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
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...
.
[Rainey, James.]
Children of Japanese Executives Flock to Special Classrooms
" ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''. December 31, 1987. Retrieved on March 6, 2014. 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.
[Moritomo, p]
138
The school teaches the Japanese language, science, social sciences, and mathematics.
[ As of 1987 the school teaches all four aspects in each school day.][ 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''), 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.][
]
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.[Puig, Claudia. "'School of the Rising Sun' : Surroundings Are American but Classes, Traditions Are Strictly Japanese." '']Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''. November 13, 1986. p
1
Retrieved on March 30, 2014.
Prior to 1978 the school took some San Diego residents; that year the Minato School opened in that city.
Locations
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, located in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. Classes are held at the Orange Campus at Santiago High School in Garden Grove, the San Gabriel campus at South El Monte High School
South El Monte High School is a high school in South El Monte, California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It is a part of the El Monte Union High School District.
Asahi Gakuen
Asahi Gakuen (あさひ学園 "School of the Rising Sun"), or ...
in South El Monte
South El Monte is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,116, down from 21,144 at the 2000 census.
Geography
According to the United States Cen ...
, the Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...
Campus at Daniel Webster Middle School in Sawtelle,[サンタモニカ校・高等部]
" Asahi Gakuen. Retrieved on March 30, 2014. "DANIEL WEBSTER MIDDLE SCHOOL 11330 W. Graham Place, Los Angeles, CA 90064 " and the Torrance campus at South Torrance High School in Torrance.
three campuses (Santa Monica, Orange, and Torrance) have high school classes.[学園概要]
" Asahi Gakuen. Retrieved on March 3, 2018. "高等部(サンタモニカ校、トーランス校、オレンジ校)" Previously all high school classes were held at the Santa Monica campus.[ As of 1986 students took buses from as far away as Orange County to go to the high school campus.][
In 1986-1987 the school had students in four campuses,][ including one in ]Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
Its ...
, one in Garden Grove, one at Daniel Webster Middle,[ and one at South Torrance High.][ In 1997, Asahi Gakuen had five branch schools in ]Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
and Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
.[
The Torrance campus opened in 1980 with 400 students. In 1987, the Torrance campus had 773 students.][
]
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.[
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 $49.50 ($ when accounting for inflation) each month, while each high school student has tuition of $67.50 ($ when accounting for inflation) monthly.][Puig, Claudia. "'School of the Rising Sun' : Surroundings Are American but Classes, Traditions Are Strictly Japanese." '']Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''. November 13, 1986. p
2
Retrieved on March 30, 2014. In 1987 the school had a registration fee of up to $150 ($ when accounting for inflation) and an annual tuition of fewer than $600 ($ accounting for inflation).[
All campuses, as of 1986, have libraries. Fatsuko Fujita, the West Los Angeles campus librarian, stated that her campus permitted loaning of 5,000 of its books.][
]
Curriculum
In 1986 Kimiko Lin, the assistant principal of the West Los Angeles campus, stated that the school puts its emphasis on classwork instead of homework to avoid overburdening students who have other commitments; therefore, the school sometimes gives homework.[
]
Employees
As of 1987, Asahi Gakuen had 47 faculty members.[ The school's administrators are visiting employees from Japan,][ credentialed by The ]Ministry of Education of Japan
The , also known as MEXT or Monka-shō, is one of the eleven Ministries of Japan that composes part of the executive branch of the Government of Japan. Its goal is to improve the development of Japan in relation with the international community. ...
(Monbusho).[ The ministry recommends which employees come to teach at Asahi Gakuen.][
]
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.[
]
See also
* History of the Japanese in Los Angeles
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
* International Bilingual School
The was an international bilingual day school in Palos Verdes Estates, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, serving students in Kindergarten through grade 9.Park, Andrew. "The ABCs of Asian schools." '' Transpacific'', Transpacific M ...
* ''Rafu Shimpo
is a Japanese-English language newspaper based in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California and is the largest bilingual English-Japanese daily newspaper in the United States. As of February 2021, it is published online daily. In print publicatio ...
''
References
* Moritomo, Toyotomi. ''Japanese Americans and Cultural Continuity: Maintaining Language and Heritage''. Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa ...
, 1997. , 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
CiNii () is a bibliographic database service for material in Japanese academic libraries, especially focusing on Japanese works and English works published in Japan. The database was founded in April 2005 and is maintained by the National Institu ...
.
External links
Asahi Gakuen
*
{{Authority control
Schools in Los Angeles
Schools in Los Angeles County, California
Schools in Orange County, California
Japanese-American culture in Los Angeles
1969 establishments in California
Educational institutions established in 1969
Supplementary Japanese schools in the United States