Nearly 3 million people were studying the Japanese language in 133 countries and territories worldwide as of 2006, up more than 25 percent from three years earlier, according to a survey conducted by the Japan Foundation.
The organization, one of whose main duties is to promote Japanese-language education overseas, last week released the data from its latest survey, conducted between November last year and March this year. It has been conducting surveys of this kind since 1979--initially every five years but now every three years beginning from the latest one.
For the survey, the Japan Foundation sent questionnaire sheets to about 27,000 educational institutions worldwide, of which 75 percent responded. It found that there were 2,979,820 students of the Japanese language overseas last year, about 23 times larger than the student number in 1979.
The government has been aiming at increasing the number of students of the Japanese language to 3 million by 2010. The Japan Foundation's latest survey shows that the goal has almost been achieved.
By nation and territory, South Korea topped the list with about 910,000 students, followed by China and Australia with about 680,000 and 370,000, respectively. The number of students in these three countries accounted for about two-thirds of the total figure.
Compared to the 2003 survey, 95 countries and territories saw increases in the number of students of Japanese.
On the other hand, 31 countries and territories showed the opposite trend--with Australia and the United States among them. The United States, the sixth highest country in terms of the number of students, had a 15.9 percent decrease.
The organization guesses that behind such decreases, there is an increasing popularity for learning other languages such as Chinese and Spanish.
Of the 3 million, nearly 60 percent were students at the primary and secondary school level, while about 25 percent were studying at higher educational institutions. About 490,000 were taught at other institutions outside the formal education system, such as language schools in the private sectors. This was an increase of nearly 70 percent from the 2003 survey.
"This is a new phenomenon that is occurring," said Katsumi Kakazu, a Japan Foundation official who led the survey.
Nowadays, there is a greater variety of available methods for learning languages other than attending traditional classroom lessons, such as using the Internet, but the survey could not cover such individuals.
"[Sending the questionnaire sheets to relevant organizations] was a primitive but steady approach. The survey shows that there were 'at least' 3 million people studying Japanese worldwide," he said. "We'd like to find a way to cover students learning by various other methods in the future."
(Nov. 8, 2007)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/language/20071108TDY14001.htm
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Plans for Japanese university
KUALA LUMPUR: Japan pla-ns to set up a Malaysia-Japan International University of Technology here to enable Malaysians to further their studies in technological fields.
Japanese ambassador to Malaysia Masahiko Horie said he planned to promote efforts to establish the university which was expected to offer courses such as electrical engineering, industrial management and machinery.
Horie, 61, arrived in Malaysia last month to take up his post as ambassador.In expressing his delight at being posted to Malaysia, Horie said other fields of collaboration between Japan and Malaysia included promoting security, expanding the economic relationship and environment conservation.He said the relationship of both countries was especially meaningful this year as it was also the 50th anniversary of the Japan-Malaysia relationship and the 25th year of the Look East Policy.
http://www.nst.com.my/Thursday/National/20071101075836/Article/index_html
Japanese ambassador to Malaysia Masahiko Horie said he planned to promote efforts to establish the university which was expected to offer courses such as electrical engineering, industrial management and machinery.
Horie, 61, arrived in Malaysia last month to take up his post as ambassador.In expressing his delight at being posted to Malaysia, Horie said other fields of collaboration between Japan and Malaysia included promoting security, expanding the economic relationship and environment conservation.He said the relationship of both countries was especially meaningful this year as it was also the 50th anniversary of the Japan-Malaysia relationship and the 25th year of the Look East Policy.
http://www.nst.com.my/Thursday/National/20071101075836/Article/index_html
University campus proves land of opportunity
OSAKA--Many foreign students at universities in Japan have worked hard to come here, but it has been a particularly tough road for a Myanmar man at Kwansei Gakuin University, who fled his home country 16 years ago.
In April, Myo Myint Swe became one of the first two refugees admitted to the university through its agreement with the Office of U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Japan, aimed at providing college education for refugees. He attends the university's school of policy studies at its Sanda campus in Sanda, Hyogo Prefecture.
