As of October 2024, the United States had nearly ******* Japanese citizens, making it the country with the highest number of Japanese residents outside of Japan itself. The United States counted around **** times as many Japanese citizens as second-placed *********.  Japanese immigrants in the United States Lately, there has been an increase in the migration of Japanese individuals, especially to the United States, which has *********** immigrant population worldwide. This surge in Japanese migration to the United States can largely be attributed to the substantial presence of Japanese companies with offices in the country, which ranks among the highest globally. Consequently, many Japanese nationals choose to relocate to the United States in pursuit of employment opportunities offered by these companies.  Status of immigrants in Japan The total number of foreign residents in Japan has been rising lately, with ***** having the highest number of foreign nationals registered among 47 prefectures. The main nationality of foreign residents living in Japan are people from the ********************************************* The increasing number of foreign nationals working in Japan is indicative of the growing interest in job opportunities within the country.

As of October 2024, Los Angeles had the highest number of Japanese residents among cities outside Japan, with approximately ****** residents. In the same year, the United States remained by far the country with the largest Japanese population outside Japan.

As of October 2024, approximately 63,500 Japanese residents lived in Los Angeles, continuing the downward trend. Los Angeles had the largest Japanese population of any city outside Japan. In the same year, the United States was by far the country with the highest number of Japanese residents.

As of October 2024, approximately ***** Japanese residents lived in Düsseldorf, the second lowest number of the past decade. The western German city is known for being home to the largest Japanese community within Germany.

Abstract

This study is an experiment designed to compare the performance of three methodologies for sampling households with migrants:

• a stratified sample using the census to sample census tracts randomly, in which each household is then listed and screened to determine whether or not it has a migrant, with the full length questionnaire then being applied in a second phase only to the households of interest;
• a snowball survey in which households are asked to provide referrals to other households with migrant members;
• an intercept point survey (or time-and-space sampling survey), in which individuals are sampled during set time periods at a prespecified set of locations where households in the target group are likely to congregate.

Researchers from the World Bank applied these methods in the context of a survey of Brazilians of Japanese descent (Nikkei), requested by the World Bank. There are approximately 1.2-1.9 million Nikkei among Brazil’s 170 million population.

The survey was designed to provide detail on the characteristics of households with and without migrants, to estimate the proportion of households receiving remittances and with migrants in Japan, and to examine the consequences of migration and remittances on the sending households.

The same questionnaire was used for the stratified random sample and snowball surveys, and a shorter version of the questionnaire was used for the intercept surveys. Researchers can directly compare answers to the same questions across survey methodologies and determine the extent to which the intercept and snowball surveys can give similar results to the more expensive census-based survey, and test for the presence of biases.

Geographic coverage

Sao Paulo and Parana states

Analysis unit

Japanese-Brazilian (Nikkei) households and individuals

The 2000 Brazilian Census was used to classify households as Nikkei or non-Nikkei. The Brazilian Census does not ask ethnicity but instead asks questions on race, country of birth and whether an individual has lived elsewhere in the last 10 years. On the basis of these questions, a household is classified as (potentially) Nikkei if it has any of the following: 1) a member born in Japan; 2) a member who is of yellow race and who has lived in Japan in the last 10 years; 3) a member who is of yellow race, who was not born in a country other than Japan (predominantly Korea, Taiwan or China) and who did not live in a foreign country other than Japan in the last 10 years.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

1) Stratified random sample survey

Two states with the largest Nikkei population - Sao Paulo and Parana - were chosen for the study.

The sampling process consisted of three stages. First, a stratified random sample of 75 census tracts was selected based on 2000 Brazilian census. Second, interviewers carried out a door-to-door listing within each census tract to determine which households had a Nikkei member. Third, the survey questionnaire was then administered to households that were identified as Nikkei. A door-to-door listing exercise of the 75 census tracts was then carried out between October 13th, 2006, and October 29th, 2006. The fieldwork began on November 19, 2006, and all dwellings were visited at least once by December 22, 2006. The second wave of surveying took place from January 18th, 2007, to February 2nd, 2007, which was intended to increase the number of households responding.

2) Intercept survey

The intercept survey was designed to carry out interviews at a range of locations that were frequented by the Nikkei population. It was originally designed to be done in Sao Paulo city only, but a second intercept point survey was later carried out in Curitiba, Parana. Intercept survey took place between December 9th, 2006, and December 20th, 2006, whereas the Curitiba intercept survey took place between March 3rd and March 12th, 2007.

