Foreign Students Are Leaving Japan    [29-04-2011] A mega earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11. More than 13,000 people died and countless people lost their family and homes due to the powerful natural disasters. To make matters worse, nuclear power plants in Fukushima are releasing harmful radioactive debris and highly toxic materials into the air. They are very dangerous because they can cause many health problems. In fear of the harmful nuclear radiation, many foreign students are leaving Japan. On April 21, Tokyo’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported that more than 4,300 foreign students have left Japan since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The newspaper recently surveyed 71 Japanese universities with many foreign student enrollments. It found that many schools had lost the majority of their foreign students. According to the newspaper report, most foreign students who studied in Japanese universities left not only the areas affected by the disasters, but also the Tokyo metro area and western Japan. Moreover, many foreign exchange students are hesitating to come to Japan. In fact, many of them decided not to study in the country. For example, Sofia University in Tokyo expected 149 foreign exchange students this spring. However, more than 80 percent of the students canceled their plans to come to the school. About 10 percent of all students in the university are from other countries. “It seems that students have been told by their parents not to go to Japan, although they want to do so,” said an official at Sofia University. The University of Tokyo also said many foreign students have been absent since the spring term started earlier this month. Universities in the earthquake-struck areas saw the largest declines in foreign student enrollment. For instance, Thhoku University in Sendai had 1,499 foreign students before the powerful earthquake and tsunami struck the area in March. However, more than 1,000 of them have left Japan. Fukushima University lost 120 of its 177 foreign students when the damaged nuclear reactors started releasing radiation into the atmosphere. Universities in Japan are not sure how many foreign students will come back to school. Let’s hope the situation will get better soon so that the students can come back to study!     출처: 어린이 영자신문 키즈타임즈 (www.kidstimes.net)