Factors enhancing residential satisfaction of foreign residents toward settlement: A case study of toshima city, tokyo, japan

Abstract In recent years, the number of foreign residents in global cities has increased rapidly, and they have become an important demographic for housing development. On the other hand, research on the living environment of foreign residents has not been comprehensive as it should be. There has also been little consideration of how to create a living environment that takes into account the residential satisfaction of foreign residents. This study aimed to investigate the types of environments and support that can enhance residential satisfaction (RS) for foreign residents in Japan. Accordingly, a questionnaire survey was conducted in Toshima City, Tokyo, Japan. In this research, five factors that enhance RS were examined using structural equation modeling: “intercultural and language support” as the initial factor, two factors of public livelihood support (“childcare support” and “procedural support”), and two factors of residential environments (“social association” and “housing environment”). We further examined whether the RS differed depending on the length of residence. We found that intercultural communication support was effective in directly increasing the RS of foreign residents living in Japan and that the residential environment, including social association and housing environment, increased RS with intercultural and language support as a starting point. However, childcare and procedural support were not statistically significant. These factors and the empirical model differ depending on the number of years of settlement in Japan. Additionally, the residential environment, including social association and housing environment, indirectly increased RS with intercultural communication support as the starting point in the case of residents who lived for over 5 years there. However, only social association contributed to increased RS among residents who lived there for less than 5 years. Finally, we derived policy recommendations based on the findings of short-term stay and medium- to long-term settlement.