Japan and South Korea are allowing in some foreign workersThey will need to be much more liberal to sustain their economies.

The ubiquitous rule-giving signs of the Icho Danchi district on the outskirts of Yokohama, near Tokyo, speak far more languages than any of its residents could. Motorcycle riding is restricted in Chinese, English, Japanese, Spanish and Vietnamese. Instructions for sorting rubbish, a particularly finicky part of Japanese daily life, are offered in 11, including Portuguese.

With its Vietnamese cafés and Cambodian markets, the area is a microcosm of Japan’s growing but still small migrant community. In 2009 the country had 2.1m foreign residents. By 2019 that number was up to 2.9m. Just across the water, South Korea shares with Japan more than just byzantine waste-management rules. Its foreign population more than doubled from 1.1m to 2.5m over the same period.