The high percentage of Vietnamese rejected by Japanese agencies to grant visas to study at Japanese schools has raised pessimism among Vietnamese students who dream of going to Japan.

Sources said the number of Vietnamese students going to Japan soared in the last five years as Japanese language schools now try to enroll more students by loosening requirements.

Many Vietnamese students want to study in Japan even though they have not finished high school in Vietnam, because Japanese language schools and overseas Vietnamese  study firms promise good job opportunities in Japan.

The Japanese government is tightening management over admission to language schools, but this doesn’t mean the country will reject all Vietnamese students.

This is why the Japanese immigration management agency decided to tighten control.  The headmaster of a Japanese language school reportedly fainted in front of the agency’s office because 100 percent of students enrolling in the school were refused.

Meanwhile, other language schools in Japan have up to 70-80 percent of students rejected.

Some Vietnamese high school students have expressed worry about what they call the ‘Japanese new policy’ on failing students who want to go to Japan. 

A student in Hanoi said that the new policy is contrary to the Japanese government’s plan to attract foreign workers to Japan. 

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s overseas study consultancy firms have set up new higher consultancy fees.

However, the representatives of several prestigious language schools in Tokyo, whom reporters contacted, have questioned the figures. 

Tanaka Takahashi, the representative of a language school near Shinjuku station in the central area of Tokyo, said the number of students successfully enrolling in his school this April is even higher than the years before. 

He said that he cannot see any signs from his school and other schools in Tokyo showing that Japanese are refusing Vietnamese students.

Michiko Toyumi from MD language school near Ikebukuro station also said her school has not heard information that the Japanese immigration agency is cutting the number of Vietnamese students.

However, she said it is true that the Japanese government is tightening control over language schools. 

Running language schools in the last three years is expected to bring super profits in the last three years, which explains a sharp increase in the number of language schools established. 

She said that the high percentage of rejected Vietnamese students only occurs at newly set up schools which set lax requirements on students.

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