Foreign Students in Japan Rise Above 400,000 for First Time

Record Numbers

A study conducted by the Japan Student Services Organization, an independent administrative agency, found that there were 408,069 foreign students in Japan as of May 1, 2025. This was an increase of 21.2% from the previous year and marked the first time for the total to exceed 400,000.

The number of foreign students in Japan rose steadily from 2013, reaching 312,000 in 2019. After falling during the pandemic, it started rising again in 2023. The 2025 figure includes a record 140,174 students enrolled in Japanese language schools. There were 267,895 at higher education institutions, of which 106,829 were at vocational colleges (senmon gakkō) and other specialized training colleges, 97,1017 were undergraduates at universities or studying at junior colleges or colleges of technology (kōtō senmon gakkō), and 60,013 were postgraduate students.

An overwhelming 93.4% of students (381,148) were from Asia, ahead of 3.4% from Europe (13,895), and 1.3% from North America (5,216).

The top country or region of origin was China, accounting for 32.1% of the total, with 131,097 students. It was followed by Nepal with 24.6% (100,239), Vietnam with 10.6% (43,366), Myanmar with 7.2% (29,413), Sri Lanka with 4.3% (17,626), South Korea with 3.6% (14,612), and Bangladesh with 2.8% (11,392). The number of students from Nepal and Myanmar rose by 35,000 and 13,000 year on year, respectively.

Overall, 54.7% of students were male and 45.2% female, with 0.1% stating that they were neither. Waseda University had the highest number of foreign students at 5,541, followed by the University of Tokyo with 4,922, Ritsumeikan University with 3,386, Japan University of Economics (Fukuoka) with 2,948, and Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University with 2,927.

Data Sources

• Data on foreign students (Japanese) from the Japan Student Services Organization.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)