Search - japanese-language-tests

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 16, 2013

TEAP stresses pragmatic approach

As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party forges ahead with its strategy of nurturing "internationally minded" talent to aid economic growth, the prospect that students' scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) will be used as criteria for entering university looms increasingly...
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 30, 2022

North Korea ups ante with most powerful missile test since 2017

Sunday's launch, which experts said was likely an intermediate-range weapon, could effectively bring an end to leader Kim Jong Un's self-imposed moratorium of longer-range missile tests.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Nov 12, 2018

Let's discuss the system of English testing for university

Students are gearing up for some changes when it comes to studying English for university entrance exams.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 19, 2014

China, South Korea face familiar woes in English quest

Japan isn't alone in its struggles with teaching English. China and South Korea have experienced similar frustrations, but their responses and results have been quite different.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 15, 2011

HIV/AIDS awareness often too late

More than two decades after the first case of AIDS in a Japanese patient was officially reported by the health ministry's National AIDS Surveillance Committee in 1985, HIV/AIDS seems to have become a disease of the past. With much less media coverage, people have become complacent about the issue, experts...
COMMENTARY
Dec 24, 2000

English-education reform gets watered down

Imagine the fuss if Japan's car industry was producing a million defective cars a year. But for some reason no one bothers much if Japan's English-education industry produces roughly that number of defective English speakers each year.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Sep 7, 2010

Don't blame JET for Japan's poor English

The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme, touted as the world's largest cultural exchange scheme, has brought thousands of non-Japanese into the country to teach at local boards of education. These days, with many government programs being told to justify their existence, a debate is raging over whether...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 11, 2019

Why Japan's English education is a fiasco

The first step toward improving Japanese student's English-speaking ability is to ensure their English teachers can speak the language.
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Mar 29, 2002

Seize the reins and blaze your own kanji-learning trail

Dear Dario Simunovic,
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 16, 2010

The final word on JET, for now

Arudou misses the mark Debito Arudou's recent article on the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Programme (Just Be Cause, Sept. 7) and many of the responses which followed (Have Your Say, Oct. 12):
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jul 1, 2015

Public schooling is a two-way street

Earlier this year, a reader wrote to The Japan Times in response to an education feature on schooling options for the children of non-Japanese parents. The reader wanted to know more, but the earlier feature was unfortunately curtailed by space.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 21, 2020

Loss, stigma, guilt: Life after recovering from COVID-19 in Japan

The experiences of those infected in Japan subverts the hopeful assumption that normal life will resume simply because one has recovered.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WEEK 3
Aug 21, 2011

Social recluse transforms himself into 'English Monster'

In Japan, studying English is, and has long been, a perpetual mission for many people, and there is no shortage of books, DVDs and schools touting newer, better, quicker and easier ways to master the global language.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 31, 2022

North Korea says missile tested Sunday was Hwasong-12 intermediate-range weapon

In an unusual sign for significant weapons tests, leader Kim Jong Un did not appear to have attended the latest launch — a move analysts said may be designed to normalize the tests.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 2, 2013

The LDP constitution, article by article: a preview of things to come?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing for constitutional change. Yet he is playing the political huckster by proposing to first only fiddle with the amendment procedure in Article 96, lowering the threshold for the process to move forward from the approval of two-thirds of both houses of the Diet, as...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 6, 2004

Freedom of speech

Consider this: You are a student in a Japanese J.H.S. Your native language may or may not be Japanese, but you are learning English as a second language like everyone else.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2013

To communicate in English, TOEFL is vital: LDP panel

English-language education at public schools should shift in emphasis to verbal communications skills, and for that purpose, universities must adopt the Test of English as a Foreign Language for entrance exams, the head of the Liberal Democratic Party's education reform panel said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 1, 2004

'No sex please, you're teachers'

"I feel offended that anyone would tell me who I can or can't hang out with," says Brendan (not his real name), one of 6,000 foreign language instructors employed by Nova Corp. in Japan.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 2, 2020

North Korean missiles again flying over Japan 'only a matter of time,' experts say

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's declaration that his country is no longer bound by its self-imposed nuclear and missile moratorium drastically raises the chances of longer-range weapons overflying Japan once again, experts say.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Nov 6, 2017

Let's discuss entrance exam reforms

Upcoming changes to Japanese university admissions have students, parents and teachers raising their hands to ask questions.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2016

Japan looks to reform rigid tour guide exams as part of wider tourism push

As Japan begins to adapt to the unprecedented influx of foreign visitors, the tightly regulated tour guide industry prepares for major reform.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Nov 23, 2014

Teaching quality, not lesson quantity, may be key to Japan's top math marks

Japan spends less on education than most OECD countries, so why do its students continue to outperform their Western counterparts in math?
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 5, 2014

English fluency hopes rest on an education overhaul

Ringing in 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a dream: One nation that will actively re-engage with the global marketplace.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 12, 2007

How do chimps top us in a brain test?

"We are 98.77 percent chimpanzee," Tetsuro Matsuzawa told me last week. "We are their evolutionary neighbors."
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 14, 2022

Ukraine crisis won't take Washington's eyes off North Korea, top U.S. diplomat says

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has hinted that Pyongyang could continue to test weapons, including a possible long-range missile, amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Jul 23, 2021

Volunteer superfan brings message of gratitude to Olympics in Miyagi

Clad in his homemade samurai armor and topknot, Hirokazu Tsunoda has used sporting events over the last decade to thank the world for its support after the March 11 disaster.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 12, 2017

Xi, Trump talk on phone in bid to tamp down surging tensions over North Korean nukes

As a U.S. Navy "armada" steamed toward the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump over the phone, reiterating the need for a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear standoff.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses a meeting on AI strategy held at the Prime Minister's Office in December. Japan is beginning to draw global attention for its potential as an AI market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 12, 2024

Google alums go big in Japan with months-old startup Sakana AI

Sakana is setting out to train low-cost generative AI models using small datasets, unveiling three AI models for Japanese speakers last month.
If you have a specific birth plan in mind, like giving birth at home, it's important to make sure the clinic you use offers that option.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 14, 2023

Giving birth in Japan? Here’s what you need to know.

Giving birth can be overwhelming — even more so if you don’t understand the local language or know the steps you need to take.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean leader Yoon Suk-yeol attend a photo op on the day of trilateral engagement during the Group of Seven summit at the Grand Prince Hotel in Hiroshima on May 21.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 16, 2023

Biden, Kishida and Yoon look to ‘institutionalize’ trilateral ties

The leaders will agree to hold three-way summits at least once a year, in addition to conducting more joint drills and boosting intelligence-sharing.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?