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Foreign Residents Rethink Staying in Japan Amid Immigration Squeeze

Stay or leave?

Written and analysed by Ryusei Hosono • • Updated: September 16, 2026
foreign-residents-rethink-staying-in-japan-amid-immigration-squeeze

A flat, minimalist illustration shows a woman seen from behind, standing at a fork in the road with a rolling suitcase and a backpack. She wears a navy coat and cream trousers, her dark hair in a bun.

The path to the left leads toward symbols of Japan: a red torii gate, Mount Fuji beneath a large red sun, and a branch of red blossoms in the corner. The path to the right leads to a border checkpoint with a striped barrier, a uniformed officer in a booth, and a queue of people waiting behind stanchions, backed by the gray silhouette of a European-style city with spires. The scene reads as a choice between staying in Japan and leaving for elsewhere.

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Foreign Residents Rethink Staying in Japan Amid Immigration Squeeze

Table of contents:

    TL;DR

    A new feature in The Japan Times examines how foreign residents are reassessing their futures in Japan amid an immigration squeeze. Among them, an Osaka family raising two sons says it has no plans to leave.

    A question is circulating through Japan's foreign communities: with the country in the midst of what The Japan Times calls an immigration squeeze, should they stay or should they go? A feature published on September 16, 2026, delves into that dilemma through the eyes of residents who have built their lives in Japan.

    The Question on Many Minds

    Written by staff writer Mai Yoshikawa for the newspaper's Community | Our Lives section, the report centers on a stark question facing non-Japanese residents: “Should we stay?” It explores how people who have established careers, families and homes in Japan are now weighing whether to remain amid the squeeze on immigration described in the report.

    Roots in Osaka: One Family's Answer

    Among those featured is Shikhambri Chhabra and her husband, who are raising their two sons in their Osaka home — one born in India, the other in Japan. Despite the pressures prompting other foreign residents to reconsider their futures, the couple say they have no plans to uproot the family.

    The brothers' different birthplaces underscore the personal stakes behind the story: for families like the Chhabras, the decision of whether to stay is bound up with where their children were born and are being raised.

    Key Facts From the Report

    • Publication: The Japan Times, September 16, 2026.
    • Section and author: Community | Our Lives, by staff writer Mai Yoshikawa.
    • Central theme: foreign residents asking themselves whether they should remain in Japan amid an immigration squeeze.
    • Featured family: Shikhambri Chhabra and her husband, raising two sons — one born in India, one in Japan — in Osaka, with no plans to uproot the family.

    Why It Matters

    The feature puts a human face on the immigration squeeze, showing how the broader pressures it describes translate into deeply personal decisions about family, career and home.

    For foreign residents weighing the same question, the article offers a portrait of the considerations at play — and, for at least one Osaka family, a firm resolve to stay put.

    Sources and further reading

    1. www.japantimes.co.jp — Amid Japan’s immigration squeeze, foreign residents ask: Should we stay?
    2. News Source — Amid Japan’s immigration squeeze, foreign residents ask: Should we stay?
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