木村：日本に来る留学生はうなぎのばりだそうですね。
佐々木：それが、'93年ごろからはあまり増えていないんですよ。
Unagi- nobori
Kimura: Nihon ni kuru ryuugakusei-suu wa unagi-nobori da soo desu ne.
Sasaki: Sore ga, kyuu-juu-san-nen goro kara wa amari fuete inai n'desu
yo.
Kimura: I hear the number of foreign students coming to Japan is increasing dramatically.
Sasaki: Actually, it really hasn't increased much since 1993.
Unagi-nobori is often used to describe things such as dramatic or rapid upward changes in numbers, prices, and social status.
Looking at a list of foreign students in Japan, I see that 1983 there were 5,800 and that now there are about 54,000.
Unagi nobori nifuete iru no ga yoku wakaru (It's clear that the number has increased dramatically.) This shows the extent to which the number of foreign students coming to Japan has shot up in the last 10 years. This trend has occurred despite any negative influence the high yen might have had.
The Department of Education's budget for foreign student programs in 1983 was just over \8 billion; in 1995 it is almost \50 billion. Ryuugakusei-kankei no yosan mo unagi-nobori ni fuete iru no da (The budget for foreign student programs is growing by leaps and bounds, too).
As many foreign students come to Japan while they are still young, the experience of living in a new and different culture must have an indelible effect on their adult personality, and as a result, Nihonjin no kangaekata wo rikai shita hitotachi ga, unagi-nobori ni fuete iku yoo ni omou (I think the number of people that understand the Japanese mentality is dramatically increasing).
I decided to see how other industrialized nations compare in accepting foreign students. Looking at the number of foreign students listed in university and higher education periodicals, England has the highest population of foreign students with 10%, France and Germany have 7%, and the United States has 5.5%. Japan has a mere 1.5%.
Admittedly, there are several disadvantages to living in Japan: the language is difficult, the lifestyle is quite unfamiliar, and the cost of living is too high. Yet, in many Asian countries, Nihon ni kitai wakamono ga, unagi-nobori nifuete iru (The number of young people who want to come to Japan is growing at a rapid rate).
If Japan is going to fulfill its role as a leading industrialized nation, it
will have to accept more foreign students.