ALBAWABA - As the Japanese population plummets with a severely aging society, and as the Japanese government records worker shortages in many sectors - stubbornly, Sanae Takaichi’s government is passing laws making it harder for foreign residents to renew their visas.
The laws even affect successful business owners, as one Nepalese resident reports, according to AFP. “My dream is broken.” says 38-year-old Budhathoki Samjhana, a restaurant owner in Okubo, Tokyo. “I always wanted to become a bridge between Japan and Nepal.”
Budhathoki, who came to Japan as a student in 2016 and saved up until she opened her restaurant in 2023. After opening her third eatery in January, she was able to bring her 14-year-old daughter to Japan after a decade of separation; now, she faces the fact that she and her daughter might be going back to Nepal.
“Now, I'm very worried not about myself but about my daughter... What did I do to her?” she said.
“The biggest problem is the increase in capital requirement to 30 million yen ($185,000) from 5 million ($30,000),” said Budhathoki,
“My heart pounds when I think about the next visa renewal. It's impossible”.
The stricter visa rules come as Japanese people complain of over tourism and rising land prices, mainly due to foreign investment.
Consequently, Takaichi’s government increased the cost five-fold for single and multiple entry permits; as well as tripling the departure tax to all travellers - including Japanese citizens - to 3,000 yen.
Alongside Budhathoki, Indian restaurant owner Manish Kumar, who has lived in Japan for 30 years, is also facing going back to India after his business manager visa renewal was declined.
“My children only speak Japanese... and we're told to go back to India,” Kumar tearfully explained at a gathering about the visa issue last month.
Among the new and stricter requirements, a business manager visa holder must employ a Japanese national or long-term resident, according to the Japanese government.
But as the Japanese population crumbles, a 30-year-old Bangladeshi man who runs a trading business in Tokyo said: “There's not enough Japanese workers. Who will apply for a job at a company whose manager's status is unstable with a visa that has to be renewed every year?”
