Japan Boom in East Asia
Here’s a pretty interesting FTV news report on the current popularity of Japanese language and culture in East Asia:
A quick summary of the Shanghai portion of the video:
- -The couple interviewed at the beginning of the segment says they are buying anime stuff because they’ve watched and enjoyed anime since they were children.
- -We are shown a Japanese anime/game store in Shanghai, which is usually crowded with young people on the weekends.
- -A 22-year-old Chinese guy allows the reporters to come to his apartment, which he shows them his love of Japanese culture by playing Wii and singing along with some popular Japanese songs. He also likes Samurai-era Japanese history, talking about Tokugawa Ieyasu in Japanese.
- In addition to the anime/gamer scene, events where Chinese people studying the Japanese language and Japanese residents of Shanghai gather in parks to practice what they have learned and socialize.
- A Japanese language school in Shanghai is shown, with individual classrooms named after areas of Tokyo [Odaiba, Roppongi, Ikebukuro, etc.]. Sometimes classes involve one-on-one conversation with Japanese teachers, but the school also has its students watch anime for listening practice. Many of the students interviewed mention anime and games as their motivation behind studying the Japanese language.
And a summary of the second half of the video, which takes place in Taiwan:
- A narrator mentions that about 55,000 Taiwanese people took the Japanese Language Proficiency test last year.
- Apparently there is a Japanese language study boom going on in Taiwan, and many mothers are signing their children up for private language schools like the one shown in the video. We are shown some of the typical lessons held there, which include playing karuta (a game in which players attempt to slap and capture cards representing certain words or phrases), singing, and dancing. As part of the total immersion environment, the kids all pick Japanese names for themselves. The school claims it can teach kids to read and write Japanese within a 2-3 year period.
- The mother of a little girl studying Japanese says that it is not uncommon for Taiwanese children to study both Japanese and English these days.
- Interest in Japanese culture and work/business are given as the two major reasons for the current Japanese language boom going on in East Asia.
