Universities are turning out more and more original products to help boost their brand recognition, the latest trend being so-called character goods featuring school mascots and famous faculty. Their efforts appear to be paying off, with the goods popular among current students and those wanting to enroll in the future .
At Nagoya University in Aichi Prefecture, a university cooperative has sold snacks decorated with the face of Toshihide Masukawa--a Nobel laureate in physics and special professor at the university--since April last year.
The items are Meidai Manju (Nagoya Univ. red bean cakes) priced at 1,050 yen per pack of 12, and Meidai Senbei (Nagoya Univ. rice crackers) at 750 yen for a packet of 18.
Although the university already was selling similar confectioneries bearing its logo, it introduced the new items with Masukawa's face on their surface after gaining his approval.
"Prof. Masukawa was glad and said he hoped students would become great researchers after imbibing his likeness," a co-op official said.
Similarly, a Yamagata University co-op sells Gakucho Senbei (university president rice crackers) with a drawing of the university president on the package.
The co-op first began selling rice crackers adorned with the previous university president's portrait in 2004. They became a big hit, with about 70,000 crackers selling in three years.
When the president changed in 2007, so did the image on the rice cracker packet. A student drew the new portrait and this version is still being sold today.
Co-op officials said students, parents attending enrollment ceremonies and alumni had all bought the crackers.
Meanwhile, at Saga University, unique mugs are sold. They feature the university's mascot, "Katchii-kun" modeled after magpies--locally called "kachigarasu." The university's logo also contains an image of the bird.
Shimane University also uses its mascot, "Bibitto," to sell popular items such as key chains.
Yohokama National University has sold netsuke--traditional Japanese toggles used to hang objects from kimono obi--bearing the likeness of Hello Kitty since 2007. The goods are especially designed for the university.
From later this month, YNU will sell a new Hello Kitty netsuke model carrying a globe bearing the official university logo.
"The netsuke are popular among high school students. They sell well at events such as campus open days," an university co-op official said.
In many cases, these products cannot be found outside university co-op stores. But opportunities in which people unaffiliated with the universities can purchase the goods are increasing.
For about two years, the Tokyo-based major book store chain Kinokuniya Co., has held events named "Gakuichi Gakuza" to promote such items.
Likewise, the Takashimaya department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, has for three years held events called "Daigaku wa Oishii!" (tasty goods from universities) in which food products developed by universities are sold.
The products include wine, jam and tuna farmed by university researchers and students. Last year, about 30 universities across the nation participated in the event. This year's event is planned for June.
Shiki Kurabe, a senior research fellow of Wasedajuku Sohken in Tokyo and an expert on universities' promotion activities, said, "Because of the shrinking youth population, universities are placing more emphasis on public relations.
"Character goods seem to be effective in raising school spirit among current students and are a promotional tool for entrance exam takers," Kurabe said.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110127006054.htm
Friday, January 28, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Universities in U.S. giving up on Japan / Japanese kids would rather stay home
NEW YORK--More and more U.S. universities are apparently giving up on Japan as a target for recruiting students, as a survey showed that the number of U.S. universities taking part in publicity events in Japan has sharply dropped in recent years.
In the wake of a significant decrease in the number of Japanese students studying in the United States, the institutions are shifting their targets to other Asian countries, such as China.
Such a trend could affect Japan-U.S. relations in the future, observers said.
Japanese students used to be the largest group among foreign students at U.S. universities. But their number is now far below that of Chinese students.
Japan ranked sixth in terms of the number of foreign students studying at U.S. universities in the 2009-10 academic year.
Experts say the decrease reflects the inward-looking attitude of current Japanese students, a growing number of whom have no interest in studying overseas.
The Institute of International Education, a U.S. nonprofit organization that has promoted international exchange programs for study and training since 1919, has held study abroad fairs in Japan every year since 1991.
Reflecting the decreasing number of Japanese students who study in the United States, the number of U.S. universities participating in the fair dropped to 21 in 2010, one-fifth of the 106 that participated in 2006.
The decline is all the more conspicuous as the number of U.S. universities participating in similar fairs held in China, India and Vietnam during the same period has held steady.
IIE is an authority on international education exchange in the United States. It works closely with the Japan-U.S. Educational Commission, which manages the Fulbright grant program.
Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president and chief operating officer of IIE, worries about the decline in the number of Japanese students in the United States, saying that when she looks 10 or 20 years ahead, she sees it as an extremely serious situation in terms of the U.S.-Japan relationship.
Blumenthal's opinion stems from the fact that a number of Japanese who had studied in the United States after World War II later became leaders in various fields in their home country.
Even so, she said IIE is considering not holding the fair in Japan any longer as it is unable to halt the decline in the number of U.S. universities that participate.
Linden Educational Services, an educational consulting company based in Washington, D.C., that supports U.S. universities in recruiting foreign students, used to send 35 to 40 people from U.S. universities to Japan every year. However, it has dropped Japan from their itineraries since 2009, according to the company.
The University of Denver in Colorado stopped participating in the fair in Japan in 2008. Marjorie Smith, associate dean of international admissions, said it was useless to send representatives to Japan as students here were not interested. She wondered why this was happening in spite of the strong yen that makes it less expensive for Japanese to study abroad.
Japanese students were the largest foreign student group at U.S. universities for four consecutive years from the 1994-95 academic year. Their numbers peaked at 47,073 in the 1997-98 school year and remained flat in subsequent years. But since the 2005-06 academic year, the number has dropped for five consecutive years.
In the 2008-09 period, the number decreased by 13.9 percent from the previous year, and in 2009-10, it dropped by 15.1 percent from the previous year.
