Which cities in Japan had the biggest declines and gains in foreigner population in 2021?

March 5, 2022

In this post, we give an overview of the cities and wards where resident foreigners live in Japan and which cities in the top 100 lost and gained the greatest number of foreigners.

The rankings below are based on data from the Immigration Services Agency of Japan, as of June 2021.

In order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Japan closed its borders to new immigration starting in mid-2020 and all of 2021, with intermittent and short-lived periods when it allowed some entry of foreigners with resident visas. Currently, almost all foreigners are barred from entry, with the exception of those who have existing residence visas or on a case-by-base humanitarian grounds.

Starting March 1st, Japan started to ease border controls and currently, the Immigration Agency allows 7,000 foreigners a day into the country, mostly students and business people. However, tourists are still barred from visiting Japan.

As of June 2021, there were 2,823,565 foreigners living in Japan with resident status. This was a decline of about 3.7% compared to December 2019, prior to the start of the pandemic.

Foreigner population of Japan in June 2021 versus December 2019
	June 2021	Dec 2019	% Change
Foreign population of Top 100 cities with most foreign residents	1,246,123	1,318,483	-5.5%
Total population of all foreign residents in Japan	2,823,565	2,933,137	-3.7%

Of the Top 100 cities and wards in Japan with the highest number of residents foreigners, 78 had fewer foreigners in June 2021 than December 2019.

Which cities lost the greatest number of foreign residents?

Here are some key takeaways from the data:

The Tokyo 23 Wards, as a whole, with the highest population in Japan of foreign residents in June 2021 (451,621), also had the greatest absolute decrease in foreign resident population, of 45,755 people.
Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo had the greatest absolute loss of foreign residents, down 7,409 versus the population in December 2019.
In percentage terms, Minami Ward, Nagoya, had the greatest decrease, at -33.7%, while Nakano, Shinjuku, and Naka Wards in Tokyo each had drops of about 17% in foreigner population.

Rank Population Loss June 2021 v. Dec 2019	Rank in Top 100 Cities with Highest # of Foreign Residents	City or Ward	City or Prefecture	# of Foreign Residents in June 2021	# of Foreign Residents in Dec 2021	Difference
1	3	Shinjuku	Tokyo	36,090	43,499	-7,409
2	8	Toshima	Tokyo	25,455	30,262	-4,807
3	22	Nakano	Tokyo	16,894	20,526	-3,632
4	97	Minami	Nagoya	6,328	9,545	-3,217
5	25	Suginami	Tokyo	16,193	18,999	-2,806
6	7	Itabashi	Tokyo	26,610	29,333	-2,723
7	17	Minato	Tokyo	18,817	21,512	-2,695
8	2	Edogawa	Tokyo	36,776	39,392	-2,616
9	13	Nerima	Tokyo	19,704	22,067	-2,363
10	12	Kita	Tokyo	21,983	23,978	-1,995
11	59	Naka	Nagoya	8,888	10,756	-1,868
12	11	Setagaya	Tokyo	22,121	23,965	-1,844
13	9	Ota	Tokyo	24,202	26,026	-1,824
14	43	Bunkyo	Tokyo	10,197	11,995	-1,798
15	19	Arakawa	Tokyo	18,110	19,684	-1,574
16	26	Taito	Tokyo	14,567	16,091	-1,524
17	24	Naka	Yokohama	16,401	17,884	-1,483
18	39	Shibuya	Tokyo	10,430	11,832	-1,402
19	10	Katsushika	Tokyo	22,293	23,630	-1,337
20	5	Koto	Tokyo	30,785	32,075	-1,290
21	57	Hakata	Fukuoka	8,898	10,155	-1,257
22	29	Shinagawa	Tokyo	13,349	14,482	-1,133
23	6	Ikuno Ward	Osaka	27,264	28,395	-1,131
24	18	Toyota City	Aichi	18,144	19,274	-1,130
25	87	Sakyo Ward	Kyoto	7,084	8,101	-1,017
26	60	Fushimi Ward	Kyoto	8,834	9,825	-991
27	4	Adachi	Tokyo	33,824	34,730	-906
28	84	Kita Ward	Okayama	7,143	8,048	-905
29	32	Sumida	Tokyo	12,419	13,300	-881
30	20	Ichikawa City	Chiba	17,505	18,303	-798
31	52	Meguro	Tokyo	9,267	10,061	-794
32	31	Chuo Ward	Kobe	12,793	13,553	-760
33	47	Fukuyama City	Hiroshima	9,648	10,335	-687
34	23	Kawasaki Ward	Kawasaki	16,631	17,273	-642
35	15	Toyohashi City	Aichi	18,939	19,564	-625
36	54	Naniwa Ward	Osaka	9,108	9,727	-619
37	80	Toyama City	Toyama	7,269	7,883	-614
38	33	Okazaki City	Aichi	12,325	12,895	-570
39	58	Tsu City	Mie	8,898	9,466	-568
40	51	Gifu City	Gifu	9,316	9,880	-564
41	45	Tsukuba City	Ibaraki	9,963	10,514	-551
42	72	Higashi Hiroshima City	Hiroshima	7,552	8,087	-535
43	88	Higashiyodogawa Ward	Osaka	7,060	7,535	-475
44	49	Utsunomiya City	Tochigi	9,479	9,943	-464
45	41	Higashi Ward	Fukuoka	10,305	10,755	-450
46	37	Minami Ward	Yokohama	10,760	11,199	-439
47	63	Hirano Ward	Osaka	8,339	8,772	-433
48	86	Higashinari Ward	Osaka	7,104	7,491	-387
49	64	Kani City	Gifu	8,164	8,544	-380
50	48	Naka Ward	Hamamatsu	9,641	10,010	-369
51	62	Chuo	Tokyo	8,533	8,862	-329
52	96	Chuo Ward	Chiba	6,631	6,955	-324
53	90	Kohoku Ward	Yokohama	7,017	7,314	-297
54	44	Nishio City	Aichi	10,181	10,470	-289
55	56	Chuo Ward	Osaka	8,972	9,256	-284
56	75	Toda City	Saitama	7,489	7,766	-277
57	27	Tsurumi Ward	Yokohama	13,909	14,185	-276
58	78	Kanagawa Ward	Yokohama	7,402	7,676	-274
59	1	Kawaguchi	Saitama	38,962	39,217	-255
60	70	Anjo City	Aichi	7,838	8,090	-252
61	30	Hachioji	Tokyo	13,264	13,511	-247
62	65	Oizumi-cho, Ora-gun	Gunma	8,133	8,367	-234
63	38	Yokkaichi	Mie	10,512	10,745	-233
64	92	Nagata Ward	Kobe	6,967	7,143	-176
65	16	Higashi Osaka City	Osaka	18,861	19,029	-168
66	69	Kasugai City	Aichi	7,869	8,034	-165
67	21	Matsudo City	Chiba	17,407	17,536	-129
68	36	Himeji City	Hyogo	11,486	11,605	-119
69	50	Minato Ward	Nagoya	9,428	9,545	-117
70	83	Nakagawa Ward	Nagoya	7,172	7,287	-115
71	14	Funabashi City	Chiba	19,065	19,174	-109
72	74	Yodogawa Ward	Osaka	7,496	7,593	-97
73	42	Komaki City	Aichi	10,233	10,288	-55
74	67	Atsugi City	Kanagawa	7,942	7,982	-40
75	82	Nishinomiya City	Hyogo	7,229	7,251	-22
76	68	Yao City	Osaka	7,906	7,926	-20
77	76	Mihama Ward	Chiba	7,428	7,445	-17
78	35	Amagasaki City	Hyogo	11,998	12,002	-4

