NAGOYA--Hip-hop, with its roots in American black and Latino culture, might seem an unlikely dance to see here in the Aichi Prefecture capital. Yet, young homeboys and girls performing spectacular jumps, high kicks and one-handed spins to the driving beat of hip-hop music are no longer an unusual sight at schools around the city.
Hip-hop is cool in Nagoya.
The music and dance of hip-hop was born in the United States, where in 1970s' New York, gangs of young blacks and Latinos evolved alternative moves in music and dance to protest the prevailing pabulum of mainstream pop and disco that filled the radio airwaves.
Today, hip-hop is a strong cultural and economic force worldwide. And here in Nagoya, youths are using the dance to give shape to their own alternative visions.
Teens and older youths are honing their skills, strength and flexibility, hoping to win recognition in the growing number of hip-hop dance competitions being held here.
Even universities and high schools are adding hip-hop to gym classes and club offerings.
Aside from the fun and excitement this exuberant music and dance generates, its popularity can be traced to unique facets: it promotes nonviolence and forges faith in one's hometown.
In October, about 30 people took part in a class on the meaning and history of hip-hop at Nagoya University's Toyoda Auditorium.
The audience, filled mostly with youths in baggy clothes and members of the general public, heard lectures by two professional dancers.
The Nagoya-based dancers--Katsu, 39, and You-Gee, 33--have taught the class together since it began last summer.
"Hip-hop, which has spread worldwide, was started by members of youth gangs (in New York) who wanted to stop fighting. They instead began to compete on the streets by dancing," one said.
Katsu and You-Gee both honed their hip-hop dance skills in the United States. Since returning to Japan more than a decade ago, they have been working as dancers in and around Nagoya.
"It's amazing now. Many people are dancing hip-hop in sports clubs around the country," one said.
Adding to the Nagoya excitement is the annual Dance Dynamite hip-hop contest, which has been gaining more contestants year by year. When it started in 1991, fewer than 20 people entered, but last year's event saw 449 dancers eager to win accolades. Dance Dynamite is now one of the largest dance competitions in the Tokai region, of which Nagoya is the largest metropolis.
Why has hip-hop become so popular here?
Organizers believe it has something to do with the nonviolent nature of the dancing and the way it encourages local kids to stick with their hometowns instead of bolting for bigger cities.
In the States, hip-hop emerged in the poor inner cities, where immigrant and black youths with longstanding complaints against society decided to shun popular culture and instead create their own music and dance forms.
They no longer tried to hide what they were and where they were from.
Rather, hip-hop's originators proudly proclaimed their existence through music and dance. Hip-hop, rap and other forms of alternative music and dance soon claimed the notice of American youths of all colors.
To some extent, that's what is happening in Nagoya, too.
Chukyo TV Broadcasting Co. (CTV), based in Nagoya, has produced hip-hop dance programs since 2004. Producer Eisaku Kuromiya, 39, said, "Nagoya and hip-hop fit well together."
Kuromiya, born and raised in the city, is proud of his hometown. "I like Nagoya," he says.
And hip-hop encourages people to stand tall and feel proud of their roots, Kuromiya says.
Nagoya is home to musicians who have reached wide acclaim, such as nobodyknows+ and Seamo. Both artists have appeared on the prestigious Kohaku song contest that airs every Dec. 31 on Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) to ring in the new year.
They share similar opinions about the culture of hip-hop.
Seamo, 33, appeared in a video message shown during the university lecture led by Katsu and You-Gee.
"Hip-hop represents hometowns. Tokyo is not the only place that spreads culture," Seamo said.
Hip-hop's reach is expanding into classrooms nationwide, too.
Last spring, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology officially announced new school curriculum guidelines for junior high schools that included descriptions of hip-hop dance and music.
Dance has been an elective subject for physical education classes for years. But starting in fiscal 2012, in junior high schools, dance will become mandatory for first- and second-year phys-ed classes, and an elective for the third year.
In addition, the ministry is considering extending dance in senior high school phys-ed classes.
If that happens, the day will come when students nationwide will be learning hip-hop and other dance moves in their gym classes.
The ministry plan is a sign that hip-hop and other forms of dance have reached an unprecedented level of acceptance in Japan, according to Yuki Kumazawa, 37, a teacher at Tokai Gakuen High School in Nagoya who helps lead an unofficial dance club at the school.
In 2002, Kumazawa set up a network of school dance clubs around the area. According to the Aichi prefectural board of education, 20 schools in the region now have official dance clubs.
Hip-hop has come a long way from its rebellious roots on U.S. inner-city streets.
Kumazawa says that the best way to spread hip-hop's positive influences is for teachers to set up exchanges among students to help them learn the moves.
In 2004, he joined other advisers to organize a dance festival that involved 200 students from seven schools in the prefecture. The program was part of the annual Youth Festival sponsored by the Nagoya city government.
The dance program has continued to be a part of that festival, with last year's festival including 400 students from 18 schools.
This year, the event takes place on Jan. 24. At Nagoya's Toho High School, student dancers started practicing their routines in the gymnasium last month.
Saki Tanaka, 18, a third-year student at Tokai Gakuen High School who helps coordinate the dance troupe, is enthusiastic. "I cannot imagine life without dancing," she said.
Keiko Ito, 45, a teacher at Toho High School and an adviser to the official dance club of the school, recognizes the positive gains from dancing.
"Students grow by learning to express themselves through body movements. I thought someday the time will come when dance is a requirement in education," Ito said.
