The Uzbekistan-Japan Center
YAMASAKI Noriko

The first words were comments on Japan: “Japan is such a good country” and “Japan is the best in technology.”
This was followed by a fusillade of questions, such as “Why did you come to Uzbekistan?”, “Do you live with your family?”, “What kind of work do you do?”, “How is it living in Uzbekistan?”
In this country, I frequently encounter taxi drivers who won’t stop talking once they start. And I met Uzbeks throughout the city who were interested in Japan, not only the taxi drivers.
Recently, there have been TV programs featuring Uzbekistan on TV in Japan, and in 2019, a film co-produced by Japan and Uzbekistan was released called To the Ends of the Earth. There has also been a significant rise in the number of Japanese tourists visiting the country, giving the sense that the two countries have grown closer.

The Uzbekistan-Japan Center (hereinafter “UJC”) where I am dispatched was established in 2001, and until recently, it was the only language center in the country where one could learn the Japanese language. However, that has since changed. Interest in learning the Japanese language has risen in recent years, and numerous schools have been established not only in the capital of Tashkent, but also in regional cities such as Samarkand, Andijan, and Bukhara. Meanwhile, universities that have launched Japanese-language classes include the Nukus State Pedagogical Institute, the Karakalpak State University, and the Bukhara State University. Also, at the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies, which has the longest history of Japanese-language education in Uzbekistan, the classes that were once divided between many different departments such as linguistics, history, politics, economics, international economics, and philosophy, were finally consolidated under Japanese Studies in November 2019, forming the Faculty of Japanese studies. In addition to training Japanese-language teachers, the faculty aims to improve a wide range of expertise on Japan, including Japanese language, literature, politics, economy, and history, and there are also master’s programs available in each area.

Thus, Japanese-language education at the university level has become quite comprehensive and the number of students is rising. Meanwhile, the number of learners hoping to travel to Japan with the status of residence Technical Intern Training or Specified Skilled Worker is rising rapidly as well, a trend that has stood out for the past several years.

Sadly, due to the spread of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the regular courses at the UJC were put on hold from March 2020, my trips to regional cities have been cancelled, and the Japanese speech contest, the largest such event in Uzbekistan, was postponed. The UJC is instead currently preparing to restart our classes online.

New Courses at UJC

Following the “Marugoto: Japanese Language and Culture” (hereinafter “Marugoto”) Module 1 short course for children launched in the summer of 2018, the Module 2 course was held in the summer of 2019 with eight sessions of 80 minutes each. As with Module 1, we took the “Marugoto Starter A1 Katsudo” textbook for adults and arranged a version for children.
We carried out the final presentations and completion ceremonies for modules 1 and 2 together, which was quite stimulating for both groups of children. The children completing Module 1 were able to realize that if they took Module 2 the following year, they would be able to speak as well as the children completing Module 2, while the latter were able to see a concrete demonstration in how much they had grown from the presentations of the Module 1 students. And I am glad to report that four students have begun commuting to the youth class (normal course) that started in September.

Meanwhile, we were able to launch our “Marugoto Pre-Intermediate” and “Marugoto Intermediate” classes for the normal course as well. Unusually for the UJC course, almost all the students of these classes are working adults, but not only is their desire to learn the Japanese language strong, they are also extremely interested in Japanese culture. We offer a unique course at the UJC where in addition to teaching basics such as grammar and Kanji, we also incorporate visitor sessions with Japanese speakers, poster design workshops (for display in the UJC library), and cultural experiences.

A classroom at the UJC

The Requirements of the Japanese-Language Specialist

I myself do not often teach classes, and this is often a surprise to some. It is true that many students wish to learn from a native Japanese teacher despite that they are few in number, but the job of the Japanese-Language Specialist is not simply to teach the Japanese language. At the UJC, I manage the overall course, including working on course design with the full-time lecturers, score the regular tests, observe classes, and answer any questions about the classes. I also handle venue management and other procedures for the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). Meanwhile, I also occasionally visit Japanese-language educational institutions to speak with the people there. In other words, I am a jack-of-all-trades with respect to Japanese-language education. However, I do not take on any and all tasks. Instead, I make it a point of not doing tasks that the local teachers can handle themselves.
With the rise in both Japanese-language educational institutions and learners in Uzbekistan in the past several years, the reasons for studying have diversified to include studying in Japan, business, and Japanese culture. To meet these needs, supporting the institutions to provide learners with a good learning environment, and training the teachers who will be able to teach there, are urgent tasks for the Japanese-Language Specialist.

The reception desk at the UJC Library