While it can be said that Japanese is only spoken in Japan, and therefore not by that many people, Japan's population in 2005 was 127.76 million people, making it the seventh largest country in the world. Knowing Japanese will put you in a relatively exclusive group, but not one that is as small as is commonly thought.

Japanese is one of the languages that are considered "Critical", meaning that the supply of speakers not as great as the demand. So, if you can develop fluency in Japanese there will be many opportunities available to you.

Japan's economic competitiveness continues to be tops in the world. In 1993 Japan was recognized as the most competitive nation in the international markets.

For native speakers of English, Japanese does take longer to learn than almost any other language - nearly three times longer than French or Spanish, for example. Students who don't start studying Japanese until after they finish high school, usually have difficult time becoming fluent enough to work or study in Japan in only four years. It makes sense to start early.

Japanese language is different from English because Japanese society does not function the same way that American society does. Studying Japanese is a great opportunity to try something completely different, and to learn about another very different way to perceive the world. Japanese may be completely different, but it is not just gibberish. It has a logic and a sensibility all its own.