mytest

UPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito
DEBITO.ORG PODCASTS on iTunes, subscribe free

Hi Blog. Some official numbers for who’s coming and going in and out of Japan on a temporary basis, and how they’re not meeting government targets. They were probably too ambitious to begin with, although as we noted yesterday, the numbers of J exchange students dropping is a pretty disappointing trend; Debito.org has already discussed why the NJ student inflows might be underwhelming earlier this year — lack of institutional support. Arudou Debito

/////////////////////////////////////////

Fewer studying abroad
Record number of foreigners getting education in Japan
Kyodo News/Japan Times Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010, courtesy of Peach
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101223x2.html

…The number of Japanese studying abroad declined by a record level in 2008, while the number of foreign students currently studying in Japan reached a record high as of May, reports by the education ministry and an independent organization showed Wednesday.

The Japan Student Services Organization said in its report that a record-high 141,774 foreigners are studying in Japan, up 9,054 from the year before, while the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said the number of Japanese studying abroad totaled 66,833 in 2008, 8,323 less than the previous year.

The number of Japanese students studying abroad has been on the decline since peaking at 82,945 in 2004, while that of foreigners studying in Japan has been growing. In 2008, the number of foreign students in Japan was 123,829.

Education ministry officials said the current job recruitment process in Japan is apparently discouraging Japanese students from studying abroad for fear of missing out on opportunities to apply for jobs in a given period…

The number of foreign tourists visiting Japan from January to November hit a record high for the 11-month period, but the government’s annual target of attracting 10 million overseas visitors is unlikely to be achieved, a Japan National Tourism Organization survey showed Wednesday.

The number of foreign visitors during the reporting period surged 29.2 percent from the corresponding period last year to 7.963 million, according to the organization.

Achieving the government target of 10 million tourists would require an additional 2 million tourists in December. But considering that the largest number of visitors in a single month this year was the 878,582 recorded in July, it is highly unlikely the target will be met…

Still, it is almost certain the number of foreign visitors this year will surpass the record high 8.35 million marked in 2008.

Full article at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101223x2.html

ENDS