Kayoko Hashimoto

Cultivating “Japanese Who Can Use English”: Problems and Contradictions in Government Policy

In 2003 the Japanese government announced a 5-year plan to educate Japanese youth to be able to use English in the workplace. The idea originated from a proposal to adopt ‘‘English as an official language’’ in the government’s vision for the twenty-first century that was formulated in 2000 (Prime Minister’s Commission on Japan’s Goals in the 21 Century). In July 2002, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, Sports and Technology (MEXT) released a document entitled ‘Developing a Strategic Plan to Cultivate ‘‘Japanese with English Abilities’’’ (hereafter SPJE 2002), followed by another document, ‘Regarding the Establishment of an Action Plan to Cultivate ‘‘Japanese with English Abilities’’’ (hereafter APJE 2003), which was published in March 2003. The expression ‘‘Japanese with English abilities’’ is used in the official English versions of both the strategic plan and the action plan. The original Japanese [eigo ga tsukaeru nihonjin], however, is a rather informal expression that literally means ‘‘Japanese who can use English’’, a phrase that has been widely used since the release of the strategic plan. The plan to cultivate ‘‘Japanese who can use English’’ reflects the current situation surrounding TEFL (Teaching of English as a Foreign Language) in many ways. This article will examine the policy texts of the plans and other related documents, and argue that the texts themselves embody problems and contradictions in the government’s attempt to promote English as a means of boosting the economy. These two policy texts are products of the necessary compromise between the maintenance of Japan’s cultural independence and the promotion of English as an indispensable tool for international market competitiveness. I will also demonstrate that there is rhetorical continuity between the policy texts and public discourse, which indicates that the Japanese government’s agenda of maintaining cultural independence in an era of

‘English-only’, but not a medium-of-instruction policy: the Japanese way of internationalising education for both domestic and overseas students

While the medium-of-instruction (MOI) has been seen as one of the most crucial decision-making areas in language policies, it is curious that the equivalent Japanese expression to MOI is absent from educational policy documents. In a nation where the Japanese language is called the national language and enjoys the status of an official language, the absence of the MOI in policy documents is closely related to the fact that the so-called English education in Japan has been removed from bilingual education. In the new millennium, the Japanese government has continuously sought to increase the profile of English in two ways: by improving the overall English proficiency of Japanese students, and by attracting overseas students to Japanese universities in the name of internationalisation. The new senior-high-school English curriculum that aims to ‘conduct English classes in English’ was fully implemented in 2013, and the so-called Global 30 Project is expected to attract some 300,000 overseas students by 2020 to ‘English-only’ degree programmes established at core universities. This article argues that rather than equating with the MOI, the ‘English-only’ initiative can be seen as a tactic for facilitating the co-existence of the national language and English without formalising the status of English as a MOI. By examining government education policies and relevant documents using critical discourse analysis, it also argues that Japans dualism (Japanese and the Other) or the mechanism of Othering is behind these initiatives.

Compulsory "Foreign Language Activities" in Japanese Primary Schools.

From 2011, the new curriculum for introducing English to Japanese primary schools will be fully implemented in the form of ‘foreign language activities’. This innovation forms part of the governments plan to cultivate ‘Japanese with English abilities’, a development based on the awareness, particularly in the business sector, that equipping Japanese citizens with English skills is imperative if Japan is to remain competitive in the international market. Although Teaching English as a Foreign Language has been a key element of Japans internationalisation and one of the most hotly debated educational issues in Japan since the 1980s, the new curriculum is not a straightforward matter of early education in foreign language acquisition. Using critical discourse analysis as a methodological tool, this study analyses language policy documents, including the Course of Study for primary schools and junior high schools, to argue that it is rather an elaborate scheme to foster a particular attitude towards communication with foreigners by emphasising the differences between foreign languages and cultures and Japanese language and culture in the name of international understanding.

Introduction: Why Language Matters in Soft Power

This introductory chapter provides the theoretical framework for the book. Existing research has examined language policies within their historical, political, economic, social, and cultural contexts, including the impact on Asian countries of English as the lingua franca, a process facilitated by globalisation. Japan’s response to globalisation has shaped both English teaching in Japan and Japanese language teaching overseas. The soft power narrative provided by Joseph Nye in his book The Future of Power (2011) regards culture as one of the resources of soft power, but where language fits within the popular discourse that equates popular culture with soft power is unknown. The Japanese government’s view of Japanese language as a marketing tool for the Cool Japan campaign provides a compelling opportunity to examine the role of language education in the exertion of Japan’s soft power in Asia.

Japanese language and soft power in Asia

This cutting edge collection considers how the Japanese language functions as a key element of Japanese soft power in Asia. Within Japanese culture itself, the promotion of language has been an area of ambivalence. This interdisciplinary book looks across the fields of language policy, language teaching, socio-linguistics, cultural studies and history to identify the links between Japan’s language policies and broader social, economic and political processes. It examines the challenges that undermine Japan’s potential soft power by identifying a gap between the “official Japan” portrayed by the Japanese government and the “cultural Japan” that foreigners perceive. It also reveals historical continuity in the way Japanese language is perceived and promoted by policy makers and how the current practices of Japanese language teaching in Asian countries have been shaped within the framework of “international exchange”, which has been a key concept in Japanese foreign policies since the 1970s. It particularly considers the concept of ‘Cool Japan’ as a symbol of Japan’s interpretation of its cultural power and offers a thoughtful assessment of the future of Japanese as a form of soft power in Asia as the country prepares for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Cool Japan and Japanese Language: Why Does Japan Need “Japan Fans”?

This chapter examines the Japanese government’s view of its engagement with the international community through exercising cultural influence, including that of the language, over the past 15 years. The rhetoric that foreigners want to learn Japanese language because of their interest in anime and manga, which originated with the Cool Japan marketing strategy, has been so entrenched that it has produced confusion and misconceptions. Japan’s soft power strategy of creating “Japan fans,” which is a one-dimensional approach that does not take into account the context of the recipient country, mirrors a tendency within Japanese society to seek reassurance based on their belief in an unchanging Japanese culture and tradition that is unique to Japanese people.

“Mother Tongue Speakers” or “Native Speakers”?: Assumptions Surrounding the Teaching of Japanese as a Foreign Language in Japan

In the Japanese language, the term “native speaker” takes two forms—the loanword “ネイティブスピーカー” and its Japanese equivalent “母語話者”, which literally means “mother tongue speaker”—and these words are often used in different contexts. In Japan, “native speaker” is a political construction that facilitates the use of native speakers of English within the Japanese education system. This chapter examines how the two terms for native speaker are used by Japanese government offices and compares this with Japanese language teachers’ perceptions and understanding of the terms. It reveals that, although the term “mother tongue speaker” has not been widely used by the general public, government offices tend to use the term in order to emphasise the “non-native” status of Japanese language learners and teachers, meaning that they are foreigners. It also reveals that the Japanese teachers are aware of the absurdity of native-speakerist practices while at the same time believing in the inseparable relationship between people, language and place, which is extended to the assumed qualities of native speakers of Japanese. The findings suggest that more diverse teaching experience outside Japan would help teachers to realise that whether or not the assumed qualities of native-speaker teachers make them fully functional as teachers often depend on the local context, and such a realisation would lead to post-native speakerist practices in Japanese language teaching.