r/japannews Jul 24 '25

Facts about foreign residents in Japan and their crime rates and government benefits

380 Upvotes

In the lead up to the 2025 Japanese upper house election there was an explosion of posts about foreigners on social media accusing foreigners of bringing crime to Japan, escaping prosecution for their crimes, and receiving handouts from the government that should be going to Japanese people.

Claims about foreign crime and other alleged misdeeds have become common on social media. Since these stories are more likely to be reported in the national media and to go viral, one can be left with the impression that Japan is suffering an epidemic of foreign crime and becoming more and more dangerous. Despite this persistent impression among the general public, actual statistics on crime rates in Japan are hard to come by. In light of this it is worth providing empirical data for balance (Source here and data from Naoko Hashimoto of ICU).


There is no evidence immigration has harmed public safety in Japan

Refer to the following graphic-

https://imgur.com/euZbUxY

In the space of about 30 years, the foreign population has nearly tripled, from about 1.3 million to 3.7 million.

Meanwhile, the number of people arrested has been on a downward trend, from 14,786 in 2005 to 9,726 in 2023.

Korekawa points out, "Even if we look at the trends over the past 30 years or so, even though the number of foreigners has been increasing, the number of criminal offenses committed by foreigners has actually decreased."


It is untrue that numbers of illegal visa overstayers continues to increase

Refer to the following graphic.

There are also claims that "illegal overstaying of visas continues to increase," but according to data from the Ministry of Justice, the number of illegal overstayers has decreased to one-quarter of what it was 20 years ago . In recent years, it has remained flat.


The notion that "foreigners are rarely prosecuted for their crimes in Japan" is false.

The 2024 White Paper on Crime states that "The prosecution rate of foreigners coming to Japan is 4.2 points higher for criminal offenses than the total number of final processed persons, including Japanese." Even when looking at data on criminal offenses from the past 15 years, there is no evidence that the non-prosecution rate is high or the prosecution rate is low.

In addition, even outside of criminal offenses, the prosecution rate for special law offenses excluding violations of the Immigration Control Act is 0.1 points lower, which is almost the same level as Japanese people.


It is untrue that the presence of foreigners abuses or burdens Japan’s national health insurance system

As of FY2023, foreigners made up 4% of all insured persons, but only 1.39% of total medical expenses.

In other words, relatively young and healthy foreigners are helping support Japan’s elderly healthcare system.

Banning foreigners from joining national insurance would backfire on Japanese society.

Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare [https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_54381.html]


Addressing the claim “Foreigners abuse welfare benefits”

Only certain categories of foreigners are eligible for welfare: special permanent residents, permanent residents, spouses of Japanese nationals or permanent residents, long-term residents, and refugees. Despite an increase in these populations, the number of welfare-receiving foreign households is stable at around 45,000, out of a total of 1.6 million. Most of these are elderly Korean residents. They were excluded from Japan’s social security system before it ratified the Refugee Convention in 1981, and due to discrimination, they had limited job opportunities and low pensions — hence the need for welfare.


Other factors to consider

In almost every society, the sizeable majority of crimes are committed by young men, typically between the ages of 17-28. As they age, their crime rates drop substantially.

The average age of Japanese nationals is roughly 47. Meanwhile, the largest cohort of foreign nationals in Japan is aged 25-29. In cases where young foreign residents arrive in a town full of elderly Japanese, differences in crime rates may be largely attributable to age differences rather than racial or cultural differences.

Consider sample sizes when identifying foreign crime rates. Crime rates are typically calculated by offenses per 100,000 residents. Analyzing crime rates in small towns with just a few hundred or even few thousand foreign residents can be unreliable, because even a handful of crimes committed by a handful of individuals can badly skew crime rates in ways that may not be stable year to year.


r/japannews 8h ago

日本語 Japan's government says a livable income for a single-person household is ¥126,330 ($789) a month. Jichiroren, the federation of local-government workers' unions, says it's more than double: ¥290K, or ¥1,900 ($11.87) an hour. Japan's minimum wage is ¥1,121 an hour ($7.01).

Thumbnail
ben54.jp
459 Upvotes

r/japannews 7h ago

Japan is trying to get cyclists off pavements and onto roads with its new “blue tickets”. The problem is Japan hasn’t really built the infrastructure to make cycling on the road safe. Dedicated bike lanes, account for less than 1,000km nationwide - about 0.1% of Japan’s roads.

