I've had permanent residency in Japan since 2001, and this new review system is significantly tougher than it was when I applied. There is a zero-tolerance approach to minor infractions (traffic violations, tax filings, national health insurance requirements), much higher fees, and an explicit income and pension requirement (the minimum annual income is actually pretty low, at something like 20,000 USD per year plus 5000 per additional family member). Had these rules applied 25 years ago, I probably would have been rejected due to a few parking or speeding tickets.
Doesn't Japan have a population crisis? Why are they making it more difficult to move there?
I guess this is getting a bit into philosophy, but is it still even "Japan" if you replace the population with people from somewhere else?
Haven’t you heard? Robots are going to care for the huge portion of the Japanese population over the age of 65, which is currently 30% of the population. Yes, this is a real plan that the Japanese government has.
https://japantoday.com/category/tech/japan-biz-labor-scarce-...
Allowing foreigners in would disrupt the glorious harmony of Japan, so robots it is.
Probably to avoid the perceived issues other places have run into. You can always attempt to reverse a population crisis peacefully--you cannot reverse a migration crisis in the same way or with favorable optics. So, better to get ahead of it.