{"id":4799,"date":"2018-08-29T06:48:16","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T21:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.babel.co.jp\/edu?p=4799"},"modified":"2019-04-22T06:48:56","modified_gmt":"2019-04-21T21:48:56","slug":"mission54-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.babel.co.jp\/edu\/en\/the-professional-translator-e\/mission54-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The language of Japanese is deemed inconvenient and is not sufficient for writing compositions or public speaking. Therefore, we should speak and write in English – at least this is the foolish nonsense that some people propose (directed at Mori Arinori, the first Minister of Education). \t-Fukuzawa Yukichi"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\"\u7c73\u56fd\u7ffb\u8a33\u5c02\u9580\u8077\u5927\u5b66\u9662\uff08USA)\u526f\u5b66\u9577\u3000\u5800\u7530\u90fd\u8302\u6a39\"<\/p>\n

\nTomoki Hotta
\nVice Chancellor
\nBabel University Professional School of Translation<\/p>\n

In this article, we\u2019ll consider what we can learn from Fukuzawa Yukichi\u2019s viewpoints, referring to Itsuo Kohama\u2019s recent book Fukuzawa Yukichi and Japan\u2019s Graceful Spirit.<\/p>\n

Fukuzawa announced bluntly that, \u201cThe language of Japanese is deemed inconvenient, and is not sufficient for writing compositions or public speaking. Therefore, we should use English and write in English – at least this is the foolish nonsense that some people propose.\u201d<\/p>\n

At around the same time, Fukuzawa published An Encouragement of Learning, Japan\u2019s first Minister of Education Mori Arinori called for switching to English as the country\u2019s official language. The above quote is Fukuzawa Yukichi\u2019s words of scathing reproach in response to Mori\u2019s proposal. <\/p>\n

It would be one thing if only private corporations were making the switch to English, but unfortunately, that\u2019s not the case. National and local governments are glibly proposing strategic \u201cEnglish only\u201d districts, or areas where public services are offered only in English. Then there\u2019s the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), that insists on creating \u201csuper global\u201d universities and casually switching higher education in Japa to English. What\u2019s more, MEXT is pushing forward policies to introduce English in elementary schools for earlier grades, even though the success of such policies is doubtful. In light of this recent activity, Fukuzawa\u2019s words sound as a warning for the Japanese. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, while Singapore and other Asian countries adopted English as the language used in their higher education, Japan has remained adamant about using Japanese in its higher education. What\u2019s interesting is that Japan has won several Nobel Prizes in the sciences, putting it right behind the U.S. at the top of the list for Nobel Prize for sciences. However, compared to the year 2000, a comparison of shifts in the science and technology budgets for major countries shows that America, Germany, and England have allotted 1.5 times more funds for science and technology, and Korea 4.7 times. China has set aside a surprising 11 times more funds for science and technology. Japan – whose allotted 1.06 times more funds in these fields – has shown almost no change. The government of Japan\u2019s blatant downplay of its role as a technology-intensive nation is shocking. <\/p>\n

The Japanese people and government must adopt an attitude for learning similar to that which Fukuzawa Yukichi taught. Fukuzawa advocated standing between the East and the West – always thinking of Japan\u2019s role and not simply following the West, but also learning from the East, Japan itself, and the West as well. <\/p>\n

Considering recent policies enacted by the Japanese government, it\u2019s time to be concerned again about Japan\u2019s current condition and examine just what kind of country Japan should be. <\/p>\n

Fukuzawa Yukichi contemplated such questions after the Meiji Restoration, which was a great turning point for Japan. The Japanese need to be aware of the fact that now is also at a turning point – a period where Japan must make a shift. <\/p>\n

