One day in mid-May, Benjamin Peters, vice president of a university in Miyazaki Prefecture, asked some students in English to explain the differences in thought between Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes.
The seven students, who had read English books on the philosophers to prepare for their political science class at Miyazaki International College's School of International Liberal Arts, answered him in the same language.
"I study three hours to prepare for a class," one of the students said. Her friends at other universities are surprised when she tells them how much time she spends studying.