For the second time since I arrived, the Food and Health students invited me to a meal. The first time, the second-year students invited me, and it was free. This time it was the third-year students, and they charged ¥300.
There was plate of cold, sliced pork with tomatoes, wakame, and cucumber; a small, but plentiful portion of rice; miso soup; a soy bean dish; and a jelly desert made of oranges. The menu said it was 667 calories. Nice job!
The figures in the previous post were embedded in an article from The Daily Yomiuri on the critical need for Japanese teachers here in Japan. The number of primary and secondary students whose native language is not Japanese went over 20,000 for the first time. It should be noted that the vast majority of these students do not speak English as their first language either. The jobs are clearly out there; the challenge will be to train teachers who can teach Japanese to speakers of any language in addition to preparing speakers of these languages to teach Japanese. The breakdown of students in need of Japanese skills by language is somewhat different from the numbers of foreigners living here:
| Rank | Language | Number | Percentage |
| One | Portuguese | 7,562 | 36.5 |
| Two | Chinese | 4,460 | 21.6 |
| Three | Spanish | 3,156 | 15.3 |
| Four | Filipino | 2,176 | 10.1 |
| Five | Korean | 859 | 4.2 |
| Six | Vietnamese | 754 | 3.6 |
| Seven | English | 487 | 2.4 |
| Eight+ | Others | 1,238 | 6.0 |
So, any students out there who are still thinking about what they would like to do for a living may want to consider a career in teaching Japanese. Keep in mind that you might need to make a move to a location where there are higher concentrations of students in need. These seem to include the Kanto and Kansai areas.
Although it’s hard to pinpoint the exact start (some entrance exams start at my university in December), entrance exam season (often called exam hell because of its difficulty) is in full swing. The national exam (called the Center Exam in English) was held last month at most major universities in the country. For most students aspiring to get into a university, the Center Exam is the first step. It is a two-day process where students choose from the various exams offered. There are foreign language exams (most students take English), Japanese (testing skills in reading and and kanji) exams, various math and science exams, and social science. Students who want to go into the sciences would take the appropriate tests for the target departments of the universities students want to apply for. Not many students take every exam offered during the two days, but some do. It is a workout to proctor all these exams, but that is nothing compared to what the students have to go through.
These exams are only the first step. Students then go to the university (for many that is universities because they apply to more than one) to take the exams for the desired department. These are held at my university in February. Students successfully entering a university from this method make up the bulk of the group. For those still wanting another chance, there is another battery of exams in March. These are used to fill up the remaining slots in a particular department because some students do not take up a university’s offer (as I wrote before some students apply to more than one university).
Let’s all take our hats off to the students trying to enter a university (and may the best ones get into mine)!
