The History of Accepting Highly Skilled Foreign Talents in Japan

Japan has, since ancient times, welcomed highly skilled foreign talent possessing advanced expertise and intellectual assets in fields such as technology, scholarship, the arts, religion, and architecture—and has put that knowledge and skill to work in nation-building.

From antiquity beginning with the Asuka and Nara periods, through the Heian, Kamakura, Sengoku, Azuchi–Momoyama, and Edo periods, and onward into the modern era—from the Meiji Restoration through Taishō and Shōwa to Heisei and the present day—the history of accepting highly skilled foreign talent has closely paralleled Japan’s own path of development.

In this article, we provide an overview of how the knowledge and expertise of such talent influenced Japan, and how the patterns of acceptance evolved over time. For convenience, we use the term “highly skilled foreign talent” to refer broadly to people of overseas origin, as well as inflows of knowledge, that brought specialized expertise and skills and influenced Japan.

*This article is an introductory overview and does not aim to be comprehensive. For historical facts, we prioritize primary sources and information from public institutions.

Kofun–Asuka–Nara Periods: Civilizational Transformation Brought by Highly Skilled Talent from the Continent

In ancient Japan, many people arrived from the Chinese mainland and the Korean Peninsula carrying new cultures and technologies. The advanced techniques they introduced transformed life in the Japanese archipelago and became a foundation for the formation of the early state. For example, in the 4th–5th centuries, large groups such as the Hata clan (秦氏; Hata-ushi) and the Aya clan (漢氏; Aya-ushi) are said to have migrated from the Korean Peninsula. Through networks of immigrant communities, a wide range of technologies and knowledge were transmitted—civil engineering and agriculture, irrigation, sericulture, weaving, sake brewing, metalworking, Chinese characters, Buddhism, and medicine, among others. Yuzuki no Kimi (弓月君), regarded as an ancestor of the Hata clan, is said in tradition to have led many people to Japan and contributed to development efforts across the country*1. Historically, the Hata clan is also associated with the construction of irrigation waterways around Uzumasa (太秦), Kyoto—such as the Katsura area weir (葛野大堰)—and with service at court as fiscal officials*2. In this way, immigrant communities supported state-building through outstanding knowledge and skills and helped Japan develop at a higher level.

The introduction of Buddhism was likewise an innovation brought by highly skilled foreign talent. In the mid-6th century, Buddhist statues and sutras were transmitted from Baekje, and influential groups such as the Soga clan actively embraced them, promoting projects including the construction of Asuka-dera. In the 7th century, after Baekje was defeated by the allied forces of Tang and Silla in the Battle of Baekgang (663), former officials and elites of Baekje and Goguryeo migrated to Japan as refugees; they brought the latest institutions and culture and played key roles at the center of government. During the reigns of Emperor Tenji and Emperor Tenmu, Takano no Niigasa (高野新笠), a descendant of immigrants associated with Goguryeo, became the mother of Emperor Kanmu—an example of how immigrant lineages were deeply connected even to the imperial family. In the Nara period (8th century), the internationally flavored capital of Heijō-kyō emerged, and visitors arrived not only as students and scholar-monks from Tang China, but also—via the Silk Road—from India, Southeast Asia, and even regions associated with Persia. The Shoku Nihongi records that in 736 a Persian man named Rimitsuei (李密翳) arrived in Japan together with an official mission to Tang and met Emperor Shōmu. In addition, wooden tablets excavated from the Heijō Palace site in Nara record that in 765 an official thought to be of Persian origin, “Hashiseidō” (破斯清道), served as a clerk at the Daigaku-ryō (the state academy)*3. These records suggest that Nara-period Japan was connected—through China and the Korean Peninsula—to a broad Eurasian network of knowledge, and that Heijō-kyō was international enough for foreign-born intellectuals to be appointed as officials. Ganjin (鑑真; Jianzhen), a renowned Tang monk, arrived in Japan in 754 after repeated voyages and established Tōshōdai-ji at Tōdai-ji, transmitting monastic precepts. Bodhisena (菩提僊那), a scholar-monk from India, attended the eye-opening ceremony of the Great Buddha at Tōdai-ji (752). These invitations of foreign monks in the religious sphere were also part of the broader acceptance of highly skilled talent at the time.

