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Non-Japanese Schools in Japan

A clip from NTV’s “Bankisha” that tells us about the most numerous non-Japanese schools in Japan:

Brazilian Schools (81) – These schools are concentrated in Aichi, Shizuoka, and Gunma prefectures, where the factories of the Japanese auto industry employ many Brazilian workers. The recent economic depression has caused the number of students to drop, causing serious trouble for many of these schools.
North Korean Schools (73) – Students are taught to respect Kim Jong-il and his father (but the kids also like South Korean pop music). NTV’s reporter sits in on a history class, where their teacher is telling them about how the DPRK forces heroically defeated the American invaders in the Korean War. The students think the DPJ’s plan to make high schools free in Japan should include subsidies that pay the tuition of DPRK-affiliated schools.
International Schools (27) – Schools aimed at multiple nationalities. This includes British and American schools.
Chinese Schools (5) - About 20% of the students are Japanese, since parents think that learning Chinese, English and Japanese will be beneficial.
Indian Schools (3) – They put a lot of emphasis on mathematics, which seems to involve some pretty big multiplication tables. They also learn IT skills.

Also featured is Jasuko, a Finnish school in Shiga prefecture. It apparently doesn’t have any students from Finland, but it does have a pretty nice Sauna.

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33 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - May 22, 2010 at 12:11 pm

Categories: Foreigners in Japan Tags:

Confused

Though the report sensationally goes to a North Korean school, it actually states that there are 73 “Chosen” schools in Japan, which surely must include general Korean schools (i.e. Korean Japanese zainichi, South Korean-born kids etc).

I don’t believe that all those 73 are exclusively “North Korean”. At the very least there would be a separate entry for “South Korean” schools in the top 5. Only a minority of Korean Zainichi support or identify with North Korea (though they famously control pachinko and send their profits back to the motherland)…

http://www.japanprobe.com James

Wikipedia makes it sound like the term only applies to DPRK-affiliated schools:

朝鮮学校（ちょうせんがっこう、チョソンハッキョ、조선학교）とは、在日朝鮮人に対して朝鮮語を用いた教育を行う民族学校（教育施設）のこと。なお、韓国系学校については韓国学校を参照のこと。

朝鮮学校は、在日本朝鮮人総連合会（朝鮮総連）や北朝鮮から支援を受けており[1]、北朝鮮の一党独裁政党である朝鮮労働党や朝鮮総連の支配下にある[2]。

It seems like South Korean schools are called “韓国学校” instead of “朝鮮学校.”　　The South Korean schools actually comply with Japanese education standards (朝鮮学校とは異なりほとんどの韓国学校は日本の学校教育法で第一条に定められる). Wikipedia only lists 4 South Korean schools, which should be enough to merit a place on Bankisha’s ranking. They could be included in the 73, could be in the international school category, or could have been overlooked.
Kyola Se

I would wager they dropped it because a) DRK schools are more sensationalistic and b) many Zainichi Korean children with South Korean ancestry/affiliation go to regular Japanese schools (for instance, a classmate of mine is South Korean and sends his sons to regular Japanese schools because he thinks it makes more sense for them to learn proper Japanese instead of staying in a “Korean bubble”; another classmate of mine sends her son to an international nursery for similar reasons). The South Korean activism in education just isn’t as pronounced as the DRK’s is.
LOD

Wikipedia (which is not most reliable source, I know) lists 69 active North Korean schools in Japan. 69+4=73, so it’s likely they included South Korean schools.
While we can say the majority of Korean schools in Japan are pro-Pyongyang, it is still sloppy of Bankisha to overlook these 4.

Craig

I’ve worked at enough Japanese schools to see that if I had children I would be sending them to international schools too
sublight

I chose to send my child to an international school after looking back at my own college experiences. It was at one of the Ivies, and while there were plenty of Chinese and Korean students, but almost no Japanese. And of those Japanese that were there, none were from the public school system (or even the Japanese-only private schools, like Meiji or Keio). College is still a long way off, but I think an international school simply leaves many more doors open (and apparently many Japanese parents feel the same, as half my child’s classmates are full Japanese).

