According to a 2006 survey by the Japan Foundation, Japanese-language education was carried out in 133 countries and territories throughout the world, and Japanese-language learners numbered about 2.98 million, up 26.4 percent over three years before.
Since 1984, when the foundation started the Japanese-language proficiency test for non-native speakers, the number of examinees has been increasing year after year. At first, the number was 7,000, but it reached some 560,000 in 2008, half of them being Chinese and 20 percent being South Koreans.
An official at ALC Press Inc., a Tokyo publisher of Japanese-language learning materials, said, ''Japanese enterprises contracting out data input and other jobs to China are increasing in light of inexpensive labor costs, and even limited Japanese-language skills can become an advantage at the workplace.''
Andi Lukito, 24, from Indonesia, decided to study in Japan because he liked such Japanese animated cartoons as ''Sazae-san'' and ''Doraemon'' when he was a junior high school student.
An education ministry official said, ''The popularity of Japan's pop culture, such as comics and animation, is contributing to increases in the number of Japanese-language learners.''
However, foreign university students in Japan account only for 3.3 percent of the total, compared with 25 percent in Britain and Australia, and 10 percent in Germany and France.
The Chinese and South Korean governments have been making strenuous efforts in other Asian countries to increase the number of learners of their languages. The Japanese government has been trying to do the same, but has not been as successful.
At present, there are 120,000 international students in Japan, and the government is trying to boost the number to 300,000 in 2020.
A major bottleneck for foreign students in Japan is career options after graduation. Of the total, 56 percent hope to work in Japan, but actually, only 29 percent, or 9,411, could find jobs in the country.
Many foreign students want to be employed by such famous enterprises as Sony Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., but more than 90 percent of them have actually been employed by mid- and small-sized companies.
Some companies are turning their eyes to foreign students, though Lukito was recruited in April by Lawson Inc., a major convenience store chain operator, as a full-time employee.
The company started actively recruiting foreign students in 2008, and of 122 university graduates recruited in 2009, there were 39 from other Asian countries.
A Lawson public relations official said, ''In the convenience store industry, the advantage is how many people with new ideas there are.''
Fujitsu Ltd., a major computer manufacturer, hired some 50 non-Japanese as regular employees this year, accounting for 10 percent of new permanent employees. ''Japanese students are decreasing amid the falling birthrate and there is no need to limit ourselves only to Japanese to secure excellent personnel,'' a Fujitsu official said.
==Kyodo
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