#wages

3 topics

Sep 12, 2026

Foreign Workers' Average Pay Tops 290,000 Yen, Fueling an Immigration Debate

A labor ministry survey found foreign general workers' average monthly pay reached about 292,400 yen, up 6.4% year on year—a pre-tax figure including overtime that is not directly comparable to Japanese youth or all foreigners. A separate arrest of two Chinese nationals on re-entry over a burglary flowed into the same thread, and Japanese netizens split between wage-gap resentment and distrust of border controls.

A Soba Chain Boss Praises Foreign Staff and Draws a Boycott

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Society

Aug 26, 2026

A Soba Chain Boss Praises Foreign Staff and Draws a Boycott

Ikeda, president of the standing-soba chain Yudetaro, said foreign workers are diligent while Japanese people do not want frontline jobs, and posts declaring a boycott followed. Anger at being talked down to ran alongside first-hand accounts of restaurants that cannot staff a shift without foreign workers. The argument quickly moved from the remark itself to why Japanese applicants stay away, with wages and subsidies doing most of the work.

Japan Studies Numerical Targets for Foreign Workers as Permanent Residency Rules Tighten

Politics

Jul 25, 2026

Japan Studies Numerical Targets for Foreign Workers as Permanent Residency Rules Tighten

The government has begun studying numerical targets for foreign worker intake, with a basic policy due next March, and separately settled on tightening permanent residency rules so that income should as a rule exceed the average for Japanese households. Japanese commenters largely welcomed the stricter residency bar while pushing back hard on wider intake, arguing domestic non-workers and automation should come first and that cheap imported labor holds wages down.