Following the Japan 2001 Festival in Britain, there has been an increase in interest in studying Japanese culture and language in the UK. The British Council, with funding from the Department for Education and Skills, has recently extended its activities for Japan and continues to work closely with Monbusho (the Japanese Ministry of Education) on a number of projects. It is anticipated that schools and colleges will establish sustainable links that will impact on the development of those institutions, contribute to the professional development of their staff, enrich the curriculum and support language awareness and learning. Information on how to apply for any of these grants can be found on this British Council website.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/education/schools/japan.htm

See also:

About Japanese: Free resources for students, teachers, and lovers of Japanese: lessons, quizzes, dictionaries, software, linguistics, chatroom, and much more. Edited by Namiko Abe:
http://japanese.about.com

Japanese Online:
http://www.japanese-online.com

Monash University, Japanese: This site (Sakura) is designed for students of Japanese language of Monash University in Australia, but it is also available for general use:
http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/subjects/japanese/sakura

Japanese is studied more widely in this country than most people think. It is frequently offered as an option by Language Colleges - part of the Specialist Schools network:
http://www.specialistschoolstrust.org.uk

Camsoft lists a number of software packages for learners of Japanese:
http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/cdlist.htm