Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is tightening visa and residency rules for foreigners amid growing concerns about the pace of immigration in recent years.
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But Japan’s overall population continues to shrink alongside neighbouring China and South Korea, raising a question: Why don’t these countries embrace larger-scale immigration as a way to offset the decline?
Takaichi’s changes to permanent residency rules, visa fees and compliance processes aim to enforce and tidy up an existing system that has already opened the door to foreign workers.
But until the last decade or so, immigration was largely a foreign concept in Japan, and the relatively rapid increase in foreign residents to more than 3% of the total population has prompted concerns and debate.
Population decline is also affecting neighbouring China, where authorities are encouraging couples to have more babies.
But China isn’t looking to bring in foreign workers, and less than 0.1% of the resident population there is from abroad.
In this episode of the Asia Specific podcast, host Mariko Oi is joined by the BBC’s Japan correspondent Kurumi Mori and Shawn Yuan of the BBC’s Global China Unit to discuss attitudes towards immigration across North East Asia, and how people in Japan and China view the West’s experience of multiculturalism.
00:00 Introduction
01:38 Why is a shrinking population bad?
02:44 Japan's attitude shift on foreign residents
04:18 China's attitude towards immigration
06:00 Foreign communities in China
07:08 Japan's immigration policy
08:30 Takaichi's changes in immigration policy
10:06 China's labour force
11:40 Japanese attitudes towards foreigners
13:48 Chinese attitudes towards foreigners
16:00 Muslims in Japan and perceived disruption
19:51 Japan and China's reaction to the West's migrant crisis
21:48 Positive sentiments towards migrants
Watch more episodes of Asia Specific here 👉🏽 youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz_B0PFGIn4c3njIxB0KHuO8SS2mBMtUc
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Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is tightening visa and residency rules for foreigners amid growing concerns about the pace of immigration in recent years.
Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 bbc.in/3VyyriM
But Japan’s overall population continues to shrink alongside neighbouring China and South Korea, raising a question: Why don’t these countries embrace larger-scale immigration as a way to offset the decline?
Takaichi’s changes to permanent residency rules, visa fees and compliance processes aim to enforce and tidy up an existing system that has already opened the door to foreign workers.
But until the last decade or so, immigration was largely a foreign concept in Japan, and the relatively rapid increase in foreign residents to more than 3% of the total population has prompted concerns and debate.
Population decline is also affecting neighbouring China, where authorities are encouraging couples to have more babies.
But China isn’t looking to bring in foreign workers, and less than 0.1% of the resident population there is from abroad.
In this episode of the Asia Specific podcast, host Mariko Oi is joined by the BBC’s Japan correspondent Kurumi Mori and Shawn Yuan of the BBC’s Global China Unit to discuss attitudes towards immigration across North East Asia, and how people in Japan and China view the West’s experience of multiculturalism.
00:00 Introduction
01:38 Why is a shrinking population bad?
02:44 Japan's attitude shift on foreign residents
04:18 China's attitude towards immigration
06:00 Foreign communities in China
07:08 Japan's immigration policy
08:30 Takaichi's changes in immigration policy
10:06 China's labour force
11:40 Japanese attitudes towards foreigners
13:48 Chinese attitudes towards foreigners
16:00 Muslims in Japan and perceived disruption
19:51 Japan and China's reaction to the West's migrant crisis
21:48 Positive sentiments towards migrants
Watch more episodes of Asia Specific here 👉🏽 youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz_B0PFGIn4c3njIxB0KHuO8SS2mBMtUc
----------------
This is the official BBC World Service YouTube channel.
If you like what we do, you can also find us here:
Instagram 👉🏽 instagram.com/bbcworldservice
Twitter 👉🏽 twitter.com/bbcworldservice
Facebook 👉🏽 facebook.com/bbcworldservice
BBC World Service website 👉🏽 bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio
Thanks for watching and subscribing!
#BBCWorldService #WorldService #China #Japan #migration #immigration #asia #takaichigovernment
