You'd think my sons were the first gaijin kids ever to attend a Japanese elementary school, judging from the surprised responses we get from people. But there are lots of foreign children in Japanese schools, and their numbers are growing. Unfortunately, most schools aren't equipped to teach newcomers the Japanese they need in order to learn and become part of the school community.

There are about 78,000 gaikokujin jido (foreign pupils) enrolled in Japanese public schools. Nearly 20,000 of them don't know enough Japanese to function in the classroom, according to the Education Ministry. The latest survey, conducted last September, counted 12,468 elementary school students, 5,694 junior high school students and 1,024 high school students who need instruction in Japanese as a second language. The number of children needing such help has grown steadily since the first survey in 1991.

When my older son started as a sannensei (third-grader), he was fresh off the plane and didn't know one word of Japanese. Two years later, he's virtually fluent. He no longer needs special assistance at school, and he even reads and writes better than some of his native Japanese classmates.