Indonesian caregivers in Japan encourage compatriots

Dyana, 30, and Endah Trisnawati, 25, are among them. Last Friday, along with 300 other nurses, they took a competency test to qualify for jobs in Japan under the bilateral economic partnership agreement the two countries reached in 2007.

JAKARTA (Kyodo) News and e-mail messages from Indonesian nurses working in hospitals and nursing facilities in Japan have encouraged their colleagues to seek similar opportunities.

Last year, Trisnawati applied to be among the first batch of Indonesian nurses and caregivers sent to fill staff shortages at medical and nursing facilities in rapidly graying Japan.

Her documents were incomplete and her application was rejected. Disappointed, she had to put off her dream for a while.

Her friend, Asiana, however, was among the 208 Indonesian nurses and caregivers accepted by Japan. She arrived last August and three months later sent a message to Trisnawati urging her to try again.

Trisnawati, who speaks some English and Japanese, said Asiana told her she is very happy living and working in Japan.

"She faces some challenges, particularly cultural and language barriers, but little by little she should be able to adapt to her new environment," Trisnawati said.

Since her childhood, Trisnawati has been obsessed with things Japanese. The nurse, who has worked for 4 1/2 years at an international hospital in Bekasi in the suburbs of Jakarta, loves "manga" (comics) and has always hoped that one day she will be able to visit the country.

News from Japan has also motivated fellow hopeful Dyana to seek work in Japan.

"I heard that our nurses have been welcomed and appreciated by the Japanese people, unlike other Indonesian migrant workers in the Middle East, who have been abused by their employers," she said.

Dyana, who has been working as a nurse at a maternity hospital since 2002, is seeking work in Japan to learn something about the health business and save money to set up her own clinic in Indonesia.

"When I return to Indonesia, I want to apply my experiences and knowledge from Japan to open a clinic here," she said.

During the Friday competency test, Dyana and Trisnawati tried to answer 180 questions in three hours.

Similar tests were also given last week in three provincial capitals — Medan in North Sumatra Province, Pekanbaru in Riau Province and Denpasar in Bali Province.

The test results will be announced Wednesday and interviews with Japanese facilities are expected by the end of next month.

Those who pass the competency tests and navigate other procedures will be included among 792 nurses and caregivers to be sent to Japan around November to work in hospitals and nursing facilities.

Japan has agreed to take in 1,000 nurses and other health workers each from Indonesia and the Philippines under bilateral economic partnership agreements.

Once accepted to work in Japan, the nurses and caregivers will study Japanese for four months in Jakarta and Bali from July and then two months in Japan.

Last year, the first batch of medical workers studied the language for six months in Japan.

It is unclear if Japan will take in more Indonesians beyond the two-year period as the Japanese Nursing Association and the Japan Association of Certified Care Workers have been lobbying the government to prioritize the employment of Japanese workers.

Critics fear accepting more workers from overseas could lead to deterioration in job conditions for Japanese staff, possibly including lower wages।

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090325f2.html

Manga science crammers infatuate students

Study guides illustrated with cute, manga-esque female characters who explain the basics of subjects such as physics, chemistry and mathematics are selling well, giving rise to hopes among educators they will help stem the trend of young people turning away from the sciences।

Some doubt, however, whether such books will really help youngsters become more interested in the subjects।

The main store of the Maruzen bookshop chain in Tokyo's Marunouchi district has on its third-floor shelves a selection of books introducing difficult physics subjects such as the properties of neutrinos and the principles of quantum mechanics।

Visitors are lured to the section by a selection of books with large, colorful illustrations of attractive young girls on their covers।

PHP Interface, a publisher known for its business books, published a study aid in October titled "Genso-shuki--Moete Oboeru Kagaku no Kiso" (The Periodic Table--The Basics of Chemistry Learned through Infatuation)। In the book, attractive manga girls teach the periodic table by personifying the 118 chemical elements.

The company already has published 11 printings of the science crammer, selling a total of 35,000 copies to date।

Fluorine compounds are used for coating frying pans, and in the books the apron-wearing character embodying the element tells readers, "The fluorine coating repels water!"

A 16-year-old high school student from Chiba Prefecture said of the language used in the books, "As well as the drawings, the [characters'] lines also convey the properties of the elements।"

Miyuki Mitsuda, a part-time instructor at Musashi Institute of Technology, was the chief editor of the books। He said he asked the illustrators to try to help readers comprehend the properties of the elements by simply glancing at the drawings of the books.

Kochi cram school operator, Akihito Hamada, 47, said he always has copies at hand in class.
Manga drawings have been used in study books for many years। Hamada said, "The cute illustrations of girls go down particularly well among female middle school students."

A manga book explaining quantum mechanics published by PHP Interface last month has already sold 45,000 copies।

Hiroshi Matsui, a 74-year-old chemistry teacher at a vocational school in Hiroshima Prefecture, said he felt the book "is drawing in children who didn't get a feel for science from textbooks that focus on entrance examinations।"

Ohmsha Ltd।, a long-standing publisher of science and engineering books, has published about 20 books covering subjects such as calculus and Fourier analysis in its "Manga de Wakaru Shirizu" (Understanding through Manga Series). The series also features large front-cover illustrations of girls in maid costumes and other images typical of manga.

