This study aims to identify the major characteristics and motivations of foreign faculty at Japanese universities. The study begins with a brief introduction to the literature, research framework and method. In the second section, the study deals with the background and changes in foreign faculty at Japanese universities since 1980. In the third section, the study discusses the key aspects of the personal attributes and career patterns of the foreign faculty and their motivations of being hired in Japanese universities. The study concludes by presenting a more detailed description of the personal, educational and professional identities of the foreign faculty at Japanese universities, the main reasons for their coming to work in Japan, and the implications for research, policy and institutional practice.