Student migration from Nepal to Japan: Factors behind the steep rise

Nepali student migration to Japan is a relatively new phenomenon, but one that has accelerated in recent years. The number of Nepali students increased from fewer than 1,000 in 2008 to over 29,000 in 2019, making them the third largest foreign student community in Japan. They migrate despite the exorbitant cost, with each student migrant usually paying 1.4 million Nepali rupees (USD 14,000) to a Japanese language institute (JLI) in Japan through an international educational consultancy (IEC) in Nepal to enter Japan on a student visa. Based on my ethnographic fieldwork in Japan and Nepal conducted from 2013 to 2019, this article examines the role of JLIs in Japan and IECs in Nepal in channeling students from Nepal to Japan. The paper shows the relationship among JLIs, IECs, student migrants and both states, and displays how push and pull factors operate between Japan and Nepal. The article shows the interconnection between the JLIs’ and IECs’ migration businesses and Japan’s side door policy for bringing in unskilled labor. The different actors do not compete with one another but are mutual beneficiaries, a reality that challenges the existing literature on the relationship between the states and the migration industry in both countries.