咖哩店如何被捲入日本的移民管制行動（1/2）

Recently The New York Times reported the following:

How Curry Shops Got Caught in Japan’s Immigration Crackdown (1/2)

Under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, new visa rules are forcing some foreign business owners, who have put down roots in Japan, to leave.

The NYT - By Javier C. Hernández and Kiuko Notoya - Reporting from Shimotsuke, Japan

May 30, 2026

Updated 8:36 a.m. ET

For three years, Mahendra Dharmapriya, a Sri Lankan restaurateur, filled the streets of his neighborhood in rural Japan with the smells of his homeland: creamy lentils, fish curry, egg hoppers and black tea with ginger.

But on a recent Saturday, Mr. Dharmapriya cooked the last meal at Daiya Ceylon, his Sri Lankan curry shop in the Japanese town of Shimotsuke, about 66 miles north of Tokyo, and shut its doors. He was forced to close the restaurant because he could not satisfy new visa rules meant to restrict the flow of foreigners into Japan. He plans to return to Sri Lanka this week.

“I felt so alone,” Mr. Dharmapriya, 40, who moved to Japan in 2015, said in a recent interview at his restaurant, where he was handing out unopened bags of spices and cassava chips to friends. “I have no hope for the future right now.”

Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, won office last year on a promise to more strictly regulate immigration and tourism. Now her government is trying to deliver, scrutinizing the roughly 47,000 foreigners like Mr. Dharmapriya who live in the country on so-called business manager visas.

Japan has long been cautious about immigration; foreigners make up only about 3 percent of the population. Some experts argue that Japan needs to allow more immigrants to deal with labor shortages and offset its rapidly declining population. But a wave of nationalist sentiment has swept the country recently, with some activists calling for even stricter controls as part of a “Japan First” movement.

Conservatives say that foreigners are exploiting Japan’s visa rules to stay in the country indefinitely. The government has responded by making it harder to obtain business manager visas, requiring applicants to have $188,000 in capital, up from $31,000 previously, and to employ at least one full-time staff member.

The change has left many foreign restaurant owners in limbo. For decades, workers from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China, Vietnam, Thailand and other countries have relied on business manager visas, setting up small restaurants in Japanese cities and rural areas that serve curry, fried rice, noodles and other favorites.

Chan Ka Yee, who managed a branch of San Mai San, a Hong Kong-style congee chain, in Tokyo, closed her restaurant last week after more than five years because she said she could not meet the new visa requirements. She plans to return to Hong Kong this summer.

On her final day, customers brought flowers and snapped photos of Ms. Chan as she made pork congee, waffles and milk tea. She thanked them and waved goodbye.

The next morning, she wrote on social media, “My eyes are incredibly swollen from crying so much last night.”

“I can’t believe it’s over,” she said. “I wanted to stay there forever.”

Chie Taniguchi, 50, a regular at Ms. Chan’s restaurant, called the new visa requirements “sloppy politics.”

“Now it will become impossible for Japanese people to discover new flavors and food cultures,” she said.

(to be continued)

Translation

咖哩店如何被捲入日本的移民管制行動（1/2）

在首相高市早苗的領導下，新的簽證規則迫使一些在日本紮根的外國經營企業的人離開

三年來，斯里蘭卡餐廳老闆Mahendra Dharmapriya 將家鄉的香氣瀰漫在日本鄉村的街道上：奶油扁豆、魚咖哩、雞蛋餅和薑茶。

但就在不久前的一個週六，Dharmapriya先生在他位於日本下野市（東京以北約66英里）的斯里蘭卡咖哩店“Daiya Ceylon”烹製了最後一餐，然後關上了店門。由於無法滿足旨在限制外國人入境日本的新簽證規定，他被迫關閉了餐廳。他計劃本週返回斯里蘭卡。

40歲的Dharmapriya先生說: 「我感到非常孤獨」; 「我現在對未來沒有任何希望」。他於2015年移居日本。最近，他在自己的餐廳接受採訪時，正將未開封的香料和木薯脆片分發給朋友們。

日本首相高市早苗去年上任時承諾將更嚴格地監管移民和旅遊業。如今，她的政府正努力兌現承諾，對像Dharmapriya先生這樣持所謂「商務經理簽證」在日本居住的約4.7萬名外國人進行嚴格審查。

日本長期以來對移民問題持謹慎態度；外國人僅佔日本人口的3%左右。一些專家認為，日本需要允許更多移民入境，以應對勞動力短缺和人口快速下降的問題。但近來，一股民族主義情緒席捲日本，一些活動人士呼籲加強管控，並發起「日本優先」運動。

保守派人士稱，外國人正在利用日本的簽證政策無限期地留在日本。政府的回應是提高了商務經理簽證的申請門檻，要求申請人擁有18.8萬美元的註冊資本（先前為3.1萬美元），並且至少僱用一名全職員工。

這項變化令許多外國餐館老闆陷入困境。幾十年來，來自印度、尼泊爾、斯里蘭卡、中國、越南、泰國等國的務工人員一直依靠商務經理簽證在日本的城市和鄉村地區開設小餐館，供應咖哩、炒飯、麵條和其他美食。

Chan Ka Yee在東京經營一家港式粥品連鎖店「三米三」（San Mai San）的分店，上週，由於無法滿足新的簽證要求，她在經營五年多後關閉了這家餐廳。她計劃今年夏天返回香港。

在她工作的最後一天，顧客們帶著鮮花，拍下了陳女士製作豬肉粥、華夫餅和奶茶的照片。她向顧客道謝並揮手道別。

第二天早上，她在社交媒體上寫道：“昨晚哭得太厲害，眼睛十分腫。”

她說:“真不敢相信一切都結束了”，“我真想永遠留在那裡。”

50歲的Chie Taniguchi是陳女士餐廳的常客，她稱新的簽證要求是「糟糕的政治操作」。

她說:「現在日本人將很難發現新的口味和飲食文化了」。

（待續）