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August 12, 2026
 

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LANGUAGE TEACHERS

A send-off event is held at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Friday for assistant language teachers and others selected to be dispatched from India to Japan.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2026
Japan to accept 22 assistant language teachers from India this year
This year marks the second year of regular dispatches of assistant language teachers from India under the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program.
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population.?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 2, 2026
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
Once volunteer-based, the system is shifting toward shared responsibility between local governments and trained professionals.
The Japanese government is considering revising requirements for permanent residency, including mandatory language proficiency and other moves that could place foreign residents under continuous evaluation and uncertainty about their future.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 23, 2026
Â鶹´«Ã½ residency debate risks turning integration into exclusion
What was once a predictable path toward long-term stability could become a precarious process subject to continuous state evaluation.
Vietnamese students attend a Japanese language class at a job placement company in Hanoi in October 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2026
The limits of Â鶹´«Ã½ immigration charade
Until now, the quality and training of Japanese-language teachers were largely left to the private sector, including academia.
Five members of the Japan Foundation's Nihongo Partners program (front) gather at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2025
Japan dispatches five language education ¡®partners¡¯ to India
This is the first time that Nihongo Partners under a program run by the Japan Foundation are dispatched to a South Asian country.
Francisco Villarreal moved to Japan in 2014 to attend a teacher training program and has forged deep ties to the kindergarten in Tokyo's Asakusa district where he has worked since 2018.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Aug 11, 2025
Kindred spirits, kindergarten connections: From Buenos Aires to east Tokyo
An Argentinian teacher finds echoes of his hometown in the working-class neighborhoods of eastern Tokyo.
Indian assistant language teachers pose for a photo with Japanese Ambassador Keiichi Ono (center) at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2025
Japan to regularly accept assistant language teachers from India
This marks the first regular dispatch of assistant language teachers from India under a government initiative to promote exchanges at the regional level.
One-third of elementary school students in Japan do not like learning English, according to a 2021 poll, an 8% rise since 2013. The pressure of taking proficiency tests is eroding children's engagement with studying English and its benefits.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 17, 2025
Â鶹´«Ã½ English-language education doesn¡¯t pass the test
An excessive focus on testing students¡¯ English ability is turning language learning into a chore, depriving children of the joy and opportunities of intercultural communication.
Incorporating modern technologies into your Japanese classes might be a way to connect with younger students.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 3, 2025
Start the new year with a fresh approach to teaching Japanese
It¡¯s important for language instructors to update their methods to best appeal to their younger students.
Hyappu Ishikawa (left) attends to children at the "Karafuru" Japanese language school in Nishio, Aichi Prefecture, in April.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2024
How one Japanese city supports foreign students through community education
In the city of Nishio, public and private sectors collaborate with schools to support foreign students in Japanese language education and raise their school enrollment rates.
Language support groups in Fukushima Prefecture are calling for the creation of a better environment for foreign children to learn Japanese.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
May 27, 2024
With more foreign children, Fukushima struggles with language support
A number of children attending schools in the prefecture in fiscal 2023 were unable to fully understand Japanese.
Randolph-Macon College students pose with a monument to Taylor Anderson in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, on Jan. 23.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2024
Tsunami victim¡¯s dream of becoming Japan-U.S. bridge realized
Taylor Anderson was one of the 33 foreign nationals killed in the March 2011 disaster.
The logo of language-learning app, Duolingo, on a smartphone
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2024
Duolingo cuts contractors by 10% amid AI content shift
The company said no full-time employees were affected by the cutback.
Diane Hawley Nagatomo at her home office in Chiba. Born in the U.K., Diane has called Japan ¡°home¡± for more than 40 years.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 23, 2023
Diane Hawley Nagatomo: ¡®The only way to improve writing is to write¡¯
After retiring from her position as a professor in 2022, Diane Hawley Nagatomo has just released her first novel, ¡°The Butterfly Cafe.¡±
A major bonus of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme is the time it offers you to be able to plan for long-term goals. Writer Erik M. Jacobs was able to map out what he needed to pursue a career in U.S.-Japan relations, for example.
COMMUNITY / Issues / Learning Curve
Aug 8, 2023
Every situation is different on JET, but they¡¯re all similarly rewarding
As a new wave of JET Program participants arrives in the country, a program alumni shares tips on getting the most out of the experience.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Mar 6, 2023
Round 2 at your teaching job: New confidence, new opportunities
We¡¯re coming up on a new school year. Aim to improve your language skills and travel the country more with your newfound confidence.
JAPAN / Explainer
Jan 4, 2022
What¡¯s next for English-language education in Japan?
English has been at the heart of discussions over nationwide university entrance exams amid growing frustrations that few Japanese students learn to speak the language fluently.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Sep 6, 2021
What to expect as a ¡®teacher of color¡¯ in Japan
Every situation is different. As a nonwhite instructor in Japan, it helps to know others facing the same challenges you are.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Mar 9, 2020
Stockpiling food and keeping up appearances in Hokkaido¡¯s schools
English teachers in Hokkaido, which apart from the Diamond Princess cruise ship has been hit hardest with coronavirus cases in Japan, struggle to make sense of measures taken at their schools.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Mar 3, 2020
With the coronavirus canceling classes, what are English teachers to do?
ALTs and English-language school employees are reporting confusion over what role their employers should play in a possible pandemic.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
Yasukuni Shrine introduces ban on military attire and cosplay
People gather in front of thousands of lanterns on display at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on July 15 during the Mitama Matsuri, one of the capital's largest summer o-Bon festivals.
Many Indonesians named after Japanese anime characters
Some people in Indonesia are named Doraemon, the name of a lead character of the blockbuster anime series with the same title.
Strong wind and heavy rain forecast as tropical storm approaches Japan
Tropical Storm Chan-hom is expected to make landfall in northern Kanto between late Tuesday and early Wednesday.
Severe tropical storm Chan-hom makes landfall near Tokyo
Severe Tropical Storm Chan-hom made landfall around Ibaraki Prefecture, near Tokyo, on Tuesday night.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
As Â鶹´«Ã½ concrete jungles sizzle, urban forestry offers an all-natural fix
People and birds find relief from the sun in Tokyo's Nakano Ward earlier this month. While experts agree that urban greening is crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change, trees are becoming even more scarce in Japanese cities.
Â鶹´«Ã½ brewers experiment with a secret ingredient: music
At Smoke Craft, a craft beer brewery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, music isn't just a background to the brewing process ¡ª it's an ingredient.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.
J. League enters new era as league kicks off first fall-spring campaign
Players from each J. League club pose during a kickoff event on Monday ahead of the start of the 2026-27 campaign.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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