Foreign workers march in Tokyo for better pay, work conditions

Foreign workers participate in the “March in March 2025” holding placards, in Tokyo’s Taito Ward on March 9, 2025. (Mainichi/Satoshi Tokairin)

TOKYO — Foreign workers took to the streets of Japan’s capital on March 9, calling for wage increases and improved labor conditions as the peak of the 2025 spring labor offensive approaches.

Some 300 foreign workers joined the “March in March 2025 — We Are Here!” event staged around Ueno Park in Tokyo’s Taito Ward.

The rally began in 1993 to highlight the need for improved labor conditions and rights for foreign workers. It is organized by labor unions for foreign workers and citizens’ groups supporting them.

Yumiko Nakajima, chair of the National Union of General Workers, Tokyo Nambu, commented, “There are more than 2.3 million foreign workers in Japan. We want to underscore their presence.”

The march was headed by a samba band, with participants holding up placards related to their jobs, such as “I am making your convenience store’s bento!” The participants joined in calls of “no” to unfair treatment and sexual harassment. A South American woman participating in the demonstration remarked that many of her colleagues worked in nonregular jobs, supporting the country. She said that when prices rise, both Japanese and foreigners struggle equally, and called for people not to forget those workers’ need for wage increases too.

In addition to people in the capital, foreign laborers from Gunma and Gifu prefectures, among other areas, took part.

(Japanese original by Satoshi Tokairin, Tokyo City News Department)