In 2009-10, the number of Japanese students in the United States stood at 24,842.
One major factor behind the decrease is that it has become easier for students to enter Japanese universities due to the nation's chronically low birthrate. Students also consider studying abroad to be disadvantageous in terms of job hunting, which usually begins in earnest during their junior year.
(Jan. 9, 2011)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110108003158.htm
In the wake of a significant decrease in the number of Japanese students studying in the United States, the institutions are shifting their targets to other Asian countries, such as China.
Such a trend could affect Japan-U.S. relations in the future, observers said.
Japanese students used to be the largest group among foreign students at U.S. universities. But their number is now far below that of Chinese students.
Japan ranked sixth in terms of the number of foreign students studying at U.S. universities in the 2009-10 academic year.
Experts say the decrease reflects the inward-looking attitude of current Japanese students, a growing number of whom have no interest in studying overseas.
The Institute of International Education, a U.S. nonprofit organization that has promoted international exchange programs for study and training since 1919, has held study abroad fairs in Japan every year since 1991.
Reflecting the decreasing number of Japanese students who study in the United States, the number of U.S. universities participating in the fair dropped to 21 in 2010, one-fifth of the 106 that participated in 2006.
The decline is all the more conspicuous as the number of U.S. universities participating in similar fairs held in China, India and Vietnam during the same period has held steady.
IIE is an authority on international education exchange in the United States. It works closely with the Japan-U.S. Educational Commission, which manages the Fulbright grant program.
Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president and chief operating officer of IIE, worries about the decline in the number of Japanese students in the United States, saying that when she looks 10 or 20 years ahead, she sees it as an extremely serious situation in terms of the U.S.-Japan relationship.
Blumenthal's opinion stems from the fact that a number of Japanese who had studied in the United States after World War II later became leaders in various fields in their home country.
Even so, she said IIE is considering not holding the fair in Japan any longer as it is unable to halt the decline in the number of U.S. universities that participate.
Linden Educational Services, an educational consulting company based in Washington, D.C., that supports U.S. universities in recruiting foreign students, used to send 35 to 40 people from U.S. universities to Japan every year. However, it has dropped Japan from their itineraries since 2009, according to the company.
The University of Denver in Colorado stopped participating in the fair in Japan in 2008. Marjorie Smith, associate dean of international admissions, said it was useless to send representatives to Japan as students here were not interested. She wondered why this was happening in spite of the strong yen that makes it less expensive for Japanese to study abroad.
Japanese students were the largest foreign student group at U.S. universities for four consecutive years from the 1994-95 academic year. Their numbers peaked at 47,073 in the 1997-98 school year and remained flat in subsequent years. But since the 2005-06 academic year, the number has dropped for five consecutive years.
In the 2008-09 period, the number decreased by 13.9 percent from the previous year, and in 2009-10, it dropped by 15.1 percent from the previous year.
In 2009-10, the number of Japanese students in the United States stood at 24,842.
One major factor behind the decrease is that it has become easier for students to enter Japanese universities due to the nation's chronically low birthrate. Students also consider studying abroad to be disadvantageous in terms of job hunting, which usually begins in earnest during their junior year.
(Jan. 9, 2011)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110108003158.htm
More Students Choose Universities in Japan
More students than ever are choosing universities in Japan for study abroad, and the number of Japanese students leaving the country to study has fallen markedly since a peak in 2004, according to two reports released at the end of December.
The Japan Student Services Organization , an independent institution, reported that the number of foreign students studying in Japan reached record highs of 141,774 in 2010, up 6.8 percent from the previous year.
That report also showed that just over 11,000 of the international students were “short term,” meaning they were in Japan “not necessarily to obtain a degree but rather to study at Japanese university, to experience a different culture, or to master the Japanese language.”
Meanwhile, data released by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology indicate that the number of Japanese students studying abroad has been declining since a peak of 82,945 in 2004. In the most recent figures, from 2008, the number of students was under 67,000, down 11 percent from the previous year.
Yukari Kato, executive vice president of Ryugaku Journal, which provides information about overseas study, told The Yomiuri Shimbun that many students were afraid of being left behind in Japan’s competitive job market.
Ms. Kato said she also viewed the slowing birthrate and an introspective mind-set among students as possible contributing factors.
— LOUISE LOFTUS
Use of Twitter is linked to higher grades, study finds
According to a new study published in The Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Twitter can bolster student engagement and grade-point average.
The study followed 125 pre-health majors at a midsize public university. Those using Twitter, says Rey Junco of Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania, the lead author, had an average G.P.A. half a point higher than their counterparts in a non-tweeting control group. They also more frequently participated in class, sought out professors and discussed course material outside of class.
Twitter was used for discussions, questioning professors in and out of class, receiving feedback and reminders, and reviewing course concepts reduced to terse fundamentals, all via laptop or cellphone.
Students seemed to find the medium a less intimidating way to express themselves in large lecture halls. “Twitter was a useful, low-stress way to ask questions,” Mr. Junco said.
As one student wrote on Twitter: “One of my favorite parts of the day is when I’m sitting in Bio lecture and a tweet has been sent out through the class account and everybody looks at their phone.”
— BY REBECCA R. RUIZ
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/world/asia/10iht-educBriefs10.html?_r=1
The Japan Student Services Organization , an independent institution, reported that the number of foreign students studying in Japan reached record highs of 141,774 in 2010, up 6.8 percent from the previous year.
