FROM JAPAN, STUDENTS GET SECOND SHOT COLLEGE OFFERS CHANCE FOR SUCCESS.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

VALENCIA -- For some Japanese students, College of the Canyons isn't just a place to learn American culture. It's also a second chance at education.

The college entrance exam can make or break a student's chance at success in Japan. But students who fail the exam or who drop out of college there can still get a degree by coming to the United States.

The Japanese students pay more tuition than Californians to go to state colleges, but going to college in their homeland also can be pricey.

When they get to College of the Canyons, they get a different style of education from the rote learning they're used to.

``Japanese study harder, Americans learn more,'' said Hidehiko Sato, 24, who dropped out of university in Japan and now studies at College of the Canyons.

For the two years he was at college in Tokyo, Sato partied instead of studying, like many postsecondary Japanese students. He dropped out when he saw himself heading for a sales job he could probably handle without a degree.

Since then, the peripatetic student has attended private English schools in Vancouver, worked at a Japanese casino in his hometown of Yokohama and gone back and forth between Japan and College of the Canyons, where he changed his focus from business to information technology. He hopes learning about computers will pay off.

``My father doesn't say anything to me about college,'' he said. ``But my mother always say, `Please make sure to graduate from college -- don't drop out anymore.'''

College of the Canyons last semester had 48 Japanese students out of 127 students in its international students program, and Japanese students are the biggest block of foreign students at the school.

Japan and America have close ties, even though the cultural influence of China and Korea is growing. Going to the United States to study is a natural move for many students, who study English from a young age.

``Some of these kids didn't make it into a university back in Japan, and they get a second chance here,'' said Douglas Erber, president of the Japan America Society of Southern California. ``And that's something you can't do in Japan -- there's no second chances.''

Naomi Taniguchi-Ruiz came 15 years ago to College of the Canyons for a second chance.

As an adult a dozen years out of high school, Taniguchi-Ruiz was pursuing her dream as a singer and running physical fitness classes to earn a living, and she wanted an education. But she had never taken the college entrance exam, an obstacle that prevents many adults from going back to school in Japan.

``No returning adults, it's very rare,'' she said. ``If there is one, that person will be on the TV news.''

But at College of the Canyons, Taniguchi-Ruiz was able to study English, get associate's degrees in humanities and business and go to California State University, Northridge. Now she works as a program specialist in the International Students Program at College of the Canyons, and after starting a family in the United States, she has no plans to return to Japan.

Taniguchi-Ruiz dishes out advice to students like Rumiko Sakai, 20. Like Taniguchi-Ruiz, Sakai was not excited about taking the entrance exam in high school.

She loved English, but not the rest of her course work in subjects like ancient Japanese writing. She was in a rigorous program, called shingaku, to prepare her for the entrance exam. But when a teacher suggested she study English instead of trying to get into a Japanese college, she listened.

Sakai's father didn't like the idea. But she found a line of argument for her dad: ``If I can take English ... he can go to America with me,'' she said.

Sakai studied in Canada as a teen, attended a New York fashion school and now studies hotel management at College of the Canyons. The fashion-conscious student, who wears colorful studs on her nails, is not only learning at the college -- she's learning how to handle problems like getting a rent deposit back.

``I'm having lots of trouble,'' she said. ``But everything just helps me to think and then grow up.''

Taniguchi-Ruiz said numbers are unavailable on how many Japanese students at College of the Canyons failed the entrance exam back in Japan. But it's not uncommon for Japanese students to come to the college after getting shut out of Japan's competitive educational system.

``They close the gate,'' Taniguchi-Ruiz said. ``Kids here in the U.S., the schools have the gates open very widely to whoever wants to study -- even for returning adults.''

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) College of the Canyons students Hidehiko Sato, 24, left, and Rumiko Sakai, 20.

(2) College of the Canyons students Hidehiko Sato, 24, right, and Rumiko Sakai, 20, are studying English, among other subjects.

David Crane/Staff Photographer