Japan's imported baby boom spotlights a political and demographic timebomb

"that's about 3,000 more than the previous year and a 50% increase on a decade ago. But none of the women who answered calls invariably issued by conservative male politicians to have more children were Japanese. Despite the happy backdrop, the cries of babies born to women from China, Brazil, the Philippines and Vietnam reverberating around maternity wards was a reminder of the failure of successive governments to persuade Japanese couples to have bigger families."

"Births among Japanese parents stood at 686,000 babies, 41,000 fewer than in 2023, according to the data, released in the same week as figures showing that Japan's foreign population is edging towards 4 million (3.2%) a share of the 124 million population that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. The surge in migration has not happened by accident, and should not have been unexpected."

"Non-Japanese faces are no longer a novelty in towns and cities and, increasingly, in depopulated rural regions. Immigrants work in convenience stores, restaurants and factories, on building sites and in agriculture and fishing. Previous descriptions of Japan as a modern-day sakoku nation of self-imposed isolation, whose leaders refuse to lower the drawbridge to all but a few foreign workers, is clearly out of date."

In 2024 births to one sector of the population exceeded 22,000, roughly 3,000 more than the previous year and 50% higher than a decade earlier. None of those additional births were to Japanese mothers, while births among Japanese parents fell to 686,000, 41,000 fewer than in 2023. Japan's foreign population is approaching 4 million (3.2% of 124 million), reflecting a deliberate surge in migration to fill labour shortages after policy shifts in recent years. Immigrants now work across urban and rural areas in retail, hospitality, construction, manufacturing, agriculture and fishing. Political debate over migration remains intense, with nationalist parties campaigning to prioritise Japanese citizens.

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