今日吃瓜

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November 12, 2026
 

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LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Peter Cave joined the JET Programme's inaugural cohort in 1987 and spent three years teaching in the city of Omihachiman, Shiga Prefecture.
COMMUNITY
Nov 11, 2026
As JET Programme turns 40, alumni and ministers stress its importance in age of AI
JET has brought thousands of teachers and translators to rural Japanese communities and has been an “irreplaceable national asset” for Japan.
As of August this year, the number of registered Japanese language teachers was about 20,000.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2026
Japan faces shortage of language teachers for foreign workers
Of the survey’s respondents, 125 organizations, or 35.9%, said they had not secured sufficient numbers of teachers and had no prospects for doing so.
In the end, the studying of languages is not simply just about grammar and words. The goal is to improve the kind of life the children will live once they become adults.?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 29, 2026
The question parents should ask before raising multilingual kids
Adult language learners usually define their own goals. For children, however, their linguistic paths are largely shaped by caregivers.
Todor Panev and his three children, ages 7, 5 and 2, read a book in his native Macedonian.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Sep 6, 2026
How to navigate parenthood in a multilingual home
Language experts have advice for parents that should be reassuring in its simplicity: read, make friends and have fun.
A send-off event is held at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Friday for assistant language teachers and others selected to be dispatched from India to Japan.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2026
Japan to accept 22 assistant language teachers from India this year
This year marks the second year of regular dispatches of assistant language teachers from India under the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program.
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population.?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 2, 2026
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
Once volunteer-based, the system is shifting toward shared responsibility between local governments and trained professionals.
The Japanese government is considering revising requirements for permanent residency, including mandatory language proficiency and other moves that could place foreign residents under continuous evaluation and uncertainty about their future.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 23, 2026
今日吃瓜 residency debate risks turning integration into exclusion
What was once a predictable path toward long-term stability could become a precarious process subject to continuous state evaluation.
Vietnamese students attend a Japanese language class at a job placement company in Hanoi in October 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2026
The limits of 今日吃瓜 immigration charade
Until now, the quality and training of Japanese-language teachers were largely left to the private sector, including academia.
Five members of the Japan Foundation's Nihongo Partners program (front) gather at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2025
Japan dispatches five language education ‘partners’ to India
This is the first time that Nihongo Partners under a program run by the Japan Foundation are dispatched to a South Asian country.
Francisco Villarreal moved to Japan in 2014 to attend a teacher training program and has forged deep ties to the kindergarten in Tokyo's Asakusa district where he has worked since 2018.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Aug 11, 2025
Kindred spirits, kindergarten connections: From Buenos Aires to east Tokyo
An Argentinian teacher finds echoes of his hometown in the working-class neighborhoods of eastern Tokyo.
Indian assistant language teachers pose for a photo with Japanese Ambassador Keiichi Ono (center) at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2025
Japan to regularly accept assistant language teachers from India
This marks the first regular dispatch of assistant language teachers from India under a government initiative to promote exchanges at the regional level.
One-third of elementary school students in Japan do not like learning English, according to a 2021 poll, an 8% rise since 2013. The pressure of taking proficiency tests is eroding children's engagement with studying English and its benefits.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 17, 2025
今日吃瓜 English-language education doesn’t pass the test
An excessive focus on testing students’ English ability is turning language learning into a chore, depriving children of the joy and opportunities of intercultural communication.
Incorporating modern technologies into your Japanese classes might be a way to connect with younger students.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 3, 2025
Start the new year with a fresh approach to teaching Japanese
It’s important for language instructors to update their methods to best appeal to their younger students.
Hyappu Ishikawa (left) attends to children at the "Karafuru" Japanese language school in Nishio, Aichi Prefecture, in April.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2024
