after the Lehman Shock, the aftereffects of the global economic recession in 2009 significantly led to a decrease in the number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Engineer”. However, in 2011, the number increased by 46.5% compared with 2010.

Regarding the number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Specialist in Humanities/International Services”, statistics by nationality (place of origin) show that the largest number came from the US (1,082, or 23.2%), followed by China (728, or 15.6%), R.O. Korea (590, or 12.7%) and the UK (326, or 7.0%). These top four countries accounted for 58.5% of the total number of newly entering foreign nationals with this status of residence.

With regard to newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Intra-company Transferee”, statistics by nationality (place of origin) show that the largest number came from China (1,717, or 32.1%), followed by the Philippines (641, or 12.0%), R.O. Korea (511, or 9.6%) and India (484, or 9.1%), and these top four countries accounted for 62.7% of the total number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Intra-company Transferee”.

### b. “Skilled Labor” (Data Section 2, Statistics (1) 6-1)

The number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Skilled Labor” as master craftsmen unique to each foreign country had been on the decrease since 2001, but the figure increased in 2004. The number of such foreign nationals had been decreasing again since 2009, but in 2011, it increased to 4,178 by 590 (16.4%) from the previous year.

The number of registered foreign nationals in Japan with the status of residence of “Skilled Labor” has been increasing every year since 2001, reaching 31,751 as of the end of December, 2011. This suggests that foreign nationals who work in Japan using their technical skills are increasing.

According to statistics by nationality (place of origin), the largest number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Skilled Labor” came from China (2,527, or 60.5%), followed by Nepal (677, or 16.2%), India (379, or 9.1%) and Thailand (132, or 3.2%) in 2011. This was due in part to the fact that most of the foreign nationals with this status of residence were chefs of foreign cuisine, and these top four countries accounted for 88.9% of the total number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Skilled Labor”.

### c. “Entertainer” (Data Section 2, Statistics (1) 5-1)

Although the number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Entertainer” has been steadily increasing since 2001, it decreased after 2005. In 2011, it decreased by 2,500 (8.7 %) from 2010 to 26,112. The decreasing trend is due to stricter implementation of landing and residence examination by reviewing the landing permission criteria (ministerial ordinance) relating to the status of residence of “Entertainer” in 2006. However, this group still represents the largest ratio of total foreign nationals with a status of residence for employment in professional or technical fields.

According to the statistics by nationality (place of origin), the largest number of new arriv-