"I'd wanted to go to university since I left Burma [Myanmar], but it was just impossible," Myo said. "When UNHCR called to tell me I'd been picked as a recommended candidate to the university, I cried tears of joy."
Myo, 38, was involved in the pro-democracy movement as a university student in his home country. "We used to be rich, but we had become one of the poorest countries in the world," he said. "Senior military officials were the only ones living in affluence, and for all others, it was difficult to make a decent living. [Myanmar] is an agricultural country, but people didn't have enough rice to eat."
He added the student movement became so big because even those who had a college education could not find jobs.
However, after the military suppressed the pro-democracy uprising in 1988 and formed the government, he began to feel it was too dangerous for him to stay in the country. "I left [Myanmar], promising myself I'd come back when I could do something to improve the country," Myo said.
As for the recent military crackdown against peaceful demonstrators in Myanmar, he simply said, "I'm worried about the people."
For Myo, Kwansei Gakuin University was a fresh start after years of difficulty in Japan.
He has refugee status under the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, but only received it two years ago.
He first came to Japan with a temporary visa, which he eventually overstayed while working at a Japanese restaurant and later at an IT-related firm in Tokyo. Although he had left Myanmar in fear of political persecution and should have been protected as a refugee, he was concerned that overstaying the visa would cause problems, he said.
Unfortunately, his worries became a reality.
As Myo continued to voice his opinion on Myanmar, he felt the need for protection even in Japan. He applied for refugee status in 2004, but shortly after was arrested on suspicion of overstaying his visa. He was detained by the police and the immigration authorities for 251 days, he said.
Two weeks after a provisional release from an immigration facility, Myo was given refugee status by the justice minister.
The first thing he did after earning the status was look into the possibility of going to university.
However, Myo would have to pass examinations and pay tuition like Japanese students, so he decided to get a job and take a college correspondence course. While working for another IT-related firm, he learned about the new program launched by the UNHCR and Kwansei Gakuin University.
For the program, the UNHCR office in Japan screens applicants about their refugee backgrounds and fluency in Japanese, and the university interviews the recommended candidates.
Married by this time, Myo faced a difficult choice, as going to the university meant losing his job and moving from Tokyo. But his wife was very supportive, he said, telling him that a college education would open a whole new world to him in the long run.
Now studying at the university, Myo says he couldn't be happier.
"I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep up with the classes, and I do need to work on my writing [Japanese]. But it's so much fun to learn about politics, economics and human rights," he said. "I also feel Japanese students are very fortunate, living in peace and studying whatever they like. That's such a privilege."
Another student admitted through the program is a 23-year-old Vietnamese man, whose parents are Indochinese refugees. He said through the university's public relations office that he felt the urge to study more at a trading firm where he worked after high school because he realized he had a lot to learn if he wanted to improve his business performance.
The man, who has requested to remain anonymous, also said he hoped to establish a trading firm in Vietnam that would do business with Japan.
The university exempts the two students from tuition and provides a monthly stipend of 80,000 yen each. They also have the choice of living in the university dormitory free of charge.
The stipend comes from a fund, which reached 8.6 million yen as of the end of March through donations from several Osaka-based firms and university professors and employees. The university plans to continue accepting a maximum of two refugees a year.
"We hope to nurture people who can contribute to the good of the world," said Kohei Asano, the university's vice president. "We'd like to give opportunities to refugees, who can't get an education because of financial difficulties or lack of educational records from their home countries. But in addition, we hope sitting in a classroom with refugee students will lead other students to think about problems in the world and what they can do about them."
According to the UNHCR, the program has drawn interest from other universities, including Aoyama Gakuin University, which concluded a similar agreement at the end of July to start a program next April.
"Many refugees manage to learn Japanese although they have a hard time here," Yuki Moriya, public information officer at the UNHCR office in Japan, said. "We'd like to see more universities follow Kwansei Gakuin University's path. If refugees who study here someday go back to their countries, they would definitely be a great bridge between their countries and Japan."
