Utilizing Globalization
Teaching English at the local cram school, the number one question I
receive is “Why do I need to learn English?”. There are two ways to answer
this question. One is that your grade depends on it. The other is that learning
English will give you more opportunities to see different points of view,which let you have more options to attain happiness. When explaining this toa middle school student, however, the former seems more realistic. The
problem that we are facing in Japan however is that globalization is alsointerpreted similarly to the former, in that there is no intrinsic motivation forglobalization. Interest in globalization for the Japanese people has been
waning in recent years, and even fear of crossing borders and jumping into theunknown, characterized by Japan’s shortcomings in the globalization index,
ranking 36th globally in 2019 (Gygli et al.). By realizing that globalization canlead to happiness, it may ignite the fire necessary for people to take the stepand cross borders, hopefully attaining happiness along the way.
An encounter I had with globalization was through a 10-day internshipat an automobile part supplier company during my first year in the graduate
program. In the internship program, we worked remotely in Japan while being
connected with our mentor engineers in Vietnam through the internet. Even
with the outside world being in chaos from Covid, we were able to work withthe engineers every day to fulfill tasks, while also getting to learn about thepeople who work there and what it meant to work internationally. What reallystood out to me about the internship however was everybody’s stance oncommunication and how proactive the engineers were in getting the point
across, even if English was their second language as well. By taking different
approaches to explain the work, we were able to get an actual grasp of thethought process and approaches of the engineers in Vietnam and what it took
to communicate across borders. The way they communicated with us assured
us that we had no reason to be afraid of making mistakes, not only in work
but in speaking as well, which made it easier for us to express our opinions as
well, something that I found joy in. It became especially exciting once we had
the opportunity to present our creations and explain our thought processes tothem, discussing the different approaches in English, broadening my field ofview even more.
Experiencing this internship showed me that globalization is a tool tograsp different ways of thinking and sharing, something that brought
Page 1 of 6happiness and joy to me. It also showed me that to grasp this happiness,
communication both ways were necessary, as the discussions that we had
about the different approaches demanded both input and output. This issomething that I feel is lacking in the current state of globalization in Japan,
where the information stops at the point of input. In most circumstances inJapan, we tend to compare the information from the outside world to that ofdomestic ones, but because there is fear of standing out, the new informationis swept under the rug in order to keep aligned, preventing progress fromoccurring. Without having the courage of being different and making mistakes,
it is impossible to make use of the knowledge not native to the country, toinnovate and make better of the situation. In my case, the internship allowed
me to recognize this process, and by challenging myself to accept foreign
ways of thinking, the range of possibilities for my actions grew exponentially.
The internship I experienced allowed me to take the next step,
becoming the person to initiate global interactions and communications. To
accomplish this, I decided to take part in a global conference pertaining to myarea of research in fluid engineering. This opportunity allowed me to visit
Canada for a week and share my research with the top engineers in the world,
something that would be difficult just by staying in Japan. What wasespecially rewarding through the conference was how the top engineers in thearea would discuss potential outlooks on my topic and by discussing each of
our points of view, I was able to realize potential ways to take the next stepneeded in my research. This brought me a new joy in research as I was able tograsp an even greater view and taking upon the challenge of presenting on a
global scale was well worth it. I was also able to meet graduate students who
study in Canada, and what started with a discussion about fluid dynamics
turned into a friendship. Even now I keep in touch with those friends and canconnect with people that I would have never been able to meet if I didn’t takethe step outside of Japan.
When I speak of my experiences in globalization with my peers,
however, most of the reactions that I receive are that of awe that I presented in
English to a global audience. This is something that I find disturbing. Of
course, speaking in a second language may be difficult, but often the people
that are in awe outright reject the thought of speaking in a language that is notnatural to them. To me, this seems something much more than a problem of
speaking a second language, it is a problem with communication altogether.
Looking at how Japanese students are at school makes this even clearer.
Page 2 of 6

