Arya News - This trend aligns with falling demand for Japanese-speaking professionals. Educators note that Japanese corporate job openings have dropped as firms leave or downsize in China amid its economic slowdown.
GUANGZHOU/SHANGHAI – The number of students studying Japanese at Chinese universities and other institutions of higher education has been declining in recent years, mainly due to the fact that demand for Japanese-speaking professionals has fallen as Japanese companies have withdrawn or downsized their operations in the country.
The deterioration in Japan-China relations following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks in the Diet in November last year regarding a contingency in Taiwan has also cast a shadow.
“With the Japanese language losing popularity, we can’t attract top students,” admitted a 44-year-old Chinese woman who teaches Japanese at a university in southern China.
More than a few college students unable to meet the entrance exam score requirements for their first-choice major have been forced to pick the Japanese language as a major, only to switch later on.
One 18-year-old female student, who was accepted into a university in Guangdong Province this year, took her entrance exam in Japanese for entirely pragmatic reasons: She saw it as “a tool to replace English,” which she is not good at. She is currently studying to become a music teacher and has no intention of making a career using Japanese language skills.
According to The Beijing News newspaper, Hebei University in Hebei Province suspended enrollment in its Japanese interpretation department this year. According to statistics from the Translators Association of China, 19 Japanese language departments were abolished at schools in China between 2020 and 2024. According to the Japan Foundation, the number of Japanese language learners at Chinese higher educational institutions in the 2024 academic year was about 480,000, down 23% from the 2015 academic year.
This trend has come amid a decline in demand for Japanese-speaking professionals. According to people involved in Japanese language education, job openings at Japanese companies have dropped in recent years as many have withdrawn from China or scaled back operations there, due to factors including that country’s economic slowdown. The working conditions and benefits offered by such jobs have also lost some of their appeal.
The use of artificial intelligence — the development of which has become a national priority in China — has also brought changes to language education. Some universities have reduced their number of language classes in response to the growing use of AI-powered simultaneous interpretation tools.
“Except for top-tier ones, AI can replace most interpreters and translators. We now live in an age where language majors find it difficult to find jobs,” said a 49-year-old man who has taught Japanese at a university for nearly 20 years.
The deterioration of Japan-China relations has also affected the Japanese language education environment.
This spring, a university in southern China suddenly canceled an exchange study program in Japan. According to a source familiar with Japanese language education, the number of students who enrolled at one private high school in Shanghai in September this year to study Japanese with an aim of entering a Japanese university fell by over half, to 115 from last year’s 250.
Statistics from the Japan Foundation indicate that, when all types of institutions are taken into account, there has actually been no significant change in the total number of Japanese language learners in China. This is believed to be attributable to Chinese people’s interest in things like Japanese tourism and anime. More people are now learning Japanese at private language schools or on their own using materials such as apps and videos.
Nevertheless, one Japanese diplomat, who has worked in China for many years, expressed concern over a decline in the number of Chinese people studying Japanese at higher education institutions and learning about Japanese culture and ways of thinking.
“The backbone that supports bilateral relations could weaken. The current situation could undermine political and economic exchanges between Japan and China,” the diplomat said.