In the winter of Japan...
Though in a temple open to the world...
(President Mr. Barack Obama visited this temple last autumn to show respect for the spirit embodied by this great statute of the Buddha built in the 13th century though the samurai's reign of Japan had started just half a century before.)
CHAPTER II: Japanese Students in America
Though some states have not provided concrete information about Japanese students learning in universities or colleges therein, the following numbers are confirmed, according to a service company for Japanese students.
(http://www.hyib.jp/study_usa/data/survey-study2.htm)
No...State...Total Foreign Students...(Japanese)
1 California 93,124..... (6,844)
2 New York 74,934..... (2,576)
3 Texas 58,188
4 Massachusetts 33,838
5 Florida 30,386
6 Illinois 29,887
7 Pennsylvania 27,529
8 Michigan 23,617
9 Ohio 20,725
10 Indiana 17,098
11 Washington 15,943..... (1,901)
12 New Jersey 14,785
13 Virginia 14,606
14 Maryland 14,232
15 Georgia 14,026
16 North Carolina 12,220
17 Missouri 11,285
18 Minnesota 10,848
19 Arizona 10,787
20 Connecticut 9,153
21 Iowa 9,016
22 Kansas 8,668
23 Wisconsin 8,647..... (258)
24 DC 8,485
25 Oklahoma 8,460..... (534)
26 Colorado 6,857
27 Alabama 6,814..... (487)
28 Oregon 6,648..... (897)
29 Utah 6,301
30 Louisiana 6,213
31 Tennessee 5,690
32 Hawaii 5,275..... (1,036)
33 Kentucky 4,760
34 Nebraska 4,335..... (376)
35 Rhode Island 4,114
36 South Carolina 3,966
37 Arkansas 3,349..... (238)
38 West Virginia 2,732..... (81)
39 Nevada 3,006..... (506)
40 New Mexico 2,622
41 North Dakota 2,607..... (98)
42 Mississippi 2,589..... (82)
43 New Hampshire 2,371
44 Idaho 2,147
45 Delaware 1,672
46 Maine 1,256
47 Montana 1,227..... (120)
48 Vermont 1,022..... (72)
49 South Dakota..... (931)
50 Wyoming 890..... (49)
51 Alaska 596..... (12)
（Open Doors 2009）
The trend of the numbers of students from China (red), India (green), Korea (brown), and Japan (blue) are as follows (unit: 1000):
(http://jp.fujitsu.com/group/fri/report/china-research/topics/2010/no-141.html)As Taiwan has now more students in the U.S., Japan is ranked actually No.5.
For the school years of 2009 and 2010, the total number of foreign students leaning in the U.S. is 690,923, up 2.9% from the previous school years.
Among them, Chinese students account for about 18.5%, and Japanese about 3.6%. So, more and more Chinese youths come to the U.S. for leaning while less and less Japanese youths come.
It should be noted that elite families in China love to send their children to American, Canadian, and Australian colleges and universities. Especially, top leaders of the Chinese Government and the Chinese Communist Party send their sons and daughters to notable U.S. universities.
Accordingly, some Japanese scholars, professors, and journalists are anxious about the future of Japan. Japanese students look like too much turning in upon domestic environments. They have to go and learn in the U.S. to get equipped with international competence and sense needed in this era of globalization.
It is also true that the Japanese population exhibits a clear declining trend. This year 1.27 million youths become 20 years old so as to get a voting right in Japan. But, 40 years ago, the number of new 20 years old was as twice as today's.
However, to tell the truth, in these 40 years, the Japanese society has virtually set its target at becoming another Switzerland rather than another America. Especially, even in the era of the Cold War, nobody in Japan thought that Japan should be also equipped with nuclear weapons to a sub-America. But, some Japanese thought that peace, prosperity, and high quality of culture should be pursued by following the example of the permanent neutral state Switzerland.
And, as 20 years ago the Soviet Union fell, the Japanese people came to think that the world was finally going to be settled as a simple stage for peaceful economic competition without a threat of another world war or any large-scale guerrilla wars. But, it has turned out that Russians are still aggressive and uncooperative; Chinese is all the more aggressive and threatening; and anti-American Muslims are surviving and intensifying their terror.
The underlying trend in Japan is still peace-oriented. Children and youths have not been taught to be aggressive and successful in learning in the U.S. Though the Japanese media report so much how rich and active Americans and foreigners are going to be after graduating from first-rate higher education institutes in America, most of Japanese students do not find much merit in going and learning in the U.S. It is probably because that Japan has been globally No.2 free economy in these 40 years. So, Japanese seniors and leaders in the society do not blame youths only for their reluctance to go and study in the U.S. In addition, with improvement of communications technologies, Japanese students learning in Japan can get information and data they need from America so quickly. When they travel to America for sight-seeing or leisure, they can also drop in some American universities to check something necessary, say, to write an article. They do not have to speak English in Japanese universities, anyway.
It reflects some Japanese unique disposition. The land and nature of Japan is so limited. Japan has no vast overseas territories. Yet, 2000-year and much longer tradition of culture is live in Japan. And, the religion and spiritualism of the Japanese people (a Buddhist, Shintoist, and Confucianist at the same time) have no alternative in the world. Therefore, while the population is on a decreasing trend, the Japanese people are reluctant to accept a large-scale foreigners. In fact, Chinese account for by far the largest share among foreign criminals visiting Japan, while Chinese will be a majority of immigrants if Japan should open the door wider to foreigners. In summary, not only Japanese youths but also the Japanese society as a whole do not want to willingly take a major part to promote globalization at a personal level. And, so far, the relatively large-scale of the highly-cultivated domestic market allows for this negative attitudes of Japan, which is reflected in the reducing number of Japanese students learning in America, though still 25,000 Japanese college students are learning in America.
Nonetheless, Japan should accept foreign students, as there are some youths in the world who could find peace and truth only in Japan due to their spiritual quality.
And, in return, some Japanese youths who were created to contribute to peace and truth in America had better take some time in America.
After WWII, many Japanese visited the U.S. for the first time in their life to see Manhattan, yacht harbors in Miami, vast agricultural fields along the Mississippi, and huge surface coal mines in some remote states. They were overwhelmed so as to repent of having followed generals of the Imperial Army and Navy only to face the devastating defeat in the Japanese-American War in early 1940's.
What I want to say is that Christ Jesus said that those who believe without seeing are blessed. The No.1 Japanese student is always in Japan. The No.1 Japanese hero is never on the street of Manhattan or any other mighty place of America. They can be rather found around a humble temple or a shrine on a humble street in Japan while believing that Japan is No.1 in a field they are engaged in.
*** *** *** ***
I saw one dangerous woman sitting in a train, still young but tired.
I saw two women sitting at a counter, one in some complicated emotional depth and another with a more service-oriented mind.
I saw one foolish woman on the train platform with a more foolish guy.
And, I saw one smart Japanese elementary-school girl, finally, changing trains.
Probably, the reason for the God's anger I have felt must be related to or symbolized by this observation of today.
There is a proverb in Japan: "Iza Kamakura" meaning that you have to prepared your horse always lest you should be late for emergency mobilization summoned by the samurai shogun in the capital of Kamakura. Just like Rome, there were many roads running through various regions leading to Kamakura, since the city was the military city. The Kamakura shogunate, however, kept power somehow from the late 12th century to 1333.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNP23chNClk
This is not standard or typical performance of Buddhist ritual in Japan in general, though I think it appropriate to present it to the world. This Buddhist school has a longer history than the samurai's reign in Japan.)