Foreign language studies in Japan?

I am an adult student at univfersity in the USA (originally from India) and I am trying to find out about the study of foreign languages in different countries. I would like to know how popular foreign languages are in Japan. I am guessing that English would be popular because of business but what about other languages like French, German, Spanish or Asian languages like Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Bengali or Tamil? I have never visited Japan but may come there on a trip through my university in summer 2009 so I am somewhat inquisitive about your country. Thank you for this information and good luck.

University students in Japan must take at least one foreign language class other than English class, and as far as I know, French, German, Spanish and Chinese (Mandarin) are always included among your options. I think French and Chinese are especially popular now, because they are both practical. Japan does a lot of business with China. I've encountered a few people who learned Russian. The relationship between Russia and Japan goes way back.

Other popular languages are probably things like Korean, Italian and Thai. These cultures are very popular among women. Vietnamese culture is also popular, but I remember looking for lessons with no luck.

Among the top 5 foreign population are Brazilians and Filipinos, so there is indeed a constant need for Portuguese and Tagalog speakers.

I'm not sure if any of the Islamic languages are popular. The population of Muslims is huge, but I can't really recall anybody having language lessons. Most Islamic residents speak either good Japanese or good English.

Btw, the relationship between India and Japan goes way back too, and has always been good. However, probably because the Indians who come to Japan speak excellent English, I don't hear about too many people trying to learn any other Indian dialect or language.

Finally, this is a website of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, which is one of the very best universities when it comes to studying foreign languages.
http://www.tufs.ac.jp/