Washington — Sun Lijun, a 42-year-old semiconductor engineer, says worries about the quality of air and living, childhood education and the overall economic trajectory in China are some of the reasons he and his wife first started talking about moving to Japan almost a decade ago.
In 2021, they did just that, leaving their life in China behind and relocating with their two children to Okinawa.
Moving to Japan on a business management visa was a first step to “start over and then lead another lifestyle,” he told VOA.
Largest pool of residents
Sun is not alone. He is one of hundreds of thousands of Chinese nationals who have relocated to Japan, where they are now the largest group of immigrants.
According to data from the Japanese Immigration Service Agency, at the end of last year, 821,838 Chinese nationals were living in Japan, a 13% increase from 2022. Trends of Chinese immigration follow a broader increase in the number of foreigners relocating to Japan, which reached a record high of 3,410,992 people in 2023.
With an aging population and widespread labor shortages, Japan has been rolling out immigration reforms in a bid to attract more foreign nationals to the country.
Beginning in 2019, the Japanese government pushed to loosen qualifications that previously inhibited foreigners from establishing residence in the country. Now, those applying for business management visas and residency can bypass the country’s previously strict standards for special skills, education and residence qualifications.
Chinese demand
The changes in Japanese immigration policy have come with consequences. In the case of Chinese nationals, new residents have driven up housing prices and the rate of real estate development across the country.
Daniel Cheng, president of Wan Guo Jin Liang Company, told VOA that real estate developers in Tokyo often use Chinese sales teams, and that many Chinese-owned real estate companies focus on business with Chinese living in Japan or other places overseas.
Tokyo has attracted many middle-class and wealthy Chinese immigrants, and that has pushed up the average price of newly built central city apartments by nearly 40% from 2022, to around $780,000, according to a report issued by the Tokyo-based Real Estate Economic Institute. That’s much higher than the average price in the capital’s greater metropolitan area, which is about $550,000 for an apartment.
Chin JouSen’s real estate agency, Yuzawa, focuses on the Chinese market. He said that when looking at buying property in Japan, China’s wealthy mainly focus on preserving the value of their investment, whereas middle-class families are looking for a variety of choices that allow them to minimize the cost of living.
Cheng said that Japan’s stable political environment, good medical and social insurance, and property ownership rights are a key draw for Chinese. In China, by contrast, individuals may not own land.
Water Lee, a consultant with InterDots, a company that provides immigration services to people from Hong Kong, told VOA that Hong Kongers are also among those relocating to Japan — given the changes in the political environment in the port city in recent years.
Integration into Japan
Despite the impact of the surge of new foreign residents, the rising cost of housing in Japan’s capital, and the geopolitical rivalry between Tokyo and Beijing, Chinese migrants say public sentiment in Japan toward immigrants is positive.
Chin JouSen recently founded his real estate business in Japan. He said that integrating into Japanese society is the most important thing an immigrant can do. And based on his experience, the Japanese are friendly and accepting, Chin said.
However, while most Japanese people are friendly to foreigners, Tokyo-based aromatherapy business owner Michelle Takahashi, who is originally from Taiwan, told VOA that immigrants can sometimes feel subtle differences in how they are treated.
“Japanese thinking on service work can sometimes make foreigners feel like they are being treated specially or differently. This can be a challenge for foreigners who don’t speak Japanese,” she said.
The Japanese government provides new immigrants with specialists to help them adapt to the new language and culture.
Kazuhiko Isozaki founded Beru Corporation in 2017. The company invests in unused, vacant houses, renovates them and rents them out to disadvantaged groups at low prices. He fully welcomed the influx of foreign capital, especially Chinese capital, into Japan.
“The rise in land and housing prices has a positive impact on the economy, and foreign capital helps to drive up land prices,” he said.
“As Japan’s population continues to decline and incomes within the country fall, it makes sense from an economic perspective to more effectively assist overseas capital and people in entering Japan.”
He said he hopes to engage in business helping foreigners buy real estate in Japan in the future, mainly through education and support services, to reduce the barriers for foreigners to buy houses in Japan.
A slower, happier life
As for Sun and his family, they have settled in Okinawa, Japan’s sparsely populated island south of the main island. Sun says he enjoys the climate, slower pace of life and the internationalism he has found there.
For a while, Sun operated a coin laundry before transitioning to property management. His two daughters are learning Japanese in school.
“After immigrating to Japan, my quality of life and overall happiness of my family increased significantly,” Sun said.
VOA’s Katherine Michaelson contributed to this report.
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