hiroshima, Nagasaki, we’ll do it again.” In shops and restaurants he played text-to-speech messages at high volume. He was eventually arrested for trespassing and harassing workers at a construction site. The episode caused a national scandal, and he has since been banned from re-entering Japan. Frustrations with both tourism and immigration have therefore combined into a broader negative perception of foreigners among some sections of the public, who view these trends as altering the character of the country.

Seeking to capitalise on this sentiment and her popularity, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Sanae Takaichi, called an early election on the 8th of February. The results marked a dramatic shift in the political landscape, unprecedented in scale in the post-war era. The Liberal Democratic Party now commands a supermajority in the lower house of the Diet, Japan’s legislature. Left-wing parties secured only five seats out of 465, while right-wing parties collectively won over 70% of the chamber. A small remaining minority belongs to centrist factions. Such a mandate is rare in modern democracies.

At the centre of this shift stands Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. In October 2024, the LDP lost its lower house majority for the first time in decades, ceding ground amid a corruption scandal and waning public confidence. By July 2025, the coalition had also ceded its majority in the upper house, leaving Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba presiding over a minority government beset by legislative gridlock. In September 2024, a leadership election resulted in hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi becoming leader of the party. Since becoming Prime Minister, her party’s popularity has grown substantially.

Under former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Japan had been expected to admit roughly 500,000 Indian nationals over the next five years, and over a two-year period the country was projected to absorb approximately 1.23 million new immigrants. Instead, Takaichi has begun moving toward stricter naturalisation standards, proposing a requirement of ten years of residency and demonstrable proficiency in the Japanese language before citizenship can be granted. A strict cap on immigration has also been proposed to limit damage to social harmony resulting from rising inflows of migrants. Immigration and mass tourism, she has argued, have produced “foreigner fatigue” among the public.

On constitutional matters, she supports revising Article 9, the clause that renounces war and restricts the maintenance of armed forces. While Japan already maintains Self-Defence Forces, some of the best equipped in the world, formal revision would carry considerable symbolic weight. Such moves represent a departure from the post-war pacifism established during the American occupation. Takaichi contends that the regional security environment, particularly the rise of China and persistent North Korean missile tests, necessitates a clearer constitutional foundation for defence.

Her view of Japan’s conduct during the Second World War also represents a change of paradigm. She has criticised what she characterises as excessive focus on Japan’s wartime crimes, criticising those who apologise and arguing that national pride should not be perpetually subordinated to historical condemnation. A growing number of Japanese people see international criticism as one-sided, a view that may well strain relations with neighbouring countries, for whom wartime experiences remain politically sensitive.

Regarding regional adversaries, foreign policy under her leadership is expected to harden, particularly toward the Chinese Communist Party. Takaichi has expressed clear scepticism about Beijing’s intentions and supports deeper security coordination with the United States and other Indo-Pacific partners in the defence of Taiwan. With intentions of further rearmament and closer alignment with the United States, efforts are likely to focus on deterring a Chinese invasion of the island through strength of arms.

For now, the electorate has issued a clear directive. Rapid demographic change is unwelcome. Cultural continuity matters. National sovereignty, in both border policy and defence posture, commands broad support. The consolidation of right-leaning power in the lower house provides the legislative capacity to act decisively on these priorities. It spells a definitive end to the brief period where Japan opened its doors to mass migration.