Moving to Japan after 15 years in America, I was dumbstruck by howorderly classes were in Japan. Everyone studied for examinations, trying to
get good grades to attend the school of their liking. At first, I had no problems
with this, but when I started to look at class objectively, there were little to nopauses in between the lesson for questions, as if it was normal for everybodyto understand class. This made me question how everybody really thought,
and when I asked a classmate about this, I realized that not everyone was on
the same page, but it was rather a fear of standing out that prevented themfrom asking questions or expressing themselves. Of course, being orderly is agreat trait of the Japanese way, but should it prevent us from expressing
ourselves by standing out? To take achieve happiness from globalization, thefirst step we must be able to take is not being shy of standing out, by being
able to express our thoughts, not just in a foreign language, but in general.
Now, there is a point to note when it comes to globalization andhappiness, however. Globalization does not equal happiness. It is only amethod to attain happiness, but the result depends on how it is taken. Take
Bhutan for example. In 2006, Bhutan was ranked 8th globally in the happinessindex (Kamenev), with only first-world countries preceding it in the rankings.
Astonishingly, however, the ranking in 2019 revealed Bhutan to be the 95 thhappiest country out of 156 countries (LaMotte), dropping over 80 spots in amatter of 13 years. Although many factors should be accounted for, one of themore interesting reasons for Bhutan’s fall is easier access to the outside world.
Access to greater amounts of resources from abroad would seem to raise thisindex for the population, but the index declined, which must mean that there
are other factors in globalization that affect happiness within the population,
thought to be the flow of information
A large reason why the flow of information from the outside world
caused a drop in happiness for Bhutan lies in how the information wasinterpreted. In the past, Bhutan was relatively weak in knowledge of theoutside world, with most of its civilians knowing only of what they see
around them, their universe composed of their neighborhood, the mountains
that surround the country being walls to the outside world, separating themfrom the unknown. Living in the comforts of their limited universe, happiness
was fulfilled as they had what they needed to survive, needing only little tomaintain their lives. By having little to compare with, they were able tosustain their happiness just by themselves, leading to the 8 th happiest country
in the world. This began to change as information about the outside world
Page 3 of 6

began to leak into their field of vision, learning that there is more to the world
than they had ever seen. In turn, knowledge became something to compare
their lives with. It can be said that this comparison became the downfall of
Bhutan’s happiness, as even new resources from the outside world couldn’t
overcome the deficit between them and the outside world.
In this sense, globalization can break down barriers, but globalization
itself cannot bring happiness into people’s lives. I experienced this when I
moved back to Japan from America in the 9th grade, where I started to attend
the local middle school. Growing up in America, I had little knowledge of theJapanese language, which made Japanese a second language for me. Thislanguage barrier caused frustration in me, and at first, I hated Japan altogether.
I felt that there was no need to learn a second language, yearning for the day
to move to the United States. However, as time began to tick by, I started toaccept the fact English alone would not be enough, and that this was anopportunity for me to learn a new language.
At first, I thought that this would be a walk in the park, but the more I
began to learn about the language, the more I realized how much of a gap
there was. This gap became even more frustrating as my progress in thelanguage began to dip and I started to become jealous of everyone around me,that they were able to speak Japanese, and not having trouble in everyday life
while I had to be confused at the simplest of Kanji. The grass looked greener
on the other side. However, at one point, I realized that even the people whohave lived their entire lives in Japan had to deal with learning the language,
and I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to live in an environment
where I could learn from others on how they learned the language directly,
something that would never have been possible just by looking being jealousof other people.
Without globalization, we do not have the capability to see the grass ofother people’s lawns and we are left to believe that our lawn is plenty.
Globalization tears down the fence between lawns, but this only reveals thedifferences between them. To stay away from the negative emotions thatcome from comparing each situation, we must first accept the fact that there
are differences and come to the realization that there may be ways to changethem.
By looking at globalization on a local scale, it becomes obvious that it
is not an easy thing to make use of. It is a double-sided sword that when usedwith the wrong mentality, can hurt the happiness that we currently have as wePage 4 of 6

tend to compare with others and despair at what we don’t have. However, bytaking the step in confronting the differences and having the courage to try
and communicate with the outside world, we can gain a greater view of theworld, something that can bring happiness to us. My experiences withglobalization showed me that globalization is just a tool, it is up to us to makeuse of it, to create happiness, it is not something given, but something that isearned.

Page 5 of 6

Works Cited
Gygli, Savina, et al. “The KOF Globalisation Index – Revisited.” The Reviewof International Organizations, vol. 14, no. 3, Springer Science andBusiness Media LLC, Jan. 2019, pp. 543–74.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11558-019-09344-2.
LaMotte, Sandee. “Meet the Smoking-free, Carbon-negative Country That
Passes No Law Unless It Improves Citizens’ Well-being.” CNN, 13 Sept.
2019,
edition.cnn.com/2019/09/13/health/bhutan-gross-national-happiness-wellne
ss/index.html.
Kamenev, Marina. “Rating Countries for the Happiness Factor.”
Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 12 Oct. 2006,
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2006-10-11/rating-countries-forthe-happiness-factorbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice#xj4y7vzkg.

Page 6 of 6