Consultations with Nikkei community organizations, local researchers and officers of the bank Sudameris, which provides remittance services to this community, were used to select a broad range of locations. Interviewers were assigned to visit each location during prespecified blocks of time. Two fieldworkers were assigned to each location. One fieldworker carried out the interviews, while the other carried out a count of the number of people with Nikkei appearance who appeared to be 18 years old or older who passed by each location. For the fixed places, this count was made throughout the prespecified time block. For example, between 2.30 p.m. and 3.30 p.m. at the sports club, the interviewer counted 57 adult Nikkeis. Refusal rates were carefully recorded, along with the sex and approximate age of the person refusing.

In all, 516 intercept interviews were collected.

3) Snowball sampling survey

The questionnaire that was used was the same as used for the stratified random sample. The plan was to begin with a seed list of 75 households, and to aim to reach a total sample of 300 households through referrals from the initial seed households. Each household surveyed was asked to supply the names of three contacts: (a) a Nikkei household with a member currently in Japan; (b) a Nikkei household with a member who has returned from Japan; (c) a Nikkei household without members in Japan and where individuals had not returned from Japan.

The snowball survey took place from December 5th to 20th, 2006. The second phase of the snowballing survey ran from January 22nd, 2007, to March 23rd, 2007. More associations were contacted to provide additional seed names (69 more names were obtained) and, as with the stratified sample, an adaptation of the intercept survey was used when individuals refused to answer the longer questionnaire. A decision was made to continue the snowball process until a target sample size of 100 had been achieved.

The final sample consists of 60 households who came as seed households from Japanese associations, and 40 households who were chain referrals. The longest chain achieved was three links.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

1) Stratified sampling and snowball survey questionnaire

This questionnaire has 36 pages with over 1,000 variables, taking over an hour to complete.

If subjects refused to answer the questionnaire, interviewers would leave a much shorter version of the questionnaire to be completed by the household by themselves, and later picked up. This shorter questionnaire was the same as used in the intercept point survey, taking seven minutes on average. The intention with the shorter survey was to provide some data on households that would not answer the full survey because of time constraints, or because respondents were reluctant to have an interviewer in their house.

2) Intercept questionnaire

The questionnaire is four pages in length, consisting of 62 questions and taking a mean time of seven minutes to answer. Respondents had to be 18 years old or older to be interviewed.

Response rate

1) Stratified random sampling 403 out of the 710 Nikkei households were surveyed, an interview rate of 57%. The refusal rate was 25%, whereas the remaining households were either absent on three attempts or were not surveyed because building managers refused permission to enter the apartment buildings. Refusal rates were higher in Sao Paulo than in Parana, reflecting greater concerns about crime and a busier urban environment.

2) Intercept Interviews 516 intercept interviews were collected, along with 325 refusals. The average refusal rate is 39%, with location-specific refusal rates ranging from only 3% at the food festival to almost 66% at one of the two grocery stores.

As of October 2024, approximately ****** Japanese residents lived in Shanghai. The Japanese population in the city has been on a downward trend from around ****** residents ten years earlier. Despite the decline, Shanghai remains one of the cities with the highest number of Japanese residents outside Japan. Similarly, China was one of the countries with the highest number of Japanese residents.

In 2023, the United Kingdom had the highest number of European residents living in Japan, with approximately **** thousand registered residents. France ranked second with around ***** thousand registered residents.

In 2024, approximately **** million residents of foreign nationality were registered in Japan, making up below ***** percent of the population. The total number of foreign residents increased by about ****million in the last decade. Development of immigration to Japan Except for a large minority of people of Korean descent who have lived in Japan since the first half of the twentieth century, immigration of people from other countries did not become an issue in Japan until the 1980s when the economy required more labor. A revision of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act in 1990 allowed people of Japanese descent, so-called "nikkeijin," to enter the country and work without restrictions. The nikkeijin who entered Japan in the years that followed mainly came from Brazil and other South American countries. Chinese immigration increased as well throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. A breakdown of foreign residents by major nationalities shows that ********immigrants overtook ******* as the largest minority group in 2007. People from ******* were the strongest growing minority in the 2010s. Recent immigration reform Due to its demographic changes, Japan has a relatively low unemployment rate. As a consequence, a large share of companies report labor shortages. The temporary immigration of foreign workers is considered one of the possible solutions to this problem, next to the increasing labor market participation of women and the elderly. In 2019, the Japanese government enacted a major immigration reform. The reform allowed lower- and semi-skilled workers to enter the country and work in one of 14 different industries suffering from a lack of labor. The vast majority of participants are not allowed to bring their family members and are expected to return to their respective countries after their terms in Japan end.

