When Wakayama University set up a new masters program in economics last year at its Kishiwada satellite campus, 34-year-old financial planner Kenji Yoshida said he felt like "they created the program just for me."
Yoshida has been working at the Yonemoto Accounting Company in Kishiwada, a suburb of Osaka, for 12 years, and ever since he started there he had hoped to become a licensed tax accountant. The position required a special license, however, and Yoshida had managed to pass just two out of five required subject tests required for that license.
If he completes the two-year masters program, which is aimed specifically at working students and focuses on tax law, he will be exempt from two more of the subject tests. The classes are held in the evenings and on weekends a mere five- minute drive from his office — meaning he can work full time while studying.