The number of foreign nationals newly entering Japan had been on the rise and increased by 612,876 (10.0%) from the previous year in 2006 to 6,733,585 (Source: The Immigration Bureau, Ministry of Justice).
  Among foreign nationals newly entering Japan in 2006, those from Asia were largest in number, accounting for 70.8%, followed by those from North America, Europe, Oceania, South America, and Africa. Reviewing the breakdown by nationality, etc. there were 1,997,459 persons (29.7%) from South Korea, accounting for the largest portion, followed by 1,282,641 persons (19.0%) from Taiwan, 753,461 persons (11.2%) from the United States, and 589,066 persons (8.7%) from China (excluding Taiwan and Hong Kong; hereinafter the same in this section). Reviewing the breakdown by status of residence, in 2006 “temporary visitor” for sightseeing, etc. were the majority at 95.2%, followed by “trainee” (1.4%), “entertainer” (0.7%), “long-term resident” (0.4%), “college student” (0.4 %) ,“spouse or child of Japanese national” (0.4%), and “pre-college student” (0.3 %)(Source: The Immigration Bureau, Ministry of Justice).
  Alien registration has increased year by year, and the number of registered foreign nationals was 2,084,919 as of December 31, 2006 (rose by 3.6% compared to the same date of the previous year) (Source: The Immigration Bureau, Ministry of Justice).