Intercultural Communication Education at Tertiary Level in Japan : Past, Present and Future

This paper examines intercultural communication education at tertiary-level in Japan through a discussion of its development from the past through to the present.It begins with a review of the current literature on the history of intercultural communication education in Japan before describing the curricula presently found in Japanese universities.A description is given of faculties in Japanese universities that provide dedicated intercultural communication and intercultural-studies programs as well as other Japanese universities that take a dynamic view of culture within their EAP/ESP courses.The successes gained from such development as well as the gaps that still remain are then discussed.Finally, future possibilities of further enhancement of education in this field at Japanese universities are presented as a conclusion.