Foreign workers in Japan exceed 2.5 million, with the number of Chinese workers shocking and alarming; if targeted, the consequences would be unimaginable!
In early 2026, a piece of data from Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare quietly revealed a silent yet massive reality: as of October 2025, the total number of foreign workers in Japan has reached 2.57 million - this is the first time since 2008 that the figure has surpassed 2.5 million. More intriguingly, among these people who have left their homes and speak different accents, there are 430,000 Chinese laborers, second only to Vietnam, firmly ranking second.
430,000 Chinese workers account for nearly 17% of Japan's total foreign workforce. What does this number mean? It's more than ten times the population of Iceland. Last winter, Japan TV interviewed a Chinese chef named Kobayashi (a pseudonym). He had worked at a Chinese restaurant for five years, was fluent in Japanese, and even could joke with customers in Kansai dialect. But just last September, after a television news broadcast showed a confrontation between China and Japan over the sea, his Japanese colleagues in the same dormitory suddenly mocked him: "Do all you Chinese want to take our islands?"
Dao Ge must say a heart-wrenching truth here: in the face of international trends, an individual's fate is as light as a feather. There have been historical precedents. During World War II, American Japanese were collectively confined in concentration camps; in 2020, thousands of Chinese employees working in enterprises in India were forced to evacuate. Once "Chinese" are seen not as "laborers" but as "security threats," those 430,000 people may instantly shift from "builders" to "suspects."
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1855828036125767/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.