Why Chinese Elite Rùn to Japan

Why are Chinese moving to Tokyo? Takehiro Masutomo 舛友雄大, who worked for Nikkei in Tokyo and Beijing, has written a fascinating book about Japan’s new Chinese diaspora. Through interviews with Chinese immigrants who’ve moved to Japan, he explains what draws Chinese dissidents, intellectuals, billionaires, and middle-class families to Tokyo. The book is called Run Ri: 潤日 Following the Footsteps of Elite Chinese Escaping to Japan, and it’s only available in Japanese and Traditional Chinese for now.

Today’s conversation covers…

• How Chinese intellectuals are following in Sun Yat-sen’s footsteps by creating Chinese bookstores and community events in Japan,

• How underground banking networks help wealthy Chinese transfer money beyond Beijing’s $50,000 annual limit,

• Why some middle-class Chinese families prefer to send their children to Japanese schools,

• Backlash against Chinese immigrants,

• Why Chinese immigrants are more optimistic about Japan’s future than most Japanese.

Thanks to the US-Japan Foundation for sponsoring this Q&A.

Tokyo’s New Dissidents

Jordan Schneider: Why’d you want to write this book?

Takehiro Masutomo: Back in 2022, I realized many of my Chinese friends that I had met in Beijing had moved to Tokyo. I thought this was an interesting new trend. Then, in November of 2022, there was a big protest in Tokyo echoing with the White Paper movement 白纸抗议 in mainland China. That was quite a departure from previous generations of Chinese residents in Japan.

I also witnessed the opening of some Chinese-language bookstores in Tokyo, such as One Way Street bookstore in Ginza. I thought Chinese immigration to Japan could be a new, emerging trend. That’s how I decided to look into this phenomenon.

Jordan Schneider: I remember seeing the former mainland journalist turned YouTuber Wang Zhi’an 王志安 saying he was doing YouTube from Tokyo. I wondered if he had dissident-adjacent friends there. There’s a second wave of Chinese who immigrate to Japan, who have money but are also unsatisfied with the life that mainland China can provide.

Your book walks through a number of different push and pull factors for wanting to leave China and being attracted by Japan. Since you mentioned the White Paper movement, it might make sense to start with the refuge for liberal intellectuals. Talk a little bit about what you uncovered in your reporting on this community.

Takehiro Masutomo: A good example is how we now have a lot of new Chinese-language bookstores in Tokyo. I don’t know if our listeners know how many Chinese bookstores there are now in Tokyo — as far as I know, there are five bookstores here. I heard there’s just one Chinese bookstore in Washington, D.C., which opened just last year, JF Books.

Jordan Schneider: Shout out to JF Books. I’ve been to a handful of talks there. I’m curious if it’s the same thing in Japan, where these bookstores double as community gathering spots. They hold lots of events and talks, and it’s a place for the liberal community to congregate and discuss ideas.

Takehiro Masutomo: The same here. They regularly host events — almost every weekend. Before, I don’t think there were any such activities, especially before the pandemic. But after the pandemic, I’m busy attending all these different events. There are too many nowadays.

They often have their own chat groups online or on WeChat. It functions as a community. There are five bookstores in Tokyo — the Chinese community is already dense enough to accommodate that many.

Jordan Schneider: When you talk to some folks in this scene, what do they appreciate about their lives in Japan versus in China?

Takehiro Masutomo: There’s much more space to discuss anything freely. I’m sure that’s a big plus. If it were a decade ago, I think people could have almost any kind of academic events or current affairs-themed activities in Beijing or Hong Kong, but it’s impossible these days. Tokyo provides them with this alternative space.

Emigrants from Xi's China: The New Chinese Diaspora Identity

Jordan Schneider: How many Chinese in Japan do you think left for political reasons?

Takehiro Masutomo: Well, I don’t think it’s a huge number, but it’s somewhere in the hundreds.

Jordan Schneider: There is a fun historical parallel here with Sun Yat-sen, of course, who spent several years in Japan.

Takehiro Masutomo: I think some people started to see a parallel with the late Qing period. At that time, Japan accommodated a lot of Chinese revolutionaries, like Sun Yat-sen and others. Maybe something similar is about to happen in Tokyo.

Sun Yat-sen and Japanese filmmaker Shōkichi Umeya (left), 1914. Source.

