Takaichi to finalize Japan’s foreign resident policy by March

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has pledged to finalize Japan’s basic policy on accepting foreign residents by the end of the fiscal year in March, as the government continues to weigh whether to put a cap on immigration.

The policy will consider future population projections and their implications for Japanese society and the economy, as the country seeks to balance its growing reliance on foreign workers amid a shrinking population with concerns about the pace of immigration and its impact on local communities.

During questioning in the Senate on Friday, Takaichi said the government would “present future simulations of population trends and a comprehensive picture of measures to address them.”

The government plans to adopt a comprehensive population strategy by the end of the year, Takaichi said, outlining how Japan should adapt to a shrinking population on the assumption that efforts to reverse the declining birth rate fail.

The strategy will be considered alongside policies on accepting foreign residents.

During Friday’s session, Sanseito party leader Sohei Kamiya pressed Takaichi to introduce numerical caps on immigration, including limits on the annual net inflow of foreign nationals, the total number of foreign residents and their share of Japan’s population.

Japan currently has no legislation imposing an overall cap on its foreign population, although numerical limits apply to certain residence statuses, including the Specified Skilled Worker program, which allows foreign nationals to work in industries facing labor shortages.

Under the program, the government sets sector-specific intake ceilings based on projected labor needs. In April, it suspended new admissions under the program’s food service category after the number of workers approached its ceiling of 50,000.

Japan is currently confronting accelerating demographic decline. In January, the internal affairs ministry reported the number of Japanese nationals fell below 120 million for the first time in 42 years. The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research predicted in 2023 that the country’s total population will shrink to around 87 million by 2070, with foreign nationals accounting for more than 10% of the population.

And in August 2025, then-Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki released a report that said the threshold could be reached “much sooner.” The report also floated the idea of putting numerical caps on a greater number of residence statuses.

Labor shortages have become particularly acute in the construction, manufacturing and food service industries, prompting businesses and local governments to call for greater access to foreign workers.

However, the number of foreign residents has grown faster than previously projected, and the question of immigration caps has gained political momentum over the past year.

Sanseito made significant gains during last summer’s Senate election — then called the Upper House election — after campaigning on a “Japanese First” platform. The Japan Innovation Party (JIP), the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s junior coalition partner, submitted a proposal to the justice ministry last September, urging the government to consider a cap on immigration to avoid what it called a “Europe-type” scenario.

The issue was also incorporated into the coalition agreement between the LDP and the JIP, although demands for an overall cap were softened to the phrase “quantitative management.”

In August, Jiji Press released results of a public opinion poll that showed that support for accepting more foreign workers had fallen below 60%, and more than one-third of people actively opposed the idea.

The same month, a government working group convened for the first time to examine foreign population projections and their effects on the economy, social security and local communities. Options under consideration for the group include population-based limits and extending numerical caps to more residence statuses.

About 4.13 million foreign nationals, or about 3.47% of Japan’s total population, were living in the country toward the end of 2025, according to the government’s 2025 census.