The Immigration Services Agency published Japan's entry and departure figures for the first half of 2026 on 16 October 2026, and the two headline numbers in it point in opposite directions. Foreign arrivals for January to June 2026 came to 21,447,220, up 71,050 on the same period in 2025, while first-time entries fell by 21,452 to 19,706,953.
That gap is where residents sit in the data.
The arrivals figure is two different populations added together
The agency defines its foreign-arrivals count as new arrivals plus re-entries, and publishes the new-arrival figure separately. Subtract one from the other and roughly 1,740,000 of the 21.4 million entries in the first half of 2026 were re-entries: people who already live in Japan, coming back from a trip abroad on a re-entry permit or on deemed re-entry permission.
Because the total rose by 71,050 while new arrivals fell by 21,452, re-entries accounted for an increase of about 92,500 on the first half of 2025. Residents travelling in and out of the country are the component that grew. Coverage quoting the 21.4 million figure as visitor numbers is counting a resident's trip home to see family as an arrival.
If you live here and hold a residence card
The release changes no procedure, but the re-entry route it counts is the one most residents use without checking its limits.
Deemed re-entry permission runs for one year from the date of departure. If your period of stay expires before that year is up, the permission ends on the expiry date instead, not a year later. For special permanent residents the period is two years. It is not available to anyone whose period of stay was granted as three months or less, or to short-stay visitors.
Using it is not automatic. The Immigration Services Agency requires mid-to-long-term residents to carry a valid passport and a residence card, to tick the box on the re-entry departure record stating a temporary departure with the intention of returning, and to tell the inspector at departure that deemed re-entry permission is what you intend to rely on. Miss that step and you have left on an ordinary departure.
If you expect to be outside Japan for longer than a year, the separate re-entry permit is the one to apply for before you go. It is granted for up to five years, six for special permanent residents, and only within your current period of stay.
Student arrivals up 8.2%, technical interns down 3.9%
Of the 19,706,953 new arrivals, 19,350,915 held short-stay status, 98.2 per cent of the total and essentially flat year on year at a 0.04 per cent decline. The movement is in the much smaller residence categories.
New arrivals on Student status rose 8.2 per cent to 111,930. Details of the status itself are on the student visa page. New arrivals under Technical Intern Training fell 3.9 per cent to 76,715, a decline running into the programme's scheduled replacement by Employment for Skill Development on 1 April 2027.
Two totals, 2.8 percentage points apart
The release carries a second, larger figure: 22,817,766 for foreign arrivals and special landing permissions combined, down 578,934 or 2.5 per cent. The same six months therefore produced a 0.3 per cent rise and a 2.5 per cent fall depending on which line is quoted.
The difference is special landing permissions, which came to 1,370,546, down 32.2 per cent. Crew landing permissions made up 1,076,025 of those. Cruise-ship tourist landings fell 64.1 per cent to 281,792, a drop of 503,392 that accounts for most of the decline. Neither category involves a landing examination for residence, so neither tells you anything about migration.
Japanese departures over the same period reached 6,944,615, up 5.1 per cent.
Where the next figures land
By nationality, new arrivals from South Korea rose 19.0 per cent to 5,553,483, Taiwan 21.2 per cent to 3,769,254 and the United States 7.3 per cent to 1,789,080. All three are overwhelmingly short-stay, governed by the reciprocal visa exemption arrangements listed on the visa-exempt countries page.
For 2025 the agency issued provisional full-year figures on 30 January 2026 and confirmed figures on 27 March 2026. The release covering the second half of 2026 will show whether first-time entries keep falling while resident re-entries climb.
Sources: Immigration Services Agency — 令和8年上半期における外国人入国者数及び日本人出国者数等について, Immigration Services Agency — みなし再入国許可（入管法第26条の2）, Immigration Services Agency — 再入国許可（入管法第26条）, Immigration Services Agency — 報道発表資料