The Retired Chinese Billionaires of Hokkaido

Jordan Schneider: Let’s maybe turn to another community — the folks who are coming there for a new lifestyle. Who are they and what are they looking for in Japan?

Takehiro Masutomo: There are different layers in terms of their asset size. I would say there are maybe three categories — super rich, upper middle class, and middle class. They have different kinds of lifestyles here. They live in different areas in central Tokyo. They really enjoy the lifestyle here, for example, going to nice restaurants. Tokyo has many world-class restaurants.

Jordan Schneider: But there’s good food in China, too.

How do the super-rich get their money to Japan? Ostensibly, you can only take $50,000 a year out of the mainland.

Takehiro Masutomo: For the case of Jack Ma and other billionaires, maybe the story is a bit different. They already had enough assets overseas for a long time. But I think the majority of those wealthy Chinese people who recently arrived in Tokyo have different options to transfer their money from the mainland to Japan.

I think a prime example is underground banking. I visited a few underground banks in Tokyo and learned that when they buy real estate properties here, they often pay in cash. They can get large amounts of cash through underground banks.

Jordan Schneider: Are we talking RMB — taking physical RMB out of China?

Takehiro Masutomo: To be precise, they first need to transfer money in RMB in mainland China from their own accounts to the seller’s account. After the bank operators confirm the money was actually transferred in mainland China, they give cash in Japanese yen.

Jordan Schneider: What do these underground banks do with that? How does it work?

Takehiro Masutomo: It’s a bit complicated. It involves not just Japan and China, but third countries. Simply put, I think it’s a parallel system together with ongoing goods trade. They need to balance their accounts, and that’s how this underground bank operation comes in.

Jordan Schneider: These underground banks are piggybacking off of other business activities that are going on. You just say, Oh, I sold a little less or had a little more revenue, and that’s how they transfer money out of China?

Takehiro Masutomo: That’s my understanding.

Jordan Schneider: What’s the motivation for super-rich people? They come to Japan for food. What else?

Takehiro Masutomo: Well, many of those super-wealthy Chinese people are semi-retired, including Jack Ma himself. They like the kind of retirement life here. Medical services in Japan are much better than those available in mainland China on average. They also enjoy traveling around Japan. I notice they like to have parties in their homes or at exclusive private membership clubs.

Jordan Schneider: What are these membership clubs? How do these membership clubs feel about all these nouveau riche Chinese people showing up?

Takehiro Masutomo: There are different kinds of private clubs operated by Chinese people nowadays in Tokyo. Some of them are restaurants, but they don’t take reservations, and it’s only for those members or the friends of those rich people. There’s another kind — for example, it’s attached to a resort office. These resorts, like the one in Hokkaido and so on, are not open to the public.

Jordan Schneider: Is there a lot of overlap and social interaction? I mean, I can’t imagine many Chinese immigrants speak Japanese, and I can’t imagine a lot of rich Japanese who are in these clubs in the first place speak Chinese.

Takehiro Masutomo: It’s not just about their own private clubs. For example, there are other Western-type clubs here, including the American Club. I think it’s getting filled with Chinese members these days. That’s also interesting.

Jordan Schneider: We’ll get world peace started at the American Club in Tokyo. By the way, if anyone wants to invite me to a secret Chinese club in Tokyo, I’ll fly out for that.

Snuffing out the Midnight Oil

Jordan Schneider: Let’s go one social stratum down. You talk a lot about families where the parents believe raising their children in Japan will set them up with different, better opportunities and less stress. For these families, Japan is a place they want to build their life and their future. First off, do the husbands come too, or is it just the wives with the children?

Takehiro Masutomo: At least for those I interviewed, they tend to come as families. The husbands also live here.

Jordan Schneider: It’s not like a place to park the family you don’t want to deal with.

Takehiro Masutomo: No, it’s having real life here. That’s maybe different. These people tend to live in the city center here in Tokyo, especially in the high-rise condominiums around Tokyo Bay. I went there for interviews many times, and the ratio of Chinese residents is going up fast.

Education is definitely a big motivator. More wealthy Chinese immigrants send their kids to top international schools here, including the American School in Japan.

Jordan Schneider: I had a Jack Ma sighting in New York City. I was walking on Central Park South one day, and he was outside the Essex House Hotel. He’s incredibly physically distinctive — he’s like 5’2”, you will not mistake this man and his face. He seemed like he was having a good time, even though it was rainy. I wish him all the best, but this is a real jet-set lifestyle that Jack’s been living. I guess he’s been back in China of late.