Stereo

Well, Japanese send their children to their universities because they think theirs are the best in the world, whereas Chinese and Koreans think theirs are not as good as US schools. In fact, I do not think US Ivy league undergraduate schools are not so good anyway.

By the way, Meiji or Keio are not “Japanese-only” schools, neither are Japanese national universities.

leitmotiv

Um…that’s astonishingly simplistic and knee-jerk. Let me help you with that.

Well, Japanese send their children to their universities because they think theirs are the best in JAPAN

There. That’s better.

The issue you are (misguidedly) trying to address has more to do with which universities offer more opportunities in global sense. Japanese, Korean, and Chinese schools, in general, are not particularly known for that compared to other countries, particularly US. The Japanese who send their children to Japanese universities may not have same priorities or POV for global opportunities for their offspring than their Korean and Chinese counterparts.

Stereo

I have plenty of evidence that Japanese think their universities are best in the world, and that explains their behavior.

In fact, I think you should have argued whether Japanese universities are best in the world, rather than whether Japanese think their universities are best in the world.

“Simplistic and knee-jerk” are words for you, leitmotiv.
leitmotiv

I have plenty of evidence that Japanese think their universities are best in the world, and that explains their behavior.

I’ll bet you do. But don’t share it or anything. Leave it to the reader to take your word for it. The key concept for comparing your “plenty of evidence” to Korean and Chinese parents’ decision-making is how “best” is defined.

leitmotiv

I think an international school simply leaves many more doors open (and apparently many Japanese parents feel the same, as half my child’s classmates are full Japanese).

Its interesting to look at the waivers that Japanese parents are usually required to sign to exempt their kids from the local school system and get them into international schools. The ones I’ve seen a few years ago almost looked like some sort of a confession of cultural treason combined with a statement of intent to ruin the education of a Japanese child. Amusing.

http://www.chirimotsumoreba.net Jordan

If the government is going to pay for private school educations there will most definitely (I hope) be curriculum requirements that all schools receiving government funds will have to adhere to.

If that is the case, I hope these ridiculous Chosen schools will bite the dust.

I feel bad for their plights, but honestly, this sort of insanity does not belong in a nation like Japan.

Question: Does anyone know if these sorts of institutions exist in South Korea?
tbrot

So in the movie Tokyo Drift, the gaijin kid who gets banished to Japan because of his legal problems in America attends some school in Tokyo. Would that have been an international school, it’s hard to tell since the teacher speaks to him in Japanese and it doesn’t appear as though he speaks much Japanese. I did notice there was a caucasian female and an African American male in his class as well. It was amazing how much English was spoken in the movie although some of the Japanese students didn’t seem to speak much English at all.

Oh well, I guess it was just a movie. But it would be so cool to visit Tokyo just to see the drifters racing through Shibuya.

pixel_bomber

It’s true Japan is almost exactly like that movie in every way.
(-_-)

Stereo

In what every way?
Are you saying that there are many American kids with “legal problems” who hide in Japan?
Are you saying that there are lots of international schools in Japan?
Are you saying that there are one white girl and one black boy in every class in Japan?

The only thing I can find prevalent here is that teachers speak Japanese in class, which is the best method to teach language in its home country.

leitmotiv

Stereo, you maybe should actually watch that utter crap movie before commenting so you can understand that pixel_bomber comment above can only be ironic.

Whatever apparatus you are using to detect threats to Japan’s image, I suggest you get it re-calibrated. You seem to get a lot of false positives.
tbrot

Seriously we were just poking fun at the movie.

tbrot

Nice to see all the negatives. I was just making fun of the movie and the perceived stereotypes. Are people on Japan Probe so dimwitted that they don’t understand irony and sarcasm? Duh!

