We often hear that there are few Japanese who can communicate in English, despite the fact that majority of us spend so much time and energy learning English since the 7th grade or so. What surprises me more, though, is the strong reluctance on the part of many Japanese people, even the young ones, to communicate in English. It looks as if people have mental block when trying to communicate in English.
I am convinced that the frequency of use is the key success factor to develop communication capability after you learn basics. Thus I encourage people to use as many opportunities as possible to speak, read, hear and write in English. We have decided to conduct meetings in English for my project. In fact, I started doing it yesterday, as we decided to do it starting in September.
I had to try so hard to encourage people to speak in English, as they tend to go back to speak in Japanese. I do not understand why they do not take advantage of the opportunity, as my project meetings are very low risk for trial. I hear many times that they want to develop English communication capability, and yet, they shy away from the occasion.
Language is just the means of communication, and thus, the more often you use, the better you will get. (I have become aware that the language has much more meaning and can affect the way we think, but I deliberately ignore that aspect of the Japanese for now. It requires much more thinking than is available now. I continue to think about the language as the critical “media”.)
When I read the book entitled “Decline of Collective Intelligence” ( in Japanese) by Ken Ohmae recently, he said that people liked his suggestions to develop financial literacy etc., but few people do something about it. I share his concern, as I have come across with NATO (no action, talk only.) Without action, nothing happens. It is such a simple fact.
Yoko Ishikura is a Professor at Hitotsubashi University ICS in the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy in Japan. She has held positions as a professor at the School of International Politics, Economics and Business of Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, as a consultant at McKinsey and Company Inc. Japan and a visiting professor at Darden School.
Professor Ishikura is a consultant to a number of multinational companies and has been a frequent speaker at management conferences, seminars, and workshops throughout the world. She was a member of the Regulatory Reform Committee for the Japanese government and the International Competitiveness Commission for METI. She is currently a Forum Fellow of the World Economic Forum.
She is the author of Strategic Shift from OR choices to AND paradigm, Building Core Skills of Organization , and the co-author of the following publications: Managing Diversity in the 21st Century, Strategy for Cluster Initiatives in Japan , and Building a Career to the World Class Professionals – all in Japanese. Her books in English include: Asian Advantage, Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management and Trust and Antitrust in Asian Business Alliances.
Professor Ishikura’s current research interests are focused on global competition, innovation, and knowledge management. She received her BA from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan; MBA from Darden School, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia; and DBA from Harvard Business School.