The most popular book in the series covers statistics। Maruzen reportedly sells twice as many copies of this book than any other title on the subject.

As Mio Murayama, a 32-year-old sales clerk at Maruzen's Marunouchi store, explained, it is not only the drawings of pretty girls that are helping the books sell।

"Some books barely sell at all," Murayama says। That's because they don't have the content to go with the pictures."

However, Akito Arima, a former education minister and chairman of the Japan Science Foundation, is not wholly convinced of the books' utility।

Arima said, "If [the books] are used by people unfamiliar with science to introduce them to scientific concepts, then I'm in favor of them using this kind of book।"

"People who really want to learn, though, should then study from try specialist books," Arima, 78, अद्देद.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090314TDY03103.htm

Annual language test to turn twice-yearly

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test has long been a recognized way to measure one's Japanese ability.

But it is held only once a year, putting a great deal of pressure on the people taking the test — particularly those tackling the most difficult level — because failure means another full year of studying before they get another chance to prove their language ability.

"It was stressful," Wang Shenming, a 33-year-old इंडस्ट्री analyst in Taipei, said of taking the test's top, or Level 1, version. "I was worried that if I couldn't pass this time, I have to wait for one more year."

But starting in July, people studying the language will have more opportunities to take the proficiency test.

The Japan Foundation, a nonprofit organization specializing in international cultural exchanges, has announced it will hold the test twice a year in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea.

"It'll be more convenient for the examinees," said a spokeswoman at The Japan Foundation Center for Japanese Language Testing. "Even if examinees fail the test, they can try it again in half a year."

Wang said being able to take the test twice a year will make a big difference. He took the Level 1 exam in Fukuoka in 2003 but failed, so he took it again a year later in Taiwan.

"It they can take the exam twice a year, they will have more chances to pass the exam and not have to waste time when they are ready for the test," he said.

According to the spokeswoman, the Japan Foundation will next year expand the places where the test will be held every six months to some Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. The number of people taking the test is increasing in those countries, she said.

In East and Southeast Asia, most examinees are university students who want to measure their level of Japanese and who think the certificate that goes with a passing grade will be useful when applying for a job. Wang, who used to work at a Taipei branch of Murata Manufacturing Ltd., said having a test certificate is useful when looking for Japan-related employment.

He said he was asked to submit the certificate when he applied at the company.

"If I didn't have the certificate, I probably wouldn't have been interviewed," he said.

The proficiency test's growing popularity around the world has created a problem for the foundation.

People in China have started uploading answers soon after they finish taking the test there.

The examinees apparently jointly recollect written questions on the test and guess the right answers for their reference, but their answers can be viewed by other people who will be taking the test later the same day in different time zones around the world.

"We recognize that there are such Web sites," the spokeswoman said. "We're considering taking measures about it."

Chen Quan, 24, a graduate student who holds the Level 1 certificate, said it is common in China to put answers of public language tests on the Web.

"For example, right after the TOEFL exam, examinees start discussing the answers online," he said.

Chen said he used to worry that some people in different time zones could make use of such Web sites. However, he said he no longer cares about it that much because improving Japanese is more important than scoring higher marks.

"I think we should study for ourselves, not for a grade," he said।

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090312a5.html

Today's College Scene / APU Japan's own city upon a hill

The following is an excerpt from The Yomiuri Shimbun's new series, "Today's College Scene," which visits a different university each week

BEPPU, Oita--Beppu is one of the nation's most famous hot-spring resorts, with steam from the water being apparent throughout the city। But there is more to this city than its fame of old, as it has now become known as the home of a "global village."

About a 40-minute bus ride from the city center, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) sits on a vast hillside that overlooks Beppu Bay and the Kunisaki Peninsula।

When The Yomiuri Shimbun visited APU early last month, it was the last day of finals। In the cafeteria could be found many foreign students, including Md. Asaduzzaman, a 20-year-old sophomore from Bangladesh.

The young Muslim was eating chicken, as his religion forbids him from eating pork। The school canteen offers a number of halal items on its menu for students such as Asaduzzaman, allowing them to eat comfortably within Islamic Law.

Asaduzzaman is among about 2,800 foreign students studying at APU as of November। The institution is currently tied for first place with Waseda University in terms of number of foreign students.

As APU's foreign students come from 87 countries and territories around the world, the cafeteria offers more than 200 items to meet their needs। In addition to dishes suitable for Muslims, there is a wide variety of vegetarian food, as well as kimchi imported directly from South Korea.

"I'd like to apply to my home country the business knowledge that Japan has developed as an economic giant," Asaduzzaman said in fluent Japanese।

Although most courses at APU are available both in Japanese and English, all students are required to study one of the languages intensively for their first two years to develop a high level of communication in both tongues। As a result, students can be found studying at all hours at the campus library.

The university's dormitory houses about 1,200 foreign and Japanese students। One of the residents, Takeya Tsuji, shared with me one particularly interesting episode from his life with people from many different countries.

Last summer, the 20-year-old freshman got to know a student from another Asian country as they had decided to stay at school during the semester break। The two talked with each other regularly, but Tsuji remembers something his friend told him.

