Nepali student migration to Japan is a relatively new phenomenon, but one that has accelerated in recent years. The number of Nepali students increased from fewer than 1,000 in 2008 to over 29,000 in 2019, making them the third largest foreign student community in Japan. They migrate despite the exorbitant cost, with each student migrant usually paying 1.4 million Nepali rupees (USD 14,000) to a Japanese language institute (JLI) in Japan through an international educational consultancy (IEC) in Nepal to enter Japan on a student visa. Based on my ethnographic fieldwork in Japan and Nepal conducted from 2013 to 2019, this article examines the role of JLIs in Japan and IECs in Nepal in channeling students from Nepal to Japan. The paper shows the relationship among JLIs, IECs, student migrants and both states, and displays how push and pull factors operate between Japan and Nepal. The article shows the interconnection between the JLIs’ and IECs’ migration businesses and Japan’s side door policy for bringing in unskilled labor. The different actors do not compete with one another but are mutual beneficiaries, a reality that challenges the existing literature on the relationship between the states and the migration industry in both countries.

尼泊尔学生向日本移民是一个相对较新的现象，但近年来加速了。尼泊尔学生人数从 2008 年的不到 1,000 人增加到 2019 年的 29,000 多人，成为日本第三大外国学生社区。他们不顾高昂的成本移民，每个学生移民通常通过尼泊尔的国际教育咨询公司 (IEC) 向日本的日本语言学院 (JLI) 支付 140 万尼泊尔卢比（14,000 美元），以获得学生签证进入日本。本文基于我 2013 年至 2019 年在日本和尼泊尔进行的民族志实地考察，探讨了日本的 JLI 和尼泊尔的 IEC 在引导学生从尼泊尔到日本的作用。该论文展示了 JLI、IEC、学生移民和两个州之间的关系，并展示日本和尼泊尔之间的推拉因素如何运作。文章展示了 JLI 和 IEC 的移民业务与日本引进非熟练劳动力的侧门政策之间的相互联系。不同的参与者不相互竞争，而是互惠互利，这一现实挑战了关于两国国家与移民行业之间关系的现有文献。