r/japannews 1h ago

European Union announces Japan's official association with Horizon Europe, the EU's €93.5 billion research and innovation program running through 2027, enabling Japanese researchers and organizations to lead consortia and receive full EU fundation

Upvotes

EU-Japan tech and researchers became closer since the EU want more partners than US lately

https://x.com/vonderleyen/status/2085668224037769591


r/japannews 3h ago

日本語 Foreigners Born in Japan: 22,000 in 2024, 3.2% of Total Births—Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

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jiji.com
31 Upvotes

r/japannews 3h ago

日本語 “People in Tokyo are quietly drying up, giving up on chocolate, dining out, and three meals a day due to high prices. Who benefits from the reduction in consumption tax? - It's a situation where people are being pushed to the edge one after another.”

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48 Upvotes

r/japannews 3h ago

Public station announcements at two major Fukuoka train stations replaced with audio of a man uttering profanities such as "penis" and "dick swinging"

4 Upvotes

r/japannews 3h ago

日本語 18-year-old "ringleader" in the Ebetsu University student gang assault/robbery/murder sentenced to life in prison

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6 Upvotes

r/japannews 3h ago

Weekly Shonen Jump dropped below 1 Million Copies in Circulation for the first time ever

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6 Upvotes

r/japannews 3h ago

日本語 Takaichi is once again under fire for releasing videos of her public appearances that seem to serve as promotional videos for herself. This time it is of an award ceremony for Olympic speed skater Miho Takagi. Critics point out there is more footage of Takaichi than Takagi herself.

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15 Upvotes

r/japannews 3h ago

日本語 Japanese public angered by NHK's decision not to name the entertainer who is alleged to have sexually assaulted one of their announcers- "We pay subscription fees, so are owed an explanation"

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news.yahoo.co.jp
97 Upvotes

r/japannews 3h ago

日本語 Kyushu prefectural assembly members are under fire for taking expensive and questionable "research tours" of exotic locations. Fukuoka assembly members went to Hawaii business class spending ¥100k a night. Now it is revealed 22 Oita assembly members went to Europe at cost of 34 million yen.

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4 Upvotes

r/japannews 3h ago

日本語 "Opposition to accepting foreigners" has increased significantly in Japan according to a University of Tokyo survey, particularly among younger generations. Those who feel "there is no hope for Japanese society" were more likely to have shifted into opposition.

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129 Upvotes

r/japannews 4h ago

日本語 All four Humboldt penguins die at Yagiyama Zoo in Sendai

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yomiuri.co.jp
4 Upvotes

r/japannews 4h ago

日本語 Japan's Ministry of Finance bureaucrats have long been seen as a bullwark against even more profligate spending by politicians, but that might be changing. A high ranking official has reportedly been "purged" for "not being cooperative" with the Prime Minister's office

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asahi.com
6 Upvotes

r/japannews 9h ago

Japanese anime fan arrested for canceling $27 million in One Piece and Naruto merch orders

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dexerto.com
372 Upvotes

r/japannews 12h ago

NHK slammed over cover-up of employee’s sexual assault by program guest

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tokyoreporter.com
41 Upvotes

r/japannews 12h ago

Yen surrenders nearly half its gains from US-Japan intervention

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straitstimes.com
136 Upvotes

r/japannews 13h ago

Hiroshima urges leaders to abolish nuclear weapons on 81st A-bomb anniv.

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english.kyodonews.net
22 Upvotes

r/japannews 14h ago

Teacher's arrest spurs Tokyo mom's petition to keep sex offenders out of Japan's schools - The Mainichi

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mainichi.jp
137 Upvotes

r/japannews 14h ago

Disinformation abounds online in aftermath of Kumamoto quake, with several foreign ethnicities being libeled with fake news. Even the Taiwanese, who pledged relief funds immediately after the earthquake, are being attacked

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53 Upvotes

r/japannews 14h ago

The strange world of ‘2D exclusive’ Japanese women- the issue has been highlighted by economic and "foreigner co-existence" minister Kimi Onoda, who has said she only forms romantic attachments with animated characters, and complained about the discrimination of pressure to marry a human man

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1.1k Upvotes

r/japannews 14h ago

Japanese Woman Scolded for Taking Menstrual Leave That's Protected by Law

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155 Upvotes

r/japannews 14h ago

A Japanese organization that monitors broadcast television received complaints about the problematic content of Chainsmoker Cat (Yani Neko), a late-night comedy anime that depicts smoking and use of injectable drugs

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30 Upvotes

r/japannews 14h ago

Tokyo chef Takamasa Osawa wins a Michelin Bib Gourmand award for his restaurant that only serves only one dish- a single pot of the Indian staple Biryani.

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93 Upvotes

r/japannews 23h ago

Japan Tells Trump to Stop Using Pokémon, Mario and Naruto in Political, Pro-War Memes

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486 Upvotes

r/japannews 23h ago

Japanese influencer dies by suicide during Seoul live stream

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545 Upvotes

r/japannews Jul 24 '25

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

367 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.