(FORTUNE Magazine) – What trade war? There's at least one U.S. product Japan is trying its best to import: education. The Japanese are wooing U.S. colleges to open branch campuses in Japan away from major cities. Several U.S. schools could be offering English 101 as early as this fall. If the unusual plan works, it would spur economic development in the sticks, where the Japanese government wants the colleges set up, while providing higher education for students not quite smart enough to win spots in elite Japanese universities. For U.S. colleges, the plan expands overseas programs and helps offset dwindling enrollments at home. As enticements, Japan is offering free land and cheap leases on buildings. Schools that have shown interest so far range from the obscure, such as John $ F. Kennedy University of Orinda, California, to the well known, such as Boston and Ohio universities. Temple University already operates a campus in Tokyo for about 900 students.

But can U.S. institutions attract many students? Says Felix Gagliano, an official at Ohio University, which may offer classes in Japan this fall: ''We could find there is a need and a market, but also find we'd have to charge so much tuition that we'd price ourselves out of the market.'' Tuition may be a minor drawback to students compared with the relatively rigorous academic demands of U.S. universities. Burned out by the pressures of cramming for entrance exams, Japanese young people don't study much in college. Besides, a degree from a U.S. university may do little to help a student get a job with a Japanese company. Sounding like an Ivy League aspirant, Seiji Amino, a senior at Sophia University in Tokyo, says, ''I would rather go to a place with a name, like Keio University or the University of Tokyo.''