With 1369 Japanese companies in India and a massive bullet train project, Japan is trying to build deeper ties with India, which goes beyond business. Japan is now expanding Japanese language training in India. It is targeting the teachers first, through the Japanese Language Teachers Training programme. Its first course titled – "Japanese Language Teachers Training Course A” – will begin on July 23 at the newly established JLTTC( Japanese Language Teacher Tarining Centre) in JNU.
At the Japan-India summit meeting in September 2017, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to train 1000 teachers and launch Japanese language courses at 100 educational institutions in India. A steering committee was established for the co-operation between two countries to implement the decision of the two prime ministers.
The course will be supported by Japan Foundation which is one of the guiding forces behind Japanese language training in India. Successful participants will get a certificate from the ministry of external affairs and Japanese Embassy. Additionally, JNU will also award them a certificate.
"According to the last survey that we did in 2015, there were 24000 people studying Japanese in India. The number must have increased because we have seen a 20 per cent rise in the number of people who take Japanese Language Proficiency Test," said Kaoru Miyamoto, Director General of the Japan Foundation.
While number of Japanese companies investing in India has gone up, these companies have felt the lack of trained Japanese individuals who could have helped them with communication and facilitation. Also as more and more Indians visit Japan, it becomes more important for the country to engage them beyond tourism. Language is one such cultural bonding that Japan is trying to develop by training teachers who can further train students in higher education institutions. The new initiative is also looking at training teachers in technical colleges.