(Sept 30): The number of foreign nationals in Japan working under a government programme aimed at stemming staff shortages in certain sectors hit a record high, according to data released by the government on Tuesday.

As of June, 444,256 people resided in Japan as part of the “Specified Skilled Worker” programme, a 13.8% increase from the end of December.

The fresh record comes as Japan Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration looks to respond to concerns among some voters over the growing number of foreigners.

While the overall number of specified skilled workers set a new high, the rate of increase continued to slow from 16.1% and 18.2% in the corresponding period of the previous two years, according to the data released by the Immigration Services Agency.

The programme allows foreign nationals working in certain sectors, such as construction or agriculture, to reside in Japan. It was introduced in 2019 as a way to stem labour shortages in sectors that have struggled to secure workers. The data showed that the largest proportion of workers under the programme came from Vietnam, followed by Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and China.

The government is seeking to overhaul Japan’s policies on foreign nationals and immigration, ranging from plans to introduce a fee for travellers to Japan as early as 2028 to tighter visa criteria for those seeking to live and work in the country. Some of those changes will be implemented from Thursday, including a hike in fees to apply for a permanent residency.

While the ratio of foreign people in Japan remains low compared to other major economies, Japan has seen sharp gains in the numbers of foreign people in recent years.

Non-Japanese people residing in Japan topped four million for the first time in late 2025, a 9.5% increase from the previous year, according to the Justice Ministry. That figure included permanent residents and students, as well as workers on shorter programmes aimed at securing foreign labour for blue-collar jobs.

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