Pacific Magazine > Magazine > January 1, 2008

Japan Tourism

Traveling Like ‘Free Birds’

Mixing Sun, Sea And The English Language

By Agnes E. Donato, Saipan Tribune

Daisaku Nakamura, COO, South Pacific Free Bird PHOTO: pacific magazine

TOKYO—“Why don’t you learn English in paradise?” is the tag line used in Japan by Tokyo-based South Pacific Free Bird to promote its unique study abroad programs. The appeal mixing visions of white sand beaches and learning English is working. The company has sent over 2,000 Japanese to study English as a second language in Fiji.

Founded three years ago, South Pacific Free Bird has grown from less than 50 students in the first year, to a projected enrollment of 3,000 this year, and about 7,000 next year. Students sign up for courses that take a week to a month, and learn the local culture by staying with families in a home stay program.

South Pacific Free Bird will open a third campus on Fiji’s Viti Levu island next month. Plans are underway to open two more schools in the next couple of years. The program uses existing schools that are underutilized by local students, and it hires local English teachers.

While home stays are a central part of South Pacific Free Bird’s appeal – and help to keep costs significantly lower than Japan’s other “study abroad” English language schools—there is mounting pressure to build dormitories or use local hotels to accommodate the increasing number of students. By 2009, South Pacific Free Bird expects to serve 10,000 students yearly. And the company doesn’t want to send any more students than that number to Fiji.

“I don’t think we would want scores of Japanese lurking around in Fiji,” said Daisaku Nakamura, chief operating officer of South Pacific Free Bird.

While the company wants to cap enrollment in Fiji programs, it expects to continue growing by expanding its programs to other Pacific Island nations and territories. Saipan and Palau are top choices, Nakamura said. Both are particularly interesting to South Pacific Free Bird because of their proximity to Japan.

If the company does expand into Micronesia, it would be with the same model that it has used so successfully in Fiji. That business model is built around an inviting and safe tropical locale, local teachers who are extremely proficient in teaching English, and home stay opportunities to keep costs down and give students (mostly young women) a unique opportunity to meet people and learn a new culture.

According to Nakamura, a typical one-year English language course in the United States could cost a prospective Japanese student up to 3 million yen ($26,000). However, a large part of this amount pays commissions for agents that bring together students and the program.  A comparable South Pacific Free Bird program costs around 700,000 yen, or $6,130.

When South Pacific Free Bird group first approached the Fiji government, it responded quickly in the affirmative. Nakamura described the speed of the decision making as “unthinkable” in Japan. By April 2004, South Pacific Free Bird Institute accepted its first student.

The company believes English does not have to be the first tongue in order for a place to become an ideal destination to learn English. The fact that Fijians speak languages other than English (their own language, of course, but other citizens speak Hindi and Rotuman, among others) actually holds a certain appeal to potential students.

“In Fiji, people use English as a tool for basic communication. That fits our goal to provide an environment where Japanese can learn simple, basic English. Hopefully, this will help them gain confidence to go on more advanced programs, or simply to visit other countries, like a ‘free bird’,” said Nakamura.

The locals’ warmth is also a key to South Pacific Free Bird’s success in Fiji. Nakamura said that in predominantly English-speaking countries, people tend to avoid non-English speakers. For students who want to learn English, this defeats the purpose of going overseas to learn the language. In Fiji, on the other hand, people are more friendly and don’t hesitate to talk with the Japanese.

Almost four in five South Pacific Free Bird students are female. While more than half of the students are in their 20s, the enrollment represents a wide age range, from under 10 to 60s and over. Regular students and office workers are the two largest groups by occupation; together, they account for 70 percent of the total. Currently, South Pacific Free Bird is most popular with students in the Tokyo area, followed by the region around Osaka.

Nearly 60 percent of the students took South Pacific Free Bird’s shortest courses, which last one week to one month. However, there are some 275 who have signed up for a one-year program.