The Atarashift Blog
Insights for working in Japan
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
The Atarashift Blog
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
Where do most expats live in Japan? 19% of foreign residents live in Tokyo. See the top prefectures, per-capita shares and where work-visa holders live.
Where do most expats live in Japan? In and around Tokyo. At the end of June 2026, Tokyo alone had 824,486 foreign residents, or 19.3% of the national total. Add Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba, and Greater Tokyo holds about 41% of all foreign residents. It holds more than half of everyone on Japan's main office work visa. Osaka and Aichi are the next two big hubs.
We analyzed the government's latest prefecture tables, for the end of June 2026. Here is where foreigners actually live, and what it means for your job search.
Key Takeaways
- Japan had 4,281,026 foreign residents at the end of June 2026. That is about 3.5 for every 100 people, by our calculation.
- Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi, Kanagawa and Saitama hold just over half of them.
- Tokyo has the highest share of foreigners: about 5.8 per 100 residents. Gunma and Aichi follow at about 5.0.
- About 52% of Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa holders live in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama or Chiba.
- Akita and Aomori have fewer than 1 foreign resident per 100 people.
Looking for roles right now? Browse jobs in Japan for foreigners.
Tokyo, by a wide margin. Japan's Immigration Services Agency (ISA) counts every mid- to long-term foreign resident twice a year. Its June 2026 count found 824,486 in Tokyo. That is more than twice the number in Osaka, the next biggest (ISA, June 2026).
These are the ten areas with the most foreign residents.
| Rank | Prefecture | Foreign residents (June 2026) | Share of Japan's total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tokyo | 824,486 | 19.3% |
| 2 | Osaka | 389,846 | 9.1% |
| 3 | Aichi | 369,849 | 8.6% |
| 4 | Kanagawa | 331,515 | 7.7% |
| 5 | Saitama | 305,867 | 7.1% |
| 6 | Chiba | 272,332 | 6.4% |
| 7 | Hyogo | 160,908 | 3.8% |
| 8 | Shizuoka | 135,730 | 3.2% |
| 9 | Fukuoka | 131,422 | 3.1% |
| 10 | Ibaraki | 115,800 | 2.7% |
Source: ISA, Foreign residents at the end of June 2026, table 4.
The top five prefectures hold 51.9% of all foreign residents, by our calculation. Greater Tokyo here means Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba. It has 1,734,200 of them. That is 40.5% of the country's total.
Foreign residents means people who live in Japan on a visa for more than three months, plus Special Permanent Residents. Tourists, other short-term visitors and diplomats are not counted (ISA).
Tokyo again, but the gap is smaller than the raw counts suggest. We divided each prefecture's June 2026 foreign residents by its population in the October 2025 Census. Tokyo came out at about 5.8 foreign residents per 100 people.
The surprise is what comes next. Gunma, north of Tokyo, has about 5.0 per 100 people. Aichi, home to Nagoya, is close behind at 5.0. Mie, next to Aichi, edges past Osaka's 4.5. Gifu is just behind at 4.4. Across Japan, the average is about 3.5 per 100.
At the other end, Akita has about 0.7 foreign residents per 100 people. Aomori has about 0.9. These are the only two prefectures under 1 per 100. Kochi, Iwate and Yamagata are just above it, at about 1.2.
Per-100 figures were calculated by Atarashift. They use the ISA count for June 2026 and the 2025 Census population, which includes foreign residents.
If by "expat" you mean an office worker, look at one visa. The Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa is the main visa for engineers, marketers, translators and other office jobs. Japan had 516,184 holders in June 2026 (ISA, table 3).
They are even more packed into a few places than foreigners as a whole.
| Prefecture | Engineer/Specialist visa holders | Share of all holders |
|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | 138,890 | 26.9% |
| Osaka | 51,727 | 10.0% |
| Kanagawa | 46,602 | 9.0% |
| Saitama | 41,828 | 8.1% |
| Chiba | 39,863 | 7.7% |
| Aichi | 35,929 | 7.0% |
| Hyogo | 15,201 | 2.9% |
| Fukuoka | 13,103 | 2.5% |
Source: ISA, June 2026, table 6. Shares calculated by Atarashift.
Greater Tokyo has 267,183 of these visa holders, or 51.8% of the national total. Tokyo has about 9.8 per 1,000 residents. No other prefecture reaches 7.
