Students from Vietnam and other countries at the Vietnam Festival held in Japan's Fukushima in 2019 (Photo: VNA)   

NDO/VNA - Vietnam has the second largest number of students in Japan, according to the latest statistics from the Japan Student Services Organisation (JASSO).

Statistics showed that as of May 2020, the number of foreign students in Japan fell 10.4 percent year on year to 279,597 due to COVID-19.

The decline came after the number of foreign students enrolled at universities, Japanese language schools and other educational institutions in the country totalled 312,214 in May 2019, marking the highest level on record and the seventh straight year of increase.

By country and region, the number of Chinese students studying in Japan stood at 121,845 as of May 1, 2020, down 2.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the JASSO.

Vietnam ranked second with 62,233, down 15.2 percent, followed by Nepal with 24,002, down 8.8 percent, the survey found.

The number of students from the Republic of Korea dropped 13.9 percent to 15,785, while those from Taiwan (China) were down 26.0 percent to 7,088.

Of the educational institutions, Japanese language schools suffered the biggest margin of decline in foreign student numbers in the reporting year, down 27.4 percent at 60,814, according to the survey.

The number of foreign students at universities fell 10.9 percent to 79,826, while those at graduate schools were down 0.1 percent to 53,056. Vocational schools, however, saw an increase of 1.0 percent to 79,598.