Highlighting JAPAN

through articles

By featuring articles written by experts in many different genres, this online magazine provides people all over the world with information on modern Japan.

July 2008

The Class of 2020

The Class of 2020

Front Cover : What will Japan's university campuses look like in 2020? If a new government plan is successful, more will look like the highly international campus at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.

COVER STORY

The plan to accept 100,000 foreign exchange students that began in 1983 reached its numerical target in 2003. Five years later, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is signaling a new Plan for 300,000 Exchange Students in order to develop a more open society in Japan. We analyze the challenge ahead.

300,000 Foreign Students Plan

While the details of the new Plan for 300,000 Exchange Students are currently being hammered out, the first government body to have taken the policy on board and put together a basic framework is the Special Committee on Foreign Students, part of the Central Council for Education's Subcommittee on Universities. Chairman Tsutomu Kimura explains the key points and direction of the initiatives.

A Sense of Perspective

Airbus Japan President and CEO Glen S. Fukushima continues to draw on the knowledge he gained as a student in Japan.

Alumni Reflect

Three former international students in Japan share memories of their university experience in Japan, explain how studying in Japan has affected their career paths, and ponder the government's latest plan to boost the number of international students at Japanese universities.

Open Universities

What are the keys to globalizing Japanese universities? Professor Masahiro Yokota, a specialist in intercultural education, comments.

It's a Small World

Founded in April 2000, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) today attracts students from eighty-one countries and regions, and more than 40% of the approximately 5,800 students are international students. Maki Yamada asked Monte Cassim, APU's Sri Lankan president, about the university's educational philosophy and mission.

Labor Market Opens Up to Skilled Foreigners

The Japanese government and private enterprise are implementing specific measures to expand job opportunities for foreigners with excellent skills. Maki Yamada reports.

Promoting Innovation for a Cool Earth in 2050

Cool Earth 50 is a long-term project with the goal of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 50% of their current levels by 2050. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, president of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, explains the role of the new Cool Earth-Innovative Energy Technology Program in achieving this goal.

Energy Conservation: Getting Down to Business

The Law concerning the Rational Use of Energy, enacted in 1979, has been revised on multiple occasions, most recently in May 2008. The point of the latest revision is to expand energy conservation controls from individual factories to energy controls for individual business establishments. We speak with Takeshi Miki, director of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Division at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy.

Plotting the Revival

In January 2008, the Expert Committee on Structural Changes and the Japanese Economy was set up as an advisory committee for the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy. Kazuo Ueda, professor at the University of Tokyo and chair of the committee, explains the main points of the Committee's first report.

The Way of Blu-ray

The fierce competition over the format of the next generation of DVDs was finally resolved in early 2008, with the Blu-ray Disc coming out on top. Osamu Kumagai of Sony's Advanced Materials Laboratories explains the features and possibilities that the Blu-ray Disc provides.

Therapy Paro Excellence

Five years since its release in Japan, the lovable robotic seal pup, Paro, is beginning to find friends on foreign shores.

A Cultural Cocktail

The SakeOne brewery in Portland, Oregon makes premium-grade sake with a difference. Tony McNicol paid the brewery a visit.

The Genji Lives

A thousand years have elapsed since 1008, which is recorded as the year in which Murasaki Shikibu completed The Tale of Genji. Yamamoto Junko explains the lasting appeal of this classic work of Japanese literature.

Joint Research to Resolve Global Issues

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, Sports and Technology (MEXT) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) are launching a new framework for international cooperation based on joint research activities. MEXT's Shinichi Akaike explains.

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