Voices
in
Japan

quote of the day

It’s hoped that foreign students would join Japanese firms after graduation and continue living in the country. Furthermore, foreign students are, in fact, supporting Japan’s workforce as part-timers. It’s necessary for Japanese public and private sectors, and academics, to jointly develop a system to welcome foreign students as members of Japanese society.

16 Comments

Hiroshi Ota, professor at the Center for General Education at Hitotsubashi University, and an expert on policies related to foreign students. As the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on education systems worldwide, a Japanese program to welcome more than 300,000 foreign students is at a crossroads. Entry restrictions are blocking many international scholars from coming to the country, curtailing a strategy that boosts Japan’s universities and addresses labor shortage problems.

© NHK

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

16 Comments
Login to comment

Japan will never genuinely welcome anyone to it’s society if they aren’t Japanese. Who are they kidding

9 ( +12 / -3 )

The Japanese people don't want large-scale immigration. All these proposals and ideas are pointless.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Oh, you're serious Ota-san.

You are, ha ha ha ha.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Japanese universities are in a huge disadvantage compared with those in other countries that are on similar levels. Countless seminars held to solve this all point to international collaboration, Japanese students and researchers going overseas and coming back to pull their institutions to global standards and for Japanese Universities facilitating the acceptance of valuable foreign students with a real possibility of getting a career after graduation.

Up until now it has resulted in collaborations where the Japanese contribution is mostly funds, Japanese researchers going overseas and staying there because the job market and activities are just so much better and foreign students having to deal with so many hurdles just to graduate that the vast majority just go out again because nobody can find a job inside Japan where their degree is actually used.

COVID-19 is just making the problems more urgent and obvious.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Japan is the original Los Vegas... the entire house is stacked against you. Anybody with half a brain stays away, or never comes back. I have a nice life here because my metrics of success do not revolve around the position of being a tourist, an ambassador, a business person, a refugee, or even anybody's friend. I walk around with a chip on my shoulder that where I came from is better than this place unapologetically. Ironically I find that once Japanese folks understand that you aren't here to assimilate(SIMP out) and won't suffer their bs, they love the hell out of you. ... well maybe not the NHK guy that came to my door I told to get lost lol

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Japan is getting lower on the list for students wanting to study abroad. This year has shown the world just how much contempt and dislike the country has for non-Japanese.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Japan will never genuinely welcome anyone to it’s society if they aren’t Japanese. Who are they kidding

Even if you are Japanese, if you are mixed you will STILL be treated as an inferior.

One only has to ask Ariana Miyamoto

Japanese universities are in a huge disadvantage compared with those in other countries that are on similar levels. Countless seminars held to solve this all point to international collaboration, Japanese students and researchers going overseas and coming back to pull their institutions to global standards and for Japanese Universities facilitating the acceptance of valuable foreign students with a real possibility of getting a career after graduation.

Up until now it has resulted in collaborations where the Japanese contribution is mostly funds, Japanese researchers going overseas and staying there because the job market and activities are just so much better and foreign students having to deal with so many hurdles just to graduate that the vast majority just go out again because nobody can find a job inside Japan where their degree is actually used.

COVID-19 is just making the problems more urgent and obvious.

For sure! And the problem isn't going to be fixed ANYTIME soon. And by the time it does, Japan will be so old and grey that no one will want to come here anyway.

Japan is getting lower on the list for students wanting to study abroad. This year has shown the world just how much contempt and dislike the country has for non-Japanese

Including those of us who are already established here, have japanese families, and pay taxes. Why any foreign students would come here to study is actually beyond me.

The restrictions imposed on non Japanese during the pandemic will put pay to many foreign students wanting to study here.

And us living here. I don't trust this country anymore. I thought that AT LEAST if you were the spouse and parent of Japanese citizens that it would account for something, but their racism and bigotry transcends everything else.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Other readers, please adjust your viewpoints. Professor Ota is not talking about us Europeans and North Americans (or even Aussies and Kiwis). He is hoping the desperate Third World students from Asia will come and stay here after university. For someone from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar or the Philippines, the low salary scale in Japan and long hours are still highly desirable compared to where they are from, and they will put up the discrimination and rigged systems all of you correctly describe and which have discouraged you.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

System?

This doesn't need a system!

It just needs Japanese people to relax, accept and interact with foreigners as human beings.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

As some have said, this year has really shown (yet again) what Japan really thinks of its foreign residents.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

With everything in Japanese and no human rights, why should anyone want to help Japan??!.Please explain to me???.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Probably should have left out the "as part timer" part. Who wants to spend a chunk of change studying and immigrating just to be "welcomed" in to society exclusively as part timers

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The Japanese have poor foreign language skills owing to the low level of language instruction coupled with absurd expectations of success, their repressed individuality and limited personal comfort zone, circumscribed by a pronounced insular mentality that makes it difficult for them to reach across the cultural aisle and engage with foreigners. The fact that foreign languages are hardly useful in finding employment is of great significance as is the reality that the life-work balance of most Japanese is so skewed that they have no free time or energy for communicating with gaijin (from another planet). Going native in Nippon is a mission impossible so we must construct our own little homeland bubble here, but open to those Japanese with the curiosity and time to engage with us and share their interests and life experiences, which form the basis of true inter-cultural communication.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Other readers, please adjust your viewpoints. Professor Ota is not talking about us Europeans and North Americans (or even Aussies and Kiwis). He is hoping the desperate Third World students from Asia will come and stay here after university. For someone from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar or the Philippines, the low salary scale in Japan and long hours are still highly desirable compared to where they are from, and they will put up the discrimination and rigged systems all of you correctly describe and which have discouraged you.

They’ll soon be going home too then...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Just almost 2 weeks ago happened to exit on an eki where a nearby daigaku is. I met hordes of young foreign looking people just maybe in their early 20's or late teens all in their crisp and similar suits and shoes. I believe they attended the welcoming ceremony for foreign Japanese language students. It won't be too much to say that more than 90% of them are not money laden in their home countries to be choosing to study here in Japan. They are here primarily to work. Hence most if not all are working 2 jobs clicking more than 48manhours in a week. They don't pay the right taxes nor contribute to social security but they are given priority for work simply because they're willing to do more than just factory work to satiate the physical needs of some staff of the company just like what I've observed in my last workplace. I don't believe it's a company policy. Some who have stayed in the company longer are taking advantage of the financial needs of these students to serve their own desires.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites