Bureaucrat Tells Young Japanese to Look Abroad For Love & Work

[Mulboyne]

[IparryU]

now this is a guy we need for PM... get them j-girls more slutty than chinese super sluts... get them guys to... be guys...

[matsuki]

now this is a guy we need for PM...

Best advice I've ever heard from a bureaucrat....ever!!

[ghostunit]

would be interesting to learn just exactly WHAT his overseas experience actually is.

[Christoff]

would be interesting to learn just exactly WHAT his overseas experience actually is.

He was a ball bin cleaner at a chucky cheese

[Bucky]

would be interesting to learn just exactly WHAT his overseas experience actually is.

From his Wikipedia profile, (in Japanese) it does not look like he attended school overseas. He attended Tokyo U.

It is interesting to note that on his Twitter account that he has not posted since July 30. Prior to that he had been tweeting regularly.

[Dreamy_Peach]

would be interesting to learn just exactly WHAT his overseas experience actually is.

He was on secondment to the OECD in Paris. Not sure what else.

That's a great gig if you can get it.

[gaijinpunch]

He must not be Japanese.

[tone]

thats a refreshing brand of frankness

[IparryU]

He must not be Japanese.

no... he prolly got hooked on that FG pun and was converted into an FG... can happen to even the divine Nipponjin... just takes some motivation...

sorta like quitting heroin.

[Greji]

no... he prolly got hooked on that FG pun

Could that be hooked on FG Porn?

[Ganma]

Koga wrote the bestselling book "Collapse of Japan's Central Administration" which led to him being pressured to resign his post. He has so far refused to do so. His recent comments come in an article on the Weekly Playboy website.

Excellent article.

[Ketou]

Pretty spot on actually.
The BOJ seems hell bent on following the US dollar in it's death spiral. As 99% of the population is blissfully unaware of the idiocy of a debt based currency, there is going to be a lot of pain when finally the ponzi collapses...

[Mulboyne]

[matsuki]

[Ganma]

I enjoyed the pictures

Ehhh, 10% would be good but if you're trying to discourage 90% of the Japanese population to do anything, you're pretty much discouraging the whole country, no?

Indeed. And 10% is way too little. There are many businessmen/professionals who need English on a day to day basis to communicate with foreign business parters and clients. And as J companies continue to expand internationally the need for English is only going to increase.

[matsuki]

Indeed. And 10% is way too little. There are many businessmen/professionals who need English on a day to day basis to communicate with foreign business parters and clients. And as J companies continue to expand internationally the need for English is only going to increase.

Exactly...BTW, how's that author's English?

[Ganma]

Exactly...BTW, how's that author's English?

Good question!:ninja4:

[Samurai_Jerk]

Exactly...BTW, how's that author's English?

Given his background, I'm sure it's excellent.

I actually agree with him to a certain extent. Maybe 90% is too much but the fact is all this focus on learning English for no real reason is a waste of time for a lot of people. They'd be better off improving other skills including a different foreign language if that's where their interest lies.

[IparryU]

Exactly...BTW, how's that author's English?

ai supi-ku furuento ingurishu

[Mulboyne]

[Ganma]

[Jack]

Indeed. And 10% is way too little. There are many businessmen/professionals who need English on a day to day basis to communicate with foreign business parters and clients. And as J companies continue to expand internationally the need for English is only going to increase.

I think his point is valid. 10% works out to a big number like Mulboyne says (12 million people) and that aught to be enough. This 12 million number would represent about 18% of the working population of 65 million, a large proportion. I doubt there are 5 million people in France, Italy or Spain who speak English (approximately 10% of their population).

Closer to me only about 25% of French-Canadians are bilingual (English and French) and this by living in a sea of English. You will find that there are only few countries (I can think of only the Netherland, Sweden and Philippines) where English is not one of the official languages and where a large proportion of the population can communicate in English.

I wish that book was available in English, it would be an interesting read.

[Dreamy_Peach]

10% is not enough; but it also depends on degrees of ability.

At one level you need people with basic level of proficiency, such as for taxi drivers (who also need to study street directions), people who stand at the kaisatsu at the station; bank staff; policemen; etc. At the moment hardly any of these groups can speak any passable level of English - hardly fitting with tourism targets...

At another level are business execs/senior professionals. A lot of these guys can speak a bit of English. They will learn it anyway cause for the most part they're intelligent, driven and internationally oriented.

There's a raft of middle managers, the kind with hunched shoulders, empty briefcases, and cheap suits that sleep on the train. These guys are practically dead to the world. They see nothing between their house and office: that is their world. They probably don't need English as they are simply grinding through life as easily as possible.

[Jack]

[quote="Dreamy_Peach"]10% is not enough]

What are you basing this statement on? How do you know 10% is not enough?

[IparryU]

[quote="Dreamy_Peach"]10% is not enough]
Japan dont need to learn english... let them fall back down to their proud level so we can put more troops here and take over everything for them. doing so will also help populate the cuntry (that takes a lot of work but I am up to it!) and fix some of their govt issues...

you dont mind if we put a couple thousand more troops here do ya? do ya?!?! you dont want us to get mad again, right? Ok now here is your new PM... straight from the GM factory... your Toyota factory fucked up on the last 6 you pushed out... so we did a little PM makin ourselves...

/need coffee... son is sick... cant work... need... need... a beer and some ebisen to give to the lil one...

[Dreamy_Peach]

What are you basing this statement on? How do you know 10% is not enough?

What is he basing his assumption on?

I can speak Japanese but sometimes play the straight off the boat gaijin card to see how easy it is to navigate Japan.

Based on this, and from showing family around, most people here have no idea on how to talk to foreigners. By my reckoning 10% is no way enough, but as I said, some people need more than others.

Given that most people can't even do basic communication on how to get to a certain station; how to withdraw money from the bank cause the atm's here are retarded, even checking into a hotel is sometimes difficult. It's frankly deplorable. Taxi drivers in particular are total mouth breathers for the most part.

All of these people who regularly deal with tourists or are exposed to them should be able to speak some level of English. We're not talking about ability to translate Tolstoy, just the basics.

[Mulboyne]

I don't think anyone should get hung up on the numbers. Naruke's main point seems to be to say that many people waste their time learning English. That's why he uses a provocative title. Rather than trying to argue about what an appropriate percentage might be, it would seem more useful to address his contentions that large parts of the eikaiwa industry are a scam and TOEIC; that Rakuten is wrong-headed setting English as the company's official language; that you need less English for business than you do for daily conversation; etc.

I haven't read his book yet so don't know what arguments he makes to support those headlines.

[matsuki]

[quote="Mulboyne"]I don't think anyone should get hung up on the numbers. Naruke's main point seems to be to say that many people waste their time learning English. That's why he uses a provocative title. Rather than trying to argue about what an appropriate percentage might be, it would seem more useful to address his contentions that large parts of the eikaiwa industry are a scam and TOEIC]

While I think we can all agree, at least to some degree, with this...

[quote="Mulboyne"]that Rakuten is wrong-headed setting English as the company's official language]

Not so sure here...and English is only part of the equation. Understanding your customer/suppliers mindset, customs, and the way they work are just as important. Been in the import/export business for 10+ years now and the problems never seem to change. (alot of it being that Japanese importers refuse to accommodate foreign business models and throw fits with the same "that would never work in Japan!" BS every time, rather than just doing their job and adapting to be a good buffer between the markets. Rakuten is moving the right direction but may need some time til they see results..