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A
ccording to an OECD survey, the total number of students
studying abroad around the world was approximately
1,900,000 in 2002. Looking at it geographically, the coun-
try that accepted by far the greatest number of foreign students was
the U.S.A., which took in more than 500,000 students, followed by
other Western countries including the UK, Germany, France and
Australia. The next on the list was Japan which accepted 100,000
foreign students.
When looking further at where foreign
students entering the U.S.A come from (based
on a survey carried out by the Institute of
International Education in 2003), the majority
(79,736) came from India, followed by China
(61,765), Korea (52,484) and Japan (40,835).
Since visa granting procedures were tightened
after 9/11, the number of Chinese and Japanese students going to
America decreased from the previous year.
According to a survey of Japan Student Services Organization
2004, the number of foreign students in Japan is 117,000 and looking
at this by country of origin, the majority (66.3 percent) come from
China, followed by Korea (13.2 percent) and Taiwan (3.5 percent). It
is an outstanding characteristic that foreign students in Japan are
actually largely composed of Asians, in particular those from China
and Korea.
It has been predicted that Asian students will make up 70 percent
of all students studying abroad by 2025 and the competition among
host countries to attract them will be heavy. China is a major supplier
of students to the foreign education market. According to an OECD
survey conducted in 2002, among Chinese students studying abroad,
63,211 went to the U.S.A., 41,180 to Japan, 17,483 to the UK, 17,343
studied in France and 14,070 in Germany. It seems an outstanding
characteristic that Japan was ranked in second place after the U.S.A.
among Western-oriented Chinese students.
Chinese students playing very influential role
China and Japans relationship is often described as comprising
Cold politics and hot economics. Although political relations
between the countries are not particularly good, their economic rela-
tionship is excellent. The total amount of trade (imports and exports)
is over 22 trillion yen. This amount is now more than the total value
of trade between the U.S.A. and Japan which is about 20 trillion yen
and China has now become Japans largest trading partner. The
reason many Chinese students want to study in Japan appears to be
due to Japans close proximity to China and the fact that because
many Japanese companies are moving into China, Chinese students
believe they have more opportunities to find a job. Another reason is
considered to be that Japanese universities provide attractive scholar-
ships which lightens the financial burden of overseas study.
China
Korea
Taiwan
Others
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However, as brutal crimes by Chinese students have been occur-
ring more frequently in Japan, it has become extremely difficult for
Chinese students to obtain visas. Recently, in addition to being
required to provide proof of their savings, Chinese students are now
required to provide a document showing the sources of their income
over the last three years. Before entering a university in Japan,
foreign students generally attend a Japanese language school, but in
some months last year due to the very difficult examination
less then 20 percent of applicants were granted visas. This had a
major affect on the financial position of many Japanese language
schools.
Among many foreign students there is deep dissatisfaction against
Japan about who can actually study in the country after getting
through all the bureaucratic red tape. One of their gripes is the guar-
antor system, which adds to the hardships of many foreign students.
To rent a room, a deposit should surely be enough, but an additional
payment of reiken or key money is required in many cases and fur-
thermore, a Japanese guarantor is generally required. This notorious
Japanese custom differs from most, if not all international standards
and a law to ban this practice should be enacted as soon as possible.
According to answers obtained from Japanese language students
conducted at 32 Japanese language schools in 2003, to the question
Do you like Japan? 38 percent said I like Japan, four percent
replied I like Japan now although I used to dislike it and 15 percent
said I dislike Japan now although I used to like it. To the question
Have you experienced discrimination from Japanese? 35 percent
said yes and 25 percent said they had on an ongoing basis. Judging
replies such as these, it seems that the impression of Japan among
foreign students in Japan is not good.
I dislike Japan now although I used to like it.
"Do you like
Japan?"
I like Japan
I like Japan now although
I used to dislike it.
38%
4%
15 %