Overall, the Asuka and Nara periods can be seen as eras in which Japan actively learned from the knowledge of highly skilled talent brought from the continent, achieving rapid advances in governance, culture, and technology.

Heian Period: Point-to-Point Transmission of Knowledge During a Lull in Exchange

After the capital was moved to Heian-kyō in 794, the court continued to dispatch missions to Tang China, but official overseas dispatches and invitations gradually declined due to Tang’s weakening and increasing domestic stability. In 894, following Sugawara no Michizane’s recommendation, the missions to Tang were halted, and large-scale state-led exchange temporarily ceased.

Even so, at the private level, foreign monks and Japanese monks returning from study abroad continued to transmit knowledge sporadically. In 983, the Tōdai-ji monk Chōnen (奝然) traveled to Song China to obtain Buddhist texts and is said to have returned with relics granted by the Song emperor*4. During the mid-Heian period, there were also cases of monks and physicians arriving from China to serve at court, as well as examples of private exchange with Song for the purpose of learning esoteric Buddhist texts and astronomy.

Looking across the Heian period as a whole, however, the Asuka–Nara-style pattern—where immigrant communities played leading roles in major state projects—receded. Japan developed along a more independent path grounded in Tang culture that had been absorbed and adapted domestically. Yet, seen another way, even though Japan at times entered a phase of “intellectual isolation” in terms of official channels, it did not lose its underlying desire to seek advanced knowledge from abroad. By the late Heian period, merchants and monks from Song began arriving again in greater numbers, and momentum built toward renewed exchange in the following Kamakura period.

Kamakura Period: Innovation Through the Invitation of Zen Monks and Song Specialists

The Kamakura shogunate era was a turning point for Japanese Buddhism. The rise of Zen—especially the Rinzai and Sōtō schools—was closely tied to the shogunate’s active invitation of foreign monks. Hōjō Tokiyori, the fifth shikken (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate, invited the Japanese monk Rankei Dōryū (蘭渓道隆), who had trained in Song China, and appointed him founding abbot of Kenchō-ji in 1253. Later, Hōjō Tokimune, the eighth shikken, invited the eminent Song Zen master Mugaku Sogen (無学祖元) and founded Engaku-ji, one of the Five Mountains of Kamakura, in 1282*5. By protecting Zen and inviting many Zen monks from Song, the shogunate introduced the latest religious thought as well as Song-era literary arts and cultural practices such as tea, garden design, and related aesthetics. The invited monks not only spread Zen teachings across Japan, but also taught Chinese poetry, calligraphy and painting, architectural techniques, and other advanced forms of Song learning.

On the economic side, merchants from Song and Yuan also arrived at ports such as Hakata and Onomichi to engage in trade. In Hakata, a settlement known as Tōbō (唐坊)—a quarter for Chinese merchants—formed as a hub for trade practice*6. These merchants, too, can be considered highly skilled talent in a broad sense, bringing foreign commercial customs and financial systems to Japan. For example, the large-scale inflow of copper coins from Song became a driving force in embedding a monetary economy in medieval Japan*7.

Muromachi–Sengoku–Azuchi–Momoyama Periods: Exchange with Ming China and the Arrival of “Nanban” Talent

In the Muromachi period, especially in the 15th century, Tally trade (Kangō trade) between the Ashikaga shogunate and the Ming dynasty became a major arena of official exchange. Through this trade, not only Chinese ships but also trading vessels from Southeast Asia and Muslim merchants arrived at ports such as Hakata and Sakai. They exchanged Japanese exports (such as swords, folding fans, and sulfur) for raw silk, medicines, paintings, and other goods. Through these connections, shipbuilding and navigation techniques were transmitted, influencing improvements to Japanese vessels (including large ships such as atakebune). Ming exchange also coincided with the emergence of figures who might be called quasi-foreign talent—individuals active in red-seal ship (shuinsen) trade. For example, the Hakata merchant Shimai Sōshitsu and the tea master Kamiya Sōtan were knowledgeable about conditions in China and Southeast Asia and advised the shogunate and warlords on practical trade matters and diplomacy. Although not foreigners in a strict sense, they functioned as carriers of advanced overseas information and networks, and can be seen as early prototypes of “global talent”.

