Border Crossing

Two country, two visitors model

Imagine two countries A and B and one citizen from each who visits the other's country with the intent of learning that country's language and culture. Also imagine two strategies for internationalization: one of which is common knowledge to the general public of each nation, but neither of which is common to the general publics of both. Country A's strategy is to obtain as much information about country B's language and culture from country B's visitors. Country B's strategy is to teach visitors from country A as much about country B's language and culture, as possible. Which strategy do you think will result in better international relations?

Case 1: Country B's citizen in country A

Let us first consider the case in which country B's citizen visits country A. When he first arrives he is amazed by the number of people interested in his language and culture and is immediately attracted by the attention he receives. It is easy for him to find friends, and most everyone seeks to make his life as pleasant as possible. They achieve this by interpreting their guests needs to other country A citizens who are less well-versed in country B's own language and culture, but on whom country B's citizen now depends for his daily survival. What is the result?

The visitor from country B learns little about country A's culture, that is not filtered by those interested in his own language and culture. Moreover, he learns almost nothing about country A's language. Country A's citiziens learn something about country B, but hardly enough to know it very well. Not only must country B's citizen divide his time over a large number of country A's citizens, but as a sole representative of his country he constitutes a very poor sampling of his own country. Even if a large number of country B's citizens visit country A, country A's citizens are more likely to learn what country B's tourists think about country A on their first visit, than what country B is itself about.

Among the few close friends with whom country B's citizen is able to spend more time, he is obviously able to offer more insight. Unfortunately his friends will find it difficult to verify what country's B citizen tells them, because they rarely leave their country. Moreover, country A's citizens' ability to understand what country B's citizen teaches is limited to what they have read, practiced in school, watched on television, or seen in movie theaters. In other words the citizens of country A make judgments about country B's citizen and his country based on country A's popular perceptions of country B and the world in general.

Even if country B's friends have the opportunity to meet many of country B's visitors, still they are unable to obtain a very good notion of what country B's language and culture are about. This is because they only receive tiny bits and pieces of information from which they are unable to construct the whole picture. Have you ever tried to imagine the interior of a large darkened room with only a flashlight? When the room's lights are finally turned on, the room is almost always different from the way in which you imagined it. This is because each of us has a preconceived idea about the way rooms should appear based upon the rooms in which we spend most of our time. Obviously the rooms that country A citizens know best are those of country A.

Indeed, each of us suffers from strong conceptual and perceptual biases that can only be understood through daily encounters with others who have a different set of biases. This is because the values and codes of behavior that are so fundamental to the way we think and behave are much more a matter of habit and custom than they are carefully considered rational models that we can read about in books. Even when such models are available, how they are applied in practice cannot be known until they are tested in the reality from which they were derived -- not by the individuals who derived them, of course, for they have this knowledge already; rather by those who have acquired from the model builders the knowledge that they claim to know.

Moreover, the citizen of country B returns home frustrated because he was unable to achieve his goal, this despite his newly won friendships. He has learned much about country A's culture, but little of its language. Moreover, what he has learned of country A's culture likely suffers from important biases -- information that has been filtered by those interested in his own country. In the end, he has acquired few of country A's habits, internalized little of country A's values, and with the exception of the few friends from country A with whom he spent most of his time in his own language, he continues to regard country A as both strange and unknown.

Case 2: Country A's citizen in country B

Let us now consider the case in which country A's citizen goes to country B. When he first arrives he is stifled. Although many people would like to teach him about their language and culture, he is unable to understand anything. As a result few people want to become his friend. Although people to not purposely avoid him, they do not seek him out as in the previous example. Few people want to associate very closely with someone with whom they can neither joke nor discuss matters of importance at some length. Nevertheless, country A's citizen is determined, and he knows that if only he could speak the language of his hosts, he would have little trouble making friends.

