Growing number of Chinese now call Japan home

FILE - Chinese and Japanese flags fly at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Oct. 8, 2023. Chinese nationals are now the largest group of immigrants in Japan. FILE - Tokyo, shown here in 2021, has attracted many middle-class and wealthy Chinese immigrants, pushing up the average price of new central city apartments by nearly 40% since 2022.

Sun Lijun, a 42-year-old semiconductor engineer, says worries about the quality of air and living, childhood education and the overall economic trajectory in China are some of the reasons he and his wife first started talking about moving to Japan almost a decade ago.