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Japan’s Immigration Debate — and Where Indian Workers Fit In

Release Date
2026-01-17
Media
Observer Research Foundation
Summary
Japan is quietly—but contentiously—moving toward being an immigration country as demographic decline deepens. While foreign residents are still a small share of the population (around 3%), Japanese media and local politics are increasingly debating how far Japan should go in accepting migrants and how to manage coexistence.

The debate splits into two broad camps:

Pragmatic integrationists argue that controlled, rules-based immigration is essential to sustain regional economies, the labour market, and social services. They point to local initiatives (language support, multicultural councils, ordinances) as evidence that long-term settlement is already happening and needs formal policy backing.

Cautious restrictionists warn that rapid growth in foreign residents could strain social cohesion and raise security or enforcement concerns. They emphasise clearer rules, limits, and stronger responses to irregular migration and exploitation.

Within this landscape, Indian workers are a growing—though still relatively small—community, often concentrated in high-skill sectors like IT, engineering, and research, with newer inflows into services and manufacturing. India and Japan have built formal pathways through Technical Intern Training (TITP) and Specified Skilled Worker (SSW) frameworks, linking Indian labour mobility to Japan’s domestic debate: supporters see these programmes as predictable talent pipelines, while critics worry about exploitation, overstaying, and “cheap labour” dynamics.

The piece concludes that Japan’s internal argument matters for India because it (1) challenges the “closed Japan” stereotype, (2) highlights the need for stronger bilateral cooperation on training, recruitment transparency, worker protections, and skill recognition, and (3) offers a broader case study of how ageing democracies balance labour needs with identity and security concerns—making India–Japan mobility increasingly important alongside wider Indo-Pacific cooperation.
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