Key facts
- Competition for foreign workers in Japan has intensified since April 2026 due to a suspension of new visas for the food service sector.
- Rural businesses are struggling to retain foreign staff who are being drawn to higher wages in urban centers like Tokyo.
- A recruitment support company saw a 2.6-fold increase in job openings for foreign restaurant workers after the visa suspension.
- Some foreign students in Japan are concerned about their future employment prospects in the restaurant industry.
Japan's suspension of new foreign worker visas for the food service sector, implemented in April 2026, has intensified competition for staff already in the country. This has led to a significant gap between major cities offering higher wages and rural areas struggling to retain foreign talent.
Companies like Yudetaro System have relied on internal referral systems to hire foreign workers. However, many businesses are finding it difficult to keep their existing foreign employees, with some reporting that workers are being lured away to the Tokyo metropolitan area. Mynavi Global Corp., a recruitment support company, noted a 2.6-fold increase in job openings for Specified Skilled Worker positions in the restaurant sector between late March and mid-July 2026, with a particularly sharp rise in the Tokyo area.
Minoru Hatanaka, CEO of Hisaebisu Corp. in Hokkaido, expressed concern over the suspension, which impacted his seven businesses. He previously established a Japanese-language school to help foreign students obtain residence status in the restaurant sector. Many of these students are now worried about their future employment options, with some considering seeking residence status in other fields or moving to Tokyo.
Industry professionals suggest measures to prevent worker concentration in urban areas, such as allocating Specified Skilled Worker slots by region.