According to the Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO), 91,054 Japanese students studied abroad in fiscal 2024, up 1,875 from the previous year but still around 20% below the record 115,146 students recorded in fiscal 2018.
The figures come as inbound mobility continues to rise. According to JASSO, the number of international students in Japan reached a record 408,069 in fiscal 2025, surpassing 400,000 for the first time in the organisation’s data.
More than 60% of Japanese students studying abroad in fiscal 2024 participated in programs lasting less than one month, with the number of short-term participants rising by 3,257 year-on-year to 60,301.
Destination preferences are shifting. The number of Japanese students studying in Asian countries increased by 2,401 to 36,904, while the number heading to North America fell by 1,775 to 19,363.
The JASSO survey linked the continued gap between current outbound numbers and the 2018 peak partly to the weak yen, which has increased overseas tuition and living costs for Japanese students.
Separate findings from the JAOS Study Abroad Research Institute (JSARI) suggest similar trends beyond university-led mobility programs.
According to the survey, 168,931 Japanese nationals participated in overseas educational travel and study abroad programs through 41 JAOS member organisations in 2025, including 138,421 participants in school trips and study tours and 30,510 students in individual study abroad programs.
Educational travel accounted for 82% of all participants in the survey, highlighting the growing role of short-term and group-based international experiences in Japan’s outbound mobility landscape.
The institute noted that a member agency reported additional study tour programs that had not been included in previous years’ data. Of these, 117,156 students participated through junior high schools, high schools and local government programs, while a further 21,265 participated through universities and vocational colleges.
The weakness of the yen is expected to persist for the foreseeable future, and the reality that studying in the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK is overwhelmingly more expensive than in Asian countries will not change
Tatsuhiko Hoshino, JSARI
The report found that long-term language study of three months or more had fallen to around half of 2019 levels. It attributed the decline in individual study abroad to rising costs linked to the weak yen and global inflation, alongside changing immigration policies in major destination countries including Australia, Canada and the US.
Tatsuhiko Hoshino, the first director of JSARI, described financial constraints as the biggest barrier to studying abroad, noting that the yen had weakened from around 110 JPY to the US dollar five years ago to roughly 160 JPY today.
“Essentially, this means everything has become roughly 45% more expensive,” he told The PIE News.
Australia remained the most popular destination for the second consecutive year, attracting 32,727 students and accounting for 19% of all participants. The report said Australia’s popularity was supported by the availability of Japanese language education, favourable school calendar alignment and perceptions of safety and stability.
Taiwan ranked second overall with 28,618 students, followed by the US, Singapore and the UK. The report also highlighted growing interest in Asian destinations such as Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia.
“The weakness of the yen is expected to persist for the foreseeable future, and the reality that studying in the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK is overwhelmingly more expensive than in Asian countries will not change,” said Hoshino.
For secondary school educational travel, Taiwan was the leading destination ahead of Australia and the US, while Australia, the UK and the US were the top destinations for university-led educational travel.
While the report pointed to the growth of International Baccalaureate, Cambridge and dual-diploma pathways within Japan, Hoshino argued that such programs should be viewed as catalysts rather than substitutes for study abroad.
“Many parents enrol their children in domestic TNE programs precisely because they want them to study abroad in the future,” he said.
The developments come as the Japanese government pursues a target of sending 500,000 students abroad annually by 2033.
