Japan's soft power has been boosted immeasurably by its decades-long policy of recruiting foreign graduates to come and teach in the country, according to a study by a British-based researcher.
Sharleen Estampador-Hughson, from the University of Sheffield, argues that the experience of living in the country has a powerful effect on the young teachers who then tend to maintain a positive perception of Japan throughout the rest of their lives.
Her sociological study of 24 former teachers on the government's Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, along with its predecessors between the 1980s and 2010, shows the profound effects the program has on its participants.