By Elijah Koome
In an X post published on July 7, 2026, a user, Colonel Otaku Gatekeeper, claimed that Archbishop Isao Kikuchi said Japan must embrace multiculturalism and accept migrants from Africa and the Middle East if it wants to survive. This account has 106,000 followers and purports to “educate Westerners on Japanese politics.” The user also has the following additional descriptions in their “About” section: “Japanese Nationalist, Anti Communism, Shintoist.” At the time of review, the post had attracted 2.6k comments, 987 retweets, and 1.8k likes, indicating substantial traction.
Background
As Japan’s population continues to age, the number of foreign workers has been steadily increasing to fill the labour gaps. A report by the Japan News indicates that as of October 2025, there were more than 2.5 million foreign workers in Japan. That number was 11% higher than the previous year. The majority of the foreign workers came from countries such as Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Nepal, and Indonesia.
However, the increase in the number of foreign workers has coincided with the rise of anti-foreigner sentiments. A party called Sanseito, whose main agenda centers around restricting immigration to Japan, won, for the first time, 14 seats in the 2025 Upper House election. In the same year, a plan to bring interns from four African countries for temporary exchange was misunderstood to mean a plan to open up more pathways for African immigrants, leading to public furore in Japan.
Verification
According to the official Vatican website, Isao Kikuchi is the Archbishop of Tokyo, Japan. He became a priest in 1986 and worked as a missionary in Ghana from 1986 to 1992. In an interview published in November 2024 by Fides, Kikuchi was asked how the Japanese Catholic community is responding to the issue of migrants. Kikuchi said that faced by an aging and falling population, Japan needs migrants to survive. He explained that the government is aware of this reality but is hesitant to upset the status quo of being a generally homogenous country.
Kikuchi further pointed out that many migrants face bureaucratic problems with their visas because they are considered a problem instead of a source of hope for the society. At no point in the interview did Archbishop Kikuchi specifically mention that Japan must accept migrants from Africa and the Middle East to survive. Additionally, there is no other official record of Archbishop Kikuchi saying that Japan specifically needs migrants from Africa and the Middle East. His words during the interview with Fides were distorted to fit the agenda of far-right commentators on Japan’s issues.
Verdict
The claim that Archbishop Kikuchi said that Japan must embrace multiculturalism and accept migrants from Africa and the Middle East if it wants to survive is MISLEADING.
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