NONE OF MY BEESWAX

Well, I don’t mind it too much. However, it seems a bit segregatory. Oh, and I also have a problem with the whole Kin Jung Il worship at the Korean school. The guy refuses any outside help. Anyone caught or suspected of treason ( Anti-N.Korea, making films about the horrible prison camp, talking protitition until 2007, running away from N.K.,etc.)is either executed or worse living the rest of their day in a N. Korean prison. I really don’t get how they still worship him knowing this and make their children do the same.
Kalinin

Hm… If you CHOOSE to live in Japan you should study in their school… and specialy learn their language, it sucks when a foreign go to a country and don’t even try to learn their language and culture, and I think that a school is a good way to learn these things, isn’t it?

Buster

Its usually the children of high paid professionals who wont life too long in one place/country, or who intend for their children to finish/continue their education in the mother land who use these kind of schools. There are some Japanese schools abroad too.

cesar

HIGH PAID PROFESSIONALS?!

with brazilian and north korean schools comprising more than 80% of the foreign schools? really?

Buster

I wasn’t specifically talking about Japan as my parent was neither. I assume 3rd generation zainichis speak perfectly Japanese, maybe even exclusively so. About the Brazillians, dunno, most countries tried/try to make sure their blue collar immigrant workers are leaving the country after some years, might be a factor.

LB

Perhaps but… it usually isn’t the kids that are choosing to live in Japan. It is their parents. I think a distinction should also be drawn between the children of those passing through Japan for a year or two on assignment to the “Tokyo Office” or whatever and those whose parents are long-term residents.

If a child is only in Japan for a short term, such as a year or two, trying to get into Japanese schools really does not make a lot of sense. If the child does not already speak Japanese, they won’t be able to keep up in class. And by the time they do get “up to speed”, they’ll be going home again. For these children, a private “international school” seems like the best option.

For long-term residents, such as Brazilians, the language issue could be a problem initially, but they would probably be better served in the long term in public schools. Temporarily putting them into “Brazilian” schools, with an emphasis on getting the children functional in Japanese quickly, and then enrolling them in Japanese public schools seems to me like a good option, it should be either that or coming up with special classes in public schools to accommodate such kids and get them functional in Japanese so that they can keep up.

But for Zainichi and Japanese, while parents should have the right to choose what they feel is best for their childrens’ education, they shouldn’t get public funds if they choose to enroll their children in a private school. I am all for free public education, but if a parent voluntarily pulls their kid out of public schooling to put them in private schools, that should be on their (the parents) dime.

http://billowykimono.blogspot.com/ Senor Science

I live in an area that has a substantial Brazilian minority and as a result I have quite a few non-Japanese students.

Interestingly enough, they’re very popular at my schools and speak Japanese fluently since they’ve been in the Japanese system for so long. I’ve read stories of non Japanese students getting bullied, but it’s not the case where I work.

Kalinin

Yep, it’s not hard to a brazilian learn japanese. We have many similar sounds then it’s easy to speak, but english is boring xD the “r” sound may be a problem to some brazilians.
And well… it’s not hard to be popular if you are a brazilian ^___^
http://billowykimono.blogspot.com/ Senor Science

Actually, I was talking about that with my American friend today over lunch.

We seriously think it’s easier for native speakers of romance languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese, etc.) to learn Japanese as a second language easier than it is for us, due to similar sounds!

When I first started learning Japanese I had a hell of a time learning how to roll my r’s.
pixel_bomber

Honestly for me (as an English speaker) I never found Japanese difficult to pronounce. Once you grasp the phonetics it’s even easier than English in my opinion. The big problem for me is Japanese sentence structure. I just have a lot of difficulty going between the English and Japanese sentence structure.

Rob A

Crazy Finland and their saunas. I saw a travel show that talked to some people in Finland and Denmark and they apparently partake in sauna activity even during lunch breaks etc.

Starfish

Not true. Sauna is usually warmed up once or twice a week.

Sandy

The music at 5:40 is from Aria. I’m only posting this because I feel clever for noticing it.
http://forum.koreansentry.com Koreansentry

Nothing wrong with foreign schools specially with Koreans considering there are approx. 1 million Koreans in Japan. Why Koreans are still being target of racism in Japan when there are more other foreigners in Japan?

http://www.zdwonline.de Haf

Haters gonna hate…

Non-Japanese Schools in Japan

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