A record-high 2.73 million foreign nationals were living in Japan at the end of December. The figure hit a new high for the fifth consecutive year.
The Justice Ministry says the number of foreign residents was 2,731,093. That’s up 169,245, or 6.6 percent, from the previous year.
Among those, 771,568 are permanent residents, 337,000 hold student visas and 328,360 are undergoing vocational training.
The number of foreign vocational trainees exceeded 300,000 for the first time, nearly 20 percent more than the previous year.
Residents from China topped the list at 764,720, followed by South Korea with 449,634 and Vietnam with 33,835. The number of Vietnamese nationals was up about 26 percent over the previous year.
The ministry says 74,167 people had overstayed their visas as of January 1. That’s 11.5 percent more than last year, and the fifth straight year the figure rose.
12,766 South Koreans were on the list, along with 10,131 Vietnamese and 10,119 Chinese residents. The figure for Vietnamese nationals was up about 65 percent year-on-year.
From NHK World