Japan is said to lag behind in refugee-related policies. The number of cases in which applicants were given refugee status under the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law is 410 out of 4,882 applications since 1982, when the system was put into effect, until the end of 2006, according to government statistics.
Although Myo held a grudge against the Japanese government after being arrested, he is now grateful for the opportunity to study in Japan.
"In the future, I want to work for an international organization and try to eliminate problems that create refugees in the first place, like poverty and political instability," he said.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20071101TDY16001.htm
In April, Myo Myint Swe became one of the first two refugees admitted to the university through its agreement with the Office of U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Japan, aimed at providing college education for refugees. He attends the university's school of policy studies at its Sanda campus in Sanda, Hyogo Prefecture.
"I'd wanted to go to university since I left Burma [Myanmar], but it was just impossible," Myo said. "When UNHCR called to tell me I'd been picked as a recommended candidate to the university, I cried tears of joy."
Myo, 38, was involved in the pro-democracy movement as a university student in his home country. "We used to be rich, but we had become one of the poorest countries in the world," he said. "Senior military officials were the only ones living in affluence, and for all others, it was difficult to make a decent living. [Myanmar] is an agricultural country, but people didn't have enough rice to eat."
He added the student movement became so big because even those who had a college education could not find jobs.
However, after the military suppressed the pro-democracy uprising in 1988 and formed the government, he began to feel it was too dangerous for him to stay in the country. "I left [Myanmar], promising myself I'd come back when I could do something to improve the country," Myo said.
As for the recent military crackdown against peaceful demonstrators in Myanmar, he simply said, "I'm worried about the people."
For Myo, Kwansei Gakuin University was a fresh start after years of difficulty in Japan.
He has refugee status under the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, but only received it two years ago.
He first came to Japan with a temporary visa, which he eventually overstayed while working at a Japanese restaurant and later at an IT-related firm in Tokyo. Although he had left Myanmar in fear of political persecution and should have been protected as a refugee, he was concerned that overstaying the visa would cause problems, he said.
Unfortunately, his worries became a reality.
As Myo continued to voice his opinion on Myanmar, he felt the need for protection even in Japan. He applied for refugee status in 2004, but shortly after was arrested on suspicion of overstaying his visa. He was detained by the police and the immigration authorities for 251 days, he said.
Two weeks after a provisional release from an immigration facility, Myo was given refugee status by the justice minister.
The first thing he did after earning the status was look into the possibility of going to university.
However, Myo would have to pass examinations and pay tuition like Japanese students, so he decided to get a job and take a college correspondence course. While working for another IT-related firm, he learned about the new program launched by the UNHCR and Kwansei Gakuin University.
For the program, the UNHCR office in Japan screens applicants about their refugee backgrounds and fluency in Japanese, and the university interviews the recommended candidates.
Married by this time, Myo faced a difficult choice, as going to the university meant losing his job and moving from Tokyo. But his wife was very supportive, he said, telling him that a college education would open a whole new world to him in the long run.
Now studying at the university, Myo says he couldn't be happier.
"I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep up with the classes, and I do need to work on my writing [Japanese]. But it's so much fun to learn about politics, economics and human rights," he said. "I also feel Japanese students are very fortunate, living in peace and studying whatever they like. That's such a privilege."
Another student admitted through the program is a 23-year-old Vietnamese man, whose parents are Indochinese refugees. He said through the university's public relations office that he felt the urge to study more at a trading firm where he worked after high school because he realized he had a lot to learn if he wanted to improve his business performance.
The man, who has requested to remain anonymous, also said he hoped to establish a trading firm in Vietnam that would do business with Japan.
The university exempts the two students from tuition and provides a monthly stipend of 80,000 yen each. They also have the choice of living in the university dormitory free of charge.
The stipend comes from a fund, which reached 8.6 million yen as of the end of March through donations from several Osaka-based firms and university professors and employees. The university plans to continue accepting a maximum of two refugees a year.
