A government report on the number of foreigners working in towns and cities across the country has seen a ski resort top the table for the first time.

But it is not Japan’s most famous international resort of Niseko, but the village of Shimukappu in central Hokkaido, home to the Tomamu ski resort, that has the highest number of foreign workers in the country at 22.7%  The resort’s popularity with international tourists has been credited for the large influx.

Overall foreign nationals were found two account for at least 10% of the population in 10 municipalities last year, including two ski areas near Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido.

Five years ago the same census showed no Hokkaido towns or villages in the national top 10 and the percentage of foreign workers in Shimukappu at less than 5%.

The increases across the country are being put down to a change in national policy that makes it easier for non-Japanese nationals to work in the country, a response to an aging population and de-population of the countryside.

Immigrants are also reported to be arriving from a wider spread of nations. China and South Korea had been the main sources previously but the Japanese government report a sharp increase in emigration from Vietnam and Nepal.