Japan is one of the highly industrialized countries of the Asia Pacific region with a long
tradition of investment in research and development. Over the past decade, there have been
many policy changes in Japanese higher education, including those that promote distinctive
universities in a competitive environment, the promotion of science and research, and the
incorporation of national universities, which began in 2004 (Arimoto, 2006). Knowledge of
English is essential to enter higher education. In Japan as every university, whether national,