The internationalization of Japan’s higher education (HE) is predominantly discussed from an English-centric perspective. This literature-based chapter aims to fill the knowledge gap by clarifying the status quo of Chinese, Korean, French, and German language education in Japan’s HE institutions. Statistically, Chinese and Korean languages have become the most and second most popular languages owing to the global clout of China’s economy and South Korean pop culture. Seemingly, the privileged status of both languages has weathered the powerful “English = internationalization” ideology entrenched in Japan’s HE. Nonetheless, Japanese college students’ voluntary choice of these Asian languages is found to be influenced by gender, choice of college major, Japan–China relations, and so on. Meanwhile, academic associations for college French and German teachers have been in a state of crisis, facing a decline in university teacher positions, students pursuing post-doctoral studies, and general language courses. Their struggle is attributed to several factors, including the fading legacy of France’s and Germany’s historical contributions to Japan’s modern industrialization and other non-linguistic factors. This chapter demonstrates the significance of further studies and discussions on second foreign language education that transcend the conventional comparative framework of privileged English versus marginalized languages.