The Japanese Way
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Jinbun-chishiki (Language and culture specialists)

Many foreigners living in Japan are teachers of foreign language and culture. Primary among these are the many thousands of native speaking language instructors who occupy the many hundreds of foreign, mostly English, language schools that dot Japanese urban landscapes. Their motivation for coming to Japan appears to be the adventure of an exotic overseas experience, an opportunity to teach (often in a subject for which they have never received formal teacher training), and the acquisition and accumulation of Japanese yen.²⁴ Some remain in Japan for many years, many more return to their native homelands after their first year. They consist primarily of native English speakers from North America, but they also come from other anglophone and nonanglophone countries. A large number of them have just graduated from college. These are Japan's foreign language and cultural (jinbun-chishiki) specialists.²⁵

Although some of these specialists actually learn Japanese and come to know Japanese society well, many more leave Japan with stronger beliefs about their own language and culture, than with new and better knowledge about Japan. Even among those who learn to speak Japanese there are many who never learn to read it. As a result, their knowledge of Japan is limited to their direct experience, what they can learn from other non-Japanese who have written about Japan, and information provided to them by those Japanese with good mastery of the English language. Unfortunately, their direct experience is limited by their own, often limited language competence, and as a result they are unable to penetrate very deeply into Japanese society. Moreover, what they read about Japan is often written by others, who, like them, have only limited knowledge of the Japanese language. Finally, Japan's many self-appointed English speaking national ambassadors are often drawn from Japan's educated elite or international social fringe. Although they are often far better informed about their own society than many non-Japanese speaking foreign experts, these latter represent a part of Japan with built in attitudes about Japanese society and their own position within it. As a result, foreign understanding about Japan tends to be uniform across individuals and necessarily prejudiced by the attitudes and perspectives of a limited number of possible Japanese and non-Japanese sources.

Certainly not everyone, who comes to Japan with the words jinbun-chishiki stamped on his visa, has just graduated from college. There are also post-graduate researchers and university professors who occupy temporary research and teaching positions in Japanese universities and other research institutions. Though fewer in number than their language teaching jinbun-chishiki counterparts, these scholars are likely to have better command of the Japanese language and far better understanding of Japanese society and culture. Indeed, an important reason for inviting them to Japan is that they are already very knowledgeable about it and thus likely able to contribute something additional to it. These researchers have typically devoted their entire careers to the study of some aspect of Japanese society and are highly respected both at home and in their host country for their expertise.

Of course, there are many more experts with little or no knowledge of Japanese language and culture, who occupy temporary places in Japanese universities and industries. Whatever their motivation for coming to Japan, the reasons for inviting them are several: one, they make it possible for Japanese scholars to go abroad; two, they provide in-house Japanese with English language practice; and three, Japanese recruitment personnel have an important opportunity to screen for more permanent hires.²⁶ Where exchange is the motivation for hosting a foreign guest, what appears to be a balanced and fair exchange is often asymmetric. Unlike English, which has become East Asia's lingua franca for technology transfer and the dissemination of scientific information, the Japanese language is little known outside of Japan. As a result, most of the cross-cultural exchange that results from these invitations, occurs between Japan and those countries in which English is the predominant spoken language -- primarily the United States and the United Kingdom. Thus, when the Japanese goes abroad, he is immersed in an English speaking environment  for which he has had substantial preliminary language training.²⁷  In contrast, when his foreign counterpart arrives in Japan he is often greeted by a department head with some or even good English fluency, and thereafter spends most of his time with other foreigners like himself speaking English. This is because few Japanese have very good competency in spoken  English. In summary, whereas the Japanese acquires direct and intense exposure to his host culture, the foreign guest in Japan is often pushed to its foreign fringe. Even in those situations, where the Japanese host institution provides its foreign guests with Japanese language training, it is hardly enough for the foreigner to become truly communicative.

Although this list of jinbun chishiki visitors to Japan could be made much longer, already one can see that a large portion of those foreigners who reside in Japan for significant periods,  often leave Japan with little more understanding of Japanese society than those that come merely as passing tourists. What makes these two groups of visitors so very different, however, is their number and the length of time that they spend in Japan's entry hall. Those, who pass through Japan on a brief vacation observe a very nicely decorated doorway that anyone can enter. Those, who are left standing in this doorway for their entire stay without the fanciful decorations, however, eventually learn that there is a second, far more formidable door that requires enormous time and effort to push open. As a result, few even bother to push, and most simply return home with the impression that Japan is only for Japanese. Others still, live in Japan's entry halls for many years providing Japanese with the foreign language and cultural skills they require for overseas sales and investment opportunities. In effect, they help to decorate Japan's many entry halls and take turns standing guard at the second door. After all, they have a vested interest in helping to keep it shut. The extent to which they themselves actually pass through it, is often immaterial, because their Japanese role is in the entry hall.

Unfortunately, distorted positive images of Japan are not the only problem. There are also those who leave Japan embittered by its refusal to engage in meaningful dialogue with the outside. It takes many years to acquire sufficient knowledge of Japanese and Japanese culture, and one is easily disgruntled, when at every new turn one is treated, as if one had just stepped off the plane. Indeed, to succeed behind Japan's second door, it is often not enough to be patient, one must be patient and Japanese. Merely holding a Japanese passport is hardly sufficient in this regard.²⁸

In the end there are far many more foreigners who have stood in Japan's entry halls, than there are those who have passed through Japan's second door. As a result, there are far more people who wonder about Japan's closedness, than there are those who have actually experienced it. Indeed, for those who enjoy bridging cross-cultural barriers Japan can be a great disappointment.

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²⁴ As many Japanese who travel abroad realize, the yen has much better purchasing power overseas than in Japan. (text)

²⁵ Jinbun chishiki kokusai gyômu (人文知識・国際業務) is a visa status assigned to foreign language instructors with short-term overseas residence in Japan. It is an annual work permit. The word jinbun chishiki (人文知識) means knowledge about people -- namely,  the humanities. The term kokusai gyômu (国際業務) literally means intenrational work. (text)

²⁶ International educational exchange is often carried out on a reciprocal basis between sister institutions, (text)

²⁷ Not only are Japanese required to spend six years studying Engilsh while in grade school, but attendance at a Japanese university often requires passage of an English language entrance requirement and an additional two years of training. In addition, many Japanese firms require their freshman recruits to spend still another year in pursuit of the language and then make it a requisite for career advancement. (text)

²⁸ Sugawara Arudôdebito (formerly David Aldwinckle) is an excellent example of a foreigner who renounced his national citizenship, only to discover that carrying a Japanese passport made little difference in the way he is treated in Japanese society. To his dismay, in the eyes of most Japanese he is still a foreigner. (text)