II - Global Communication: A Matter of Heart

Summary

Pico Iyer, a British-born journalist of Indian origin who lives in Kyoto, has impressive credentials throughout Asia, including a decades-long friendship with the Dalai Lama. Iyer knows whereof he speaks, therefore, when he says, “the Japanese speak the language of the world, literally and metaphorically, less well than any of their Asian neighbors, with the exception of the North Koreans.” There is plenty of support, both anecdotal and data-driven, for Iyer's observation. In global comparative data on language proficiency compiled by IMD's World Competitiveness Center, Japan's performance is strikingly poor. Japan's mean English proficiency has already fallen below China's: the latter's position has increased by leaps and bounds in the last few years as it has prepared for the Beijing Olympics. In fact Japan's English proficiency, as measured by Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores, has it ranking not only last among Asia-Pacific countries and last among countries with GDP per capita greater than $10,000 (thirty-second out of 32), but in fact last overall among countries surveyed – fifty-second out of 52. There are also cognitive barriers, like shyness. In an international comparative study some years ago, famed Stanford psychologist Phillip Zimbardo found that, “more than any other nationality, the Japanese report feeling shy in virtually all social situations.” As Zimbardo concluded from various cultural observations “Japanese society is the model of a shyness-generating society.”