That report also showed that just over 11,000 of the international students were “short term,” meaning they were in Japan “not necessarily to obtain a degree but rather to study at Japanese university, to experience a different culture, or to master the Japanese language.”
Meanwhile, data released by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology indicate that the number of Japanese students studying abroad has been declining since a peak of 82,945 in 2004. In the most recent figures, from 2008, the number of students was under 67,000, down 11 percent from the previous year.
Yukari Kato, executive vice president of Ryugaku Journal, which provides information about overseas study, told The Yomiuri Shimbun that many students were afraid of being left behind in Japan’s competitive job market.
Ms. Kato said she also viewed the slowing birthrate and an introspective mind-set among students as possible contributing factors.
— LOUISE LOFTUS
Use of Twitter is linked to higher grades, study finds
According to a new study published in The Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Twitter can bolster student engagement and grade-point average.
The study followed 125 pre-health majors at a midsize public university. Those using Twitter, says Rey Junco of Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania, the lead author, had an average G.P.A. half a point higher than their counterparts in a non-tweeting control group. They also more frequently participated in class, sought out professors and discussed course material outside of class.
Twitter was used for discussions, questioning professors in and out of class, receiving feedback and reminders, and reviewing course concepts reduced to terse fundamentals, all via laptop or cellphone.
Students seemed to find the medium a less intimidating way to express themselves in large lecture halls. “Twitter was a useful, low-stress way to ask questions,” Mr. Junco said.
As one student wrote on Twitter: “One of my favorite parts of the day is when I’m sitting in Bio lecture and a tweet has been sent out through the class account and everybody looks at their phone.”
— BY REBECCA R. RUIZ
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/world/asia/10iht-educBriefs10.html?_r=1
Universities risk data breach / Privatized IT systems put e-mail beyond protection of Japanese law
About 10 percent of universities in the nation use cloud computing services, which Google Inc. and other companies provide free of charge, to run their internal e-mail systems, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey.
In the survey of major universities nationwide, 14 state- and local government-run universities and 64 private universities said they had wholly or partially consigned management and maintenance of their internal e-mail systems to cloud computing providers.
This figure accounts for about 10 percent of the nearly 800 universities in the nation.
The trend raises concerns about information security, because in many cases the servers managing the universities' e-mail data are located in other countries, beyond the protection of Japanese law.
Cloud computing allows users to store and process data on the Internet, thus sparing the expense of buying and maintaining their own hardware and software. The provider companies benefit by having the chance to expose users to their products.
Nihon University was the first to adopt cloud computing in 2007, using services provided by Google. Since then, adoption among universities has been increasing rapidly.
Upon introduction of such a system, teaching staff, administrative staff, students and alumni are assigned e-mail addresses and allowed access to schedule-management and file-sharing programs.
The new e-mail addresses use the same domain name as the university's previous system, so outsiders are given no indication that the e-mail system is now being operated by a private company.
Google's Google Apps service is the most widely used by the nation's universities, the survey found, with 48 institutions, including Nihon University and Hitotsubashi University, having adopted it.
A competing service provided by Yahoo! Inc. is used by 22 universities, including the University of Tokyo, and Microsoft Corp.'s service is used by 10, according to the survey.
Two universities use the services of multiple companies, the survey found.
Cloud computing is also used by many university hospitals, including Kyoto University Hospital, which began using Google Apps in 2009.
However, having servers located overseas puts information security at risk, according to some cloud computing critics.
For example, if information is illegally accessed from an overseas server, Japanese law would not apply.
In the United States, the law allows investigators to access data in cloud computing servers without a warrant if authorities deem there is a risk of a terrorist act or other serious crime.
It is possible therefore that U.S. investigators could in such a case read e-mails containing personal information of cloud computing users.
The universities surveyed said the physical location of cloud computing servers was up to the provider companies.
Google and Microsoft have not revealed in which country the servers used to store the universities' data are located.
Hisamichi Okamura, a lawyer who specializes in telecommunications and information technology, asked, "Is it really OK that important information about people involved in universities--who can be said to be Japan's brightest brains--is stored in places where Japanese law can't protect it?"
He added: "European Union countries and some provinces of Canada impose strict regulations on how cloud computing systems store personal information. The Japanese government should consider how it will respond if a [data security] problem occurs."
(Jan. 18, 2011)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110117003565.htm
In the survey of major universities nationwide, 14 state- and local government-run universities and 64 private universities said they had wholly or partially consigned management and maintenance of their internal e-mail systems to cloud computing providers.
This figure accounts for about 10 percent of the nearly 800 universities in the nation.
The trend raises concerns about information security, because in many cases the servers managing the universities' e-mail data are located in other countries, beyond the protection of Japanese law.
Cloud computing allows users to store and process data on the Internet, thus sparing the expense of buying and maintaining their own hardware and software. The provider companies benefit by having the chance to expose users to their products.
Nihon University was the first to adopt cloud computing in 2007, using services provided by Google. Since then, adoption among universities has been increasing rapidly.
Upon introduction of such a system, teaching staff, administrative staff, students and alumni are assigned e-mail addresses and allowed access to schedule-management and file-sharing programs.
The new e-mail addresses use the same domain name as the university's previous system, so outsiders are given no indication that the e-mail system is now being operated by a private company.
Google's Google Apps service is the most widely used by the nation's universities, the survey found, with 48 institutions, including Nihon University and Hitotsubashi University, having adopted it.
A competing service provided by Yahoo! Inc. is used by 22 universities, including the University of Tokyo, and Microsoft Corp.'s service is used by 10, according to the survey.
Two universities use the services of multiple companies, the survey found.
