Japan's number of people aged 65 and over has reached a record high, cementing it as the worlds most elderly country, according to government statistics.
  • Government data released ahead of Japan’s “Respect for the Aged Day” showed that the country’s population aged 65 and over had risen to an all-time high of 36.25 million.
  • According to Robert Feldman, chief economist at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, the data fuels concerns about demographic shifts and a labor crunch in the country.
  • cygnus@lemmy.caEnglish
    172·
    2 months ago

    It isn’t “sentiment”. Japan is very well-known for being exceptionally unwelcoming to immigration in general, other than for low-skilled resident workers. Here’s a pretty good overview: https://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/d00920/

    To be fair, that isn’t unusual for east Asia. China is the same, but their demographic crisis is still two decades away.

    • xep@fedia.io
      2·
      2 months ago

      From the article itself:

      However, the number of foreign workers in Japan reached a record high of 2,048,675 in 2023. This represents an increase of 225,950 over the past year, and is the first time that the figure has exceeded 2 million.

      These foreigners benefit from visa systems introduced in recent years to attract experienced workers or those in need of training. Created in 2019, the status of “specified skilled worker” is accessible to people with skills in one of 12 defined economic sectors, including health, construction and agriculture.

      In 2023, the “Highly skilled professional” visa (J-Skip) was created, aimed at researchers or senior executives whose annual salary exceeds 20 million yen (€121,000); as was the “Future creation individual” visa (J-Find), which enables graduates of 104 top universities – including France’s Paris-Saclay and Sorbonne Université – to obtain a long-term visa if they want to start a business or find a job.

      This doesn’t sound low skilled to me. Also, the record high number of foreign workers surely means that they are, in fact, increasing immigration?

      Edit: it looks like you changed your article. This is the article that was originally linked, and which I am referring to, to prevent reader confusion: https://archive.li/cefT3

      • cygnus@lemmy.caEnglish
        72·
        2 months ago

        I replaced it with a more detailed source. Perhaps your confusion is stemming from the way you’re conflating foreign workers and immigrants.

        • xep@fedia.io
          2·
          2 months ago

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Japan

          Some Japanese scholars have pointed out that Japanese immigration laws, at least toward high-skilled migrants, are relatively lenient compared to other developed countries, and that the main factor behind its low migrant inflows is because it is a highly unattractive migrant destination compared to other developed countries.

          Yet in spite of this, the number of foreign residents in Japan in recent years is very high.