In the mid-16th century, as the Sengoku period intensified, a series of momentous arrivals of foreign actors reshaped Japanese history. In 1543, Portuguese sailors who drifted ashore on Tanegashima introduced firearms (matchlock arquebuses) to Japan for the first time. Lord Tanegashima Tokitaka promptly had locals learn both their use and manufacture, leading to domestic production. The arrival of firearms transformed warfare, and within a few decades Japan became one of the world’s leading possessors of guns—an example of explosive innovation in the military sphere driven by imported technology. Six years later, in 1549, the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier landed in Kagoshima and began Christian missionary activity in Japan. With the permission of the Shimazu clan, he preached and introduced the presence of Christianity (often called the “Nanban religion” at the time). Thereafter, missionaries visited many parts of Japan, and some regional lords became known as Christian daimyō. Alongside their missionary work, these priests transmitted knowledge such as Western medicine, astronomy, and movable-type printing.

During the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1568–1600), Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi actively leveraged contact with “Nanban” visitors. Nobunaga permitted the construction of a Nanban-dera (a Christian church) in Kyoto and obtained the latest geographic knowledge and information about world affairs from the Portuguese. There were also figures such as Yasuke (弥助), an African man who came to Japan with missionaries and served Nobunaga. Yasuke is said to have been valued for his physical strength and language ability, becoming a close retainer and reportedly fighting as a warrior. Under Hideyoshi, Christianity was temporarily suppressed, but Nanban trade itself continued. Hideyoshi imported large quantities of firearms and raw silk through trade with Spain and Portugal, while also planning overseas campaigns and forcibly relocating technicians from Korea and Ming China. In these ways, Japan from the Sengoku through Azuchi–Momoyama eras experienced dramatic changes across military, religious, and cultural spheres through contact with highly skilled talent from across Eurasia.

Edo Period: Limited Intellectual Exchange Under the “Closed Country” System

With the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603, Japan gradually restricted exchange with the outside world. Tokugawa Ieyasu initially promoted Nanban trade and opened relations with England and the Netherlands. The English navigator William Adams (Miura Anjin; 三浦按針), who arrived after being shipwrecked in 1600, served Ieyasu as a diplomatic adviser and interpreter, acting as a bridge for diplomacy and trade with Europe. Under Ieyasu’s orders, Adams also guided the construction of Western-style sailing ships, helping complete Japan’s first full-scale Western-style vessels. The Dutchman Jan Joosten (ヤン・ヨーステン; Jan Joosten van Lodensteyn) likewise became an adviser and contributed to establishing Dutch trade, including the opening of a Dutch factory at Hirado.

However, under the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, edicts banning Christianity and overseas travel were issued, and the so-called “Sakoku” (closed country) system was established. Under this framework, foreigners officially permitted to reside in Japan were limited to the Dutch and Chinese at Dejima in Nagasaki. Thereafter, international exchange in the Edo period became extremely restricted.

Even so, the Dutch chief factor (Kapitan) and physicians at the Dejima trading post submitted annual reports known as Oranda Fūsetsugaki (“Dutch Reports”) when they traveled to pay respects to the shogun, thereby conveying the latest European information and trends in scholarship and technology. In the 18th century, Rangaku (“Dutch learning”) emerged as Japanese scholars translated Western medical and astronomical works through the Dutch language. Sugita Genpaku and Maeno Ryōtaku, for example, translated Tafelen Anatomia and published Kaitai Shinsho (New Book of Anatomy) in 1774—marking the beginning of large-scale absorption of advanced Western knowledge. Engelbert Kaempfer (arrived 1690) and Philipp Franz von Siebold (arrived 1823), physicians associated with the Dutch trading post, taught Western medicine and natural science and had a major influence. Siebold opened the Narutaki School near Nagasaki, instructing Japanese disciples in modern medicine. The German physician Otto Mohnike (in Japan in the 1840s) also contributed by teaching vaccination methods and helping spread full-scale smallpox vaccination (cowpox-based inoculation) in Japan. These are representative examples of continued knowledge exchange through limited channels even under sakoku, and of Japan’s strong appetite to learn from it.