Cloud computing is also used by many university hospitals, including Kyoto University Hospital, which began using Google Apps in 2009.
However, having servers located overseas puts information security at risk, according to some cloud computing critics.
For example, if information is illegally accessed from an overseas server, Japanese law would not apply.
In the United States, the law allows investigators to access data in cloud computing servers without a warrant if authorities deem there is a risk of a terrorist act or other serious crime.
It is possible therefore that U.S. investigators could in such a case read e-mails containing personal information of cloud computing users.
The universities surveyed said the physical location of cloud computing servers was up to the provider companies.
Google and Microsoft have not revealed in which country the servers used to store the universities' data are located.
Hisamichi Okamura, a lawyer who specializes in telecommunications and information technology, asked, "Is it really OK that important information about people involved in universities--who can be said to be Japan's brightest brains--is stored in places where Japanese law can't protect it?"
He added: "European Union countries and some provinces of Canada impose strict regulations on how cloud computing systems store personal information. The Japanese government should consider how it will respond if a [data security] problem occurs."
(Jan. 18, 2011)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110117003565.htm
Monday, January 10, 2011
Language teachers to go to U.S. for exchanges
Japan will beef up people-to-people exchanges with the United States this year by dispatching young teachers of the Japanese language and English to the country, government officials said Friday.
Tokyo will launch new programs to send those teachers in the fiscal year starting in April amid concerns that bilateral ties could weaken with declines in the number of Japanese students enrolled at U.S. universities and cuts in the Japanese budget for a project to invite American and other foreign university graduates to teach English at Japanese schools.
The government has earmarked ¥500 million in the fiscal 2011 budget to send 100 Japanese teachers of the English language aged 40 or younger to U.S. universities to learn English teaching methods for six months, the officials said.
The government-linked Japan Foundation, which offers training programs for Japanese language teachers abroad, will newly start Japanese language courses for the general public in Los Angeles and New York. Young Japanese teachers will be sent to those cities to teach a few thousand students annually.
The teacher dispatch program is in line with Prime Minister Naoto Kan's pledge last November in his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama to effect bilateral exchanges of several thousand people over five years.
Kan's initiative also includes sending young Japanese researchers to the United States, inviting U.S. Asian study experts to Japan and promoting short visits to Japan by American students.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110108a2.html
Tokyo will launch new programs to send those teachers in the fiscal year starting in April amid concerns that bilateral ties could weaken with declines in the number of Japanese students enrolled at U.S. universities and cuts in the Japanese budget for a project to invite American and other foreign university graduates to teach English at Japanese schools.
The government has earmarked ¥500 million in the fiscal 2011 budget to send 100 Japanese teachers of the English language aged 40 or younger to U.S. universities to learn English teaching methods for six months, the officials said.
The government-linked Japan Foundation, which offers training programs for Japanese language teachers abroad, will newly start Japanese language courses for the general public in Los Angeles and New York. Young Japanese teachers will be sent to those cities to teach a few thousand students annually.
The teacher dispatch program is in line with Prime Minister Naoto Kan's pledge last November in his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama to effect bilateral exchanges of several thousand people over five years.
Kan's initiative also includes sending young Japanese researchers to the United States, inviting U.S. Asian study experts to Japan and promoting short visits to Japan by American students.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110108a2.html
Japan far behind in global language of business
Keiko Suezaki in October began sending her 7-year-old daughter to an English school in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, once a week, hoping to give her more exposure to the de facto international language.
Although her daughter, Rina, has a 45-minute English activity class at her elementary school once every two weeks, Suezaki didn't think it was enough.
"If you live in Europe, or maybe in India, you become conscious of the necessity of learning English, but it's different in Japan. So I just want my daughter to know that there is an important language called English and it's fun (to learn)," said Suezaki, a 38-year-old Tokyo resident. "Besides, I think there will be more chances to use English in business situations (in the future). When such a time comes, it's better if one can use English."
With the economy expected to shrink due to the low birthrate, Japan has no choice but to seek markets outside the country, which will mean working more with non-Japanese, experts say.
For a country without much in the way of natural resources, manpower will be key to future survival. Japan, however, appears to be falling behind its neighbors in nurturing personnel who can compete in a globalizing world.
According to an education ministry report released in December, the number of Japanese heading overseas to study fell in every one of the four years to 2008, dropping from 82,945 in 2004 to 66,833 in that period.
The decline is especially sharp in the number of Japanese studying in the United States, falling from 46,497 in 2000 to 24,842 in 2009, according to data from the Institute of International Education.
By contrast, Chinese students in the U.S. more than doubled from 59,939 in 2000 to 127,628 in 2009. As for South Korean students, the number grew from 45,685 in 2000 to 72,153 in 2009.
"While Japan has shifted from the phase of heated educational competition to a calmer, post-high-growth period, other East Asian nations' interest in education has been escalating," said Mariko Abumiya, a senior researcher at the National Institute for Educational Policy Research who specializes in China's education policy.
Reflecting the trend toward globalization, both China and South Korea are pouring huge efforts into fostering global human resources, especially in English-language education.
"China and South Korea are more aware of the importance and usefulness of English (as a tool) to present their countries to the world. But Japan's awareness of that is low," said Nobuyuki Honna, a professor emeritus at Aoyama Gakuin University.
The nation, after long debate, will introduce "foreign-language activity" once a week in the curriculum for fifth- and sixth-graders in fiscal 2011, taking up a total of 35 periods a year. South Korea, on the other hand, made English classes compulsory from the third grade in 1997. China did the same in 2001.
