- Nihonjin gakkō
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Nihonjin gakkō (日本人学校 Nihonjin gakkō ), also called Japanese School, is a full day school outside of Japan for native speakers of Japanese. It is an expatriate school, designed for children whose parents are working on diplomatic, business, or educational mission overseas and have plans to go back to Japan for good.
The schools offer exactly the same curriculum used in public elementary and middle schools in Japan, so when the students go back to Japan, they will not fall behind in the class. Some schools accept Japanese citizens only, others welcome Japanese speaking students regardless of citizenship.
It is accredited by Japan's Ministry of education and science and receives funding from the Japanese government. Every school has teachers transferred from Japan on a 2 to 3 year assignment. They hire locals as Japanese speaking teachers, English and other language instructors, administrative assistants, gardeners, janitors and security guards. There are 85 schools worldwide as of April 2006,[1] and all of these schools provide English classes in the primary education.
Schools that partially offer the Nihonjin gakko's curriculum after school hours or on weekends are sometimes called Japanese School too, but strictly speaking they are categorized as Hoshu jugyo ko (hoshu ko), a supplementary school.
Contents
History
Some of the nihonjin gakkō in Asia have a long history, originally established as a public school in the Japan-occupied territories in Thailand, Philippines and Taiwan. During the postwar rapid economic growth in 1950s to early 1970s and Japanese asset price bubble in 1980s, the country gained economic power and many Sogo shoshas and major industries sent their employees all over the world. That was when many Nihonjin gakkos were established to educate their children in Asia, Europe, Middle East, North, Central and South America. While Japan was experiencing a major recession called the Lost decade in 1990s, so were nihonjin gakkō. Many of them were closed down due to a dramatic decrease in enrollment.
However, for its rapidly growing economy, China is an exception. Schools in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong have been expanding and new schools had founded in Dalian, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Qingdao, Suzhou since 1990s.
Locations
See the complete list here. Nihonjin Gakkos tend to be in the following three types of areas in the world.
- Area with a big Japanese temporary resident population such as London and New York. Many students are staying only for a few years for their parent's business.
- Area where English is not the official language such as Düsseldorf, São Paulo, Dubai, and Kuala Lumpur. Many parents would send their child to a local school if they live in an English speaking country.
Tendencies
Since the early 1990s more parents have chosen a local school or an international school over a Nihonjin gakko.
- The parents prefer the children to receive education in English.
Nihonjin gakko has only elementary and middle schools (Grade 1 through 9) that are mandatory in Japan. Some offer a kindergarten program as well as a high school program but it is uncommon. The children educated in English environment will be able to continue their education where they live with their parents. Otherwise they need to pass the entrance exam to enroll in a boarding school in Japan or one of the seven(as of October 2006) Japanese boarding schools worldwide.
- The parents take advantage of the situation and let the children be exposed to local culture and make non-Japanese friends
- Many of private and public Japanese schools have become flexible and accepts expatriate students by having a separate requirements for admissions or offering exams in English.
List of Nihonjin Gakkos
As of October 2006[2]
Asia
- Bangladesh
- Japanese School Dhaka
- Guam
- Guam Nihonjin Gakko
- India
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- The Japanese School of Kuala Lumpur
- The Japanese School of Johor
- Kota Kinabalu Japanese School
- Penang Japanese School
- Myanmar
- Yangon Japanese School
- Pakistan
- People's Republic of China
- Philippines
- Manila Japanese School (Taguig City)
- Republic of China (Taiwan)
- Singapore
- The Japanese School in Singapore
- South Korea
- Busan Japanese School
- Japanese School in Seoul
- Sri Lanka
- Japanese School in Colombo
- Thailand
- Thai-Japanese Association School (Bangkok)
- Vietnam
- Japanese School in Ho Chi Minh City
- The Japanese School of Hanoi
North America
- United States
- Chicago Futabakai Japanese School [1] (Chicago, Illinois)
- Japanese School of Guam [2] (Guam)
- The Greenwich Japanese School (a.k.a. New York Japanese School) [3] (Greenwich, Connecticut)
- The New Jersey Japanese School [4] (Oakland, New Jersey)[3]
- Mexico
- Escuela Japonesa de Aguascalientes,A.C.
- Liceo Mexicano Japones, A.C. Seccion Japonesa (in Mexico City)
Central and South America
- Argentina
- The Japanese School of Buenos Aires
- Brazil
- Escola Japonesa de Manaus
- The Japanese School of São Paulo
- Sociedade Civil de Divulgação Cultural e Educacional Japonesa do Rio de Janeiro
- Chile
- Santiago Japanese School
- Colombia
- Association Cultural Japonesa (in Bogotá)
- Costa Rica
- Escuela Japonesa de San José
- Guatemala
- Escuela Japonesa en Guatemala
- Panama
- The Japanese School of Panama
- Paraguay
- Colegio Japones en Asunción
- Peru
- Instituto de enseñanza Japonesa (in Lima)
- Venezuela
- Colegio Japones de Caracas
Europe
- Austria
- Japanische Schule in Wien
- Belgium
- The Japanese School of Brussels
- Czech Republic
- Japonska Skola v Praze
- France
- Institut Culturel Franco-Japonais (in Paris)
- Germany
- Japanische International Schule Frankfurt am Main e.V.
- Japanische Internationale Schule in Düsseldorf e.V.
- Japanische Internationale Schule Munich e.V.
- Japanische Internationale Schule zu Berlin e.V.
- Japanische Schule in Hamburg e.V.
- Greece
- Japanese Community School of Athens
- Hungary
- The Budapest Japanese School
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Japanese School in Warsaw
- Romania
- Scoala Japoneza Bucuresti
- Russia
- Japanese School in Moscow
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Japanische Schule in Zürich
- United Kingdom
- The Japanese School in London
Africa and Middle East
- Bahrain
- The Japanese School in Bahrain
- Egypt
- Cairo Japanese School
- Iran
- Japanese School in Tehran
- Kenya
- The Nairobi Japanese School
- Saudi Arabia
- South Africa
- The Japanese School of Johannesburg
- Turkey
- Istanbul Japanese School
- United Arab Emirates
Oceania
References
- ^ 在外教育施設の概要
- ^ 日本人学校及び補習授業校の児童生徒在籍数等
- ^ "The New Jersey Japanese School." GreatSchools.
Immigration to Japan Americas Asia Bangladeshis · Burmese · Chinese · Filipinos · Indians · Indonesians · Iranians · Koreans · Mongolians · Nepalis · Pakistanis · Taiwanese · VietnameseOthers See also Dekasegi · Ethnic issues in Japan · Gaijin · Japanese nationality law · Foreign-born Japanese · FushūgakuCategories:- Lists of schools
- Japanese expatriates
- Economy of Japan
- Japanese international schools
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