"I'd like to see my family, but at the same time I'd rather stay here than go home," the foreign student said with a sad look on his face।

The remark made Tsuji worry about the difficult situations facing the friend's home country। At the same time, however, he was glad his new friend had confided in him.

"I imagine it's pretty hard to find a place like this where you can spend so much time getting to know so many foreign students--APU isn't your typical Japanese university," Tsuji said। Now he has joined a club on the campus to promote awareness about the damage caused by the Agent Orange used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.

APU was established in the hope of having "foreign students account for half of the student body।" For the past nine years, the institution has welcomed students from 104 countries and territories. However, the institution says it has been facing increased competition from other foreign schools.

As the university looks outward, it also looks inward, maintaining close ties with the local community, which helped establish the school। APU also has been looking into ways to stimulate the local economy and has presented plans on how to boost tourism to Beppu.

APU students are also engaged in nearly 200 community activities every year। One of the biggest events is the Sento Taisai festival, which the school inaugurated in 2005. As suggested by the name "Sento," a play on words that translates as "the capital of hot springs," students carry a mikoshi portable shrine to visit every one of the city's eight major hot spring districts.

Hirotsugu Hosokawa, 22, served as the head of the organizing committee for the fourth annual Sento Taisai festival, held in November।

"Working with so many people to organize the festival helped me to realize what it is I want to do," the senior said।

Hosokawa will begin working next month at a travel agency in the Kansai region, and is determined to promote Beppu's rich hot springs and hospitality.
===
Profile of Ritsumeikan Asia पैसिफिक University

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University opened in 2000 after then Oita Gov। Morihiko Hiramatsu invited a new higher educational institution to be set up in the prefecture. The public and private sectors contributed to the establishment of the private institution--the Oita prefectural government and the Beppu municipal government donated the land for the campus and a total of 19 billion yen to cover the cost of construction, while the business community donated about 4 billion yen in scholarships for foreign students.

Aiming to foster an internationally-based workforce, APU consists of two schools--the College of Asia Pacific Studies and College of Asia Pacific Management, the latter of which will change its name next month to the College of International Management।

The school currently claims a student body of 5,900 students, 47 percent of whom are foreign students. About half of the faculty is non-Japanese, and includes APU President Monte Cassim, a Sri Lankan, who once studied in Japan.
(Mar। 12, 2009)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/language/20090312TDY14001.htm

After diploma, now to Japan

Eighty-six Universiti Industri Selangor (Unisel) students who are under a special programme with Japan will receive their diplomas from Chancellor Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor today।

The Japanese Associate Degree-Unisel (Jad-Unisel) students will leave for Japan on March 21 to pursue a two-year degree programme।The group is the second batch of students under the programme who completed their diploma engineering courses at Unisel. The three-year courses are conducted in Japanese.Under Jad, Yayasan Pelajaran Mara provides scholarships to Bumiputera students to continue their studies in Japan.The first batch of 75 students have enrolled in 15 Japanese universities, including Kejo University, Kinki University, Meiji University, Tokai University, Tokyo Denki University, Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo University of Technology and Waseda University.

Rosmah, wife of the deputy prime minister, is expected to be accompanied at the convocation by Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Deputy Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, Unisel Vice-Chancellor Datuk Dr Rosti Saruwono and Japanese ambassador to Malaysia Masahiko Horie.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/National/2502805/Article/index_html

Institutional mergers, a revised student loan scheme and more performance-based funding are among changes an OECD review team has called on Japan to make to its tertiary education system.

The recommendations come less than four years after Japan reformed the system to give greater autonomy to the country's more than 4,000 tertiary institutions.But the review team's report published last week says Japan has yet to make the most of those reforms because institutions, including more than 700 universities, have not changed the way they operate and the country's Ministry of Education has yet to establish its role in steering, rather than running, the tertiary education system। "At the institutional level this tendency is exacerbated by the fact that Japanese universities do not yet have a pool of academic administrators with extensive management and financial experience to take on the strategic management of more autonomous and entrepreneurial university institutions," the report says। "The result of all of this is that the rhetoric of change has been accompanied by the reality of conservatism। This is creating a worrying policy vacuum, with an attention to means rather than ends।"The report recommends the momentum of the 2004 reforms should not be lost and there should be a formal evaluation of the reforms after not less than five years. It calls for increased public investment in tertiary education but in return for continuing consolidation of institutions, more performance-based funding, increased diversity in tuition fees and institution revenues, and more efficient management.With Japan's shrinking student population, the report says private tertiary institutions will be forced to merge or downsize and the public sector should also consider "voluntary consolidation". Already, 30% of Japan's private universities and 40% of its junior colleges do not fill their current enrolment caps.The report recommends that universities be permitted greater flexibility in setting tuition fees and that undergraduate courses be permitted to vary much more widely than at present. "In our view this would be a beneficial development since it would encourage differentiation among institutions much more effectively than existing competitive grant schemes, and it would promote some differentiation in the price of courses that is sensitive to instructional costs and returns to schooling. Both of these already exist within the private sector of Japanese higher education."In terms of helping students pay those fees, the report suggests replacing the current mortgage-like student loan system which requires regular set payments, to an income-contingent system along the lines of Australia's higher education contribution scheme. This would require repayment of loans only when the students' income reached a certain level. Japanese universities receive relatively little money from fund-raising and donations and the report recommends universities do more in this area. Tax incentives should be reviewed and universities permitted to invest such funds as they see fit.The OECD also highlights increases in women's participation and employment in tertiary education but notes this has largely been caused by widening job opportunities rather than by particular changes in the tertiary education system. "In a system where only a handful of universities are known to have childcare centres - Tokyo, Ochanomizu, Tsukuba, Nagoya and Tohoku - considerable opportunities for improvement with respect to gender equity remain," it says.The report urges Japan to do more to attract international students and faculty, including provision of more student accommodation. "Given the active recruitment activities of its main competitors, it makes sense for Japan to enter especially the upper end of the international graduate student market in a more direct and effective way.""In spite of the pace and scope of change in recent years, much remains to be done," it concludes.The review was based on information obtained from Japan, including a country visit in 2006, and is the latest in a series of OECD reviews of tertiary education in member nations. It was conducted by University of Liverpool Vice-chancellor and former Higher Education Funding Council for England Chief Executive Sir Howard Newby, OECD analyst Thomas Weko, University of Virginia professor and Dean of the Curry School of Education David Breneman, former President of the Lund Institute of Technology Thomas Johanneson, and University of Oslo professor and Director of the Higher Education Development Association Peter Maassen.