"In China, English is taught about four hours a week starting with the third grade," Honna said. "In the case of Shanghai, English is taught five or six hours a week, in many cases from the first grade. That means they study English for about 1,000 hours in total before graduating from elementary school."
Honna explained that in China's eastern cities, including Shanghai and Beijing, where the education standard is high, English was taught in elementary schools years before it became official policy in 2001.
The situation is even more intense in South Korea, especially after the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis that forced the country to seek help from the International Monetary Fund.
Taking the crisis to heart, many parents today are eager to get as much English education for their offspring as possible because their future depends not only on the name of the school from which they graduate but also on their English ability, experts say.
"Not only the leading companies such as Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., but also small and medium-size companies give prospective employees English exams," said Ito Kutsuzawa, manager of the Benesse Educational Research and Development Center. "Leading companies set the bar high for English ability. And there is a huge gap in salaries between the nation's leading companies and the group ranked in the second tier."
However, the hunger for English has created problems for schools.
"Some Japanese elementary schools are reportedly struggling with classroom disruptions by misbehaving students. But in South Korea, some schools are facing classroom dysfunction because many — sometimes about half the members of a class — take a month off to go abroad to study English," said Kim Tae Hoon, an associate professor of education at Seisa University in Hokkaido.
According to a report in The Korea Times, the number of elementary school children studying abroad rose to 8,298 in 2007 from 2,453 in 2005.
Many mothers and their children move to nations where English is the native language, including Canada and the U.S., so their children will gain fluency in the language, while their fathers stay in South Korea, working hard to earn money to support this pursuit, according to Kim.
Backed by this kind of fervor, South Koreans' overall English ability is getting better, experts say.
The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is one yardstick.
The average score for South Koreans jumped to 619 in 2009 from 561 in 1995, while Japanese marked an improvement of just 581 in 2009 from 572 in 1995, according to the Institute for International Business Communication.
The number of South Koreans taking the TOEIC surged to 2.05 million in 2009 from 421,704 in 1995, while Japanese takers increased to 1.68 million in 2009 from 565,000 in 1995.
Meanwhile, in Japan, with the government's clear change in direction from its much criticized "yutori" (relaxed) education policy introduced in the 1970s, English education is expected to improve.
Apart from the official kickoff of "foreign-language activities" at elementary schools in April, the volume of vocabulary to be taught as well as hours spent in English class in junior high and high school will increase over the next couple of years.
For example, the vocabulary list for the junior high level will leap from the current 900 words to 1,200 starting in fiscal 2012 and English classes will increase from the current three a week to four, the education ministry said.
At elementary schools, textbooks will increase in size by about 24.5 percent on average from fiscal 2011.
The government has been making changes to boost children's academic levels, especially after 2003's disappointing results in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international standardized test conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development every three years since 2000.
In the 2003 testing, conducted among 15-year-old children in 41 countries and regions, Japan's ranking in two of three subjects had dropped more than four places.
After putting in the effort to strengthen literacy, including introducing book-reading time in the morning, the latest 2009 PISA results showed improvement in Japanese students' performance.
Although the data can't simply be compared with previous PISA data because of differences in the number of participating countries, Japan's ranking in reading comprehension rose from 15th place in 2006 to eighth in 2009.
In science literacy, it moved from sixth in 2006 to fifth in 2009, while math literacy improved to ninth in 2009, up from 10th place three years earlier.
Although Japan's rankings are low when compared with other parts of East Asia, including first-time participant Shanghai, which stunned many by dominating the top in all three tests, Japan's academic ability is first-class, said Hiroaki Mimizuka, vice president of Ochanomizu University.
"When looking at the size of participating countries and regions, Japan is the only country in the top 10 with a population of more than 100 hundred million," Mimizuka said. "It depends on how you look at the results, but it can be said that it's possible to force a country with a (population equivalent to that) of Tokyo (to raise its academic level) with a top-down method. But for a country with more than 100 hundred million people, it's difficult to effect change with that approach.
"As such, we shouldn't mimic other countries in setting the nation's educational policy. We should seek our own way to achieve high academic ability."
The biggest hurdle facing Japanese youth today is low aspirations, experts say.
Growing up in a relatively wealthy country with little competitive pressure due to the low fertility rate, many Japanese youth tend to think things will somehow work out and don't push themselves much, Mimizuka said.
As shown in the falling interest in studying abroad, regardless of universities' attempts to send more students overseas, many choose to stay in their comfort zones, experts say.
"There are limits to how much educational content and policy can change. . . . Other social sectors, including education, need to put in the effort and think about what they should do for Japan to survive as well as for the world to flourish," Mimizuka said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110106f1.html
Although her daughter, Rina, has a 45-minute English activity class at her elementary school once every two weeks, Suezaki didn't think it was enough.
"If you live in Europe, or maybe in India, you become conscious of the necessity of learning English, but it's different in Japan. So I just want my daughter to know that there is an important language called English and it's fun (to learn)," said Suezaki, a 38-year-old Tokyo resident. "Besides, I think there will be more chances to use English in business situations (in the future). When such a time comes, it's better if one can use English."
With the economy expected to shrink due to the low birthrate, Japan has no choice but to seek markets outside the country, which will mean working more with non-Japanese, experts say.
For a country without much in the way of natural resources, manpower will be key to future survival. Japan, however, appears to be falling behind its neighbors in nurturing personnel who can compete in a globalizing world.
According to an education ministry report released in December, the number of Japanese heading overseas to study fell in every one of the four years to 2008, dropping from 82,945 in 2004 to 66,833 in that period.
