A growing number of Japanese prefectures are increasingly taking an active role in securing foreign workers, reflecting structural limits in the central government’s ability to address regional labour shortages. According to a survey by NHK, 20 of Japan’s 47 prefectures have signed memorandums with foreign governments to attract and retain workers, signalling a gradual decentralisation of labour-related international engagement.
Japan’s foreign workforce reached a record 2.57 million people as of last October, yet its distribution remains highly uneven, with around 40% concentrated in Tokyo and its three surrounding prefectures. This imbalance is leaving many regional economies—particularly in agriculture, elderly care and tourism—under sustained pressure, forcing local administrations to seek external solutions rather than relying solely on national frameworks.
In response, prefectures such as Hokkaido, Miyagi, Mie, Osaka, Ehime and Oita have established formal cooperation frameworks with counterparts in countries including Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Nepal. Most of these agreements have been concluded since 2023 and focus on improving working and living conditions for foreign workers, while also building more direct recruitment channels with sending countries.
Officials in several regions argue that these memorandums help reduce uncertainty for employers and partner governments, effectively positioning prefectures as active intermediaries in an increasingly competitive global labour market. Others, such as Ibaraki, explicitly frame the agreements as a tool to enhance regional attractiveness amid growing international competition for labour.
While these initiatives respond to immediate economic needs, they also expose a widening policy gap. As Tokai University Professor Masao Manjome notes in the NHK report, companies are reaching their limits in securing workers, while local governments are accelerating their own responses. The result is an emerging system in which labour diplomacy is increasingly driven at the prefectural level, revealing structural disparities that Tokyo has yet to fully address.
