The Past, Present, and Future of Internationalization in Japan:

The purpose of this special volume containing five articles dedicated to the internationalizationof higher educationin Japan is to provide information, analysis, and insight on the current goals, rationales, policies, and challenges facing internationalization's role as way to increase research excellence, profile, and competitiveness within Asia and the world beyond. Collectively, they paint a picture of a country that is supporting the higher educationsector to be a key actor in helping Japan become the “Asian Gateway” to the rest of the world. To understand the nature of internationalizationof higher educationin Japan, it is important to review the changes in the international dimension of higher educationduring the past decades. Given the pivotal role that foreign students have played in the history of Japan's international academic relations, this topic is at the centre of a review of what could be called the “three primary phases” of internationalizationfrom 1950 to the present day.