Amid shifting attitudes toward immigrants, disinformation unsettles Vietnamese in Japan

When Khanh Nguyen Phu came to Japan in 2014 with a scholarship to study at Gifu University, he was met with politeness and muted curiosity. But in 2026, the Vietnamese native says the general attitude toward foreign nationals — and by some foreign nationals toward Japanese — has changed significantly and has become politically charged, causing some to question their futures in Japan.

“I’m really thinking about the Vietnamese community in Japan; how can we adapt to life here? I think there is something wrong at the moment, we have to find a way to fix it,” he says.

Nguyen Phu, who speaks English and Japanese, is naturalized, has a family and is highly educated. He concedes that his experience settling into life in Japan has been smooth compared with the experience of young unskilled Vietnamese workers who arrive with pressures to send money home and struggle to find time to study while earning low wages.

But he’s concerned about a developing vicious cycle of mistrust, where stories about foreign nationals doing wrong, or being purported to do wrong, are growing more prevalent. He also says some foreign nationals living in Japan are feeling more resentful of officials and of the system.

Khanh Nguyen Phu and his family. The longtime Japan resident says he is concerned about a developing cycle of mistrust between foreign nationals and citizens. | Courtesy of Khanh Nguyen Phu

“I think it creates a cycle of mutual xenophobia. … Vietnamese residents feel unfairly treated and (this) triggers resentment and misbehavior,” he says, noting that this can then result in people responding by stereotyping Japanese people, in turn “deepening local hostility and rejection.”

Since the rise in popularity of the right-wing political party Sanseito in 2025, the Liberal Democratic Party has adopted a tougher stance toward immigration and the foreign community has become a hot-button political issue. Under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the government has rolled out higher visa fees and tightened visa requirements.

The Takaichi government says the changes were needed to put Japanese policies on par with other developed countries. The administration says it promotes an “orderly society of peaceful coexistence” with foreign nationals in Japan.

Takaichi has also been outspoken about cases of alleged bad behavior of foreign nationals in Japan and emphasized her efforts to strengthen a  “command center” to tackle such issues in Japan.

For some foreign nationals, the change in the political atmosphere, combined with low salaries and a weak currency, has tipped the balance on the Japan dream. It has also added uncertainty for those who do want to stay in the country.

Jiho Yoshimizu of the nonprofit Japan-Vietnam Tomoiki Support Association, which works to support Vietnamese people navigating the challenges living and working in Japan, says more recently there has been an influx of requests for support as people grapple with immigration changes. That has kept the NPO busy with helping people find legal routes to remain in Japan, Yoshimizu says. Vietnamese make up 15.9% of all foreign nationals residing in Japan.

Yoshimizu notes there have always been cases of some foreign nationals overstaying their visas or becoming involved in crime, but what has changed is that these cases are increasingly highlighted in the media.

“Recently, such cases have received a lot of attention in Japan, which I think has led to growing concern among Japanese people and has contributed to a negative image of the Vietnamese community as a whole,” she says, noting that a harsher political stance on immigration has shifted public sentiment toward foreign nationals.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi holds a news conference in Tokyo on Sept. 17. Under her administration, the government has rolled out higher visa fees and tightened visa requirements. | Pool / via REUTERS

Recent opinion polling shows that support for accepting more foreign workers has declined, falling below 60%, according to a 2026 survey. Among opponents, the most common reason was that “illegal overstays and other problems may increase, causing a deterioration in public security,” cited by 74% of respondents.

“Law-abiding residents who paid all the tax, health insurance and pension have been lumped together with bad actors and wrongly labeled as a burden on the national budget,” Nguyen Phu says, noting that in 2026 “minor mistakes or violations are … captured and shared on social media.”

Videos with hundreds of thousands of views purporting to show criminal activity or calling Vietnam a nation of criminals are plentiful online, with some calling for mass deportation of Vietnamese people living in Japan. Others are more generalized toward foreign nationals in Japan and their alleged exploitation of Japanese systems.

Shinichi Yamaguchi, a professor at the Center for Global Communications at the International University of Japan says that disinformation circulates at scale, and at the same time, it is growing harder to detect due to artificial intelligence. AI has also erased language barriers, making it harder to tell what is fake and what is factual, the professor observes.

