Japan Immigration News

1 in 5 Japan late teens see immigration as key issue, triple 2 yrs ago

Release Date
2026-04-09
Media
The Mainichi
Summary
A recent Nippon Foundation survey shows that concern about immigration is rising among Japanese teenagers.

About 19.2% of those aged 17–19 now see the “increase of immigrants” as a key national issue—nearly triple the 6.7% recorded two years earlier. This comes amid growing public debate on foreign residents and political focus on immigration policies.

The top concerns overall were:

Declining birthrate (41.5%)
Aging population (37.1%)
Economic growth (27.9%)
Immigration increase (19.2%, now 4th)

The rise in concern coincides with Japan’s foreign population reaching a record 4.13 million, although the government maintains it is not pursuing an “immigration policy,” but rather accepting foreign workers to address labor shortages.

Internationally, concern about immigration was highest in the U.K. (21.1%) and lower in the U.S. (14.5%).

The survey also found that Japanese teenagers uniquely rank generative AI among their top trusted information sources, and they are far more likely than peers in other countries to say they have “no particular dream job” (22.5%).
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