Saitama and Chiba both border Tokyo. If you plan to live in one and work in the other, our Tokyo cost of living breakdown shows how fast rent climbs near the center.
To learn how this visa works, read our guide to the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa.
Their foreign residents hold different visas from Tokyo's. In Tokyo, students and office workers lead. In Aichi and Gunma, far more hold visas tied to on-site work.
Here is the mix in four big hubs, from the same ISA table.
| Prefecture | Permanent Residents | Engineer/Specialist visa | Students | Technical Intern + Specified Skilled Worker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | 23.8% | 16.8% | 18.3% | 5.8% |
| Osaka | 16.9% | 13.3% | 13.6% | 13.5% |
| Aichi | 29.5% | 9.7% | 5.6% | 20.0% |
| Gunma | 23.5% | 10.3% | 4.9% | 26.3% |
Shares of each prefecture's foreign residents, calculated by Atarashift from ISA table 6 (June 2026).
Specified Skilled Worker is a visa for hands-on work in fields such as factories, building and care. Technical Intern Training is a training status. One in five foreign residents in Aichi holds one of these two statuses. In Tokyo it is about one in seventeen.
Aichi, Gunma and Shizuoka also have large Brazilian communities. Together they are home to 50.2% of Japan's 209,550 Brazilian residents (ISA, table 5). Aichi alone has 59,787.
It depends a lot on where you're from. ISA's table 5 splits each prefecture by country of origin.
Shares calculated by Atarashift from ISA table 5 (June 2026).
If you want people from home nearby, these numbers are a good first filter.
It depends on your field. Tokyo has far more office work-visa holders, which points to more office jobs open to foreigners. Osaka has a large foreign community that has been there for generations. About 17% of its foreign residents are Special Permanent Residents. That is the highest share among the five biggest hubs.
Kyoto stands out for students. Nearly one in four of its foreign residents (23.8%) is on a student visa. Fukuoka is similar, at 21.6%.
For a side-by-side look at pay and rent, read Osaka vs Tokyo for foreigners. If you have settled on Tokyo, our guide to where to live in Tokyo compares the wards.
In the first half of 2026, the fastest growth was outside the big cities. Japan as a whole grew 3.8%. Tokyo grew 2.9%, slower than the national rate.
| Prefecture | Growth, Dec 2025 to June 2026 |
|---|---|
| Okinawa | 7.5% |
| Miyazaki | 6.6% |
| Kagoshima | 5.8% |
| Oita | 5.4% |
| Saga | 5.2% |
| Japan overall | 3.8% |
| Tokyo | 2.9% |
Source: ISA, June 2026, table 4.
Kyushu and Okinawa are growing fastest. These are still small groups, though. Okinawa has 35,894 foreign residents, less than 5% of Tokyo's count.
Start with Greater Tokyo if you want an office role on a work visa. Half of all Engineer/Specialist visa holders live there. That suggests where most sponsored office jobs are. Osaka and Aichi are the main alternatives.
Look beyond Tokyo if you're open to factory, tourism or local jobs. Aichi, Shizuoka and the areas around them have large foreign communities. Their mix is very different from Tokyo's.
Once you've chosen a city, plan your first weeks with our checklist of things to do after arriving in Japan. For housing, see how to rent an apartment in Japan as a foreigner.
At the end of June 2026, Japan had 4,281,026 foreign residents. That was a record high, up 3.8% from the end of 2025. The count covers mid- to long-term residents and Special Permanent Residents.
About 3.5%, by our calculation. We divided the June 2026 count of foreign residents by the October 2025 Census population of 122,972,528.
Tokyo, with 824,486 foreign residents across the prefecture in June 2026. Osaka Prefecture is second with 389,846. Aichi, home to Nagoya, is third with 369,849.
Mostly in Tokyo and Kanagawa. Together they are home to about 45% of the 71,719 US residents in ISA's count, by our calculation. That count covers people with a status of residence.
It can be cheaper, but you will likely find fewer jobs and services in English. Large hubs like Osaka, Aichi and Fukuoka have big foreign communities. Rural areas in the northeast have very few.
Choosing where to live in Japan often starts with where the job is. Atarashift lets verified companies in Japan that hire internationally come to you. Upload your profile once and get scouted.
Figures were checked on 6 November 2026.
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