Japanese


Your knowledge of Japanese, coupled with a degree in a relevant discipline, allows you an exceptional range of career options to choose from on either side of the Pacific Ocean. These include:

  • international law
  • politics
  • journalism, media and communications
  • trade and commerce
  • medicine and bio-medical research
  • fashion and design
  • hospitality and tourism industry
  • education

High tech electronics and the film, video and animation industries offer career opportunities on the cutting edge, as do robotics and fuel cells research, in which both Canada and Japan are world leaders.

The influx of Japanese immigrants, students and tourists into Canada since the crest of Japan’s economic boom in the 1970’s has increased the need for Japanese-speaking employees.

In the 1980’s the demand that Japanese be taught in the school system resulted in the development of what is today a well-established curriculum, with school boards consistently requiring qualified Japanese language teachers.

The popularity of Japanese has not abated in spite of a downturn in the Japanese economy in the 1990’s. The Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, which is the largest Asian Studies Department in North America, has in recent years enrolled close to seven thousand students a year for all Asia-related courses. The fact that nearly two thousand of these students take Japanese courses each year indicates that the prospects for graduates knowledgeable in the language are wide open for those who creatively integrate it into a well-rounded career plan.