More students from abroad than ever before are studying in Japan, with a massive surge between the last two reporting periods.

Japan is in the middle of a huge inbound tourism surge, but not everyone from overseas who’s getting off a plane at Haneda, Kansai, or one of the country’s other international airports is here for sightseeing. Some of them are here for academics, and a recent study shows that Japan has hit a record-high number of foreign students in the country.

The Japan Student Services Organization, which assists both foreign students wishing to study in Japan as well as Japanese students looking to study abroad, has just released the results of its most recently completed Study on the Enrollment Status of Foreign Students, which examines data collected in 2024. According to the study, as of May 1, 2024, Japan had 336,708 foreign students studying in the country at the post-high school level. This is a huge increase, 20.6 percent, from the preceding year, and the largest number of foreign students for Japan since the current classification of foreign students, which includes students at language schools, was adopted in 2011. It’s also more than double the number of foreign students in Japan since such statistics began being collected in 1983.

Of those 336,708 students, the largest portion, 107,241, are attending classes in Japan at schools teaching the Japanese language to non-native learners, an 18.2 percent increase from the year before. University students account for 87,421 people (up 8.8 percent) and graduate program students 58,215 people (up 4.8 percent). The largest proportional increases came from the 76,402 foreign students at specialized schools focused on specific trades or industries (up 64,9 percent) and the 3,265 foreign students at junior colleges (up 67 percent).

As for where these students are hailing from, the top five countries of origin are all in Asia, with China’s 123,486 people making up more than a third of the international student body in Japan. The number of students in Japan from the top four countries all increased compared to the previous year, while the number from Korea dropped by 367.

● Number of foreign students in Japan by home country
1. China: 123,485 (36.7 percent of total)
2. Nepal: 64,816 (19.2 percent)
3. Vietnam: 40,323 (12 percent)
4. Myanmar: 16,596 (4.9 percent)
5. Korea: 14,579 (4.9 percent)

Among English-speaking countries, the largest contingent came from the U.S.A., which ranked 11th overall, followed by the U.K., Canada, and Australia.

11. U.S.A.: 3,918 students (1.2 percent of total)
21. U.K.: 953 (0.3 percent)
25. Canada: 598 (0.2 percent)
28. Australia: 472 (0.1 percent)

So what’s causing the foreign student population boom in Japan? A number of factors. For starters, just like the weak yen is making Japan an invitingly affordable vacation destination, it’s also making it an attractive country for those with overseas savings or parental support to get a quality education at a manageable price, especially once living expenses are factored in. Several universities and trade schools in Japan have begun actively courting foreign students for enrollment, and Japanese companies have become more open to hiring non-Japanese staff, making starting in language school to build a foundation of communication skills, progressing to university/trade school, and then becoming a working adult in Japan a viable academic and career path. And with many Japanese companies making renewed pushes to establish their presence overseas, even foreign students who return to their home countries can benefit from having studied in Japan and being able to communicate regarding topics in their professional field.

Those factors may or may not end up being permanent, but they’re unlikely to change anytime in the very near future, so odds are that record number of 336,708 foreign students in Japan will be broken again when the Japan Student Services Organization does its tally for next year’s report.

Source: Japan Student Services Organization (1, 2, 3, 4), Nihon Keizai Shimbun
Top image: Pakutaso (edited by SoraNews24)
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