Japan: Japanese proficiency essential for foreign graduates staying on to work

An increasing number of fast-growing study abroad destinations – outside of the so-called Big Four of Australia, Canada, the UK, and US – continue to gain popularity, supported in part by government and institutional strategies aimed at increasing international enrolments and retaining high-skilled graduates.

These destinations are informally called the “Big Fourteen” in industry circles – representing the longer list of countries now enrolling tens or hundreds of thousands of international students.

Japan is on that expanded list. Last year, it surpassed its target to reach 400,000 international enrolments by 2033, and it did so eight years early. The achievement was bolstered by the government’s drive to attract and retain top foreign students to offset the economic effects of an ageing population and shrinking labour force.

Past Japanese governments considered the creation of English-taught programmes (ETPs) in the country’s universities to be a promising tool for building Japan’s global reputation and its international student population. But those programmes are no longer the focus. They exist, and many are successful, but new initiatives are behind the country’s strengthening position as a major study destination in Asia.

Japan’s departure from ETPs as a primary recruitment mechanism is due to several reasons we explore in this article, all of which highlight:

• The challenges of ETPs in non-anglophone countries where domestic English proficiency is low;
• A growing realisation that public acceptance of foreigners depends on how well immigrants can integrate into national culture and language;
• The importance of offering strong language supports to international students who are not proficient in a host country’s language.

ETPs: From recruitment lynchpin to programme option

In 2009, the Japanese government invested heavily in a project aimed at enrolling 300,000 international students by 2020. Part of that project was the launch of “Global 30,” which funded the development of ETPs in seven national and six private Japanese universities. These universities were chosen among hundreds because they were thought to have the best potential to position Japan as a premier regional education hub.

English-medium instruction in those thirteen universities prompted wider take-up of ETPs across the system – but not in a dramatic way. This was because:

• Funding for ETPs was limited to such a small number of universities;
• There is limited enthusiasm among faculty and Japanese students for English-taught programmes.

The general consensus is that the Global 30 project helped to raise the visibility and cachet of Japan as a study abroad destination – not least because of the marketing campaigns enabled by the funding – but did not drive system-wide adoption of ETPs.

The Global 30 project gave way to other initiatives, including the current J-MIRAI strategy, aka “Japan Mobility and Internationalisation: Re engaging and Accelerating Initiative for future generations,” as shown in the following chart.

Japan’s university internationalization arc: G30 → TGU → J MIRAI

The current landscape for English-taught programmes in Japan

The most recent definitive data shows that between 2018 and 2022, the number of undergraduate ETPs in Japanese universities edged up minimally from 42 to 45, and the number of postgraduate ETPs increased slightly from 107 to 114. Some premier universities are planning new English-taught courses, or even full departments, but these examples are few and far between.

Dr Hiroshi Ota, Director of the Global Education Program at Hitotsubashi University, said in an email exchange with ICEF Monitor, "I don’t think the number of ETPs in Japan will increase significantly in the near future. I think that Japanese universities have reached their capacity limits for establishing new ETPs.”

Dr Ota believes that in order to increase the number of ETPs at Japanese universities in the future, major reforms are needed, such as switching the language of instruction to English in existing degree programmes taught in Japanese. This is because of the major obstacle preventing an expansion of ETPs in Japan: “The English proficiency of both Japanese students and Japanese faculty is significantly lower than in other countries."

The language conundrum

In 2017, a survey of 1,000 Japanese adults who had never lived overseas or studied abroad found that:

• 2.5% said they could “speak English fluently”
• 2.2% felt their English was sufficient for work
• 43.5% said they could “hardly speak English,” and 40% said they could speak only “elementary” English
• 22% felt able to answer a tourist’s question for directions

Though the survey was conducted in 2017, its findings are not dated. The 2025 EF English Proficiency ranked Japan 96th among 123 non-English speaking countries, moving Japan into the “very low proficiency” band (95–123). By contrast, China was ranked #86 (“low”) and South Korea #46 (“moderate”). Japan also sits behind Laos, Bhutan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.

