A recent article in the Wall Street Journal opened with this:
The Galapagosization of Japan continues. According to a survey released today, a shocking two-thirds of the country’s white-collar workers said they didn’t want to work abroad…ever.
The results are downright depressing, given that Japan has recently suffered the ignominy of ceding its position to China as the world’s second-largest economy. The younger and more junior the employee, the greater the resistance to the expat life: 70.7% of “regular employees,” or those who aren’t managers, said they didn’t want to go abroad, according to a survey of 400 people conducted by the Sanno Institute of Management, a graduate school in Japan.
You really have to follow the link and read the full story to see what’s wrong with this story. The author goes on to say:
On a recent flight to Shanghai, the passenger next to me, a Chinese man in his 20s, said he was heading home for a short break from his university in California. He said this in near-perfect English, telling me excitedly about his future plans and asking about The Wall Street Journal. I can’t recall the last time that happened on a flight from the U.S. to Tokyo.
Probably today. And yesterday. Happened to me last week (though he didn’t ask about the WSJ).
First, let’s get to the poll, which was conducted by the Sanno Institute of Management (Never heard of it? No one else has either). According to its Wikipedia page, the most famous graduates from this school founded in 1979 include a voice actor, a fashion model, a radio DJ and a singer.
Of course, this institute that no one has ever heard of interviewed 400 people in a nation of about 127 million.
Here’s what’s crazy: Some of their findings might be true. According to the WSJ:
Common reasons were “I can’t speak English,” or “The overseas environment may not be safe.”
English proficiency in Japan is appallingly bad. At the same time, Japan is about the safest nation one could ever hope to live in. Going overseas anywhere is bound to be more dangerous.
Here are the problems with the article: It provides no frame of reference. How are these figures different from 5, 10 or 25 years ago? How do they compare to people from the US, China, Brazil, Russia, the UK or Germany? If someone did a survey and told me that 66.67% of Americans didn’t want to work overseas, I’d think they were lying; the figure should be more around 90%.
However, there is a problem in Japan:
An official at one of Japan’s leading banks recently confided that it was impossible to get young employees to study abroad — fully funded by the bank — or even to do an international stint. “They feel like they’ll fall behind their peers if they go overseas. It’s so stupid,” grumbled the official, who came from a generation when Japan’s best and brightest were dispatched to Harvard, Yale, Penn, Georgetown and Princeton to learn English and gain perspective by living overseas.
They forgot Chicago and Stanford, but whatever. The fact is if you want the best graduate education possible you have to go to America. If someone is willing to pay for it, you have to take it. But I don’t agree with this:
Companies like Rakuten and Fast Retailing are mandating that English is spoken at meetings as part of their push to globalize. But their efforts will be meaningless if Japanese refuse to step foot outside their shore.
Really? Not all workers need to be dispatched overseas in order to learn a foreign language (whether that be English, Chinese, Arabic, Russian or Spanish). Their efforts will be meaningful because they are sincere efforts. People will either learn the language or get left behind. The same goes for any other skill set. Don’t like company policy? Get another job.
Japan faces massive hurdles in terms of how English is taught in its secondary educational system. Fixing this is no easy task, but it is in the interest of the nation’s future. However, the truly disturbing statistic is this one: Amongst those unwilling to work overseas, 52.5% cited capabilities in communicating with foreign cultures.
This is the true failing of the education system. Communicating with foreign cultures is difficult? Meet people, hang out, watch their shows on YouTube. Talk, listen and learn. Ask questions.
Questions such as, “Who actually believes this survey of 400 people?”
