M Bison wrote:Ehhh, "this is a pen" does not qualify as speaking Japanese.
Are you serious? There are loads of young Japanese who have lived abroad, studied abroad, went to international school, who speak perfect English. I know many myself (as I am one of them).
Your comment is way off the mark, although I accept the other comments that you make.
I don't disagree with that, what I'm saying (just based on personal experience) is that most that can speak at that level don't end up remaining in Japan. For example, half of my J-buddies from my university got jobs in the US after graduation. Of the other half that came back to Japan, after a few years working in Tokyo, most have gone back to the US for work or have gone preggers and stopped working all together.