The number of foreign residents living in Japan has reached a record high of over 3.4 million.

The Immigration Services Agency says there were around 3,411,000 foreign residents in the country as of the end of last year. That's 336,000 more than at the end of the previous year.

By category, there were around 405,000 foreign technical interns, up 80,000 from the previous year. The number of people with special skilled worker status rose by 78,000, to about 208,000.

The agency says foreigners started coming to Japan in increasing numbers after coronavirus border control measures were relaxed.

Meanwhile, there were 1,240 cases in which foreign nationals had their technical intern status revoked after it was found they were working in different sectors than allowed by their status. That's 115 more than in the previous year, and an all-time high.