The number of foreign residents living in Japan has reached a record high, surpassing 3.2 million.

The Immigration Services Agency says there were around 3,224,000 foreign residents in the country as of the end of June. The figure grew by 149,000 during the first half of this year.

By category, there were around 358,000 foreign technical interns, up 33,000 from six months earlier. The number of people with specified skilled worker status rose by 42,000 to about 173,000.

Meanwhile, roughly 79,000 foreign nationals in Japan had overstayed their visas as of July 1. The figure was up by 8,600 from six months earlier.

Immigration officials say an increasing number of foreigners have been coming to Japan after pandemic-related border control measures were eased.

But they say there are many overstays and that they will take appropriate immigration control measures.