# How many expats live in Japan



## al_japan

Hi there

I'm trying to gather some information about how many expats live in Japan. Does anyone have any idea where I can get this.

I'd like to know numbers, but also what countries they originate from.

Any advice appreciated.

Al


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## Bevdeforges

There isn't all that much information about expats (particularly multi-national expats) readily available. If Japan has a statistics or census agency, they might have some information on "foreigners in Japan."

But normally it's up to each Consulate to estimate the number of its own nationals living in the country. 
Cheers,
Bev


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## larabell

Bevdeforges said:


> There isn't all that much information about expats (particularly multi-national expats) readily available.


I don't believe that. Every foreigner staying in Japan for more than 90 days (which, I presume would include *all* expats) must register with their local office. The local office where I live (Nakano-kuyakusho) publishes an information pamphlet in multiple languages and every half-year or so they publish the statistics as to exactly how many foreigners are registered in Nakano-ku, broken down by nationality. Now... it might be a bit of a chore to compile the data yourself if you had to query every local office in the entire country -- but precise data most definitely does exist and I would be very surprised if it wasn't reported to the Justice Dept on a regular basis as well -- whether or not the data is easily accessible from a single source might be another question.

To the original poster: Have you tried Google???


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## Joppa

Just quick Google result:

At the end of 2008
There were 2,217,426 registered foreigners in Japan, representing 1.74% of the population, the highest ever.
Comprising:
Chinese 655,337 (29.6%)
Koreans 589,239 (26.6%)
Brazilians 312,582 (14.1%)
Filipinos 210,617 (9.5%)
Peruvians 59,723 (2.7%)
Americans 52,683 (2.4%)
Others 307,205 (15.2%)

_Ministry of Justice_


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## Joppa

And from 2007:
Some other nationalities:
Britons 17,328
Germans 5,915
French 8,780
Italians 2,373
Spaniards 1,755
Russians 7,346
Australians 11,033
NZ 3,603
Canadians 11,459
RSA 592
Indians 20,589
Iranians 5,165
Israelis 749


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