Overview

• The new cross-agency body will oversee measures on crime, over-tourism and administrative abuses by foreign residents and visitors.
• Japan recorded about 3.8 million foreign nationals last year and welcomed 36.8 million tourists in 2024, straining local services and infrastructure.
• June’s proposal by LDP lawmakers called for stricter rules on driver’s license conversions and real estate purchases by foreigners to ensure orderly coexistence.
• Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba cited crimes, disorderly conduct and misuse of administrative systems by some foreigners as drivers of public anxiety.
• Surging voter concerns over immigration have buoyed the populist Sanseito party and pose a threat to the ruling LDP–Komeito coalition in the July 20 upper house election.