Japan had fewer foreign residents in 2021 amid COVID border controls

Japan had fewer foreign residents as of the end of 2021, down 4.4 percent from a year before, apparently due to its tighter border controls amid the coronavirus pandemic, official data showed Tuesday.The number stood at 2,760,635, marking the second yearly decline, with that of technical interns and international students dropping 27.0 percent and 26.0 percent, respectively, according to the data released by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan.The number of permanent residents, the largest group of foreigners permitted to stay in the country, increased 2.9 percent to 831,157, the agenc…READ FULL ARTICLE