Mental Health in Japan: Support Services Foreigners Can Use

Loneliness, anxiety, sleepless nights — options so you don't carry it alone

"I wanted to talk to someone — but there was no one in Japan I could talk to."

That was Aung (29) from Mandalay, Myanmar, about six months after arriving in Japan. It was March 2024, and he was working at a food processing factory in Tohoku.

He couldn't communicate with the coworkers in his dormitory. On days off, he had nowhere to go. Even talking with his family back home on LINE, the time difference meant they could only connect at night. The night his team leader yelled at him over a work mistake, Aung lay alone in his futon, unable to sleep for hours. Was he sad, scared, angry — he couldn't even tell.

He knew the words "mental health." But "going to a psychiatrist" felt like far too high a hurdle. He didn't want anyone thinking he was weak. There was the language problem too. And above all, there was the fear: "What if consulting someone affects my residence status?"

Three months passed like that. Before he knew it, Aung had almost stopped going out at all, except for work.

For foreign workers in Japan, who can easily feel isolated, mental health struggles are not unusual. Agriculture, factories, construction, nursing care — coming alone to an unfamiliar place and working in an unfamiliar environment puts an enormous psychological load on anyone. Reaching out is not weakness. Knowing which services you can use is part of protecting yourself.