Andhra Pradesh to say ‘youkoso’ to Japanese investors

HYDERABAD: About six months down the line, one can expect to hear a lot of Japanese chatter, such as ‘youkoso’ (meaning welcome), in Vijayawada. This is because the TDP government, in its efforts to woo Japanese investors to the state, is all set to give a crash course in Japanese language to its officers as well as skilled workers to begin with, and later offer courses in that language as well.
The state has already identified possible locations for the Japanese Language Institute in Vijayawada including Nagarjuna University in which Japanese nationals will teach the language to students and youth of the state and enhance their employability in the Japanese-managed companies that are slated to come up in Andhra Pradesh and across India.
Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has given the go ahead to the AP State Council for Higher Education to facilitate the establishment of the institute in the state.
According to Vijayawada MLA Gadde Rammohan Rao, the institute will commence functioning from this academic year. To begin with, the institute will offer a six-month course in basic Japanese for officers and skilled workers so that they are in a position to interact with the Japanese investors by the end of this year. Full-fledged courses in the language will also be soon offered at the institute, he said.

“Japanese Language has been made part of communication-skill development in the states. As AP is set to receive about 100 investors, small and big, from Japan, the state should get equipped to provide the required human resources to these companies. Japanese language will help the students acclimatize to the Japanese industrial work culture. Learning the language will also help our students get employment in industries promoted by the Japanese in other parts of the country as well,” Rammohan Rao told TOI.
According to the MLA, Japanese investors have started visiting India in a big way, “Last week, Sumitomo, Hitachi and Toshiba representatives visited Ponduru in Srikakulam district where they want to set up a 4,000 mw super critical thermal plant. On Friday, a Japanese delegation comprising investors and officials visited the Krishnapatnam port in Nellore district. Similarly, accompanied by a fifty-member delegation, Japan’s minister for economy and development visited Vijayawada. All these events show that Andhra Pradesh will soon become the most favored state for Japan in India,” Gadde said.
A huge Japanese investment would throw up employment for lakhs of state students knowing Japanese language, Rammohan Rao added.
Meanwhile, sources said the chief minister has also asked vice chancellors of all universities in the state to explore the possibility of launching courses in Japanese.