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20090305191501962

BEIJING, March 1 (Xinhua)-- China and Japan will launch a bilateral exchange program involving about 1,500 teachers over the next three years, said Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nagasone here Sunday।

He made the remarks while attending a gathering with several Chinese students and teachers, as well as representatives of Japan living in China। It was his last stop before concluding his China visit.

According to Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama, Japan would accept 1,000 Chinese teachers while sending 500 Japanese teachers to China।

As to bilateral exchanges of youth, Kodama said on Saturday that the two sides will work together to implement a youth exchange program involving about 4,000 young people this year.
Other than high-level exchanges between the two countries, people-to-people exchanges were also very important for developing bilateral relations, said Nagasone, who was in China for two days।

The two sides celebrated the "China-Japan Friendly Exchange Year of the Youth" last year।
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/01/content_10923638.htm

Students point way for foreign guests in Osaka slum

OSAKA--The dingy, tumbledown streets of the Airin district in the city's Nishinari Ward have long worn the poor face of an otherwise wealthy nation।

Thousands of day laborers, many of them elderly and homeless, endure grinding poverty here with occasional shifts on construction sites and other stints of hard labor।

One of Japan's biggest slums, however, has now found an unlikely and potentially lucrative source of revenue: young, foreign tourists looking for cheap accommodation and keen to see another side of the world's second-biggest economy।

To cope with the increase in curious visitors from abroad, a group of students has set up the Foreign Tourist Information Center, a makeshift tourist information center, to provide guidance to some of the more interesting sights in the neighborhood and beyond--including Tsutenkaku, a landmark tower in the Shinsekai district, and the electric town Nipponbashi।

The team of four to five volunteers from the tourism and geography seminar of professor Yoshihisa Matsumura at Hannan University created a temporary office in the remodeled warehouse of the budget lodging house, Business Hotel Chuo, in January। They will stay there throughout February to hand out pamphlets and maps with information about tourist attractions across Osaka.

Airin's many cheap lodging houses, which typically charge between 1,000 and 2,000 yen per night, were once almost exclusively the domain of struggling day laborers who came to the area for work।

At its busiest, in the mid-1980s, the number of day laborers residing in the Airin district stood at 25,000। Now there are just 3,500.

In 2005, 13 lodging house operators launched the Osaka International Guesthouse (OIG) Area organizing committee to devise ways to stay in business। Owing partly to the efforts of Hannan students, who designed a website in English, Chinese and Korean, the volume of foreign visitors to the area increased sharply from 10,000 a year to about 70,000. Most are backpackers who travel on their own.

More than 30 percent of foreign visitors said the area urgently needed a tourist information center, a joint survey conducted in 2006 by the OIG committee and Matsumura seminar found.
Jose Garcia Perez, a 22-year-old student from Barcelona, who visited the office, said, "I came to Osaka to see Osaka Castle but I'd like to visit the Nishinari neighborhood after hearing from the staff members about the area।"

"I hope tourists see the ordinary life of Osaka people, not only tourist spots such as Tsutenkaku and the Osaka Castle," said Ryoko Ishibashi, 20, one of the Hannan student volunteers.(IHT/Asahi: February 23,2009)

http://www।asahi।com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200902230049.html

Kyoto Univ. opens industry-gov't-academia liaison office in London

Japan's Kyoto University held an opening ceremony Friday for its European liaison office in London to promote global cooperation among industry, government and academia.
The office is intended to reinforce collaboration with major universities in Britain and other European countries as well as to promote and implement joint research with international companies, the university said.
It is the university's first overseas industry-government-academia liaison office to which members of its staff are posted.
"Now is the age when it is important for academic and research organizations to exchange information," said Hiroshi Matsumoto, the university's president, at a press conference.
"We will send out activities of Kyoto University in English" with the launch of the office, Matsumoto said.
Kyoto University has made preparations for opening a similar liaison office in the United States, it said
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D96B00IG1&show_article=1

