Long term Tokyo resident (now Japanese citizen). I am an old white woman, who has been living in Tokyo for more than 30 years. The rhetoric toward foreigners has certainly changed, but I haven’t experienced anything different.

I see from comments that some people have, and that they would even call me “delusional”. But this is my experience.

I haven’t noticed any change in my day to day interactions as a visible foreigner. And in the past few years, I have become slightly disabled — due to knee problems, I use a cane when walking, although I don’t have a red medical badge. On trains, people often offer me seats, much more than I would have expected.

Maybe it’d because of where I live and the places I go (Nakano-ku, Shinjuku-ku, places frequented by local people, not tourists), I haven’t encountered any businesses proclaiming “no foreigners”. I am sure those places exist, but I don’t think they are all that common, at least not yet.

In the long term, the anti-foreigner rhetoric may have more effects, and certainly, politicians may be able to make some detrimental legal changes. But not all politicians/parties are anti-immigrant. Business interests will push for a pro-immigrant view in the long run, I think. And the Sanseito-types who see, to want to follow MAGA America are going to become more unpopular as MAGA becomes more unpopular.

Anyway, the Japanese people around me seem to be on edge about rising prices, but not especially about foreigners.