page_title: Japanese language education in the United States
section_title: Post-World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Japanese language education in the United States / History / Post-World War II
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 聖学院アトランタ国際学校 English: Seigakuin Atlanta International School
context_page_description: Japanese language education in the United States began in the late 19th century, aimed mainly at Japanese American children and conducted by parents and community institutions. Over the course of the next century, it would slowly expand to include non-Japanese as well as native speakers. A 2012 survey of foreign-language learners by the Japan Foundation found 4,270 teachers teaching the Japanese language to 155,939 students at 1,449 different institutions, an increase of 10.4% in the number of students since the 2009 survey. The quality and focus of dialogues in Japanese textbooks meant for English-speakers has changed since the 1970s.
context_section_description: The first program aimed at training secondary school Japanese language teachers was established at the University of Hawaii under the provisions of the National Defense Act of 1958; it initially admitted 20 students. Enrollment in Japanese language courses in US high schools had the fastest growth rate out of all languages during the 1980s, the time of the Japanese asset bubble. During the 1990s, The College Board, a United States standardized testing agency, began to offer an SAT Subject Test in Japanese and conducted the first sitting of the Japanese Advanced Placement exam in May 2007; these examinations enable high school students to obtain college credit for their prior study of the Japanese language. However, unlike Chinese, which continued to grow in the early 2000s, the popularity of Japanese declined sharply, with thousands of students dropping the language. According to a survey by the Center for Applied Linguistics, the teaching of Japanese declined at both the primary and secondary levels between 2006 and 2009.
  Japanese-language education aimed at native speakers began later, as the rise of the economy of Japan resulted in increasing numbers of companies sending employees and their families to the United States for short-term assignments. As of 2010, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology officially recognized four Japanese nihonjin gakkō day schools in the United States, in Guam, the Chicago metropolitan area, and the New York City metropolitan area. Several other day/boarding schools are classified as Shiritsu zaigai kyōiku shisetsu (私立在外教育施設) or overseas branches of Japanese private schools; as of 2010 there were three such schools in the U.S. In addition, as of 2010 there were 79 weekend/supplementary schools; in 2006 29 of them were supplied with at least one teacher by the Japanese government.
caption: Seigakuin Atlanta International School, a Shiritsu zaigai kyōiku shisetsu Japanese international school in Peachtree Corners, Georgia in Greater Atlanta
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