Panel says spend more on universities

The government's advisory panel on education submitted its third report to Prime Minister Taro Aso on Monday, calling for a drastic increase in public subsidies to national and private universities।

The panel, the Meeting on Education Rebuilding, also recommended a ban on students bringing cell phones to primary and middle schools and reform of the board of education system।

In the report, the panel analyzed the current situation: Universities are dependent largely on private funds such as tuition fees for their operating budgets and because of this they tend to secure students for the sake of stable flow of funds, regardless of their scholastic ability, resulting in the degrading of the quality of students and education।

The panel emphasized the need to greatly beef up public subsidies for national university corporations and private universities।

However, the panel recommended the amount of funds injected into universities should depend on evaluations of the schools and their research programs, saying support and approval of taxpayers are essential।

On reforming the board of education system, the panel proposed that those in charge of personnel matters be hired from the private sector or chosen from among officials in fields not related to education, to avoid personnel affairs at boards of education being conducted on the basis of professional favoritism or personal ties।
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090210TDY02311.htm

Mie Prefecture set to start scholarship program for foreign nursing students

Mie Prefecture has finalized plans to provide scholarships to nursing students from foreign countries, the first such scholarship program in Japan.
The plan, which will commence at the beginning of fiscal 2009, will provide scholarships for tuition at universities such as the Mie Prefectural College of Nursing, and over 10 nursing vocational schools in the prefecture. An initial budget of 3 million yen will be earmarked for the program, subject to the approval of the prefectural assembly.
The program was created to address the problem of communicating with members of Mie Prefecture's many foreign communities. Medical facilities currently lack sufficient numbers of interpreters to communicate with patients who cannot speak Japanese, and the program is designed to help train medical professionals who can provide those patients with technical explanations in their mother tongue.
At present, the prefectural international affairs office sends volunteer interpreters to medical facilities that cannot communicate with their foreign patients. Such volunteers have been dispatched 24 times in fiscal 2008, as of Jan. 27. "People who can do interpreting at medical institutions are essential," the international affairs office said. "We hope that this scholarship will be used to give nursing students a good career."
The scholarship program will provide up to 600,000 yen for tuition to foreigners wishing to study nursing. After completing the scholarship program, recipients will be required to take up fixed-period employment with medical facilities in the prefecture, with proficiency in their mother tongue as a prime requirement. The program has targeted seven languages, including Portuguese, Spanish and English.
At the moment, there are no foreign nursing students in the prefecture to enter the scholarship program. However, the prefecture aims to lure prospective students to Mie's schools with the new policy.
"It's a good idea to support foreigners who harbor hopes of becoming a nurse here, and there's also great value in training people who can do medical interpreting," said Shinobu Ogawa, executive director of the Japanese Nursing Association.
Some 2।7 percent of Mie Prefecture's population is made up of foreigners, the third highest rate in the country.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090129p2a00m0na005000c.html

Indonesian nurses to study Japanese before heading to Japan

Senior officials of Indonesia and Japan have "principally" agreed that Indonesian caregivers and nurses to work in Japan under an economic partnership agreement will study Japanese in Indonesia before leaving for Japan, a government official said Wednesday। Mohamad Jumhur Hidayat, chairman of the National Board for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers, told Kyodo News that "at the operational level, both countries have agreed" on the new arrangement। Under the proposed new arrangement, the Indonesian nurses and caregivers will study Japanese in Indonesia for four months and in Japan for two months। The first batch of 205 Indonesian caregivers and nurses, who left for Japan in August last year, has studied the language in Japan for a total of six months। Hidayat said that the "expensive training" in Japan is the reason behind the proposed new arrangement। "Currently, for a total of six months, Japan must pay about 100,000 yen for each nurse or caregiver during their language training, but under the new arrangement, the budget can be cut to half," he said। "Hopefully, the negotiations among the ministers will be completed by March," Hidayat said। Under the agreement, the Japanese government is to accept 200 nurses and 300 caregivers each year।
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/090128/kyodo/d9603ad00.html

Strong yen hitting foreign students' pockets

OSAKA--Many foreigners studying in Japan are finding it increasingly difficult to pay admission fees and tuition for schools and universities due to the appreciation of the yen during the global recession।

The number of foreigners studying in the nation peaked at about 124,000 this academic year, but 90 percent of them are self-funded।

Finances are a serious concern for an increasing number of foreign students, especially privately financed students from China, Southeast Asian nations and South Korea, which has seen its won drop sharply against the yen।

Of 80 students from 10 nations studying at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, 44 students from China and South Korea were unable to pay their tuition for the autumn semester before the original due date of Oct. 20. Although the university extended the deadline by two months, 17 students were still unable to pay the fee, leading the university to further postpone the due date.
Among the cash-strapped students was Lee Yon Suk, 30, a South Korean studying at the university's Japanese Studies Department।

"I've pushed myself to the limit, and I don't know what more I can do if the yen stays high। I can't ask my parents for financial support because I don't want to be a burden on them," she said.

She scraped the tuition fee together by working part-time as a translator and doing other jobs.
In July, the government launched a program at the initiative of former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to increase the number of foreign students in the nation to 300,000, but it was not designed to provide urgent financial support। The program is overseen by the Education, Science and Technology Ministry.

