In late April, the government introduced a new framework to regulate the acceptance of foreign students in Japan. The revised Justice Ministry ordinance requires educational institutions to have proper enrollment regulations and international student management systems in place to accept foreign students. Institutions failing to meet these requirements will not be able to accept foreign students, and student residential status will be denied to overseas applicants.
Despite initial assumptions that this change aims to limit the number of international students in Japan, the reality is quite the opposite. Since the 1980s, the government has been actively working to increase the number of international students studying in the country.