Paper short abstract:

Central Asia countries are "isolated Japanese language learning environments" with little economic personnel exchanges with Japan. But the number of educational institutions and learners have expanded in these countries. It is said that Japanese education in Central Asia is in a time of change.

Paper long abstract:

Central Asia countries are "isolated Japanese language learning environments" with little economic personnel exchanges with Japan. There are also only a few Japanese language institutions therefore this can make it difficult to study Japanese even if you are interested in Japanese. However, in 2015 and 2016, there were many major changes in Japanese language education:

Turkmenistan; Japanese education for secondary education was started.

Tajikistan; Japanese Teachers Association was established.

Uzbekistan; Teachers Association joined JF Sakura-Network.

Kyrgyzstan; Teachers Association launched the Bulletin.

Kazakhstan; Teachers Association launched the Newsletter.

The number of educational institutions and learners have expanded in these countries. It is said that Japanese education in Central Asia is in a time of change.

On the other hand, due to policy changes such as the elimination of Japanese language education in secondary education by the government (Kazakhstan), restrictions imposed by Japanese degree of employment (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc.), and requirements of a Ph.D. in order to higher education faculty teachers (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan), Japanese education is becoming limited and harder to acquire within these countries. It has caused serious problem that have even forced some teachers to resign. In Turkmenistan, due to lack of teachers, university students who are majoring in Japanese are required to teach in secondary education institutions after their graduation. Teachers who take a leading role are scarce and are becoming uncommon in Central Asia.

In recent years, the internet environment has improved, and youth who are interested in Japanese, through the pop-culture, has also increased throughout the years. In order to raise interest in Japanese language and culture, outreach projects need to be expanded. Also, Japanese language educational institutions are concentrated in metropolitan areas, this has made it difficult for local residents to gain learning opportunities. Although it is expected that Japanese language education by ICT is effective for self-learning, but local languages are required rather than English as a mediator of ICT usage.

In conclusion, it is urgent to expand secondary education, teacher training, self-learning support, and the cooperation between the five Central Asian countries and the CIS region will be more important in the future.