He is patient and talks with many people for only brief periods about very simple things. He asks a stranger on the street for directions, exchanges greetings with people whose faces he recognizes, frequents the same cafés and restaurants over and over again until he gets to know the owner and others who frequent these places. He asks questions about the language and culture of his host country wherever and whenever possible, but never spends too much time with anyone, knowing that he can easily become a burden. Everyday he returns home and reviews what he has learned, and considers what he would like to learn next. He does this with the confidence that he will always be able to find at least one person, new acquaintance, local shop owner, station master, man on the street, student, or street beggar, who can help him with the answers to his many questions. He listens to the radio, watches television, and reads as much as possible. He is likely to carry a dictionary written in both his language and that of country B's wherever he goes. Little by little he learns to hold a small conversation, and as time passes the length of each conversation increases. In time his ability to keep up with current events improves, and slowly but surely he begins to feel comfortable both in the language and culture of his host country. Soon people begin wondering why he has come to their country, and even begin taking an interest in his, because it is easy to learn from him. This improves his ability to communicate, makes him feel more at home, and increases his desire to stay.

After a long period of learning with continuous improvement, country A's citizen must decide whether to remain in country B or return home. If he can find a job, he may choose to remain, if not he will likely return. Should he find work, he may even decide to become a citizen of country B, and will have little trouble, because he has near native ability in country B's language and has acquired a large number of country's B's habits and customs. Moreover, he understands well the mentality of his hosts.

Should he return home, he is likely to continue his interest in country B, because he can read country B's newspapers, listen to country B's radio and television programs on satelite TV, and attend foreign cinema theaters where that country's films are shown. In short, not only does he have friends in country B with whom he can communicate in their own language, but he has developed a fondness for country B's culture, language, current events, art, literature and music. Moreover, others of his own country view him as a sort of expert about country B, because not only is he knowledgeable about it, but he also takes an avid interest in its affairs. Also, his friends and family recognize this interest, and in turn want to learn more, because they can rely on his knowledge of country B. Because it is easy for him to communicate this knowledge in his native tongue, he is actively sought by others of country A who wish to know more about country B. Needless to say the feedback loops are unending and he forms a strong link between his country and country B.

Foreign visitors to Japan and Japanese visitors abroad

Now consider a country like Japan, whose popular national policy is that of country A, and whose citizens rarely spend much time in another country different from their own. When these individuals return to Japan, they are often those who become the friends of country B's citizen as described in case one. Because these individuals are few in number, they cannot possibly accommodate all the citizens of country B, who come to country A to learn about its language and culture. As a result the number of people in country A who know both countries very well are few. Furthermore, the number of people in country B, who know country A well are only those from country A who have decided to remain in country B, rather than return to their native land. They are not native citizens of country B. Moreover, those citizens from country B, who remain in country A, will do so for very special reasons, that may or may not have anything to do with their ability in country A's language and culture. In fact, they are often unable to communicate with country A's citizens in country A's language, and are thus able to share their knowledge of country B with only those citizens of country A, who are interested in country B and speak its language well -- in other words, those of country A, who have visited country B, acquired its language and have returned home.

In summary, Japan's relationship with the outside world has changed little from that of the time when the likes of Fukuzawa Yukichi and Natsume Sôseki left Japan for the first time.

Witchdoctors on the Village Edge

By making it a point to learn as much about the languages and culture of other countries without living in those countries for extended periods, Japan fails to teach its own language and culture to visitors from other countries well. As a result, Japan's knowledge of the outside world is largely biased, and the outside world's knowledge of Japan abysmal.

By veiling itself in a cloak of mystery Japan behaves very much like a witch doctor on the edge of the world village, whom few village members can trust and with whom fewer still can effectively associate. But like the witch doctor who depends on the village for his food and shelter, Japan offers things that the village wants like financial medicines, industrial potions, and technological spells. In exchange the witchdoctor receives what he needs to survive, create more potions, and live in his hut on the village edge.

Perhaps Japanese enjoy living like witchdoctors on the world's edge. Certainly, this is their choice. That they should complain when no one wants them as world leaders, and few people in the world village want to associate with them except for their technological, financial, and industrial magic, seems inappropriate, however. It is neither Japan's language nor its culture that turns away foreigners, rather it is the Japanese themselves.