Some universities and colleges are now working to help students in need, by extending due dates for tuition payments and offering financial support।

In January last year, 100 won was equivalent to about 11।2 yen but has since dropped dramatically, fetching just 6.61 yen on Friday. The value of other Asian currencies, such as the Indonesian rupiah and Thai baht, also has plunged against the yen.

Students receiving scholarships from the Japanese government obtain the money in yen, but half of the privately funded students do not receive any scholarships, according to a ministry estimate।

As the yen strengthens, the value of currency sent by students' parents and the money they saved before coming to Japan weakens, causing financial hardships for many students। Most students are already working the maximum 28 hours a week allowed on a student visa and therefore cannot earn some extra cash by working more.

Osaka University has received several inquiries from students who cannot afford to pay tuition and rent।

Oemry Ferensa, a 26-year-old Indonesian student who entered the university's Graduate School of Engineering last autumn, has not yet paid about 550,000 yen in entrance fees and tuition for the first semester। If he is still unable to pay by the end of February, he will have to leave the school.

The ministry provides 50,000 yen in monthly financial support to privately funded undergraduates and 70,000 yen to postgraduates। Although the budget for this support for fiscal 2009 has been expanded from the previous year to cover 12,470 students--an increase of 370 students--it is still not enough to support all the students in need.

The ministry's Office for International Student Exchange hopes the harsh financial climate will not discourage foreigners who want to study in Japan, nor the universities hoping to attract them।

The ministry hopes to expand its own financial support program for foreign students.
(Jan। 28, 2009)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090128TDY03102.htm

New teaching posts to be created to boost Japanese studies in U.K.+

The funding crisis affecting Japanese studies in Britain has been alleviated with the creation of 13 new teaching posts thanks to two charities।

The new lectureships and research positions, which are costing 2।5 million pounds ($3.25million) over a five-year period, will focus on the contemporary aspects of Japanese business and society in an effort to boost the subject's appeal and also cope with growing demand in that area.

The Nippon Foundation and the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation decided to inject the funds after years of decline in Japanese studies।

Several Japanese courses have closed at Britain's universities over the last 10 years as it was a costly subject to teach relative to other languages। The Japanese courses also attract fewer students than more popular degrees, making the ratio of teachers to pupils higher and leading to a dearth in home-grown experts on Japan.

The creation of the new teaching posts, which were unveiled on Monday, means 11 universities can provide new courses spanning Japan's economy and management, modern and post-war history and the Japanese visual media।

Stephen McEnally, chief executive of the Sasakawa foundation, said in a statement, "All incumbents possess impeccable qualifications and this timely injection of young Japanese studies scholars into our universities will serve to guarantee a greater depth and diversity of scholarship and research at a time when it is most needed।"

The earl of St. Andrews said, "Japan matters because it is the second most powerful economy in the world। It is a major overseas investment and trade partner of the U.K."

Britain's policy makers, business leaders, scholars and its future leaders "must all be given the tools to better understand Japan's culture, its society and its language," he said।

Perhaps as a reflection of the claim that Japanese studies have been underfunded over the last few years, only three of the new lecturers are British।

Yohei Sasakawa, chairman of the Nippon Foundation, said, "The many viewpoints that the Sasakawa lecturers will bring to their posts will be a major driving force behind research into Japan at universities in the U।K."

The Sasakawa foundation is a charity established in 1985 with an endowment from the Japan Shipbuilding Industry Foundation, now the Nippon Foundation।

The Nippon Foundation is a private foundation funding three main areas of activity: overseas co-operative assistance, maritime development and domestic social welfare and volunteer support।
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D95UUQBG0&show_article=1

Rules to be eased for foreign students

The government plans to simplify immigration screening procedures and extend the duration of stay for foreign students from fiscal 2009, Justice Minister Eisuke Mori said Friday।

The measures are part of the government's plan to increase the number of foreign students here to 300,000 by 2020, compared to 123,800 as of May 2008।

The Justice Ministry will also unify two categories of study status: shugaku for language and high school students; and ryugaku for university students।

This will allow language school students to attend universities without a change in status।(IHT/Asahi: January 24,2009)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200901240052.html

University to offer free tuition to students feeling the pinch

A university in Chiba Prefecture will offer free tuition to students who are feeling the pinch from the flailing economy।

Shukutoku University will allocate about 100 million yen per academic year over four years from this April to cover all or half of the school fees of students who cannot afford to pay, officials announced।

"This is probably the first time in Japan for a university to offer free tuition," said an official of the Association of Private Universities of Japan।

Under the financial aid system, up to 60 new students can receive a maximum of 1।4 million yen each in the first year to cover their tuition fees.

Up to 50 students, who are already at the university, will also be eligible for the exemption depending on their economic status। Students can repeatedly apply during the four years if their economic situation hasn't improved.

At the university, inquiries about tuition payments from students and parents have been increasing sharply since around last September। The school also has received many inquiries about scholarships from the parents of potential students.

