More than 40% of junior high school pupils surveyed in 2025 said they did not think an increase in foreigners brings much good to society, roughly double the figure of just over 20% in 2022, an analysis by Norihiro Nihei, a sociology professor at the University of Tokyo, has found.
The survey covered about 2,000 pupils at 10 public junior high schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area and has run since 2012. Nihei analyzed mainly the 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2025 results.
Pupils who believe people who break rules should be punished severely were more likely to take a negative view. In earlier surveys, pupils who put a high value on rules were positive about more foreigners; in 2025 that reversed, Nihei said, as the idea that rules must be strictly followed spread and became easier to tie to exclusionary attitudes.
That does not amount to simple conservatism, he argued. More than 90% of pupils also showed what he called liberal tendencies, including tolerance.
Nihei pointed to the internet as the likely driver, saying talk that foreigners are doing bad things suddenly increased online around the 2025 House of Councillors election.
“Talk that foreigners are doing bad things suddenly increased on the internet.”Norihiro Nihei, professor of sociology, University of Tokyo