The decline is especially sharp in the number of Japanese studying in the United States, falling from 46,497 in 2000 to 24,842 in 2009, according to data from the Institute of International Education.
By contrast, Chinese students in the U.S. more than doubled from 59,939 in 2000 to 127,628 in 2009. As for South Korean students, the number grew from 45,685 in 2000 to 72,153 in 2009.
"While Japan has shifted from the phase of heated educational competition to a calmer, post-high-growth period, other East Asian nations' interest in education has been escalating," said Mariko Abumiya, a senior researcher at the National Institute for Educational Policy Research who specializes in China's education policy.
Reflecting the trend toward globalization, both China and South Korea are pouring huge efforts into fostering global human resources, especially in English-language education.
"China and South Korea are more aware of the importance and usefulness of English (as a tool) to present their countries to the world. But Japan's awareness of that is low," said Nobuyuki Honna, a professor emeritus at Aoyama Gakuin University.
The nation, after long debate, will introduce "foreign-language activity" once a week in the curriculum for fifth- and sixth-graders in fiscal 2011, taking up a total of 35 periods a year. South Korea, on the other hand, made English classes compulsory from the third grade in 1997. China did the same in 2001.
"In China, English is taught about four hours a week starting with the third grade," Honna said. "In the case of Shanghai, English is taught five or six hours a week, in many cases from the first grade. That means they study English for about 1,000 hours in total before graduating from elementary school."
Honna explained that in China's eastern cities, including Shanghai and Beijing, where the education standard is high, English was taught in elementary schools years before it became official policy in 2001.
The situation is even more intense in South Korea, especially after the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis that forced the country to seek help from the International Monetary Fund.
Taking the crisis to heart, many parents today are eager to get as much English education for their offspring as possible because their future depends not only on the name of the school from which they graduate but also on their English ability, experts say.
"Not only the leading companies such as Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., but also small and medium-size companies give prospective employees English exams," said Ito Kutsuzawa, manager of the Benesse Educational Research and Development Center. "Leading companies set the bar high for English ability. And there is a huge gap in salaries between the nation's leading companies and the group ranked in the second tier."
However, the hunger for English has created problems for schools.
"Some Japanese elementary schools are reportedly struggling with classroom disruptions by misbehaving students. But in South Korea, some schools are facing classroom dysfunction because many — sometimes about half the members of a class — take a month off to go abroad to study English," said Kim Tae Hoon, an associate professor of education at Seisa University in Hokkaido.
According to a report in The Korea Times, the number of elementary school children studying abroad rose to 8,298 in 2007 from 2,453 in 2005.
Many mothers and their children move to nations where English is the native language, including Canada and the U.S., so their children will gain fluency in the language, while their fathers stay in South Korea, working hard to earn money to support this pursuit, according to Kim.
Backed by this kind of fervor, South Koreans' overall English ability is getting better, experts say.
The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is one yardstick.
The average score for South Koreans jumped to 619 in 2009 from 561 in 1995, while Japanese marked an improvement of just 581 in 2009 from 572 in 1995, according to the Institute for International Business Communication.
The number of South Koreans taking the TOEIC surged to 2.05 million in 2009 from 421,704 in 1995, while Japanese takers increased to 1.68 million in 2009 from 565,000 in 1995.
Meanwhile, in Japan, with the government's clear change in direction from its much criticized "yutori" (relaxed) education policy introduced in the 1970s, English education is expected to improve.
Apart from the official kickoff of "foreign-language activities" at elementary schools in April, the volume of vocabulary to be taught as well as hours spent in English class in junior high and high school will increase over the next couple of years.
For example, the vocabulary list for the junior high level will leap from the current 900 words to 1,200 starting in fiscal 2012 and English classes will increase from the current three a week to four, the education ministry said.
At elementary schools, textbooks will increase in size by about 24.5 percent on average from fiscal 2011.
The government has been making changes to boost children's academic levels, especially after 2003's disappointing results in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international standardized test conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development every three years since 2000.
In the 2003 testing, conducted among 15-year-old children in 41 countries and regions, Japan's ranking in two of three subjects had dropped more than four places.
After putting in the effort to strengthen literacy, including introducing book-reading time in the morning, the latest 2009 PISA results showed improvement in Japanese students' performance.
Although the data can't simply be compared with previous PISA data because of differences in the number of participating countries, Japan's ranking in reading comprehension rose from 15th place in 2006 to eighth in 2009.
In science literacy, it moved from sixth in 2006 to fifth in 2009, while math literacy improved to ninth in 2009, up from 10th place three years earlier.
Although Japan's rankings are low when compared with other parts of East Asia, including first-time participant Shanghai, which stunned many by dominating the top in all three tests, Japan's academic ability is first-class, said Hiroaki Mimizuka, vice president of Ochanomizu University.
"When looking at the size of participating countries and regions, Japan is the only country in the top 10 with a population of more than 100 hundred million," Mimizuka said. "It depends on how you look at the results, but it can be said that it's possible to force a country with a (population equivalent to that) of Tokyo (to raise its academic level) with a top-down method. But for a country with more than 100 hundred million people, it's difficult to effect change with that approach.
"As such, we shouldn't mimic other countries in setting the nation's educational policy. We should seek our own way to achieve high academic ability."
The biggest hurdle facing Japanese youth today is low aspirations, experts say.
Growing up in a relatively wealthy country with little competitive pressure due to the low fertility rate, many Japanese youth tend to think things will somehow work out and don't push themselves much, Mimizuka said.
As shown in the falling interest in studying abroad, regardless of universities' attempts to send more students overseas, many choose to stay in their comfort zones, experts say.