Nearly half of the migrant workers in the world were based in the high-income regions of Southern, Northern, and Western Europe as well as Northern America. Another 14 percent were based in Arab States. In 2019, there were around 170 million migrant workers worldwide. The American melting pot While Northern America has the second highest proportion of migrant workers globally, the United States has the highest number of migrant workers out of every country globally. In 2022, the United States had 32 million foreign-born workers. By comparison, Germany, which has the second highest number of migrant workers, had nine million foreign-born workers in 2022. Moreover, over one million people received legal permanent residence status in the United States in 2022. Japanese population crisis East Asia has a small proportion of migrant workers worldwide, at 2.8 percent of the total. Many East Asian nations have stricter barriers to migration compared to other regions. For a nation like Japan, which has a shrinking population, these policies present major challenges. In 2022, foreign nationals only accounted for 2.5 percent of Japan’s total population. In the face of an aging, decreasing population, over half of companies in Japan report shortages of full-time employees, despite Japan’s low unemployment rate.

As of October 2024, approximately ******* Japanese residents were living in the United States. The figure has shown a slight declining trend since 2018, when it reached the decade high of around *******.

As of October 2018, close to nine thousand Japanese residents were registered in San Diego. In the same year, the United States was the country with the highest number of Japanese residents by far. The statistic, which is based on the information gathered by Japanese diplomatic missions abroad, does not include descendants of Japanese emigrants (nikkeijin) who do not hold Japanese citizenship. People with multiple citizenship are counted.

According to an estimate, there were almost *** thousand immigrants from China living in Japan in 2019. Chinese were followed by South Koreans with an immigrant stock of more than *** thousand people.

As of October 2024, around ***** Japanese residents were registered in Poland, the highest number in the past decade. Throughout the observed period, the population grew steadily each year, starting at about ***** individuals in 2015.

Throughout the Common Era, Japan's population saw relatively steady growth between each century. Failed invasions and distance from Asia's mainland meant that Japan was unaffected by many pandemics, primarily bubonic plague, therefore its development was not drastically impeded in the same way as areas such as China or Europe. Additionally, religious practices meant that hygiene was prioritized much more in Japan than in other regions, and dietary customs saw lower rates of meat consumption and regular boiling of water in meals or tea; both of these factors contributed to lower rates of infection for many parasitic or water-borne diseases. Fewer international conflicts and domestic stability also saw lower mortality in this regard, and Japan was an considered an outlier by Asian standards, as some shifting trends associated with the demographic transition (such as lower child mortality and fertility) began taking place in the 17th century; much earlier time than anywhere else in the world. Yet the most significant changes came in the 20th century, as Japan's advanced healthcare and sanitation systems saw drastic reductions in mortality. Challenges Japan's isolation meant that, when pandemics did arrive, the population had less protection and viruses could have higher mortality rates; smallpox has been cited as the deadliest of these pandemics, although increased international contact in the late 19th century brought new viruses, and population growth slowed. Earlier isolation also meant that crop failure or food shortages could leave large sections of the population vulnerable, and, as mentioned, the Japanese diet contained relatively little meat, therefore there was a higher reliance on crops and vegetables. It is believed that the shortage of arable land and the acidity of the soil due to volcanic activity meant that agriculture was more challenging in Japan than on the Asian mainland. For most of history, paddy fields were the most efficient source of food production in Japan, but the challenging nature of this form of agriculture and changes in employment trends gradually led to an increased reliance in imported crops. Post-Sakoku Japan Distance from the Asian mainland was not the only reason for Japan's isolation; from 1603 to 1853, under the Tokugawa shogunate, international trade was restricted, migration abroad was forbidden, and most foreign interaction was centered around Nagasaki. American neo-imperialism then forced Japan to open trade with the west, and Japan became an imperial power by the early-1900s. Japanese expansion began with a series of military victories against China and Russia at the turn of the century, and the annexation of Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria by the 1930s, before things escalated further during its invasion of China and the Second World War. Despite its involvement in so many wars, the majority of conflicts involving Japan were overseas, therefore civilian casualties were much lower than those suffered by other Asian countries during this time. After Japan's defeat in 1945, its imperial ambitions were abandoned, it developed strong economic ties with the West, and had the fastest economic growth of any industrial country in the post-WWII period. Today, Japan is one of the most demographically advanced countries in the world, with the highest life expectancy in most years. However, its population has been in a steady decline for over a decade, and low fertility and an over-aged society are considered some of the biggest challenges to Japanese society today.

