POINT OF VIEW/ Robert DujarricEnglish and immigration for soft power deficit
Specila to The Asahi Shimbun

Despite its economic weight, Japanlacks strength in what is known assoft power. Though hard to define,
this type of power is the cultural andintellectual clout of a country, its ability to shape the international conversation.
Anime and sushi are world famous,
but soft power comes from intellectual
enterprises. On this front, Japan keeps
a low profile. Japanese universities
wield minimal international influence.
Only a few Japanese thinkers in thesocial sciences and humanities havea foreign audience. With the exception of Northeast Asians, the only—
and not very numerous—overseas students and professors in Japan in thefields of history, philosophy, or sociology are Asian experts.
Japan is also underrepresented intransnational networks. Samuel Huntington coined the term “ampersand”(i.e. “&”) for individuals who are simultaneously from one country & another one. Examples could be a
Singaporean banker in London withprofessional ties to his homeland, oran Indian-American movie executive
who acts as a go-between between
Hollywood and Bollywood.
These ampersands are giving birth
to a new cosmopolitan class. Individuals from places as North Korea
and some African nations are still noticeably absent from this transnationalsociety. National differences and cul-tures have yet to vanish, but in thepast several decades this group hasgrown in scope and influence.
As an economic giant, Japan should
be a key node in this new Transnational Republic, but it is not. Most
Japanese overseas are employed by
Japanese businesses rather than working for non-Japanese corporations
where they could sink roots into aforeign society.
Many of the small number of Japanese executives in foreign firms andinternational organizations are female
exiles from Japan who wield little influence in the country of their birthdespite their achievements. As for foreign professionals in Japan, they too
are generally expatriates with very
shallow roots in Japan.
Why are Japanese relatively rare inthis planetary “Facebook?” First, Japanis one the few countries to be neither
western nor a former European
colony. Therefore, it is disconnectedfrom the Western-Anglophone coreof this loose confederation (learning
English is easy for speakers of other
Western European tongues who cantherefore be much less handicapped
than Japanese).
This cultural chasm makes it more
daunting for Japanese to settle abroad,and for outsiders to move to Japan.
It also hinders communications between Japanese and foreigners. Second, Japan is rich, big, and stable.
Consequently, Japanese have less incentive to leave home than citizensof poorer nations
such as China andIndia, violent ones
like Lebanon, orrich but small ones
like New Zealand.
Not being western(or westernized),Tokyo feels more“alien” to most
non-Japanese thando London, New Robert DujarricYork, Vancouver,Hong Kong or Singapore.
How could Japan boost its soft power? First, there is English. Many Japanese will never need English. But since
it is so hard for them to learn it,
Japanese need to start studying froma young age. Due to the dire shortage of good instructors, the logicalremedy is to hire well-trained teachers from overseas, as opposed to theyoung westerners who make ends
meet teaching English but whose only qualifications are their blue eyes.
There are many underpaid but excellent English teachers in India,Africa, and Eastern Europe who would
be happy to relocate to Japan. Some
Japanese might be concerned about
Indian, African or Ukrainian accents,
but English is an international idiom,
there is no “right” accent. Importingthese foreign instructors in large numbers is the only way to breach the linguistic Berlin Wall which isolates
Japan.
Second, there are the universities.

Non-East Asian foreigners will never learn Japanese in large numbers.
Except for those fascinated by Japan,
there are no overwhelming reasonsfor foreigners to make the effort oflearning thousands of kanji. If Japan,
like England, had given birth to vast
New Worlds and established colonies
on every continent, Japanese would
be a lingua franca, but that is not thecase.
Therefore, if Japan wishes to develop international human networks,
it will need elite undergraduate programs, as well as some high schools,
where most courses are taught in English. This will allow the country’s future leaders to establish global
connections from the time they enter college while familiarizing themselves with foreign cultures thanks tooverseas professors and students.
Third, immigration is vital to soft
power (and economic dynamism aswell). The more foreign professionals that feel welcome in Japan, theeasier it is for them to acquire residency and citizenship, the more likely it is that Japan will stop being theinsular society it is now.
Over time, these steps will allow
more Japanese to thrive overseas andforeigners to make their mark inJapan, thereby enhancing Japan’s softpower.
The author is director of the Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies at Temple University Japan.