The success of Sanseito, an avowedly anti-immigrant party that won 14 seats in Japan’s upper house election in July 2025, reflects the growing salience of foreigners as a political issue. In response, the new prime minister elected in October 2025, Takaichi Sanae, proclaimed policies on foreigners to be one of her government’s priorities, and created a new ministry aimed at “a society of well-ordered and harmonious coexistence with foreign nationals.”
The minister appointed to the portfolio, Onoda Kimi, pledged to “take firm action” against any foreigners violating the law, in order to “alleviate public anxiety and feelings of unfairness.” This echoes Takaichi’s own statement in early November regarding “concern and a sense of unfairness” among Japanese citizens.
Also, the coalition agreement between the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its new coalition partner, Nippon Ishin no Kai (the Japan Innovation Party), called for a “population strategy” that includes numerical targets for accepting foreign nationals.
The government’s specific proposals include requiring foreigners to pay health insurance premiums in advance, cracking down on foreigners overstaying their visas, instituting more thorough checks on land purchases (in response to claims that foreign property buyers are to blame for rising accommodation costs), raising the hurdle for acquiring Japanese citizenship, and dramatically increasing fees related to visa and residence procedures.
Such proposals seem to be backed by shifts in public opinion. A Yomiuri mail survey published in December 2025 revealed nearly 60 percent of respondents were opposed to accepting foreign workers, compared with 46 percent at the end of last year. Asked about the impact of foreign residents in Japan, the two most frequently cited answers were “worsening crime” and “troubles due to cultural and linguistic differences.”
Notably, younger respondents were much more likely to link foreigners with crime, whereas a higher percentage of older cohorts mentioned foreigners’ contribution to addressing labor shortages. It is perhaps not coincidental that the same survey found younger generations to be significantly more inclined to sympathize with U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” stance.
However, it may be ill-advised for the government to ride and exploit a wave of anti-foreigner sentiments. One study suggested that survey results in Japan showing skepticism toward foreigners can be exaggerated. “Pro-prejudice norms” prevail in a country long accustomed to ethnic homogeneity, prompting respondents to express negative attitudes toward foreigners. This stands in contrast to North America and Western Europe, where “anti-prejudice norms” are prevalent, so respondents are inclined to conceal negative attitudes to avoid formal or informal sanctions, including reputational harm.
The study compared responses from direct questions – which are subject to social desirability pressures – with those from list experiments, in which a control group receives only non-sensitive items while a treatment group also receives a question about immigration to ensure anonymity and probe true beliefs. The study found that over 20 percent more respondents expressed negative attitudes toward foreigners when asked direct questions versus in list experiments, and even highly educated respondents are not immune to this social desirability bias.
This suggests that the true level of xenophobia in Japan may be lower than what conventional telephone and mail surveys based on direct questions show. The government’s stricter measures toward foreigners, heightened diplomatic tensions with China following Takaichi’s remark in the Diet about a crisis in the Taiwan Strait, and strong anti-immigrant sentiments reported in recent opinion surveys may all reinforce and even widen this gap.
Immigrants in Japan have now reached a record high of nearly 4 million, accounting for around 3.2 percent of the country’s total population. They make up over 10 percent of the local population in 27 Japanese municipalities. Some might expect anti-immigrant sentiments to decrease through more interactions. However, one study found the opposite: as the immigration share grew in Japanese prefectures and municipalities, residents actually became more anti-immigrant. While the increase in the share of immigrants alone will not reduce anti-immigrant sentiments, an increase in high-skilled immigrants combined with public awareness of their economic contributions will likely reduce anti-immigrant sentiments.
Japan’s declining population makes foreign workers more indispensable than ever – especially in agriculture, elder-care facilities, and other blue-collar sectors. However, in a country long accustomed to ethnic homogeneity, even those who recognize the importance of foreign labor to address workforce shortages feel pressured by social norms and the current political climate, preventing them from expressing their support openly. This reflects an internal struggle in public opinion between acknowledging demographic realities and clinging to long-standing conventions.