How Japan’s new leader is turning anxiety into policy — from tighter property laws to stricter controls on foreign workers.
Tokyo in a New Political Season
Autumn air drifts softly across Nagatachō, Tokyo’s political heart. Inside the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) headquarters, cameras flash as Sanae Takaichi — Japan’s first hardline conservative woman leader — steps to the podium. Her expression is calm, her tone precise, her words unmistakable: Japan must protect itself.
For her supporters, Takaichi embodies a disciplined revival of Japanese pride and sovereignty. For others — foreign workers, human rights advocates, and business leaders — her ascent signals a new age of closure.
“Japan is turning inward again,” says Koichi Nakano, a political scientist at Sophia University. “Takaichi represents a generation of politicians who see the outside world not as an opportunity, but as a threat.”
Policy from Fear
Her first act as party president was to fortify Japan’s property laws. Foreign ownership of land near military bases and key infrastructure will now face heightened scrutiny. A new layered verification system and additional taxes on foreign buyers are in the works.
The measure stems from a long-standing fear — that Japan’s land, a symbol of its dignity, could fall into foreign hands. Conservative dailies like Sankei Shimbun hailed it as “economic patriotism.” Business papers such as Nikkei warned it could stifle investment and accelerate Japan’s isolation.
In Tokyo’s Minato and Roppongi districts, where expatriates live and work, the chill is already felt.
“Two of my Australian clients have put their property plans on hold,” says real estate broker Hiroko Matsuda. “They say Japan is closing its doors again.”
Foreign Workers Under Pressure
Next came reform to Japan’s controversial foreign trainee system. For decades, it supplied cheap labor to farms and factories — and endless accusations of exploitation.
The Takaichi government has rebranded it as Ikusei Shūrō (training and employment). The maximum stay is reduced from three years to one or two, and oversight will be tightened. Companies found to be abusing workers will face heavier fines, while new linguistic and qualification barriers will be introduced.
For foreign workers, the policy is a double-edged sword: protection on paper, exclusion in practice.
“I’m glad they punish bad companies,” says Nguyen Thanh, a Vietnamese trainee in Aichi Prefecture. “But if the Japanese test is harder, how can my friends even come here?”
The Zero Illegal Foreigners Drive
Takaichi’s most symbolic initiative is the Zero Illegal Foreigners campaign — a sweeping effort to digitize visa tracking and expand biometric surveillance. Police have been ordered to intensify random checks; immigration offices now share data with national security agencies.
Tokyo Shimbun calls it “security politics in administrative clothing.” The Japan Times describes it as “a revival of Japan’s homogeneity myth” — the belief that Japan must remain pure, safe, and uniform.
“This isn’t about law,” says Reiko Mori, a migrant-rights activist in Osaka. “It’s about fear — fear of a world changing too fast for Japan to handle.”
Social Benefits Narrowed
Foreign residents are also facing a reshaped welfare system. Social aid, health insurance, and child benefits will be reduced and limited in duration for non-citizens.
“It’s not discrimination,” an LDP spokesperson told NHK. “It’s fiscal alignment.”
Yet the lived experience tells another story. In Yokohama’s international school community, parents from the Philippines and Indonesia worry about rising living costs.
“We work hard, we pay taxes, but we’re treated as if we’re never quite Japanese,” says Maria, a mother of two from Davao.
Abe’s Shadow, a Louder Voice
Many analysts call Takaichi the ideological heir of Shinzo Abe — yet with less restraint.
“If Abe built the foundation of modern nationalism, Takaichi is fortifying it with taller walls,” wrote Yomiuri Shimbun in an editorial.
Behind her firmness lies pressure from the far right. New nationalist parties accuse the LDP of being too soft on immigration. Her leadership is their triumph: proof that Japan can reclaim a “pure” identity amid a restless world.
Geopolitics Behind the Gates
Takaichi’s protectionism cannot be separated from regional tensions. Relations with China are tense; Chinese coast guard vessels increasingly enter disputed waters in the East China Sea. Against that backdrop, each foreign land purchase or business deal becomes a potential threat.
“Security today isn’t just military,” an analyst told Nikkei Asian Review. “For Takaichi, it’s about who owns the land, who works in the factories, and who controls Japan’s data.”
But while South Korea and Taiwan compete to attract global talent, Japan builds higher barriers. The number of foreign students has already dropped nearly 20 percent this year, according to Nikkei.
“Japan is losing its global appeal,” The Japan Times warned.
ASEAN Rethinks Japan
Across Southeast Asia, governments are watching closely. Japan has long been a magnet for trainees from Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. But Takaichi’s tightening rules may reverse the flow.
“If conditions worsen, workers will go to Korea or Taiwan,” says Dr. Nguyen Thao of the ASEAN Institute in Hanoi.
Indonesia is preparing a diplomatic recalibration. “We don’t want to remain mere suppliers of cheap labor,” a senior Jakarta diplomat told Tempo. “We want a partnership — in technology, in education, in dignity.”
A Nation Anxious About Itself
Beneath the patriotic rhetoric lies a demographic truth Japan cannot escape: it is an aging, shrinking society. One in three Japanese is over 65. Its farms, factories, and care homes rely on foreign labor — the very group now being squeezed out.
“Takaichi wants to protect Japan,” says an economist at Keio University, “but she may end up suffocating it.”
As The Japan Times wrote, “This is not a confident Japan, but a Japan afraid of losing itself.”
History suggests that each time Japan closes its doors too tightly, the world moves faster without it. The walls Takaichi is building may not be a fortress, but a mirror of a nation’s anxiety.
Sources: Sankei Shimbun (Oct 3–4, 2025), Yomiuri Shimbun (Oct 3–4, 2025), Nikkei (Sept 29, 2025), Tokyo Shimbun (Oct 1, 2025), The Japan Times (Sept 25 & Oct 3–4, 2025), NHK (Sept 19, 21, 22; Oct 3, 2025), Yahoo! Japan News (Sept 19, 21, 26, 30, 2025), official LDP statements (Sept–Oct 2025).
