Japan's foreign worker ban in food service deepens rural labor crisis

In April, Japan closed the door on new foreign workers entering the restaurant industry under its Specified Skilled Worker visa program—a move that has upended hiring across the country and exposed a deepening divide between rural and urban labor markets. The suspension does not affect foreign nationals already working in Japan; they can still change jobs or renew their visas within the sector. But for restaurant owners trying to fill positions, the practical effect is stark: they can no longer recruit from overseas. They must compete for workers already living in Japan, and those workers, increasingly, are choosing to leave for Tokyo.

The shift has been swift and visible. Mynavi Global Corp., a Tokyo recruitment firm, saw job postings for restaurant positions jump 2.6 times between late March—when the government announced the freeze—and mid-July. The surge has been sharpest in the Tokyo metropolitan area, where wages and opportunities pull workers away from smaller cities and rural prefectures. Motoki Yuzuriha, the company's president, described the mood on the ground as one of "crisis, anxiety and confusion." He warned that without access to foreign labor, rural restaurants will face "increasingly severe" hiring difficulties as workers continue migrating to urban centers.

In Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Minoru Hatanaka runs seven restaurant businesses, including conveyor-belt sushi chains. When the suspension was announced, he said his "mind went blank." Hatanaka had already taken an unconventional step to address labor shortages: in 2023, he founded a Japanese-language school in his hometown and created a curriculum specifically designed to help foreign students obtain restaurant-sector visas. The school sent workers not only to his own restaurants but to establishments across Hokkaido and beyond. Since April, Hatanaka has spent much of his time meeting with worried foreign students, many of whom came to Japan precisely to work in restaurants. Some of his existing employees have already departed, telling him they were heading to Tokyo. "We have to step up our efforts to keep our employees from leaving," he said, his tone reflecting the grim calculus facing rural operators.

The suspension reflects a deliberate policy choice by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's administration, which took office last autumn and made stricter immigration policies a centerpiece of its agenda. Within the government, there is a persistent belief that the restaurant industry has grown too dependent on foreign workers and should instead improve wages and working conditions to attract Japanese employees. Some government sources acknowledge skepticism that companies may have "depended on them too easily," choosing foreign recruitment over labor-saving investments or wage increases. Among Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers who favor stricter immigration, there is even satisfaction that the government "did well" in imposing the freeze.

Yet the policy has created a paradox. As of March, the restaurant sector had filled 95.4 percent of its allowed foreign worker capacity—the highest fill rate of any industry under the program. Seven sectors overall exceeded 50 percent capacity, including food and beverage manufacturing at 72.2 percent, construction at 67.2 percent, and nursing care at 58.9 percent. Other industries could soon hit their ceilings. Within government, there is strong resistance to raising the overall cap of 1.23 million workers across both the Specified Skilled Worker and Employment for Skill Development programs. One option being quietly discussed is reallocating worker quotas between sectors, but no decision has been made.

Meanwhile, companies are adapting to the new reality. Jun Kato, president of Onodera User Run, a Tokyo firm that places foreign workers under the visa program, has proposed allocating worker slots by region to prevent excessive concentration in urban areas. His company has also made a strategic move: in early August, it acquired Guidable, a major job-search platform for foreign residents in Japan. The acquisition signals a shift in focus—away from recruiting overseas workers and toward placing foreign nationals already living in Japan, a market that is now the only legal option for restaurant expansion.

For foreign workers themselves, the suspension has created uncertainty. Those enrolled in Hatanaka's language school came to Japan with specific plans to work in restaurants. Now they face conversations about alternative residence statuses in other fields. The government's future direction remains unclear. Officials have not ruled out policy changes, leaving both employers and foreign workers in a state of prolonged ambiguity about what comes next.