White paper on crime 2010 Part3/Chapter1/Section1/1
The number of foreign nationals that newly entered Japan in 2009 was 6,119,394, a decrease of 1,592,434 (20.6%) from the previous year. By region of their origin, the largest number came from other parts of Asia, accounting for 69.9%, followed by North America, Europe, Oceania, South America, and then Africa. By their nationality, etc. the largest number was 1,451,174 (23.7%) from the Republic of Korea, followed by 993,131 (16.2%) from Taiwan, 753,606 (12.3%) from China (excluding Taiwan and Hong Kong; hereinafter the same in this section) , and 645,565 (10.5%) from the U.S.A. By their status of residence “Temporary Visitor” for sightseeing, etc. accounted for the overwhelming majority at 95.2%, followed by “Trainee” (1.3%), “College Student” (0.6%), and “Entertainer” (0.5%) (Source: The Immigration Bureau, Ministry of Justice).
The number of persons with alien registration as of the end of year had been increasing every year, reaching a record high of 2,217,426 at the end of 2008, but slightly decreased to 2,186,121 as of the end of 2009 (down 1.4% from the end of the previous year) (Source: The Immigration Bureau, Ministry of Justice).