The research aimed to study factors in choosing a minor in Japanese of English major students, college of education, university of Phayao, in academic year 2015. The simple group of this survey research 80 students enrolled in Japanese minor. The instrument was a questionnaire. This consisted to analyzed findings were using a percentage, mean and standard deviation.
The results of the study indicated three significant factors including life planning, family factors, and the students’ personal interests in Japan. The key factor affecting students choices was their life planning due to their preference to plan for their future careers related to Japanese language and their need for self-improvement in regards to foreign languages.