Japan Eyes Wider Deportation Criteria in New Policy

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:54 JST, January 21, 2026

The government is looking to expand the scope of crimes subject to deportation under its new basic policy on foreign nationals, while continuing to consider restrictions on land acquisition by foreigners.

The draft policy, which was revealed Tuesday and is currently under review, seeks to expand the extent of deportable offenses beyond the current scope of drug crimes and unsuspended sentences lasting one year or longer.

The draft stops short of imposing restrictions on land acquisition by foreigners. Instead, the government plans to set up an expert panel as early as February to continue discussions.

The government is expected to finalize the policy as early as Friday at a meeting of the Ministerial Council on the Acceptance of Foreign Nationals and the Realization of a Society of Well-Ordered and Harmonious Coexistence.

The aim of the draft policy is to create a society in which “both Japanese and foreign nationals can live safely and securely by balancing ‘order’ and ‘coexistence.’”

In terms of managing foreign nationals’ residency, the government plans to tighten the requirements for obtaining permanent residency and citizenship, while also expanding the scope of crimes subject to deportation.

Currently, deportation does not apply to offenders convicted of such offenses as sex crimes who receive suspended sentences. This has drawn criticism. The draft policy states that the government will outline the future impact in such areas as the social security system, the labor force and public safety as part of efforts to consider limiting the number of foreign residents.

To facilitate accepting foreign nationals, the policy specifies that the central government will establish preschools to teach Japanese and study habits to children before they enter elementary school.

It will also create programs for learning the Japanese language, culture and legal system.

On the issue of land purchases, the government will consider a framework to assess the actual state of groundwater extraction, in response to concerns that foreigners are buying land near water sources and extracting groundwater.

The government decided to postpone a conclusion on restricting speculative transactions by foreigners — a focal point amid soaring housing prices — to carefully examine consistency with international agreements.

A proposal compiled Tuesday by the Liberal Democratic Party’s foreign national policy headquarters called for “developing concrete drafts of new legal rules from the perspective of national security” regarding land acquisition.

The proposal also included a call to consider nationalizing remote islands where ownership is unclear for reasons of national security.