In the mid-19th century, Perry’s arrival (1853) triggered Japan’s opening, and in the late Tokugawa period the invitation of foreign specialists began again. To strengthen coastal defense and modernize, the shogunate utilized foreigners to introduce Western military and industrial systems. In the Ansei era, it established the Nagasaki Naval Training Center and invited Dutch naval officers to teach navigation and shipbuilding. In the Bunkyū era, it opened the Kōbusho (a Western-style military training institute) in Edo and received training in infantry tactics and artillery from a French military mission invited in 1867*8. The shogunate also invited the French engineer Léonce Verny in 1865 to build the Yokosuka Ironworks (shipyard). Though still in his twenties, Verny demonstrated outstanding leadership, constructing a modern shipyard and related infrastructure in Yokosuka. He also contributed to projects such as building the Kannonzaki Lighthouse and waterworks, domestically producing bricks, and establishing a training school within the shipyard to develop Japanese engineers. This school later produced many talented technicians who supported Japan’s shipbuilding and steel industries*9. The Japanese engineers trained under Verny became the core of naval technology after the Meiji period—making late-Tokugawa foreign specialists a true bridge to Japan’s modernization. Other specialists were also invited in the final years of the shogunate, including British shipbuilding engineers such as Edward Williams (adviser to Ishikawajima Shipyard) and American educators such as Hepburn (Hepburn; ヘボン), known for English education and dictionary compilation. On the eve of the Meiji Restoration, Japan was once again preparing to accept the world’s knowledge and talent.

Meiji Period: Large-Scale Recruitment of Oyatoi Gaikokujin and the Foundations of a Modern State

Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japan began reforms to build a modern nation-state. A key mechanism in this process was the systematic utilization of foreign experts collectively known as oyatoi gaikokujin (“hired foreign specialists”). Under the principle often summarized as Wakon yōsai (“Japanese spirit, Western techniques”), the Meiji government invited several hundred highly skilled foreign specialists from various countries to rapidly introduce Western learning and technology. In law and administration, it invited the French jurist Gustave Boissonade—considered the first hired foreign legal adviser—tasking him with drafting modern civil and criminal codes. In diplomacy, the Dutchman Alexander von Siebold (the second) served as an adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and acted as an intermediary in negotiations to revise unequal treaties with Western powers. In railways and civil engineering, the government invited British specialists such as Edmund Morel and Richard Henry Brunton, who contributed to infrastructure building including the Shimbashi–Yokohama railway line opened in 1872 and lighthouse construction projects.

Brunton is often called the “father of Japanese lighthouses,” having built Western-style lighthouses around the country and greatly improved maritime safety. In the military sphere, French officers were initially invited to introduce French models (later shifting toward Prussian models). In medicine, German physicians such as Erwin von Bälz and Leopold Müller taught and trained successors at the Tokyo Medical School. Bälz’s diaries describe exchanges with Japanese medical students and his study of hot-spring therapy, suggesting contributions not only in transferring medical knowledge but also in advancing medicine adapted to Japan’s environment.

