KUALA LUMPUR - The number of legal foreign residents in Japan has reached a record high of 3.95 million as the country continues to accept more overseas workers to address a severe labour shortage.

Government data from the Immigration Services Agency showed that as of the end of June, there were almost 4 million foreigners residing in Japan, an increase of 5 per cent or 187,000 from the end of 2024, as reported by Japan Today.

Permanent residents made up the largest group of foreign residents at 932,090, up 1.5 per cent from the previous year.

The number of people on the specified skilled worker visa, introduced in 2019, surged by 18.2 per cent, or about 51,000, to 336,196, ranking fifth among all visa categories.

Among them, 3,073 held the higher-level No. 2 visa, up sharply from 832 a year earlier, which recognises advanced skills and offers a pathway to permanent residency.

Those under the visa category for engineers, specialists in humanities and international services, including interpreters, rose 9.4 per cent to 458,109.

Meanwhile, trainees under Japan’s controversial Technical Intern Training Programme, long criticised for relying on cheap and temporary foreign labour, totalled 449,432, a 1.6 per cent decline ahead of the scheme’s planned abolition in April 2027.

Most foreign residents were from China, Vietnam and South Korea, while the number of residents from Myanmar rose 19.2 per cent and from Nepal 17.2 per cent compared with the end of 2024.

The agency said more than 21.3 million foreigners entered Japan in the first half of 2025, and the total could reach a record 40 million by year-end if the trend continues.

As of 1 July, the number of illegal residents stood at 71,229, down 4.9 per cent from six months earlier.

Vietnamese accounted for the largest group of overstayers at 13,070, followed by Thais at 10,924 and South Koreans at 10,286.