According to Kyodo News, 25,411 foreign children are attending public schools in Japan::

A breakdown by mother tongue indicates the largest group of such children spoke Portuguese, accounting for 40.2 percent. A majority of them are thought to be Brazilians of Japanese ancestry. They were followed by Chinese speakers, forming 19.9 percent, Spanish speakers at 13.7 percent and Tagalog speakers at 11.4 percent.

By prefecture, Aichi had the largest concentration with 5,030 children, followed by 2,631 in Shizuoka, 2,601 in Kanagawa and 1,913 in Tokyo.

Many of the children do not speak Japanese as their native language, and a government survey states there is a need to provide more opportunities for foreign students to learn Japanese as a second language.

The Japan Times has a story looking at the issue from a different perspective. Many children of Brazilian immigrants grow up attending Japanese schools and lack opportunities to learn the language of the country they came from, causing major communication problems within their families. One city with a very large Brazilian population, Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture, has started special classes to teach children Portuguese:

The city launched the class centering on Portuguese writing and reading in 2007 amid mounting requests by Japanese-Brazilian parents who were concerned about similar communication problems with their children and wanted to see their language and cultural values passed on, according to Keiko Tanaka, director general of the city’s support office for foreign children education.

“If the kids remain illiterate in Portuguese, the language will unlikely be their tool of expression or thought,” Tanaka said.

More than 100 children were enrolled for the class this year.

Masami Matsumoto, director general of Colegio Mundo de Alegria, a Hamamatsu-based private school for children from Brazil and Peru, has seen a number of such Brazilian children transfer in from public schools.

“They have lost Portuguese skills and barely understand abstract concepts in the language,” she said. “It’s hard for them to express nuances in their feelings in Portuguese.”

Some educators point to the need for the parents to learn Japanese. But even if the parents speak Japanese fluently, Portuguese is still necessary for their children.

“Portuguese will help them learn about their ancestors and develop their identities as Brazilians,” said Angelo Ishi, a Japanese-Brazilian associate professor of social science at Tokyo’s Musashi University. “Without the language, they will grow up being unaware of problems facing their own community.”