I found an interesting article about the increase in the popularity of the Japanese language.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/life ... uage-study
According to a 2006 survey by the Japan Foundation, Japanese-language education was carried out in 133 countries and territories throughout the world, and Japanese-language learners numbered about 2.98 million, up 26.4 percent over three years before.
A 26.4% jump in three years is pretty huge! I'm glad to see more and more people getting into Japanese language study