Which cities gained the greatest number of foreign residents?

The cities and wards below gained population June 2021 compared to December 2019.

19 municipalities in the Top 100 cities with the highest number of foreign residents gained more foreign residents.
3 municipalities which were not in Top 100 list in December 2019, climbed to the Top 100 in June 2021: Minami Ward in the city of Sagmihara, Ichikawa in Chiba Prefecture, and Tokorozawa in Saitama

Rank Population Gain June 2021 v. Dec 2019	Rank in Top 100 Cities with Highest Resident Foreigner Population	City or Ward	City or Prefecture	# of Foreign Residents in June 2021	# of Foreign Residents in Dec 2019	Difference
1	66	Soka	Saitama	8,112	7,677	435
2	40	Nishinari Ward	Osaka	10,327	9,935	392
3	73	Maebashi City	Gunma	7,544	7,264	280
4	79	Machida	Tokyo	7,333	7,070	263
5	28	Isesaki City	Gunma	13,810	13,595	215
6	53	Kawagoe City	Saitama	9,164	8,971	193
7	34	Ota City	Gunma	12,160	11,970	190
8	77	Yamato City	Kanagawa	7,421	7,281	140
9	94	Higashinada Ward	Kobe	6,638	6,505	133
10	71	Warabi City	Saitama	7,660	7,533	127
11	91	Oyama City	Tochigi	7,017	6,942	75
12	89	Ichinomiya City	Aichi	7,036	6,965	71
13	61	Iwata City	Shizuoka	8,753	8,703	50
14	55	Suzuka City	Mie	8,984	8,936	48
15	93	Kurashiki City	Okayama	6,887	6,840	47
16	85	Toyokawa City	Aichi	7,115	7,075	40
17	81	Koshigaya City	Saitama	7,247	7,215	32
18	46	Kashiwa City	Chiba	9,928	9,911	17
19	94	Fujisawa City	Kanagawa	6,864	6,859	5
N/A	98	Minami Ward, Sagamihara City	Sagamihara	6,317	Not in Top 100 in 2019	N/A
N/A	99	Ichihara City	Chiba	6,317	Not in Top 100 in 2019	N/A
N/A	100	Tokorozawa City	Saitama	6,290	Not in Top 100 in 2019	N/A