Japan Immigration News

Japan: Far-right parties play immigration card ahead of vote

Release Date: 2025-07-20
Media: DW
Summary: Ahead of Japan’s Upper House election in July 2025, far-right parties are attempting to capitalize on growing public concern over immigration, while Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s ruling LDP faces declining popularity and a tough battle to retain its parliamentary majority.

Although Japan’s economy benefits from record-breaking foreign tourism and the country faces labor shortages, anti-immigrant sentiment is rising. Contributing factors include misbehavior by foreign tourists, media coverage of crimes involving foreigners, and concerns over foreign — especially Chinese — ownership of land near sensitive areas.

Far-right parties like Sanseito and the Conservative Party of Japan promote hardline immigration stances similar to Trump’s “MAGA” or Germany’s AfD. They call for “skilled” foreigners to work only temporarily, reject long-term immigration, and argue that Japan should remain culturally and demographically “Japanese.” Some even claim China is intentionally trying to "colonize" Japan through real estate purchases.

Despite this rhetoric, experts note that crime rates among foreigners have declined even as the foreign population grows. Analysts argue the far right is exploiting economic anxieties — such as inflation and trade tensions — to scapegoat foreigners. Meanwhile, the LDP struggles to balance its economic reliance on foreign workers with increasing political pressure from the nationalist right.
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