Some 19.2 percent of teenagers aged 17 to 19 in Japan consider the “increase of immigrants” as a key national issue, almost triple that of two years ago, according to a recent online survey by the Nippon Foundation.
While the foundation did not identify any specific underlying cause, the rise comes amid a surge in rhetoric concerning perceived issues linked to the country’s growing foreign population, as well as political parties highlighting foreigner-related policies during the July 2025 House of Councillors election.
In the February survey, which allowed multiple responses, the most common issue selected by the respondents was “declining birthrate” at 41.5 percent, followed by “aging population” at 37.1 percent and “economic growth” at 27.9 percent. “Increase of immigrants” came in fourth place at 19.2 percent, up from 6.7 percent in the 2024 questionnaire.
According to the Immigration Services Agency, the number of foreign nationals residing in Japan hit a record high of around 4.13 million as of the end of 2025.
But the Japanese government said it does not “promote immigration policies,” emphasizing its focus on taking in foreign workers to fill the country’s labor shortage.
The Japanese philanthropic organization also conducted the multiple-choice survey in Britain, China, India, South Korea and the United States.
Britain recorded the highest number of respondents who picked the increase in immigrants as a national issue at 21.1 percent, while 14.5 percent in the United States said similarly.
The survey also asked respondents what they considered as reliable sources of information. Japanese teenagers were the only cohorts for whom “generative artificial intelligence” ranked in the top 10, with 11.9 percent selecting it, above 11.8 percent who picked “globally renown universities and research institutes.”
Many respondents in other countries cited the United Nations and the European Union as credible sources.
Meanwhile, in a question about dream jobs, the most common answer among Japanese respondents at 22.5 percent was “nothing in particular,” greatly surpassing teenagers in other countries. Just 1.0 percent in India, 1.7 percent in Britain, 2.2 percent in China, 3.0 percent in South Korea and 3.8 percent in the United States said the same.
© KYODO