"We hope to nurture people who can contribute to the good of the world," said Kohei Asano, the university's vice president. "We'd like to give opportunities to refugees, who can't get an education because of financial difficulties or lack of educational records from their home countries. But in addition, we hope sitting in a classroom with refugee students will lead other students to think about problems in the world and what they can do about them."
According to the UNHCR, the program has drawn interest from other universities, including Aoyama Gakuin University, which concluded a similar agreement at the end of July to start a program next April.
"Many refugees manage to learn Japanese although they have a hard time here," Yuki Moriya, public information officer at the UNHCR office in Japan, said. "We'd like to see more universities follow Kwansei Gakuin University's path. If refugees who study here someday go back to their countries, they would definitely be a great bridge between their countries and Japan."
Japan is said to lag behind in refugee-related policies. The number of cases in which applicants were given refugee status under the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law is 410 out of 4,882 applications since 1982, when the system was put into effect, until the end of 2006, according to government statistics.
Although Myo held a grudge against the Japanese government after being arrested, he is now grateful for the opportunity to study in Japan.
"In the future, I want to work for an international organization and try to eliminate problems that create refugees in the first place, like poverty and political instability," he said.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20071101TDY16001.htm
Close to 3 million taking Japanese lessons overseas
Some 2.98 million people were studying Japanese in 133 countries and regions in 2006, up 26.4 percent from 2003 and almost attaining the government's target of raising the number to 3 million by 2010, the Japan Foundation said Wednesday.
The number of institutions teaching the language increased 11.6 percent to 13,639, with six countries — Montenegro, Oman, Qatar, Uganda, Gabon and Central African Republic — newly confirmed to have offered Japanese courses. The number of Japanese-language teachers grew 33.8 percent to 44,321.
Of the 2,979,820 people around the world learning the language, the largest number — 910,957, or 30.6 percent of the total — were in South Korea. China had 684,366, outpacing Australia to move into second place from third since a previous survey three years ago, the foundation said.
Students of the language decreased 4.1 percent in Australia to 366,165, falling to third place, while in the U.S. the number fell 15.9 percent to 117,969.
The most recent survey was conducted between October 2006 and last March by distributing questionnaires to 27,644 educational institutions around the world.
Of 41,530 teachers, excluding those in Taiwan, 69.5 percent were people whose mother tongue is not Japanese.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071101f5.html
The number of institutions teaching the language increased 11.6 percent to 13,639, with six countries — Montenegro, Oman, Qatar, Uganda, Gabon and Central African Republic — newly confirmed to have offered Japanese courses. The number of Japanese-language teachers grew 33.8 percent to 44,321.
Of the 2,979,820 people around the world learning the language, the largest number — 910,957, or 30.6 percent of the total — were in South Korea. China had 684,366, outpacing Australia to move into second place from third since a previous survey three years ago, the foundation said.
Students of the language decreased 4.1 percent in Australia to 366,165, falling to third place, while in the U.S. the number fell 15.9 percent to 117,969.
The most recent survey was conducted between October 2006 and last March by distributing questionnaires to 27,644 educational institutions around the world.
Of 41,530 teachers, excluding those in Taiwan, 69.5 percent were people whose mother tongue is not Japanese.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071101f5.html
Univ of Tokyo, Yale set up joint program on Japanese studies
NEW YORK — The University of Tokyo and Yale University announced Wednesday that they are launching a joint program to promote Japanese studies in the United States.
The initiative, titled the "Todai-Yale Initiative for Japanese Studies and Related Humanities and Social Sciences" will bring researchers from Japan to the Yale campus, where they will "both further their own research and contribute to the field of Japanese studies on campus," the universities said in a statement. Todai is a Japanese acronym for the University of Tokyo.
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/420907
The initiative, titled the "Todai-Yale Initiative for Japanese Studies and Related Humanities and Social Sciences" will bring researchers from Japan to the Yale campus, where they will "both further their own research and contribute to the field of Japanese studies on campus," the universities said in a statement. Todai is a Japanese acronym for the University of Tokyo.
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/420907
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