Asahi Gakuen

Asahi Gakuen (あさひ学園 "School of the Rising Sun"), or the Los Angeles Japanese School (ロス・アンジェルス補習授業校 Rosu Anjerusu Hoshū Jugyō Kō) is a part-time Japanese school in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.^[1][2] The school was founded by the Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education in Los Angeles. In 1988, the school had 2,500 students.^[3] The school teaches the Japanese language, science, social sciences, and mathematics.^[3] As of 1987 the school teaches all four aspects in each school day.^[1] The Japan Business Association of Southern California (JBA, 南カリフォルニア日系企業協会 Minami Kariforunia Nikkei Kigyō Kyōkai),^[4][5] previously known as The Japan Traders' Club of Los Angeles (日本貿易懇話会 Nihon Bōeki Konwa-kai), as of 1997 financially supports the school.^[3]

History

Asahi Gakuen was founded in 1969. At the time it had one campus and 68 students. By 1986 there were 2,400 students on four campuses.^[6]

Locations

Daniel Webster Middle School, the Westside class location

The school's main office is in room 308 on the third floor of the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC, 日米文化会館 Nichibei Bunka Kaikan) building,^[7] located in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles.^[8] Classes are held at the Orange Campus at Santiago High School in Garden Grove,^[9] the San Gabriel campus at South El Monte High School in South El Monte,^[10] the Santa Monica Campus at Daniel Webster Middle School in Sawtelle,^[11][12] and the Torrance campus at South Torrance High School in Torrance.^[13] All high school classes are held at the Santa Monica campus.^[11] As of 1986 students take buses from as far away as Orange County to go to the high school campus.^[6]

In 1986-1987 the school had students in four campuses,^[1][6] including one in Pasadena, one in Garden Grove, one at Daniel Webster Middle,^[6] and one at South Torrance High.^[1] In 1997, Asahi Gakuen had five branch schools in Los Angeles County and Orange County.^[3]

The Torrance campus opened in 1980 with 400 students. In 1987, the Torrance campus had 773 students.^[1]

Operations

The school year uses the Japanese schedule, from April until March, with classes held from 9:00 AM until 3:30 PM during Saturdays.^[3]

The school uses tuition to pay for the textbooks it orders from Japan. As of 1986, each student in grades 1-9 has tuition of $49.50 ($106.86 when accounting for inflation) each month, while each high school student has tuition of $67.50 ($145.72 when accounting for inflation) monthly.^[14] In 1987 the school had a registration fee of up to $150 ($312.43 when accounting for inflation) and an annual tuition of fewer than $600 ($1249.74 accounting for inflation).^[1]

All campuses, as of 1986, have libraries. Fatsuko [sic] Fujita, the West Los Angeles campus librarian, stated that her campus permitted loaning of 5,000 of its books.^[14]

Curriculum

In 1986 Kimiko Lin, the assistant principal of the West Los Angeles campus, stating that the school puts emphasis on classwork instead of homework to avoid overburdening students who have other commitments. Therefore the school sometimes gives homework.^[14]

Employees

As of 1987, Asahi Gakuen had 47 faculty members.^[1] The school's administrators are visiting employees from Japan,^[3] credentialed by The Ministry of Education of Japan (Monbusho).^[1] The ministry recommends which employees come to teach at Asahi Gakuen.^[3]

Student body

In 1986 Hiroshi Matsuoka, the Japan Business Association of Southern California executive director, stated that 85% of the about 3,500 Japanese nationals working for Japanese companies in the Los Angeles metropolitan area sent children to Asahi Gakuen.^[6]

See also

• History of the Japanese in Los Angeles
• Nishiyamato Academy of California
• International Bilingual School
• Rafu Shimpo

References

• Moritomo, Toyotomi. Japanese Americans and Cultural Continuity: Maintaining Language and Heritage. Taylor & Francis, 1997. ISBN 0815317670, 9780815317678.

Notes

Further reading

• 後藤 英彦. "ロサンゼルス"東大熱"ここまで--エリート校「あさひ学園」 (海外子弟教育の問題点をさぐる-4-北米編-下-)." 世界週報 55(24), 54-56, 1974-06-18. 時事通信社. See profile at CiNii.

External links

• Asahi Gakuen (Japanese)
• Asahi Gakuen (Japanese) (Archive)

Japanese weekend schools in the United States and Canada With Japanese gov't teachers United States Chicago Futabakai Japanese Saturday School Japanese School of Dallas Japanese School of Detroit Japanese School of Guam Japanese Language Supplementary School of Houston Asahi Gakuen (Los Angeles area) Japanese Weekend School of New York (New York City area) Portland Japanese School Princeton Community Japanese Language School San Francisco Japanese School Seattle Japanese School Indiana Japanese Language School (インディアナ日本語学校) (Indianapolis) Minato Gakuen (みなと学園) (San Diego) Canada Toronto Japanese School W/o Japanese gov't teachers U.S. schools w/o gov't teachers Minneapolis Japanese School Minnesota Japanese School Nishiyamato Academy Saturday School (Lomita, CA) Orlando Hoshuko St. Louis Japanese School Sundai Michigan International Academy (Detroit area) Canada schools w/o gov't teachers Montreal Hoshuko School The Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT) designates most of these schools as hoshū jugyō kō. Schools in italics are not designated as such by MEXT.