Student presentation 3: Japanese outside of Japan

The information on the promotion of Japanese outside of Japan appears below the jump.

Promotion of Japanese language and culture outside Japan

Intro: Japanese-language education is 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 770,000 in 2009, half of them being Chinese and 20% being South Koreans (According to Japan Foundation Survey)

Why people want to learn Japanese?

• manga and anime, Japanese pop-culture, sushi etc
• Many foreign students want to be employed by such famous enterprises as Sony Corp and Toyota Motor Corp
• increasing popularity of Japanese cuisine (Poznań – over dozen)

Underlying principles of Japananese cultural policy:

à Globalization has been the buzzword since the 1990s. Whereas it is seem by some as remarkable process of producing a unified and integrated common culture in the world, it is seen by others as merely an extension of a long history of colonialism. Japan has embraced a different term, “internationalization”, which focuses on the exportability of Japanese culture to the world in the process of globalization. Japanese internationalization is based on Japan’s economic success and the unique qualities of Japanese ways, and it emanated from a need for the Japanese people to reaffirm the historical continuity of Japan and its cultural coherence

Instruments:

1. The Japan Foundation (国際交流基金 Kokusai Kōryū Kikin) was established in 1972 by an Act of the Japanese Legislative Assembly in order to spread better knowledge of Japanese culture worldwide. The organization became independent in 2003 but was still treated as a part of the Foreign Ministry of Japan

2. JLPT: The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) was established by the Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services in 1984 to enable non-native people around the world pass a reliable test which would be internationally accepted and trustworthy.

3. CGP(The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership), goals:

• To promote collaboration between Japan and the United States with the goal of fulfilling shared global responsibilities and contributing to improvements in the world's welfare.
• To enhance dialogue and interchange between Japanese and US citizens on a wide range of issues, thereby improving bilateral relations.

4. The Agency for Cultural Affairs (文化庁 bunkachō) is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education. It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency main objective is to strengthen Japanese and international cultural and arts consciousness. Also, it is to protect Japanese national heritage.

Conclusion:  

• scholarships hard to get for Europeans
• still actual isolation (volunteers after earthquake)
• imposing own way of doing business outside Japan
• still traditional isolation mentality
• they could be more successful in promoting language and culture if they open themselves more