Vietnam ranks second in the number of overseas students in Japan as of May 2015, with 38,882 students, the latest statistics of the J apan Student Services Organisation (JASSO) revealed.

Vietnamese students in Japan.

The total number of foreign students in the country as of the reviewed time was 208,379 ,a year-on-year increase of 13.2 percent.

China continued to top the list with 94,111 students while those from Vietnam and Nepal climbed sharply by 47.1 percent ( 38,882) and 55.5 percent (16,250) , respectively.

An official from the Japan Ministry of Education said local enterprises are expanding their investment and businesses in Vietnam, leading to an increasing interest in Japan among Vietnamese people .

Some primary schools in Vietnam have now started introducing Japanese language programmes, he added.

According to the overseas students desk at the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan, the East Asian country surpassed the US in attracting Vietnamese overseas students. 29,000 Vietnamese student have studied in the US as of March 2016.

VNA