When Japan held the elections of the Hoge Huis in July, the rise of the extreme right-wing anti-immigrant political party Sanseito, with its ‘Japan First’ campaign, became a surprising highlight of the polls. As the elections came closer, the focus shifted from real economic issues such as inflation and tax reform to immigration in a classic zero-sum defect economic argument.
The anti-immigrant rhetoric won the party a record rise in the seats in the Hogerhuis. Which realities determine the current and future immigration bands between India and Japan in this background?
Historically, the immigrant population of Japan has remained low. Currently it is 3.7 percent – well below the OECD average of 11 percent. This is largely due to a lack of political and cultural will, rooted in the 200-year isolationist policy of Japan, called Sakoku. While Sakoku Ending in 1854, her institutional legacy resulted in a social mindset with restrictive views on foreigners in homogeneous Japanese society.
As Japan gets older, however, it is estimated that the share of immigrants will increase to 10 percent by 2040.
Currently, around 70 percent of immigrants come from four countries – China, Vietnam, South Korea and the Philippines. Indians form less than 0.01 percent of the Japanese immigrant population (around 50,000), although their number has doubled in recent years. Japan is looking for more highly skilled Indian immigrants that are currently used in IT, Finance and Auto sectors.
Policy shifts can also open opportunities for mid-skill Indians in construction, shipbuilding, agriculture and care provision.
The Japanese government has recently replaced its multi -criticalized Technical Internal Training Program (TITP) with a new Employment Skill Development (ESD) program to attract and train Mid -Skill employees.
ESD is expected to start in 2027, which promises better enforcement and strict inspections than TITP, who received a recoil for exploitation of employees. If implemented as promised, the ESD can open new doors for young Indians who want to go to a life in Japan.
But how do Japanese natives and Indian migrants see each other? The Indian diaspora is generally considered positive, such as technically competent with strong maths and English skills. They are professionally seen as a solution -oriented and hard -working.
For Indians, Japan is a favorable place with low crime rates, convenience of life, Asian value system, minimum limitations at the work of spouses, affordable and high -quality social services, easy access to the real estate market and more importantly, a conscious and respectful society.
However, there are some persistent challenges that will determine the course of migration relationships between India-Japan in the future.
Linguist
Firstly, Japan has considerably relaxed his visa regulations to attract skilled employees; However, language remains a strong soft barrier. It is now fairly easy to obtain a long -term visa in Japan. Permanent residence and naturalization can be obtained after only three and five years of stay respectively. Naturalization requires near-Native Japanese language skills.
People who invest in learning the language have a greater chance of staying, but this annoying investment in language learning seems cumbersome for many.
Second, Japan has Inc. An increasing number of Indian professionals attracted by English, flexible work-of-house policy and reasonable working hours to embrace-three issues that made Japan an unpopular choice in the past.
Indian professionals, however, want career growth to mid/upper management positions, and the hierarchical nature of Japanese companies that appreciate language requirements and seniority above merit can lead to migrants becoming a stained glass ceiling. The slowly moving, consensus -driven decision -making process at Japanese companies is contrary to the rapid, result -oriented approach to India.
Furthermore, most Japanese companies continue their policy to hire graduates who are not necessarily best qualified for the job in the first place. They are then transmitted every few years around different departments to make them well -rounded lifelong employees, so that generalists are set up. So the IT head may not be an IT specialist. This can be demotivating for Indian professionals who appreciate specialization and field expertise.
Sakoku Legacy
Third, an inheritance of Sakoku Is that Japanese society regards all immigrants as ‘the other’ homogeneous group, regardless of their social or labor market contributions. Japan is a warm and people -oriented society, but one can come across hidden racism. Racial profiling is not rare, and until recently it was not uncommon for foreigners to be abruptly stopped by the police for an ID check, albeit very respectful.
In the case of legal problems, the language barrier can hit hard. There have been cases in the recent past where Indian professionals were wrongly held in legal cases, including drug abuse, sexual misconduct. The Japanese system, also criticized because of its ‘hostage justice’, holds suspects, including innocent, for longer periods, and the legal process can be much opaque and biased if the suspect is a foreigner.
Fourth, economic factors with regard to the weak exchange rate of yen-to-dollar currently also discourage migration to Japan, making the West more attractive, despite the political circumstances. Moreover, the average salaries in Japan are about 18 percent lower than the OECD average and 40 percent lower than the US, which will be a strong decisive factor. With a high salary gap and low chances of progression, Indian professionals tend to the West in the long term.
Finally, certain aspects of the Indian diaspora influence social behavior influence the perception of the Japanese community. For example, celebrating festivals at community level is sometimes criticism from the local population when rules regarding timing, responsible use of public spaces, cleanliness and acceptable noise levels are not followed. In contrast to some countries, Japan does not impose fines for such non-compliance, but trusts conviction and expects that the compliance with the responsibility will eventually fall to the residents for responsible social behavior.
Japan recognizes the indispensability of immigration for his economy. Although it is planning to attract more foreign employees, it is lacking or avoids systematically retain them to retain them for the long term. Japan continues to see foreign employees as temporary ‘guests’ who eventually return to their home country. Whether Japan can bridge this economic and institutional gaps will determine the long -term choices of Indian trained employees in the country.
Gupta is an university teacher economy on the campus of Temple University Japan; Khare is an assistant professor Economy at Meiji Gakuin University, Japan
People who invest in Japanese learning have a greater chance of staying, but this annoying Investment in language education seems cumbersome for many
Published on August 29, 2025
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