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Article published In:
Study Abroad to, from, and within Asia
Edited by John L. Plews and Jane Jackson
[Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 2:2] 2017
► pp. 147–174

Challenges for study abroad in contemporary Japan

Inward-looking youth or cost-conscious consumers?

| Meiji Gakuin University

As the number of university students studying abroad has skyrocketed globally, waning Japanese participation stands in sharp contrast. What accounts for this decline? Drawing on ethnographic research, including surveys and semi-structured interviews, conducted in fall 2016 with 14 Japanese undergraduate students majoring in the social sciences, this article discusses current challenges influencing outbound Japanese student mobility. In contrast to contemporary social discourse in Japan that has criticized young Japanese as ‘inward-looking’ and unwilling to take on new challenges, including studying abroad, my results reveal that students continue to aspire to overseas study but are also concerned about costs and other challenges. The article closes with a discussion of how a small but growing number of Japanese students are addressing impediments by taking matters into their own hands, and how this emerging trend may require a reinterpretation of statistics suggesting a decline in Japanese participation in study abroad.

Keywords: study abroad, higher education, Japan
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Internationalizing higher education as an engine of growth
  • 3.Fewer Japanese students abroad: What’s going on?
  • 4.Student mobility in and out of Japan: A brief historical sketch
  • 5.English language learning and the massification of study abroad
  • 6.Investigating conflicting discourses of study abroad in Japan
    • 6.1Methodology and initial findings
  • 7.Results: Students’ views of the challenges to study abroad
    • 7.1Macroeconomic conditions
    • 7.2Institutional barriers
    • 7.3School-to-work transition
    • 7.4Personal perceptions and attitudes
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 30 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.16019.gri
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