"There are limits to how much educational content and policy can change. . . . Other social sectors, including education, need to put in the effort and think about what they should do for Japan to survive as well as for the world to flourish," Mimizuka said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110106f1.html
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Japanese Universities Draw Foreign Students With Manga
TOKYO — When Zack Wood produces his illustrated stories online, his Japanese classmates say they look like American comics while his American friends say they look decidedly like manga, the popular form of comics that originated in Japan.
Zack Wood, a Stanford graduate, enrolled at Kyoto Seika University in Japan to study manga, the popular comic form.
That is precisely the blend Mr. Wood, who grew up in the United States and is now studying at Kyoto Seika University’s manga program, is angling for.
Mr. Wood, a 25-year-old graduate of Stanford University in California, and students like him have gravitated toward the modern Japanese arts, feeling they may help them advance their careers in animation, design, computer graphics and the business of promoting them.
And as Japanese universities work harder to attract students to fill their classrooms while the country’s birth rate declines, more are offering degrees in manga and animation.
“I like it here because you get totally immersed in the skill training” of manga and animation, Mr. Wood said. “It has turned out to be a lot of fun.”
Once they are armed with unique technical and industry knowledge, many international students are eager to gain work experience here upon graduation before heading back home.
Li Lin Lin, 28, a student from northeastern China who attends Digital Hollywood University, a school in Tokyo that specializes in animation and video games, said that upon finishing her degree, it would probably be “easy” to find a job in the animation field in China. The real trophy, she said, was getting job experience in the country of manga. Ms. Li is especially interested in working for a Japanese animation studio.
“I think you can do almost anything back home once you get a degree and animation working experiences in Japan,” said Ms. Li, emerging from her class on digital animation coloring one Saturday afternoon.
Hidenori Ohyama, senior director of corporate strategy at Toei Animation, said it was possible that international students could end up at Japanese companies like his. “If they apply, take our tests and pass, they will become employees just like anyone else,” he said.
His company, a leading animation company that has produced “Dragonball” and “Slam Dunk” films, has Romanian and Korean producers, among other foreign citizens, Mr. Ohyama said.
None of the animation-themed Japanese university programs seem to be on the international radar yet, said Kison Chang, a training manager at Imagi Studios, an international animation production studio based in Hong Kong.
But he said students studying in Japan who ended up with solid work experiences at Japanese studios could be prime candidates for international recruitment.
“They would certainly be a great benefit to our professional line,” he said. “They might bring in some kind of spirit which we may not know, or something we didn’t realize that would be a benefit to us,” he said.
Such individuals are not yet on his teams, nor at any of his rivals, he said.
Another possible reason that the programs have not received international attention is that the language of instruction is Japanese.
Tomoyuki Sugiyama, president of Digital Hollywood University, conceded that language might be a serious barrier, especially for Western students.
“If we had an English-based program at the graduate level, for example, we would be inundated with Western students almost instantly,” he said.
Nevertheless, at Kyoto Seika University, which established the country’s first manga program, the number of foreign students in it has risen to 57 currently out of a total of 800 students in the program from just 19 in 2000.
Since it was founded in 2005, Digital Hollywood University has seen its international students grow to 84 this year, roughly 20 percent of its student body, from just one when the school began.
“I want to see it grow to 50 percent of the entire students in the very near future,” Mr. Sugiyama said.
In the past 10 years, more than a dozen university departments and programs have been created to offer a degree or a cluster of courses meant as a concentration in manga, animation and video games, and a similar number of vocational schools offer training in the art.
At Digital Hollywood, with campus buildings spread across the Akihabara area in Tokyo, the nation’s capital for otaku, or nerds, students from Korea, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and other Asian countries, who constitute the bulk of the international student body, mingle with Japanese students.
The curriculum at the schools usually includes courses on drawing, coloring, and motion picture production, as well as film directing, writing plays and the study of copyright laws.
In recent years, universities in China and Korea have also begun offering manga and animation programs, drawing many students locally. But Keiko Takemiya, dean of the manga program at Kyoto Seika University and a famed manga artist, said there were differences.
“What they teach in Korea is mostly cartoons like you see in the U.S.,” she said. “They don’t quite teach the ‘story manga.”’
Story manga is known for its feature lengths and distinct story lines, as compared with the one-liner cartoons with gags and jokes.
Ms. Takemiya said that manga’s secret was in its limitless boundaries in form and content, and that the sheer number and the kind of manga available in Japan far exceed those in other countries.
And that includes adult-themed manga/animation that may or may not include sexually explicit content that many other countries are staying away from.
“What they teach in China is animation meant for children,” said Mr. Sugiyama of Digital Hollywood. “But what we teach is geared towards both children and adults.”
A professor at Kyoto Seika University, Jacqueline Berndt, one of the few non-Japanese faculty members in the field, said language and culture were an obstacle to wider acceptance of the programs.
In addition, she said, the manga and animation programs might not have yet been fully organized into a coherent body of knowledge and theories that scholars from other countries can understand and appreciate.
One reason the art has never been compiled into a structured body of knowledge: In a country where public education has been strictly administered, manga and animation have thrived in a creative way precisely because they operated outside the purview of the system, free from any supervision from the authorities.
“Manga flourished as a counterculture to the establishment academia,” Ms. Takemiya said. “There was actually a resistance to the idea of organizing the art into an academic program” in the industry.
Most Japanese scholars and teachers acknowledge that the body of knowledge they teach is still in the process of being organized into a system.
