Japanese students less motivated to study

A survey has found that high school students in Japan study less than those in the US, China and South Korea.

The Japan Youth Research Institute conducted the survey on more than 6,100 high school students in the 4 countries last year.

The results show that the largest proportion of students who said they spend between an hour and 2 hours to do their homework was in the US and China. In contrast, Japanese and South Korean students said they spend between 30 minutes and one hour.

Twenty-three percent of the students in Japan said they do no homework at all, while the figure was 30percent in South Korea, 4 percent in the US and one percent in China.

Asked about how much time the students spend on study not including homework, the largest proportion of students who said they spend between 30 minutes and an hour was in Japan. The students in the US said less than 30 minutes, while Chinese and South Korean students said between one hour and 2 hours.

Thirty-four percent of Japanese students said they do no study other than homework -- the highest figure among the 4 countries.

An official of the institute that conducted the survey says the results show that Japanese youth are less motivated to study. The official says this is a serious problem at a time when the academic abilities of Japanese students are said to be declining.