As of October 2019, almost 28 thousand Japanese residents lived in Vancouver. In the same year, Canada was one of the countries with the highest number of Japanese residents. The statistic, which is based on the information gathered by Japanese diplomatic missions abroad, does not include descendants of Japanese emigrants (nikkeijin) who do not hold Japanese citizenship. People with multiple citizenship are counted.

Tokyo Prefecture continued to be a magnet for domestic migration in Japan, attracting nearly 58,500 new residents from other prefectures in 2023. By contrast, Hiroshima Prefecture showed the highest population loss due to outbound migration within the country, with a net loss of approximately 7,400 migrants. Attractiveness of Tokyo The population density in the prefecture has grown over the past two decades, surpassing 6,400 inhabitants per square kilometer in 2020. The appealing nature of Tokyo is also reflected in the age demographics of the metropolis, with most residents falling within the working-age group of 15 to 64 years. Numerous prestigious universities and large corporations make the area a popular destination for young people with aspirations. Depopulation of rural areas The migration patterns across Japan's prefectures indicate significant regional disparities. While Tokyo leads in population size with 14 million inhabitants in 2023, prefectures like Tottori struggle to retain residents, counting only about 540,000 people. This imbalance has prompted concerns about the sustainability of rural communities and has led to various initiatives aimed at revitalizing less populous areas. The Japanese government faces the complex task of addressing these demographic shifts while also navigating challenges resulting from a nationwide aging population due to prolonged life expectancy and fertility decline.

Over the last decade, Japan’s population has aged more and more, to the point where more than a quarter of Japanese were 65 years and older in 2022. Population growth has stopped and even reversed, since it’s been in the red for several years now.

It’s getting old

With almost 30 percent of its population being elderly inhabitants, Japan is considered the “oldest” country in the world today. Japan boasts a high life expectancy, in fact, the Japanese tend to live longer than the average human worldwide. The increase of the aging population is accompanied by a decrease of the total population caused by a sinking birth rate. Japan’s fertility rate has been below the replacement rate for many decades now, mostly due to economic uncertainty and thus a decreasing number of marriages.

Are the Japanese invincible?

There is no real mystery surrounding the ripe old age of so many Japanese. Their high average age is very likely due to high healthcare standards, nutrition, and an overall high standard of living – all of which could be adopted by other industrial nations as well. But with high age comes less capacity, and Japan’s future enemy might not be an early death, but rather a struggling social network.

As of October 2019, more than 20 thousand Japanese residents were registered in the Melbourne metropolitan area. In the same year, Australia was one of the countries with the highest number of Japanese residents. The statistic, which is based on the information gathered by Japanese diplomatic missions abroad, does not include descendants of Japanese emigrants (nikkeijin) who do not hold Japanese citizenship. People with multiple citizenship are counted.

In the past decade, Japan’s degree of urbanization has leveled off at around 92.04 percent. This means that less than 10 percent of Japan’s population of 126 million inhabitants do not live in an urban setting. Japan is well above the degree of urbanization worldwide, which is 55 percent. Japan is also known for its high population density: In 2017, it amounted to an eye-watering 347.78 inhabitants per square kilometer - however, it is not even among the top twenty countries with the highest population density worldwide. That ranking is lead by Monaco, followed by China, and Singapore. Japan’s aging population The main demographic challenge that Japan currently faces is an aging population, as the number of inhabitants over 65 years old is an increasing percentage of the population. As of 2018, Japan is the country with the largest percentage of total population over 65 years, and life expectancy at birth there is about 84 years. Simultaneously, the birth rate in Japan is declining, resulting in negative population growth in recent years. One method Japan is using to address these demographic shifts is by investing in automated work processes; it's one of the top countries interested in collaborative robots.

The number of foreign nationals working in Japan amounted to around *** million people as of October 2024. It was the second time the number of foreign workers exceeded the *** million mark. Foreign workers in Japan The number of foreign workers in Japan has risen considerably within the last decade. Over *********** of workers were employed in Tokyo Prefecture, Japan’s capital and economic and financial center. In terms of the number of people employed, the ************* industry continued to be the most important employer of foreign labor. The majority of foreign workers came from countries in ****, with workers from ******* making up the largest share at around ** percent. Population decline and severe labor shortages Just a decade ago, the number of foreign workers was below *** million. That was less than *** percent of a population of over *** million. Today, amid its aging population and a shrinking labor force, Japan is facing severe labor shortages in some industries. A growing number of businesses are reliant on foreign labor, and the government has recently announced a number of policy amendments to attract more workers to Japan. This includes plans to expand the specified skilled workers program and to abolish and replace the controversial technical intern training program.