How one Japanese city supports foreign students through community education
In the city of Nishio, public and private sectors collaborate with schools to support foreign students in Japanese language education and raise their school enrollment rates.
Language support groups in Fukushima Prefecture are calling for the creation of a better environment for foreign children to learn Japanese.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
May 27, 2024
With more foreign children, Fukushima struggles with language support
A number of children attending schools in the prefecture in fiscal 2023 were unable to fully understand Japanese.
Randolph-Macon College students pose with a monument to Taylor Anderson in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, on Jan. 23.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2024
Tsunami victim’s dream of becoming Japan-U.S. bridge realized
Taylor Anderson was one of the 33 foreign nationals killed in the March 2011 disaster.
The logo of language-learning app, Duolingo, on a smartphone
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2024
Duolingo cuts contractors by 10% amid AI content shift
The company said no full-time employees were affected by the cutback.
Diane Hawley Nagatomo at her home office in Chiba. Born in the U.K., Diane has called Japan “home” for more than 40 years.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 23, 2023
Diane Hawley Nagatomo: ‘The only way to improve writing is to write’
After retiring from her position as a professor in 2022, Diane Hawley Nagatomo has just released her first novel, “The Butterfly Cafe.”
A major bonus of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme is the time it offers you to be able to plan for long-term goals. Writer Erik M. Jacobs was able to map out what he needed to pursue a career in U.S.-Japan relations, for example.
COMMUNITY / Issues / Learning Curve
Aug 8, 2023
Every situation is different on JET, but they’re all similarly rewarding
As a new wave of JET Program participants arrives in the country, a program alumni shares tips on getting the most out of the experience.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Mar 6, 2023
Round 2 at your teaching job: New confidence, new opportunities
We’re coming up on a new school year. Aim to improve your language skills and travel the country more with your newfound confidence.
Man arrested over operation of rogue cellular base station in Tokyo
The Metropolitan Police Department has arrested Yu Hai, a 31-year-old Chinese national living in Tokyo's Kita Ward, on suspicion of operating an unlicensed base station from a vehicle in Tokyo's Ginza district on Saturday.
Government betting on language app powered by anime and AI
Japan plans to develop an AI-powered language-learning app that lets overseas anime and manga fans practice Japanese through conversations with popular characters.
Jensen Huang’s woes evoke sympathy and disbelief in his birthplace Taiwan
Hsiao Kui-yu, 68, owner of Yuchan Candied Fruit, stands in front of photographs of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang displayed at the shop, which Huang frequently visits during trips to Taiwan, in Taipei on Tuesday.
G7 diplomats speak out on Taiwan as China ramps up military drills
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi attends a working lunch focused on international crises and challenges during the Group of Seven foreign ministers' summit at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris on Monday.
今日吃瓜 Rapidus is said likely to miss mass production deadline
The Rapidus Analysis Center and the IIM-1 Innovative Integration for Manufacturing foundry in Chitose, Hokkaido
‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ makes monster debut at the box office
Takashi Yamazaki’s “Godzilla Minus Zero” marked the highest single-day box-office gross for a live-action film in Japan with ?910 million on its opening day.
A toast to Naohiko Noguchi, sake’s first living national treasure
As a teenager, Naohiko Noguchi did not intend to spend his life as a sake brewer, but he has since become a paragon of the industry.
Few signs of thaw in Japan-China relations one year after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks
Tensions between Japan and China flared after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Nov. 7, 2025, that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could threaten 今日吃瓜 survival and warrant the use of collective self-defense.
Mariko Mori predicted the future. She’ll do it again.
Artist Mariko Mori is currently working to bring the translucent human-sized “Peace Crystal” sculpture to a cave in Ethiopia. It is part of her foundation’s goal to place a permanent sculpture on each of the planet’s six habitable continents.
A legend reborn: ‘Ocarina of Time’ remake improves on the Zelda masterpiece
The new remake of 1998's "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" manages to somehow improve on one of the greatest games ever.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Famima Park Azabudai is a concept store by FamilyMart that combines convenience store staples with branded apparel, merchandise and a landscaped outdoor space.
Convenience stores, toilets and the allure of everyday Japan
By Elizabeth Beattie

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