Why is English-language proficiency so low?

There has historically been little need for English-language skills within Japanese society, with some exceptions. Most of the population can live and work entirely in Japanese. Retail outlets, media, government, and most workplaces operate fully in Japanese. The exceptions are Japanese who work in tourism, at multinational firms, or as academics involved in international research.

This is changing. For example, ETS, a company specialising in lifelong learning, commissioned the Harris Group in 2025 to conduct a global survey of 1,325 HR leaders. Japanese respondents were more likely than their global peers to say English proficiency matters more today than it did five years ago (96%). On the policy side, the Japanese government has set a target for attracting more foreign direct investment (FDI) and multinationals.

However, Japan's education system is not primed for the English-dominant global economy. Writing in The Japan Times, Yuko Tamura said: “One of the biggest problems in English education in the Japanese public system is the gap between the government’s expectations and the reality in schools.”

Ms Tamura writes:

“The focus on test-driven English education has eclipsed the true value of learning a foreign language, creating a sense of aversion among many of those studying it.”

It isn’t only students who may dread their English lessons; it is the instructors teaching these lessons. Ms Tamura writes:

“As a former English tutor, I taught Eiken Grade Pre-1 (the second-highest tier) to high school students who needed this level to aim for top universities. To my surprise, teachers were among those I tutored because this was the preferred proficiency level for their profession. Yet in 2023, only 45% and 81% of Japanese teachers in junior high and high schools respectively had achieved it.”

The low drive to learn English also dovetails with public concern about the rising number of foreigners in Japan and the impact on national identity. For example, political scientist Axel Klein commissioned a nationally representative survey of 1,500 Japanese adults in February 2026. One survey question asked if “foreigners should place the highest priority on following Japanese rules, etiquette, and customs.” Nearly two-thirds of respondents (63%) agreed, and only 7% disagreed.

Of the findings, Mr Klein, said:

“They reflect a tension that Japanese policymakers and the public have struggled to resolve: the economic case for accepting more foreign workers is clear, yet it sits uneasily alongside deep-rooted ideas of cultural cohesion and ethnic homogeneity.”

Learning Japanese a key step to employment

Mr Klein’s comment helps in understanding a new governmental policy announced in January 2026: foreigners will need to learn Japanese and be able to integrate into Japanese society in order to be eligible for permanent residency.

Learning Japanese will also help international graduates wanting to stay in Japan to find jobs.

Dr Ota adds:

“Unless they have a high level of Japanese proficiency, international students find it difficult to secure employment in Japan. This is especially true in the humanities and social sciences. When Japanese companies hire international students, they place the highest priority on Japanese language proficiency. In other words, Japanese companies screen applicants without distinguishing between Japanese and international students. Therefore, international students who do not have a high level of Japanese proficiency are at a disadvantage when job hunting.”

To smooth the settlement process, the government is working on a system to ensure both before and after they move to Japan, foreigners can learn basic Japanese and adapt to social norms.

Writing in Nippon.com, Menshu Toshihiro lauded the new policies, saying that they will “help to prevent conflicts with neighbors caused by unfamiliarity with the local language, rules, and customs.” He continued: “Japan’s path forward depends on its ability to integrate foreign nationals and build mutually beneficial relationships.”

Coincidentally or not, foreign enrolment in Japanese language schools is at record-high levels. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) data show 294,200 international students learning Japanese within Japan as of November 2024 – 30,000 more than in 2023.

While there are no system-wide, standardised pathways from Japanese language schools to Japanese universities, individual institutions do establish that pipeline. Some language schools even offer scholarships to encourage progression to certain institutions – you can see an example here.

It is likely this pipeline will strengthen as the Japanese government turns ever more from a volume-based conception of international recruitment to a more selective one related not only to economic goals, but also to social ones.

For additional background, please see:

• “Japan market report: A dual focus on attracting international students and sending more Japanese students abroad”
• “From the Big Four to the Big Fourteen”
• “Japan surpassed its foreign enrolment target of 400,000 in 2025”