NHK’s website highlighted data on studying in the U.S. released by the Institute of International Education (IIE) showing that approximately 19,000 Japanese studied in the United States in the 2016/17 academic year, down almost 60% from 20 years ago when some 47,000 local youths enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities. The number of Japanese students on U.S. campuses has remained below 20,000 since 2011. The network said the Japanese government’s intense efforts to encourage young Japanese to study abroad have apparently failed to produce results when it comes to the United States, with the IIE attributing the decline to the effects of a rapidly aging population and other factors such as the recruiting cycle of Japanese companies.