Many are already aware of the following data, also cited by Kohama in his book (data provided by Kyoto University Graduate School professor Satoshi Fujii) from OECD\u2019s report on shifts in nominal GDP for major countries. Setting the year 1990 as the base year (100), Germany, France, and Italy are currently at 200 and above for nominal GDP, while the U.S., England, and Canada are at 300 and above. However, Japan has exhibited almost no growth. What\u2019s more, during the 20-year period from 1995 to 2015, Japan\u2019s nominal GPD rate of growth has been the lowest of all 80 major countries. Japan\u2019s deplorable situation doesn\u2019t stop there – nominal wages have continued to decline as well during that same 20-year period. Is Japan\u2019s current situation intentional? What\u2019s incredible is that not only the government but the media as well makes no mention of these issues.<\/p>\n

If Fukuzawa Yukichi were alive today, he probably would have had the following thoughts\u2026<\/p>\n

If one were to venture to list the three dangers threatening modern Japan, they would be the lack of citizens\u2019 awareness of danger and a lack of concern for the country. The Japanese today resemble the fable of a frog being slowly boiled alive. Neighboring China continues to cast sidelong glances at Japan as it struggles with economic decline (due to the misgovernment of government officials), looking for ways to encroach upon Japan\u2019s borders (buying whatever they can lay their hands on), and make Japan a Chinese protectorate. It is in the midst of such conditions that the Japanese must wake up to what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

Kohama also has a sense of impending danger and asserts that there are two other dangers in particular threatening Japan. <\/p>\n

The first is Japan\u2019s Ministry of Finances\u2019 reduced budget policies, which are the foolish plans of finance bureaucrats who renounce growth. These policies have resulted in delays in infrastructure maintenance, which was the primary reason for recent water damage in various areas. Such policies have also resulted in budget cuts in science and technology, which has threatened Japan\u2019s status as a technology-oriented nation, and military budget cuts, that have led to Japan\u2019s decreasing ability to protect itself as a nation. These budget cuts have also created an overwhelming disparity between Japan and neighboring China. Japan\u2019s foolish policies are deplorable, to say the least. <\/p>\n

Behind such policies are rumors of economic collapse, with Japan\u2019s debt supposedly at 1,000 trillion JPY, or approximately eight million JPY of debt per person. The government, however, issues bonds calculated in JPY as if there\u2019s no possibility of bankruptcy, and spreads propaganda insinuating that its citizens are the ones burdened with debt (while in actuality Japanese citizens are creditors).<\/p>\n

The second danger is minimal opposition in Japan to globalism and neoliberalism. How many people are aware that increased immigration policies, shifts in education to English, the liberalization of electricity, privatization of waterworks, and other policies are leading to Japan falling prey to global corporations?<\/p>\n

How many are aware that such problems are the result of the reckless actions of Japan\u2019s unique private members of the Diet? These \u201cmembers,\u201d who aren\u2019t members of the Diet but rather prominent players in the financial world, are allowed to nominally participate in Japan\u2019s Future Council, the Economic and Finance Advisory Council, etc. What these \u201cmembers\u201d are really doing is looking out for the interests of their own corporations (it would be one thing if they were simply engaged in honest lobbying). Japan is thus creating a structure that allows enterprises to greedily pursue personal gain. <\/p>\n

My intent in this article is not to get mired down by political issues, but I do believe Japan\u2019s people need to be concerned about the current health of Japan. <\/p>\n

Fukuzawa Yukichi did not merely side with the West as many often believe, but earnestly cared about Japan and adhered to a policy of fully understanding things Western, using what\u2019s called a \u201ctranslational approach\u201d – adopting Western ideas into the context of Japanese society. What Japan desperately needs now is another Fukuzawa Yukichi.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tomoki Hotta Vice Chancellor Babel University Professional School of Translation In this article, we\u2019ll consid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-4799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-professional-translator-e","tag-toppage-e"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babel.co.jp\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babel.co.jp\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babel.co.jp\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babel.co.jp\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babel.co.jp\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.babel.co.jp\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4800,"href":"https:\/\/www.babel.co.jp\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799\/revisions\/4800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babel.co.jp\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babel.co.jp\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babel.co.jp\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babel.co.jp\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}