It's probably the result of memories from their long-ago youth, but a lot of older Japanese people tend to have the stereotypical image that dwellings for college students are usually cramped and shabby. Yet take a look at a nine-story building standing in the Hakusan district in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward. Walking through a locked automated entrance, the first thing that jumps out is the first floor looks like a cafe-style coworking space -- except that it's a public area for students. The second to eighth floors are dedicated to living space for students, offering tidy bedrooms, shared kitchens stocked with cooking ware and appliances, as well as common areas with video games and a rooftop balcony. What may be more unorthodox is that many of its residents are non-Japanese and the 364-bed facility, which opened in 2018, is not managed by a school but by a foreign business operator that only recently made a foray into Japan.

With the coronavirus pandemic choking social interaction and global travel, many of the nation's approximately 800 Japanese-language schools are struggling because new students have not been able to enter Japan. Since private schools basically rely on tuition fees, they are facing an existential crisis, people familiar with the matter say. Enrollment at Japanese-language schools halved to around 50,000 from about 100,000 in March due to graduation and other reasons, including coronavirus restrictions, they said. Japan has banned the entry of people from 100 countries and regions as part of efforts to curb the pandemic. According to the Justice Ministry, students can enroll in a Japanese school for up to two years.

About 3.85 million people studied Japanese at a record 18,604 institutions overseas in fiscal 2018, with the number of institutions soaring in Asia, according to a survey released this week. The number of Japanese language institutions jumped nearly fourfold to 818 in Vietnam from the previous survey in fiscal 2015 and nearly tripled to 400 in Myanmar, said the survey by the Japan Foundation, a government-backed organization conducting international cultural exchange programs. The number of Japanese learners overseas rose 5.2 percent to 3,846,773, led by a 169.0 percent surge to 174,461 in Vietnam, it said. The survey found a record high 142 countries and territories offering Japanese language education, five more than the fiscal 2015 level. The five include East Timor, Zimbabwe and Montenegro.

MIYAZAKI – Labor authorities referred to prosecutors on Thursday the operator of a Japanese language school in Miyazaki Prefecture, suspecting it forced its Indonesian students to work at care facilities owned by the same corporation. Additionally, documents related to Yutaka Shimizu, 70, the head of the group that runs Houei International Japanese Language Academy, and four others were sent to prosecutors for their roles in allegedly forcing six Indonesians into effectively unpaid work between December 2015 and June 2016. The students were allegedly forced to use their wages to pay for tuition fees, according to a local labor standards inspection office. Authorities deemed the Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture-based school's educational program and labor requirements as inseparable. The school teaches Japanese to students from across Asia who are interested in the medical and welfare fields.

The child of a refugee from Vietnam is striving to realize her dream of building a Japanese language school in the Southeast Asian country. "My dream is to do something that would serve as a bridge between Japan and Vietnam," said Doan Thy Trang, 27. To achieve that goal, she founded a consulting firm in Akashi, a city in Hyogo Prefecture facing the Seto Inland Sea, in January 2015. Trang explained that many business trainees from Vietnam she meets through her work have little difficulty communicating with Japanese in daily conversations but struggle with technical terms. "Vietnamese need a school that teaches them Japanese language used in workplaces," she said.

The government will introduce new rules on running Japanese language schools to eliminate poorly managed ones and keep the educational quality at an adequate level, sources said Wednesday. The Justice Ministry will revise the relevant ordinance soon, more clearly stating disqualifying conditions and making its screening more stringent, the sources said. There were 549 approved Japanese language schools in fiscal 2015, which ended in March. Due to Japan's declining population, the government aims to promote the establishment of Japanese language schools to attract more highly skilled foreign workers, but inappropriate operations at some schools have surfaced recently. A man running a Japanese language school in Fukuoka Prefecture was convicted in May of finding part-time jobs for students who worked more hours than allowed by law so they could earn money for school fees.