Shukutoku University Admission Office: 043-265-6881 ।
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090121p2a00m0na021000c.हटमल

Konnichiwa! Kolkatans line up to learn Japanese

Say "konnichiwa" - or hello - to the Japanese Language

Academy (JLA) which was set up 20 years ago at the Salt Lake suburb here by Kum Kum Nandy, who is also an Origami artist।The JLA has notched up a string of successes and has been among the few institutions at the forefront of this quiet linguistic boom sweeping the eastern part of India।

A California-based corporate house approached Nandy last month to teach 16 of its Indian employees Japanese twice a week, over the next six months।

All such institutes are meeting the demand for professionals familiar with Japanese। And the demand is high due to Japanese collaboration with India in making cars, electronic equipment and software।

Many of Nandy's students find regular placements in corporate and service sectors as interpreters, guides and translators, on a starting salary of about Rs।20,000 ($410) per month।

Now management trainees, software and IT professionals are also joining her courses along with school and college students, to master the nuances and the complexities of the Japanese language and enhancing their job prospects।

Corporates like the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Cognizant Technologies also prefer computer engineers who are well versed in Japanese। TCS reportedly gives generous waivers for the purpose and even reimburses fees।"One of the happiest and proudest moments of my life," recalls Nandy, "was when my student Jhimli Ghosh, a homemaker, cleared the first rung of the advanced level in a single attempt with only 380 hours of study, though a minimum of 600 hours are required।"Her oldest pupils include two retired professors, one of whom is a woman and is currently preparing for advanced level tests। The other had earlier completed a 10-month teachers' training programme in Japan on a scholarship।Recently, Nandy scripted and directed a skit, "Gakusei to Sensei" (Student and Teacher), entirely in Japanese, enacted by tiny tots in her summer classes। They conveyed the difficulties of mastering Japanese characters।The JLA, which has produced over 400 Japanese speakers since its inception, is recognised by the Japan Foundation for excellence, a distinction it shares with institutions like Viswa Bharati University, Jadavpur University, Rabindra Bharati University and the Ramakrishna Mission."Of course, without the support of the foundation it would have been difficult to conduct classes regularly," Nandy says.The Japan Foundation also provides books to the academy every year.The foundation has 20 overseas branches, including in India, to promote cultural, educational and academic activities on behalf of the Japanese government. It offers scholarships, teaching materials, student exchange programmes and guidance.Explaining the intricacies of learning Japanese, Nandy said it has three distinct scripts - Hiragana (traditional), Katakana, a repertoire of foreign words (in Japanese) and Kanji (pictogram), which denotes a single word with a single picture.The language has 46 syllables, each being made up of one consonant and one vowel. "There are a lot of similarities in sentence construction between Bengali, Hindi and Japanese," she says.The complete course comprises four levels, each lasting a year or more from the basic (easiest) through intermediate to advanced levels, making the students eligible for the Japanese language proficiency test (JLPT).The tests are conducted by the Japan Foundation.The highest level requires a through grasp of 2,000 Kanjis, 10,000 words and 900 hours of study, and the ability to read Japanese newspapers and novels like a native born।Initially 7,000 people took the JLPT, set up in 1984 in response to a growing demand for standardised Japanese language certification। In 2004, JLPT was offered in 40 countries, including Japan; 302,198 people took the test.In 2007, 430,137 candidates worldwide took the test - 110,937 for the highest level. Only about a quarter passed the highest level.In 2008, only eight out of 450 candidates who took the JLPT in eastern India sat for the highest level test; 86 appeared for the next level. Nandy said most candidates were between 19 and 25 years. The candidates included 16 from JLA."Very few are able to clear the two rungs of the advanced level in the first attempt," said Nandy. "They are meant for serious research, doctoral or technical work and require five to six years to complete."
http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-75130.html

Students looking for stability in future employer

For university and post-graduate students expected to graduate in 2010, "stability" is now the most desirable trait in any potential employer, according to a poll conducted by Mainichi Communications।

The survey, which was released Wednesday, revealed company stability as the highest priority for the first time in the poll's six-year history, with 54।2 percent of respondents making it their top pick, a 7.1 point increase over last year's results. Respondents to this year's survey feel anxious over worsening corporate earnings stemming from the deepening economic downturn, and are becoming focused on stability and security as a result.

For the first five years that the survey was conducted, the main desirable trait in a potential employer was "a good company atmosphere," which this year fell 1।8 points to second spot. Coming in third was "a company with potential," which gained 1.1 points over last year's results.

The survey was conducted over the Internet from Dec। 26 to Jan. 4, and collected answers from 1,250 respondents.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090115p2a00m0na014000c.html

Japan to raise English fluency

The Japanese government has set an ambitious goal of making the Japanese fluent in English, by recommending that all English classes for those aged 16 to 18 are taught mainly in that language from 2013।

The inability of most Japanese to speak English, despite compulsory classes from the age of 13, is well known and a source of embarrassment for Japan।

In Stockholm last month, Professor Toshihide Masukawa, a co-winner of this year's Nobel Prize in physics, insisted on delivering his lecture in Japanese।

Despite being able to read scientific literature in English, the 68-year-old academic cannot communicate in English and is known to dislike the language। But one thing he regretted was not being able to converse with other Nobel laureates.

