Foreign-Origin Students in Japan Face Gaps in Japanese-Language Support
Japan is expanding Japanese-language support to help children from foreign backgrounds adapt to the education system. Schools and municipalities are working to appoint specialist teachers, employ multilingual staff, and develop preparatory programmes for newly arrived students. However, recent figures indicate that the existing support remains insufficient to meet the growing need.
According to data from Japan’s Ministry of Education, 84,759 students enrolled in public schools required Japanese-language instruction as of May 2025. Of these students, 9,699, or 11.4 percent, did not receive specialised language support. Experts warn that an even less visible but equally serious problem lies beneath these figures: a child’s ability to speak conversational Japanese does not necessarily mean that they can adequately understand the academic language used in the classroom.
Students who communicate comfortably with their friends may still struggle to understand abstract concepts, follow textbooks, and produce extended academic writing. Confusing conversational fluency with academic language proficiency can result in language support being withdrawn too early. Students requiring Japanese-language instruction reportedly have lower rates of progression to upper-secondary and higher education than the national average, while their dropout rates are higher.
The language issue affects more than academic achievement. Under pressure to adapt to Japanese society, some children gradually stop using the language spoken by their families. When parents speak in their own language and their children respond in Japanese, emotional communication within the family may become weaker. Experts emphasise that a family language is not merely a means of exchanging information; it also carries memories, humour, family history, and relationships between generations.