How Many Japanese Live Abroad by Country? 2025 MOFA Data

As of 1 October 2025, 1,298,170 Japanese nationals live abroad (MOFA's annual count), led by the United States (416,380), Australia, China, Canada and Thailand. MOFA splits the total into long-term residents (54.7%, on a fixed stay) and permanent residents (45.3%, no fixed end date). The permanent share is the number that matters for hiring: it tells you whether a settled, work-eligible Japanese community exists locally before you sponsor anyone from Japan.

1. The 2025 count in brief

Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) counts Japanese nationals living abroad every year, as of 1 October, built from residence registrations (在留届) filed with Japanese embassies and consulates. It covers anyone who has set up an address or residence abroad and stays three months or more, and splits them into long-term residents (a fixed period abroad) and permanent residents (no fixed end date).

For a Japanese restaurant hiring outside Japan, that split matters more than the headline total. It hints at how much of the local Japanese community already has a settled right to live and, subject to their own visa, to work there, rather than a status tied to a single employer.

2. Long-term residents are shrinking, permanent residents are growing

The total has moved little in three years, but its make-up has shifted steadily.

Long-term residents peaked in 2019 at 891,473 and have fallen every year since, down about 182,000 in six years. Permanent residents have risen every year since 2002 and reached 588,486 in 2025, the highest figure in the series. For employers this means the pool of Japanese people abroad is becoming more settled: fewer are on fixed postings, more have made their life in the country, and that second group is the one most likely to take a job with you without a visa sponsorship.

3. By region

Asia has the second largest Japanese population of any region but the lowest permanent share: 86% are long-term residents, mostly people posted by a Japanese employer. North America, Oceania and South America are the opposite, with well over half settled permanently.

4. Top 20 countries, population against restaurant count

Permanent share, change and residents-per-restaurant are our calculations from MOFA and MAFF's published figures; the population, restaurant and permanent resident counts themselves are theirs. Residents per restaurant is a rough read on competition, not a candidate count: it divides total Japanese residents (not just cooks) by the number of Japanese restaurants in that country, so a low figure means many restaurants are chasing the same small community and a high figure means the opposite.

China stands out at 1.5 residents per restaurant, the tightest ratio on the list, and South Korea and Indonesia are only a little looser. Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Germany, Singapore and Switzerland all sit above 25, meaning a comparatively large settled community per restaurant. Restaurant counts and the full country and region series are in Japanese restaurants abroad: the data.

5. Who grew and who shrank

Among the top 20, the fastest growth was in New Zealand (+5.7%), the Philippines (+5.5%), Brazil and the Netherlands (both +5.3%). The largest falls were in China (−4.7%) and Vietnam (−4.4%), followed by the United Kingdom and France (both −2.8%) and Canada (−2.6%).

In China, 93% of Japanese residents are long-term, so the fall there is a fall in people on fixed postings. It lines up with MAFF's finding that Japanese restaurants in China fell from 2023 to 2025 (63,500 in 2025, down 15,260, the single largest driver of the first global decline in that survey's history). The detail is in Japanese restaurants abroad: the data.

6. Reading the table as an employer, and where to look locally

The survey does not ask anyone about work rights, so treat the permanent share as a signal, not a count of candidates. With that caveat, the top 20 fall into three groups, each best reached a different way.

Mostly permanent: Brazil, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Italy

More than half of the Japanese community here has no fixed end date to their stay, and many hold permanent residence or citizenship locally, so they can be hired like any other local worker once you confirm their status. Brazil is the extreme case at 90.7% permanent. Look before you sponsor: Japanese cultural and community associations, Japanese-language local newspapers and community bulletins, noticeboards at Japanese supplementary schools (hoshuko) and consulates, and local Japanese-language Facebook and LINE groups. Advertise in Japanese, in these channels, before any plan to bring a chef from Japan; the fuller method, sequenced by how soon you need someone, is in how to find Japanese chefs to hire.

Balanced: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan

Between roughly a third and a half are permanent. The same channels apply, but expect only about half your leads to already hold settled status; the rest are on stays tied to their own employer or family visa, so check each one before interview. In the UK, where sponsoring an overseas chef is effectively closed for new hires, this settled group and working holiday makers make up most of the realistic pool; see hiring a Japanese chef in the UK after 2025.

Mostly long-term: Thailand, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Netherlands

Most are long-term residents, and in Thailand, Vietnam, China and Malaysia more than nine in ten are. Many are employees posted by Japanese companies and their families, so a spouse in Bangkok or Singapore may or may not be allowed to work for you depending on their own pass. Community channels here skew toward business associations and chambers of commerce rather than jobseekers, so they suit finding a candidate's status, not the search itself. For a restaurant, the practical model is usually a head chef brought in on a work permit and a locally trained team, which is also what the local labour rules in these markets tend to require; see training local staff in Japanese cuisine and the country pages for Thailand and Singapore.

7. What the numbers do not tell you

• Registration based. The figures come from residence registrations filed with Japanese missions. People who never file, or who leave without deregistering, are not captured accurately.
• Nationality, not heritage. The count is of Japanese nationals. People of Japanese descent who hold another nationality, such as many Japanese Brazilians or Japanese Americans, are not in it.
• No occupation data. Nothing here says how many are cooks. A large, settled community is a better recruiting base, not a guarantee that anyone in it has kitchen experience.
• A snapshot. The date is 1 October 2025. Working holiday makers in particular come and go within the year; see hiring on working holidays.

General information, not legal or immigration advice. Figures are from MOFA's survey of Japanese nationals overseas as of 1 October 2025 and MAFF's survey of Japanese restaurants overseas (2025). Work rights depend on each person's own status; check them before you hire.