In a battle with China for influence and opportunity in Southeast Asia, Japan is making inroads on a new front: education.
Japan is aggressively recruiting students from the region in hopes they will enhance economic ties with their home countries in the future. That's because Southeast Asia is a key investment destination for the country — and an important source of talent.
Vietnamese especially are taking up the offers. The number of Vietnamese studying in Japan, including language schools, increased more than 12-fold in the six years to May 2016, reaching about 54,000, according to the Japan Student Services Organization. They now account for nearly a quarter of international students in Japan, behind only Chinese students, who make up 41 percent but whose numbers have leveled off in recent years.