Immediately after the Restoration, the Dutch-American missionary Guido Verbeck, stationed in Nagasaki, instructed many young people at the Saga domain’s English studies school, Chienkan (致遠館). In the early Meiji years, teachers and advisers like Verbeck worked across Japan, and at institutions such as Daigaku Nankō (later the University of Tokyo) and the Imperial College of Engineering, figures like Henry Dyer (British educator in engineering) and James Black (British chemist) designed Japan’s first modern higher-education curricula. The generation trained under them later remained at their alma maters as Japanese instructors, becoming the backbone of Japan as a technology-oriented nation. In architecture, the British architect Josiah Conder was invited; he designed Western-style buildings such as the Rokumeikan and the Nikolai Cathedral and also trained Japanese architects such as Tatsuno Kingo. In the arts, the Italian Edoardo Chiossone contributed through banknote-printing technology and art education, while Americans such as Fenollosa and Bigelow helped re-evaluate Japanese art and introduce its value overseas.

The salaries paid by the Meiji government to these hired foreign specialists accounted for a considerable share of national finances*14, but the investment brought knowledge-transfer effects commensurate with its scale. Many of these specialists stayed in Japan for several to more than ten years, and returned home once Japanese counterparts had become able to operate independently. By the end of the 19th century, modernization in major fields—railways, communications, law, administration, and education—had largely been achieved, and contracts for hired foreign specialists were gradually not renewed. Toward the end of the Meiji era, Japan entered a new stage: the former students of foreign teachers—Japanese engineers and scholars—went abroad themselves to acquire cutting-edge knowledge and brought it back. In this way, the Meiji period’s acceptance of foreign talent played a decisive role in building the foundations of Japan’s modern state.

Taishō and Early Shōwa: International Cooperation and a Temporary Slowdown

The Taishō period (1912–1926) was an era in which the human resources cultivated during Meiji began to play leading roles domestically. In principle, Japanese professionals became central across fields, but foreign experts still had influence in select areas. Amid the atmosphere of Taishō Democracy, philosophers and economists from Europe and the United States were invited to give lectures, and some foreign professors taught at the Imperial University of Tokyo.

In the arts, there were scattered examples of inviting prominent Western figures, such as the visit of French dancer Eliana Pavlova (1922), which stimulated Japan’s early ballet scene. In the 1920s, Japan joined the League of Nations, sending diplomatic missions to Geneva, while Japanese officials such as Nitobe Inazō served within the League Secretariat—making talent exchange increasingly two-way. Domestically, policy in this period tended to consolidate and reorganize the use of foreign employees that had been common since Meiji, emphasizing “industrial and educational development led by Japanese themselves.” At the same time, in the private sector, some companies began to invite foreign consultants: the Mitsubishi conglomerate, for instance, brought in American engineers to research advanced steelmaking technology, and the Sumitomo conglomerate commissioned German geologists for mineral exploration—examples of targeted use of foreign specialists.

In early Shōwa (1926–1945), especially from the 1930s, Japan again strengthened nationalism, and freer exchange with foreigners was restricted under an “emergency” posture. Many foreign teachers and engineers left Japan, and overseas exchange narrowed largely to limited technology transfer tied to military alliances with Germany and Italy. During World War II, talent flows also shifted in the opposite direction, with many Japanese engineers moving to the Asian continent to work on infrastructure construction and resource development.

Late Shōwa: Postwar Reconstruction and the Introduction of Foreign Expertise

After Japan’s defeat in 1945, the country came under occupation by GHQ (the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers), and foreign staff—primarily American—directed democratization and reconstruction policies. GHQ dispatched many teams of specialists involved in drafting the new constitution, reforming the education system, and guiding the economy. For example, legal and political expertise was applied in drafting constitutional proposals; agrarian experts were involved in land reform; and fiscal and financial specialists participated in economic reconstruction planning. While some of these occupation-era measures had aspects often described as “imposed,” they also represented state restructuring based on advanced specialized knowledge. Japanese bureaucrats and intellectuals worked alongside foreign staff, learning new institutions and systems through collaboration.

