A couple of years ago I wrote a blog entry on the number of foreigners living in Japan. Yesterday, The Daily Yomiuri reported the latest numbers from Japan’s Justice Ministry and its Immigration Bureau. It seems that by the end of 2006, the number of foreigners had reached a record 2,084,919—an increase of 3.6%. Here is the breakdown of the ‘top’ numbers (the Korean numbers include those from both North and South):
| Rank | Nationality | Number | Percentage |
| One | Korean | 598,219 | 28.7 |
| Two | Chinese | 560,741 | 26.9 |
| Three | Brazilian | 312,979 | 15 |
| Four | Filipino | no data | 9.3 |
| Five | Peruvian | no data | no data | Six | American | no data | no data |