“We put together and offer classes that we believe will be of use to people who are going into the trade, but if we wait till manga and animation studies are fully structured and organized academically, that’s too late,” Mr. Sugiyama said. “In a world where creative content is digitalizing and globalizing, we need to train young people in these arts now.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/27/business/global/27manga.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
Zack Wood, a Stanford graduate, enrolled at Kyoto Seika University in Japan to study manga, the popular comic form.
That is precisely the blend Mr. Wood, who grew up in the United States and is now studying at Kyoto Seika University’s manga program, is angling for.
Mr. Wood, a 25-year-old graduate of Stanford University in California, and students like him have gravitated toward the modern Japanese arts, feeling they may help them advance their careers in animation, design, computer graphics and the business of promoting them.
And as Japanese universities work harder to attract students to fill their classrooms while the country’s birth rate declines, more are offering degrees in manga and animation.
“I like it here because you get totally immersed in the skill training” of manga and animation, Mr. Wood said. “It has turned out to be a lot of fun.”
Once they are armed with unique technical and industry knowledge, many international students are eager to gain work experience here upon graduation before heading back home.
Li Lin Lin, 28, a student from northeastern China who attends Digital Hollywood University, a school in Tokyo that specializes in animation and video games, said that upon finishing her degree, it would probably be “easy” to find a job in the animation field in China. The real trophy, she said, was getting job experience in the country of manga. Ms. Li is especially interested in working for a Japanese animation studio.
“I think you can do almost anything back home once you get a degree and animation working experiences in Japan,” said Ms. Li, emerging from her class on digital animation coloring one Saturday afternoon.
Hidenori Ohyama, senior director of corporate strategy at Toei Animation, said it was possible that international students could end up at Japanese companies like his. “If they apply, take our tests and pass, they will become employees just like anyone else,” he said.
His company, a leading animation company that has produced “Dragonball” and “Slam Dunk” films, has Romanian and Korean producers, among other foreign citizens, Mr. Ohyama said.
None of the animation-themed Japanese university programs seem to be on the international radar yet, said Kison Chang, a training manager at Imagi Studios, an international animation production studio based in Hong Kong.
But he said students studying in Japan who ended up with solid work experiences at Japanese studios could be prime candidates for international recruitment.
“They would certainly be a great benefit to our professional line,” he said. “They might bring in some kind of spirit which we may not know, or something we didn’t realize that would be a benefit to us,” he said.
Such individuals are not yet on his teams, nor at any of his rivals, he said.
Another possible reason that the programs have not received international attention is that the language of instruction is Japanese.
Tomoyuki Sugiyama, president of Digital Hollywood University, conceded that language might be a serious barrier, especially for Western students.
“If we had an English-based program at the graduate level, for example, we would be inundated with Western students almost instantly,” he said.
Nevertheless, at Kyoto Seika University, which established the country’s first manga program, the number of foreign students in it has risen to 57 currently out of a total of 800 students in the program from just 19 in 2000.
Since it was founded in 2005, Digital Hollywood University has seen its international students grow to 84 this year, roughly 20 percent of its student body, from just one when the school began.
“I want to see it grow to 50 percent of the entire students in the very near future,” Mr. Sugiyama said.
In the past 10 years, more than a dozen university departments and programs have been created to offer a degree or a cluster of courses meant as a concentration in manga, animation and video games, and a similar number of vocational schools offer training in the art.
At Digital Hollywood, with campus buildings spread across the Akihabara area in Tokyo, the nation’s capital for otaku, or nerds, students from Korea, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and other Asian countries, who constitute the bulk of the international student body, mingle with Japanese students.
The curriculum at the schools usually includes courses on drawing, coloring, and motion picture production, as well as film directing, writing plays and the study of copyright laws.
In recent years, universities in China and Korea have also begun offering manga and animation programs, drawing many students locally. But Keiko Takemiya, dean of the manga program at Kyoto Seika University and a famed manga artist, said there were differences.
“What they teach in Korea is mostly cartoons like you see in the U.S.,” she said. “They don’t quite teach the ‘story manga.”’
Story manga is known for its feature lengths and distinct story lines, as compared with the one-liner cartoons with gags and jokes.
Ms. Takemiya said that manga’s secret was in its limitless boundaries in form and content, and that the sheer number and the kind of manga available in Japan far exceed those in other countries.
And that includes adult-themed manga/animation that may or may not include sexually explicit content that many other countries are staying away from.
“What they teach in China is animation meant for children,” said Mr. Sugiyama of Digital Hollywood. “But what we teach is geared towards both children and adults.”
A professor at Kyoto Seika University, Jacqueline Berndt, one of the few non-Japanese faculty members in the field, said language and culture were an obstacle to wider acceptance of the programs.
In addition, she said, the manga and animation programs might not have yet been fully organized into a coherent body of knowledge and theories that scholars from other countries can understand and appreciate.
One reason the art has never been compiled into a structured body of knowledge: In a country where public education has been strictly administered, manga and animation have thrived in a creative way precisely because they operated outside the purview of the system, free from any supervision from the authorities.
“Manga flourished as a counterculture to the establishment academia,” Ms. Takemiya said. “There was actually a resistance to the idea of organizing the art into an academic program” in the industry.
Most Japanese scholars and teachers acknowledge that the body of knowledge they teach is still in the process of being organized into a system.
“We put together and offer classes that we believe will be of use to people who are going into the trade, but if we wait till manga and animation studies are fully structured and organized academically, that’s too late,” Mr. Sugiyama said. “In a world where creative content is digitalizing and globalizing, we need to train young people in these arts now.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/27/business/global/27manga.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
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