TOKYO, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- The number of foreigners who entered Japan in 2023 jumped about six-fold from the previous year, reaching 80 percent of the record high marked in 2019, government data showed.
About 25.83 million foreigners visited Japan in 2023, recovering to around 80 percent of the record high of 31.19 million marked in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, the Immigration Services Agency said in a preliminary report Friday.
The short-term stay visa, issued for purposes such as tourism and business trips, was the most common permit to be issued at around 23.13 million, climbing eight times from the previous year.
Over 180,000 foreign nationals entered via the technical intern training visa, the second highest, while nearly 140,00 people arrived to study on student visa, according to the data.
Meanwhile, the number of Japanese nationals who went overseas in 2023 more than tripled from a year earlier to over 9.62 million, but the figure was less than half of the record 20.08 million logged in 2019. ■