I think we should take a step back. Can you put some numbers around this? What has the broader trend of immigration looked like in Japan over the past few years?

Takehiro Masutomo: From the data I checked, the number of new Chinese immigrants I’m talking about today is roughly about maybe a bit less than 100,000. The number of Chinese residents in Japan now stands at 870,000. But the new immigrants I’m talking about are about up to 100,000.

Jordan Schneider: That’s post-COVID.

Takehiro Masutomo: Yes, something like that.

Jordan Schneider: From a school perspective, you wrote that Chinese immigrants believe that there are top schools in certain districts of Tokyo and that competition is less intense than it would be for the Gaokao and trying to get into Peking University, etc. Is that true? How much more relaxed is the Japanese education system?

Takehiro Masutomo: Good question. I’m always surprised when they talk about educational situations in mainland China. It’s far beyond my wildest imagination. Their kids normally study from early morning to midnight — that’s totally normal in China, according to those interviewees. It’s totally different from the situation in Japan. Kids here are more relaxed normally.

“Night Reading” 《夜读图》painted by Qi Baishi 齐白石 in 1930. Source.

You mentioned this area in Tokyo — it’s called Bunkyo-ku 文京区. That’s where the University of Tokyo campus is located. I noticed a lot of new Chinese immigrants tend to move into Bunkyo-ku, a particular ward of Tokyo, because they believe the public elementary schools there are better than others. But it’s a myth because in Japan, the public school system is quite solid and there’s no difference among different public schools. It’s interesting.

Jordan Schneider: It’s a real estate marketing game then?

Takehiro Masutomo: Exactly.

Jordan Schneider: Is it cheaper to raise kids in Japan? Is there government daycare or other benefits?

Takehiro Masutomo: Tuition fees in Japan are cheaper than those in Shanghai or Beijing. I checked the data some time ago. If you compare the tuition fees for international schools in Tokyo, it’s half the fee in Beijing or Shanghai. Much cheaper. It’s reasonably priced in the eyes of Chinese parents. That’s partially why they want to come to Japan. Also, of course, the competition is not as fierce as in China.

Sichuanese Restaurants and Anti-Gaijin Politics

Jordan Schneider: Do the parents speak Japanese? Are there well-paying jobs open to Chinese nationals who don’t speak Japanese? What are they doing all day?

Takehiro Masutomo: One of the traits of these newcomers is that they don’t have a good command of the Japanese language, because they suddenly decided to come to Japan, and they are at least middle-aged or older. Acquiring a new language is challenging. Typically, they can only speak basic Japanese.

I don’t think there are many job opportunities for those people. But if you are a professional working in mainland China, maybe you can do something similar here. You set up your own company here, and you can open a consulting firm, a restaurant, or a real estate agency.

Jordan Schneider: There was a lot of news a few years ago of Chinese nationals trying to cross the border from Mexico to the U.S. These were lower-class immigrants coming for strictly economic reasons — not “I want my kid to have a more chill time in middle school.” I know there’s been a large influx of foreign workers to Japan over the past few years. I imagine that’s mostly from South Asian countries, but are there Chinese who fit in that bucket?

Takehiro Masutomo: The number of foreigners living in Japan has increased rapidly over the past several years, and now the ratio has reached about 3% of the total population. As you rightly pointed out, many of them are either from Southeast Asia or South Asia.

It’s a different category from those newly arrived Chinese immigrants here. The Chinese don’t do part-time jobs and so on. I would say it’s different categories. A lot of these newcomers choose Japan because Tokyo offers the best cost-effective quality of life. Inflation is mild here, and there’s this effect of the weakening Japanese yen. For them, many things are quite cheap.

Another key reason Japan is attractive to Chinese immigrants is that Japan has been relaxing its long-term visa over the past decade or so. Many recent Chinese immigrants had been to Japan as tourists in the 2010s, and then the Japanese government had been relaxing even long-term, residential-type visas. That’s why they could apply for those long-term visas and they could easily get one of those. It really makes a sharp contrast with many Western countries.

Jordan Schneider: How’s the Chinese food nowadays? Has it gotten a lot better to serve this audience?