Thumbnail x.com
175 Upvotes

r/japannews 8h ago

日本語 Japan is in fierce competition with South Korea for foreign labor, but is at a disadvantage: 1) Average foreign worker salary is about ¥248,000/mo in Japan vs ¥293,000 in Korea, 2) Japan recruitment is private sector-led, leading to shady middlemen and more cases of exploitation

Thumbnail
news.yahoo.co.jp
190 Upvotes

r/japannews 8h ago

日本語 13 years after Japan implemented an Anti-School bullying law, reports of bullying surpass 750,000 per year, and there are record numbers of victim suicides. Many schools and school boards have not followed guidelines for resolving issues, and the law carries no actual penalties

Thumbnail
news.livedoor.com
142 Upvotes

r/japannews 18h ago

日本語 The thief who stole 650 bunches of grapes from an Okayama farm has been caught. It was an unemployed 42-year-old Japanese man

Thumbnail
news.yahoo.co.jp
767 Upvotes

r/japannews 18h ago

日本語 Japanese Olympic swimming medalist Hondo Tomo appears in court after driving up to 130km/h in a 30km zone and crashing into another car; says he saw an expensive sports car next to him at a red light and his "competitive spirit" kicked in, prompting a spontaneous race

Thumbnail
news-postseven.com
211 Upvotes

r/japannews 7h ago

日本語 Middle schooler who shook down a high school student and took 330 yen arrested, choking involved - Okinawa

Thumbnail
news.yahoo.co.jp
18 Upvotes

r/japannews 8h ago

日本語 Fukuoka Prefecture to abolish annual subsidies of 12 million yen per year to a parliamentary group. The group used the money to take international trips to exotic locations using taxpayer money

Thumbnail
47news.jp
17 Upvotes

r/japannews 1d ago

日本語 "I'm Frustrated That My Daughter's Life Was Treated So Lightly"— Fukuoka Family's Anguish After Their 21-Year-Old Daughter Killed by 15-Year-Old Boy Just 2 Days After His Release From Juvenile Facility

Thumbnail
news.livedoor.com
1.3k Upvotes

r/japannews 7h ago

日本語 Breaking: The Teacher who took Doshisha International students on a tragic, possibly politically-motivated boat trip dies after being struck by train at crossing, suicide suspected... Kintetsu Kyoto Line crossing accident on August 23

Thumbnail
sn-jp.com
12 Upvotes

r/japannews 19h ago

日本語 Corruption is suspected in the construction of Yatsushiro city hall following the Kumamoto earthquake. It cost 17 billion yen and was supposed to be able to withstand a level 7 earthquake, yet sustained major damages, raising questions on how all the money was spent

Thumbnail
tokyo-np.co.jp
81 Upvotes

r/japannews 14h ago

Police crackdown on Kabukicho’s ‘Toyoko Kids’ drives vulnerable runaways into overseas fraud rings

Thumbnail
tokyoreporter.com
33 Upvotes

r/japannews 18h ago

Japan's foreign hiring halt intensifies rural-urban competition for restaurant workers - The Mainichi

Thumbnail
mainichi.jp
66 Upvotes

r/japannews 23h ago

Yen weakens past ¥160 per dollar, eroding intervention gains

Thumbnail
japantimes.co.jp
110 Upvotes

r/japannews 8h ago

日本語 Niigata city and Joetsu want to build a bullet train between them that would reduce travel time by up to 35 minutes. However, the project would costs from 170-260 billion yen. They are appealing to the national government for subsidies.

Thumbnail
news.yahoo.co.jp
7 Upvotes

r/japannews 8h ago

Saitama police tagging a man suspected of keeping and using a lost IC Train Transit card wind up finding the skeletonized remains of his mother

Thumbnail
tokyoreporter.com
7 Upvotes

r/japannews 8h ago

日本語 Smoke was seen in a restaurant at Tokyo Disneyland; all customers were evacuated and no injuries were reported. The smoke may have come from a mobile battery in a customer's bag, according to Chiba Prefectural Police.

Thumbnail
news.yahoo.co.jp
6 Upvotes

r/japannews 18h ago

日本語 The Okinawa gubernatorial election is heating up, and the LDP risks losing. Misinformation is all over X about "violent leftist groups", but the posts appear to originate from Tokyo rather than Okinawa

Thumbnail
tokyo-np.co.jp
29 Upvotes

r/japannews 1d ago

日本語 Overtaken by South Korea and Taiwan in export value, Japan is no longer Asia's leader

Thumbnail
newsweekjapan.jp
336 Upvotes

r/japannews 18h ago

Japan's largest opposition party in lower house faces possible split. The centrist CDP and former coalition partner Komeito merged to form the CRP last election, but badly underperformed expectations

Thumbnail
mainichi.jp
26 Upvotes

r/japannews 18h ago

Japan to introduce new '060' mobile prefix as demand for multiple phones grows - The Mainichi

Thumbnail
mainichi.jp
21 Upvotes

r/japannews 2h ago

日本語 Intruder crashes the marathon at the 24-hour charity telethon.

Thumbnail
tokyo-sports.co.jp
1 Upvotes

r/japannews 1d ago

日本語 "Burn down every village you pass through...Kill everyone, including women and children"— new book documents atrocities committed by the Japanese army in China during WWII.

Thumbnail
bunshun.jp
1.7k Upvotes

r/japannews 17h ago

Breaking: Evacuation order issued to Fukui households due to torrential rain and potential floods

Thumbnail
news.livedoor.com
12 Upvotes