After Japan regained sovereignty in 1952, rapid economic reconstruction—often called the period of high economic growth—made the enhancement of industrial technological capability a top priority. Foreign expertise was sought again. In 1950, the American statistician W. Edwards Deming visited Japan at the invitation of the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) and delivered intensive lectures for business leaders on statistical quality control (SQC). Deming introduced the concept of quality management using statistical methods to Japanese corporate management and made a major contribution to the dramatic improvement of product quality in the years that followed. His seminars helped catalyze the formation of QC circles within companies, and the establishment of the Deming Prize—awarded to organizations excelling in quality management—contributed to Japan’s manufacturing sector achieving world-leading quality*10. Another major figure in quality management, Joseph Juran, visited Japan in 1954 to promote quality education among executives. In the 1970s, the American management consultant Peter Drucker visited Japan repeatedly, advising on how Japanese companies should approach management. Drucker’s ideas—such as management by objectives (MBO) and theories of knowledge work—became models for many firms and influenced the development of advanced managerial talent.

In fields such as sports and the arts, postwar Japan also actively incorporated foreign know-how. In professional baseball, for instance, foreign players and coaches came to Japan year after year, passing on new techniques and tactical perspectives to Japanese players. In the latter half of the high-growth era, Japan emerged as a major technological power, and these targeted forms of knowledge import across multiple domains supported Japan’s technological capability and competitiveness.

Heisei and Reiwa: Globalization and Rising Expectations for Highly Skilled Foreign Talent

As the Heisei era began in 1989, Japan was at the height of the bubble economy and stood as an economic superpower. However, following a prolonged slowdown, demographic challenges—especially population decline and aging—intensified, and promoting the acceptance of highly skilled foreign talent once again became an important national strategy. In 2008, the government announced the “300,000 International Students Plan,” setting a goal of accepting 300,000 international students by 2020; by 2019, the number had surpassed 310,000*11. Policies were also introduced to encourage talented international students to remain in Japan, including support for global recruitment by companies and easing certain work-visa requirements. In 2012, a points-based system for recognizing highly skilled foreign professionals was introduced. Foreign nationals who met a specified threshold based on factors such as education, work experience, and annual income became eligible for preferential treatment, including extended periods of stay and eased requirements for permanent residency*12. After the system’s introduction, the number of foreign residents holding the Highly Skilled Professional visa increased year by year, and by the end of 2023 the number of foreign residents in professional and technical fields reached a record high*13. Many work in areas such as IT, research, and finance, expanding their roles within Japanese companies, universities, and research institutions.

In the private sector as well, the appointment of overseas talent became more active. In 1999, Nissan Motor Co. appointed the French executive Carlos Ghosn as CEO and carried out bold management reforms—often cited as a symbolic example. Since then, Japanese companies aiming to become more multinational—such as Rakuten, SoftBank, and Takeda Pharmaceutical—have appointed foreign executives and implemented initiatives such as adopting English as an internal corporate language. In the startup ecosystem, policies such as “startup visas” to attract foreign entrepreneurs, and special-zone measures under National Strategic Special Zones, have also been developed. As a result, cities such as Tokyo and Fukuoka have seen growth in the number of foreign entrepreneurs, bringing new technologies and perspectives.

Public institutions have also strengthened the acceptance framework for highly skilled foreign talent. Japan’s Immigration Services Agency established one-stop visa consultation centers to support companies and research institutions in procedures for bringing talent from overseas. In addition, in 2023, the “J-Find” program was created, granting a special status of residence that allows graduates of top universities worldwide to stay in Japan for a certain period to seek employment.

Conclusion: History as a Guide to the Future

As we have seen, Japan’s history is also a history of creating new value through encounters and collaboration with highly skilled people from abroad. From the formation of early state foundations by immigrant communities in antiquity, to religious and technological innovation in the medieval period, to Rangaku and modernization in the late Tokugawa period, to Meiji-era nation-building, and to postwar reconstruction and high economic growth—at every turning point, wisdom and skills brought from abroad played an important role.

Today, in the 21st century, as Japan faces population decline and global competition, it is becoming ever more important to move forward together with highly skilled foreign talent possessing diverse abilities. Drawing on the lessons of this long history, Japan is expected to embrace outstanding talent from around the world with a future-oriented mindset and to open a new era together.

(Edit: Jelper Club Editorial Team)

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