Takehiro Masutomo: It’s more diverse these days. I sometimes go to Chinese restaurants because Chinese people want to have dinner with me there. It’s interesting — there are a lot of Sichuan restaurants and so on. It’s very authentic. Every time I go, I’m surrounded by Chinese diners. I don’t often see any Japanese customers in these Chinese restaurants. It’s completely a Chinese world.

Jordan Schneider: Let’s talk about the sort of broader Japanese response to this trend. In the most recent election, there was some xenophobic pushback specifically oriented towards Chinese nationals. What’s your characterization of that?

Takehiro Masutomo: Ever since I started to cover these new Chinese immigrants, I thought that it deserves nationwide discussions — whether or not to accept these Chinese immigrants more proactively or not. That has been in my mind for a long time. But to my surprise, during the recent upper house election in July, these so-called “foreigner issues” suddenly became a big topic.

I think it’s an accumulation of people’s frustration — there has been a lot of sensational reporting about immigrants, specifically about Chinese immigrants. It’s not written by me, but by many other tabloids, magazines, and TV shows, highlighting how these wealthy Chinese people are buying up a lot of properties here, suggesting that recent hikes in property prices may be attributed to those Chinese buying sprees. That’s one thing.

I recall that several months ago, a magazine reported that the number of Chinese students at, for example, Tokyo University has increased significantly over the past few years. Now they are close to 20% of the graduate student cohort.

Jordan Schneider: Do they pay more for tuition?

Takehiro Masutomo: I don’t think there’s a difference in tuition between local Japanese students and international students. That’s different from Western countries. In the U.S., of course, you distinguish the tuition fees between home students and international students, but it’s not the case here. Maybe for those Chinese people, the tuition fee is quite reasonable here too.

A New Golden Age for Japan?

Jordan Schneider: Can you share some more stories from your interviews? What were some interesting perspectives you heard over the course of these interviews that surprised you about their motivations, reflections on China, or reflections on their experience in Japan?

Takehiro Masutomo: Many Japanese people are quite pessimistic about their future because we are facing a depopulation issue and we are all getting older. I was surprised by how optimistic these new Chinese immigrants are about Japan’s future. Some of them even said Japan is going to enter a new golden age. That’s an interesting perspective.

Jordan Schneider: That’s so funny. The most optimistic people in Japan are recent Chinese immigrants.

Takehiro Masutomo: Another interesting phenomenon is Chinese intellectuals gathering in Tokyo. Many interesting things are going on — there’s now even a Chinese publisher based in Tokyo. I know him personally, and he started to run a Chinese language publisher. His business has become quite successful. He’s selling his Chinese books not just in Tokyo, but also in other countries. Not in mainland China, of course, but in Taiwan or other Western countries.

What’s more interesting is that some people say these intellectuals, combined with wealthy Chinese people, could eventually become a political force, potentially challenging the CCP in many years to come. There’s a small number of Japanese scholars and diplomats now discussing whether Japan could have the second Sun Yat-sen here. That’s definitely something we should watch out for in the future.

Jordan Schneider: That’s fascinating. Who from this community should I have on the show? Who are some of the most interesting figures?

Takehiro Masutomo: You mentioned Wang Zhi’an — he’s becoming quite popular here among those newcomers. There is also a lawyer from mainland China named Wu Lei 伍雷. He’s hosting a lot of events himself, and he’s quite big here. There are also other influential intellectuals I cannot name in public.

One example I can share is Liu Xia 刘霞, the wife of Liu Xiaobo 刘晓波, who now lives in the Kansai region. She used to live in Germany.

Jordan Schneider: Are there any other little hotspots outside of Tokyo?

Takehiro Masutomo: Resort areas are getting quite popular amongst Chinese people, including Niseko and Furano (both in Hokkaido), and other cities like Karuizawa or Hakuba around Mount Fuji. These areas are also getting hot. Some people want to live there, so they are building their own villas. Some of the newly built villas in those resort areas are now owned by wealthy Chinese people.

Inume Pass, Kōshū by Katsushika Hokusai, 1829. Source.

There are also Chinese developers building hotels and condominiums. There are a lot of real estate projects going on, some of which are really big. I know there is an ongoing project where the developer aims to build up to 10,000 units in one area alone. Well, that’s a really huge project. If they eventually realize that size, it’s unprecedented because if they could build 10,000 units, that would be by far the biggest real estate project in Japan. It’s getting a bit crazy.