The revised curriculum guideline recently announced by the Education Ministry is aimed at avoiding such situations।

English teachers at senior high schools in Japan will teach their classes in English and limit the use of Japanese only to the explanation of complicated grammar।

Senior high school students will also be required to master 1,800 new English words, up from the present quota of 1,300, while those aged 13 to 15 at junior high school will have to learn 3,000 new words, an increase of 800।

The new quotas will put the Japanese on a par with the level of English taught at schools in China and South Korea।

Mr Tsutomu Shiozaki, head of a national federation of English teachers, welcomed the new guidelines।

'People say that if we teach entirely in English, students will not be able to follow the lessons। That's not true. Language is to be used. If we use it often, students' awareness will change,' he was quoted as saying by the Asahi Shimbun.

Mr Shiozaki is the headmaster of a senior high school which was one of several chosen by the ministry a few years ago to teach English classes entirely in English।

But for most of Japan's English teachers, the new curriculum guideline is bad news, especially for those in their 40s and 50s who generally do not speak English well and are often terribly embarrassed by their pronunciation।

Mr Yo Hamada, 26, an English teacher at a school in Yokote city, Akita prefecture in northern Japan, feels it is pointless to teach in English if the format of university entrance examinations remains unchanged।

At present, English classes at high school focus on helping students to pass these examinations, which test only reading and comprehension and include a listening section। This is why, while most Japanese leave school able to read and write English to some extent, few end up being able to speak the language.

'Unless the requirements of entrance exams are changed, in fact unless the whole system of English education is changed, I do not see the point of trying to teach in English। I myself am reluctant to do so,' said Mr Yo.

He is proficient in English, having attended graduate school at the Tokyo campus of an American university।

Professor Matsuo Kimura, an English language education expert at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, believes that with the right training, it is feasible to teach in English। But he stressed that an integrated English curriculum from primary to senior high school is necessary to produce students who can speak English.

'At present, such a curriculum does not exist,' he said।

From 2011, 11- and 12-year-old Japanese children in primary schools will spend an hour a week using simple English for 'international understanding'।

But many think that is not enough।

Getting the pronunciation right is a problem for most Japanese and when the typical Japanese speaks English, it is often barely intelligible to a foreigner।

Most Japanese learners use the Japanese script to notate English sounds - something which virtually guarantees that what comes out of their mouths resembles Japanese more than English।

'Unless the requirements of entrance exams are changed, in fact unless the whole system of English education is changed, I do not see the point of trying to teach in English। I myself am reluctant to do so.'

Mr Yo Hamada, an English teacher। Japan's high schools focus on helping students pass university entrance exams, which test reading and listening skills, but not speaking skills.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Asia/Story/STIStory_321075.html

Workforce welcomes skilled foreigners

An increasing number of foreign university students are staying in Japan to work after they graduate, with Japanese firms regarding such hires as potential assets in their efforts to expand operations overseas।

While the current economic recession may slow the hiring of foreign graduates, observers believe the trend is likely to increase in the long run।

Siyana Samsudeen joined Fujitsu Ltd। in 2007 after graduating from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Oita Prefecture. The 26-year-old Sri Lankan holds the title of Bridge System Engineer, and liaises with Fujitsu's software development partners in China, India and other countries to ensure clients' requests are properly communicated.

"Bridge SEs will be needed more and more, so I think this job has good prospects for the future," she said।

Eugene Aksenov joined Fujitsu in 2007 after completing Tohoku University graduate school। Aksenov, a 26-year-old Australian national born in the former Soviet Union, works in the firm's Global Human Resources Management Division, providing clerical support for overseas branches.

"I hope to use my multilingual abilities to send messages abroad। One day, I want to work in an overseas branch myself," he said.

Kizo Tagomori, head of the firm's human resources recruitment center, said, "There's very little need for foreign staffers on the ground right now, but in five to 10 years there'll definitely be areas where they'll be useful।"

Such positions could include working in overseas branches to act as mediators with offices in Japan।

The number of foreign students who changed their resident status after receiving a job offer from a Japanese firm--as Justice Ministry Immigration Bureau regulations allow in certain cases--numbered 10,262 in 2007, up 24 percent from the previous year। The 2007 figure was double that of 2004, and triple that of 2002.

Prof। Mitsuhide Shiraki, the dean of Waseda University's Center for International Education, said: "The number of Japanese people in the workforce will soon be decreasing by 300,000 to 400,000 per year. For firms to secure skilled personnel, employing foreign graduates will be more and more important."

The government hopes to increase the number of foreigners studying at tertiary level in Japan from the current 120,000 to 300,000 by around 2020। A plan drawn up in July calls for improved housing and job seeking support services for foreign students, to be mainly provided via a designated group of 30 universities.

Major staffing agency Pasona Inc। this year launched a Web site designed specifically for foreign students, a further indication of the private sector's interest in foreign graduates.

However, some outstanding issues are yet to be addressed।

Tagomori noted the dissonance between firms' recruiting priorities and the admissions policies of Japanese universities। While firms seek graduates with math and science majors, most foreign students accepted by universities here are liberal arts students.

Shiraki said firms also need to work on their approach to potential foreign recruits, saying: "Japanese firms don't map out the possible career course of a potential employee। This doesn't suit the thinking of foreign graduates, who tend to have clear career goals such as focusing on research or developing their management skills."

Japanese firms engaging greater numbers of skilled foreign workers is a recent development, and the success of such partnerships can not yet be fully assessed।

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20081229TDY07301.htm