ABSTRACT
English-medium instruction (EMI) has played – and continues to play – an important role in the internationalization of Japanese higher education. This chapter traces the development of EMI in Japan through both government initiatives and institutional practices, and analyzes some of the divisions and tensions that EMI has fostered in Japanese institutions, as well as in Japanese society. The authors contend that the use of EMI in Japan resembles, in many ways, the Dejima trading island of the 17th century, which allowed Japan to open up to the West, while still protecting itself from foreign influence.
