TOKYO (Kyodo) — The number of foreign exchange students in Japan as of May 2025 hit a record high of 408,069, ahead of a government goal to reach the level by 2033 and outpacing their Japanese counterparts, data from the Japan Student Services Organization showed Friday.
The number of Japanese students studying abroad in fiscal 2024, meanwhile, grew 2.1 percent from the previous year to 91,054, around 80 percent of its 2018 peak of 115,146, amid a depreciating yen and inflationary pressures abroad.
The COVID-19 pandemic initially led to a plunge in exchange students to Japan, slipping from some 310,000 in 2019 to about 230,000 in 2022. But the number of foreign students has surged in the past three years.
By country and region, Chinese students made up around 30 percent of the total at 131,097, followed by 100,239 Nepalese and 43,366 Vietnamese students. Those from south and west Asian countries such as Sri Lanka have also notably risen, according to the data.
A total 156,593 students were enrolled in university, graduate school or junior college, 140,174 were in Japanese language schools, while 106,829 were in vocational schools.
The Japanese government set targets in 2023 to increase the number of Japanese students abroad to 500,000 and foreign exchange students to the country to 400,000.
