"300 Million Won? It's Basically Telling Us to Go Home"... What's Happening in Japan as It Pushes for a "Foreigner Quota System"?

1. "I'm Closing the Restaurant": A Restaurant Owner's Tears
I visited a restaurant in Tokyo a while ago and heard a shocking story. It was a popular spot where correspondents frequently held team dinners, but the owner announced they were shutting it down.

[Choi Seok-jin / Restaurant Owner: I just cry. But I'm so grateful that our regular customers keep coming here every single day to tell me they're sad the restaurant is closing. That's all I can be thankful for.]

When I asked why, the reason was visa policies. Late last year, the Japanese government significantly tightened the requirements for the "Business Manager" visa issued to foreign business owners. It raised the capital requirement sixfold at once, from 5 million yen to 30 million yen. For a small self-employed business owner, suddenly coming up with nearly 300 million won in Korean currency is no easy task. As of 2024, only about 1% of the 143,000 corporations established in Japan had capital of 30 million yen or more. And another condition is attached to this: they must hire Japanese nationals or permanent residents as full-time employees.

[Choi Seok-jin / Restaurant Owner: If we had 300 million won, we wouldn't have to come here. We could just live in Korea. Also, the biggest problem is that the part-timers at our restaurant are all Vietnamese. Young (Japanese) people don't want to do this kind of work. If we start a business under these conditions, practically nothing is left over. This talk means they won't grant any more permits. This talk basically means go home.]

It is not just business visas like the one for Mr. Choi. Standard Japanese residency status renewal fees, which used to be around 50,000 won in Korean currency, have soared more than 12-fold to over 600,000 won at maximum. For a family of four, that means spending over 2.4 million won every two to three years. Furthermore, even those who managed to obtain permanent residency can no longer feel secure. Overdue taxes or social insurance premiums have been added as grounds for revoking permanent residency. Xenophobic trends are also appearing in university admissions. Some universities are abolishing special screening tracks for foreign students or reducing tuition reduction benefits. National universities have even emerged announcing plans to raise tuition for foreign students to more than twice that of Japanese students. Society as a whole is narrowing its doors to foreigners.

2. "Foreigners Are Indispensable," So Why?
However, if you visit regions centered on manufacturing, they still suffer from severe labor shortages and say that foreigners are indispensable. Why is this phenomenon happening in Japan, where even the Self-Defense Forces, responsible for national defense, repeatedly fall short of their quotas every year? First, politically, it seems related to the inauguration of the Takaichi cabinet and the rise of anti-foreign sentiment during the process. When the Takaichi cabinet was launched a year ago, reports followed one after another that a so-called "foreigner volume regulation" policy was being reviewed. Although it was not included in major policies as a result, Takaichi has steadily strengthened foreign policies by putting hardliner lawmaker Onoda Kimi in charge as the responsible minister. Minister Onoda, whose replacement had been steadily rumored due to allegations of election law violations, was retained in the cabinet reshuffle last September. This appears to reflect the prime minister's determination to maintain existing foreign policies. In addition, the sensation caused in last year's elections by the right-wing Conservative Party ("Sanseito"), which put forward the provocative slogan "Japan First," is also seen as having had an impact. The Conservative Party is raising its voice in parliament to introduce a "foreigner volume regulation" in earnest. Within the Korean community in Shinokubo, complaints are also emerging that while these foreign policies were practically aimed at Chinese people, innocent people are suffering collateral damage. Amidst this atmosphere, the fact that immigrants from Korea and Uzbekistan founded a political party in Japan for the first time is also a notable phenomenon. Although it was not created to oppose foreign policies, the party itself can be seen as a reaction to the current atmosphere in Japan and could serve as a vehicle to voice the opinions of foreigners in the future.

[Jung Jae-wook / Co-Representative of Shiseito: It is becoming harder for young people to enter Japan. This is not good for Japan's future either.]

3. "A Dynamic Where Foreigners Are Barely Putting the Brakes on the Trend of Declining Birthrates"
The tightening of foreign policies cannot be explained solely by Japan's rightward shift. It needs to be understood as part of Japan's long-term way of coping with population decline. Some argue that while foreigners were accepted because labor was needed, once they exceed working age, various welfare costs such as pensions and health insurance kick in, ultimately increasing social costs. From this perspective, some movements interpret Japan's recent foreign policies as intending for foreigners to stay only during their working years, excluding a few highly educated specialized talents, and then return to their home countries. However, from the perspective of foreigners, this feels unfair. They argue why Japan does not evaluate the fact that they faithfully paid taxes and contributed to the economy. Moreover, giving birth and raising children here, living for a long time, and suddenly returning to a homeland with no foundation is not as easy as it sounds. Although Japan's current total fertility rate is slightly higher than South Korea's, some argue that even that is being maintained because of foreigners. Recent statistics showed that foreign children under 15 living in Japan in 2025 increased by 34% over a span of five years, and the Nikkei explained this as "a dynamic where foreigners are barely putting the brakes on the trend of declining birthrates." If even foreigners leave in such a situation, the drop in the birth rate will become steeper, which could have a non-trivial impact on Japan's economy and government finances. Foreign business managers who left Japan in the first half of this year surged fourfold compared to the same period last year. As mentioned earlier, there are issues with business visas, but we also need to look back and see if foreigners are gradually turning their backs. Pointing out that Japan's own appeal is dropping due to recent high inflation, a weak yen, and xenophobic sentiment has also emerged.

4. Is an "AI Robot" the Answer?
How does Japan plan to cope with population decline if it only raises barriers against foreigners in this situation? Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi mentioned a rough outline in her policy speech—equivalent to a administrative policy speech in Korea—at the parliament on October 5. Takaichi defined population decline as a "quietly progressing national crisis" and stated that a "comprehensive population strategy" would be formulated by the end of the year. She also said reviews would be conducted regarding the "basic approach to accepting foreigners." Then she mentioned AX, which is "AI transformation."

[Sanae Takaichi / Prime Minister of Japan: Labor shortages are the biggest challenge of a population-declining society. To maintain essential services such as medical care, nursing care, logistics, and public transportation, and to respond to the expansion of domestic investment, we will boldly promote the social implementation of AX.]

The government has set a goal to invest more than 10.5 trillion yen (over 88 trillion won in Korean currency) across the public and private sectors in AI-related fields by fiscal 2040, and to introduce 10 million AI robots domestically in Japan by the same period. The plan is to fill the shortage of hands with AI robots. In fact, last August, private companies in Japan jointly opened a large-scale facility in Chiba Prefecture to develop domestic physical AI, training them on human movements so they can be deployed for nursing or logistics tasks. The plan is to deploy them to the field as early as within the year. In the private sector, the development of robots capable of replacing convenience store clerks or hospital caregivers is also gaining speed. AI robots, which have no nationality and need no visas, will likely be of some help to labor-starved Japan. However, robots cannot entirely replace human labor, nor can they replace consumers and community residents who dwindle due to population decline. Slowing down population decline while deciding how many foreigners to accept and to what extent technical solutions can make up for labor shortages. Also, how we will live together with them. This dilemma faced first by Japan is a task we can no longer postpone, as population decline progresses even faster here.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
Reported by Mun Junmo | Produced by Shin Hee-shik | Video by Han Chul-min and Moon Hyun-jin | Video Editing by Ahn Jun-hyeok | Graphics by Lee Soo-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.