“People are still easily fooled,” Yamaguchi said. According to his 2024 survey on misinformation, fact-checking, and educational outreach, among people who had seen or heard each of 15 selected pieces of false information that actually spread in Japan, only 14.5% on average had recognized it as false.

Yamaguchi outlines three categories of false narratives that have emerged about foreign nationals in Japan.

First, there are the stories of purported surges in crime connected to foreign nationals, including in the aftermath of disasters. This is an issue that far predates social media, with rumors having even fueled a massacre in the wake of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.  

Another common narrative centers on the use of false statistics about high numbers of foreign nationals claiming welfare and abusing public systems. Finally, there is fearmongering about demographic replacement and mass immigration.

Yamaguchi says that such material is particularly challenging to combat and disprove because it is hypothetical in nature.

Claims that foreign gangs will loot stores “during a disaster is hard to disprove, and if any foreign national is later arrested for anything, that arrest is treated as proof,” he says.

“This kind of content is not new, but the target changes,” Yamaguchi says.

At times, even acts of heroism can create a target. In the aftermath of the Kumamoto quake in July, a story of a group of Vietnamese farm workers helping to rescue an elderly woman trapped by the disaster was reported on by Japanese media, only to have some social media users accuse Japanese media of crafting propaganda.

Above all, Yamaguchi urges people to check if material is accurate before they share it online.

“Especially when a post makes you angry or afraid. Information that fits what you already believe deserves the most caution,” he adds.

At times, politicians have been accused of contributing to this issue. In August, Kimi Onoda, the minister who oversees Japan’s policies on foreign nationals, said after visiting Fuchu Prison that her view was reinforced that there needs to be “a stricter response to crimes committed by foreign nationals,” adding that 1 in 4 inmates at the facility are foreign nationals.

Kimi Onoda, the minister in charge of Japan's policies concerning foreign nationals, during a news conference in Tokyo on Sept. 18. | REUTERS

Fuchu Prison includes a disproportionately high rate of foreign nationals due to its unique language support and other accommodations, but Onoda’s comments quickly went viral, amplifying concern about a perceived threat caused by foreign nationals in Japan. Nationwide, foreign nationals make up 6.9% of the prison population, compared with 3.2% of the entire population.

Onoda blamed the reaction on people not reading beyond the headline.

Amid what some observers are calling the “disinformation age,” some lawmakers are stressing the need for media literacy and responsible reporting.

Lower House member Yoshimasa Hayashi, who served as the minister for internal affairs under Takaichi and is widely believed to be considering a campaign for the LDP presidency next year, said during a recent appearance at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan that media has a responsibility to include figures that put crime into context.

“How many criminals are really from the foreign countries, compared to the domestic numbers, what is the percent?” he said, suggesting these are dwarfed by domestic figures. Hayashi suggested that local governments should support media literacy, particularly when it comes to false news shared on social media.

While online disinformation may be difficult to combat, Nguyen Phu has set his sights on making a difference in the real world.

He says he loves Japan and wants to create a positive future in the country for his two young children.

Working with the Vietnamese Association in Japan, Nguyen Phu has launched a local chapter of Book Camp, a project that focuses on bringing together families in his Nagoya neighborhood through reading, games and discussions. | Courtesy of Khanh Nguyen Phu

Working with the Vietnamese Association in Japan, Nguyen Phu has launched a local chapter of Book Camp, a project that focuses on bringing together families in his Nagoya neighborhood through reading, games and discussions.

“How can our children grow up as members of Japanese society while still maintaining their Vietnamese language, identity and connection to their families and community? Book Camp began with that question,” he says.

He is aware that his children may face difficulties due to the negative perceptions of Vietnamese people, and he wants to be a positive role model and foster a like-minded community that can have a positive impact for foreign nationals and citizens alike.

Nguyen Phu says he has managed to reach 20 families after three events in Nagoya and hopes to spread to other cities, such as Kyoto, Osaka and Fukuoka, in the future.

“Discrimination can cause psychological trauma directly affecting children’s personal development and sense of belonging,” he says.

“When I talk to my child, (I’ll tell him), I know some Vietnamese people do bad things in Japan, but there are other Vietnamese people, like me, we’re trying to do good things.”