The strong yen hits foreigners hard, reversing internationalization
(From The Japan Times Feb. 8 issue)

円高で日本の国際化に逆風

One of the negative effects of the economic crisis and strong yen will be fewer foreigners in Japan. The strong yen has hit foreign students, interns and trainees hard, especially those from Asian countries. This past year, Japanese schools and companies have accepted dramatically fewer people from abroad, reversing a decade or more of increased internationalization. Unless education, government and business find new ways to support these important programs, the doors to Japan will start to close.

Data from the Immigration Bureau and the Japan International Training Cooperation Organization in November showed that the number of new foreign trainees fell 25 percent from 2006. Those foreign trainees who do come to domestic companies are finding it increasingly hard to make ends meet. Long-standing criticisms of the foreign trainee system may become moot as the roughly 100,000 trainees in Japan in 2007 dwindle back to the level of 1993, when the system started.

Foreign students are finding tuition too expensive to consider studying here. The peak in 2007 of 120,000 foreign students enrolled in Japanese schools declined in 2008, with even lower numbers predicted for 2009. Then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's recommendation last summer to raise foreign student numbers to 300,000 now seems like a pipe dream without increased financial support. Universities, students and their families abroad are scrambling to cover increased tuition costs resulting from disadvantageous currency exchange rates.

Two decades of positive steps toward internationalization of education and work may be lost unless the government takes measures to ensure that these programs are not derailed. The positive effects of increased contact between foreigners and Japanese cannot be underestimated. The recent influx of caregivers and nurses from Indonesia is a good case in point. Employed at nursing homes across many prefectures, their presence is a sign that cross-border exchange can still work in mutually beneficial ways.

These programs do more than offer degrees and paychecks. They are life-changing experiences for the students, trainees and workers, and are society-enhancing experiences for Japan. The economic crisis should not be allowed to destroy these great steps toward meaningful, people-based internationalization.

経済危機と円高により、在日外国人、特にアジアからの留学生、インターン、研修員が打撃を受けている。10年以上もの国際化に逆行し、学校や企業では昨年、海外からの受け入れが激減した。教育界、政府、企業が新たな策を講じない限り、日本への扉は閉ざされ始めるだろう。

入管と国際研修協力機構の11月の統計によると、外国人研修員は2006年比で25％減、日本語学校への留学も2007年の12万人から減少し続けている。福田前首相提唱の留学生30万人計画も資金援助なしでは夢物語だ。

教育と労働の国際化は政府が策を講じなければ頓挫する。海外からの介護士や看護士を含め、国際交流による相互利益を軽視してはならない。経済危機が意義ある国際化の妨げになるのを防がねばならない。