Ito herself is no slouch on the dance floor. Last July, she placed second in the hip-hop category at a national dance competition sponsored by a nonprofit group
BY HIROYUKI MAEGAWA, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Police probe fires at Tokyo Univ. of Science's Noda campus
CHIBA, Japan, Jan. 14 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Police suspect arson and possibly blackmail in connection with four mysterious fires at Tokyo University of Science's Noda campus in Chiba Prefecture that have occurred since mid-December, police sources said Wednesday.
The police said the first blaze occurred in the campus's No. 12 building around 11 a.m. Dec. 18 and burned some equipment and other materials in a lab in the building.
The three other minor fires took place Dec. 20, Dec. 22 and Jan. 5 in the same building, burning cardboard in the hallways and parts of the outer walls, they said.
The school said it received warnings about the fires but declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
The police said the first blaze occurred in the campus's No. 12 building around 11 a.m. Dec. 18 and burned some equipment and other materials in a lab in the building.
The three other minor fires took place Dec. 20, Dec. 22 and Jan. 5 in the same building, burning cardboard in the hallways and parts of the outer walls, they said.
The school said it received warnings about the fires but declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
Entrance exams outside localities aim to increase applicants
The Yomiuri Shimbun
To attract top-tier students amid a continued decline in the nation's birthrate, national universities have been holding entrance examinations outside their own areas in addition to those held locally.
By doing so, some universities have been able to increase their applicant numbers. But experts point out that these universities also should promote their academic merits and not focus solely on increasing the number of entrance exam host cities.
Muroran Institute of Technology in Hokkaido has found the approach to be effective after holding entrance exams outside Muroran. The university set up exam sites in Sapporo and Sendai in 2007 and added Nagoya last year. The university had averaged about 900 applicants in past years, but the number increased to 1,074 last year.
"We think this favorable result comes from our efforts to appeal to high schools and preparatory schools in areas where we'd seen interest from applicants before," a university entrance exam department staff member said.
Hoping to attract more applicants from the Kansai area, Kagawa University will hold an entrance exam this year in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.
According to a Kagawa University survey of the hometowns of last year's applicants, 47 percent of its applicants were from Shikoku, 32 percent were from the Chugoku region and 11 percent were from the Kansai region.
The university decided to hold exams in the Kansai region because more than 20 percent of its past applicants were from the area and it has a relatively high number of alumni in the area who have children around the age of 18.
"We're sure that applicants will consider choosing Kagawa University if we make it more convenient for them to take the exam," said Michio Yamada, head of the university's entrance exam department.
According to the Yoyogi Seminar cram school, 18 universities plan to hold entrance exams outside of their localities this year. This is an increase from 2007, when 11 universities did so, and 2008, when 17 schools did so.
However, increasing the number of entrance exam sites does not always increase the number of a university's applicants.
Toyama University's science and engineering schools held entrance exams in Nagoya last year. The number of individuals who applied for the engineering school increased by 180 from the previous year. However, the number of applicants for its school of science decreased by nearly 100.
To attract top-tier students amid a continued decline in the nation's birthrate, national universities have been holding entrance examinations outside their own areas in addition to those held locally.
By doing so, some universities have been able to increase their applicant numbers. But experts point out that these universities also should promote their academic merits and not focus solely on increasing the number of entrance exam host cities.
Muroran Institute of Technology in Hokkaido has found the approach to be effective after holding entrance exams outside Muroran. The university set up exam sites in Sapporo and Sendai in 2007 and added Nagoya last year. The university had averaged about 900 applicants in past years, but the number increased to 1,074 last year.
"We think this favorable result comes from our efforts to appeal to high schools and preparatory schools in areas where we'd seen interest from applicants before," a university entrance exam department staff member said.
Hoping to attract more applicants from the Kansai area, Kagawa University will hold an entrance exam this year in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.
According to a Kagawa University survey of the hometowns of last year's applicants, 47 percent of its applicants were from Shikoku, 32 percent were from the Chugoku region and 11 percent were from the Kansai region.
The university decided to hold exams in the Kansai region because more than 20 percent of its past applicants were from the area and it has a relatively high number of alumni in the area who have children around the age of 18.
"We're sure that applicants will consider choosing Kagawa University if we make it more convenient for them to take the exam," said Michio Yamada, head of the university's entrance exam department.
According to the Yoyogi Seminar cram school, 18 universities plan to hold entrance exams outside of their localities this year. This is an increase from 2007, when 11 universities did so, and 2008, when 17 schools did so.
However, increasing the number of entrance exam sites does not always increase the number of a university's applicants.
Toyama University's science and engineering schools held entrance exams in Nagoya last year. The number of individuals who applied for the engineering school increased by 180 from the previous year. However, the number of applicants for its school of science decreased by nearly 100.
Coming-of-Age Day
"Gosh, I'm so unlucky. What a time to become an adult!" It is Coming-of-Age Day. Perhaps many of you who are celebrating this day are silently muttering something like this. We are indeed in the midst of a tsunami-like economic crisis. The economy is getting worse. So-and-so's company collapsed. So-and-so is left out in the cold because company A reneged on its promise to hire him. The more you hear horror stories like these from your friends and superiors, the more anxious you are about your own future.
People attending coming-of-age ceremonies today were born when the era changed from Showa to Heisei. By the time they were old enough to be aware of the greater world around them, the asset-inflated bubble economy had burst. They have really never experienced straightforward economic growth.
The young entrepreneurs who held court in Tokyo's Roppongi Hills and the highfliers in the information-technology sector were once treated like celebrities, but the party only lasted a short time.
What lies ahead is an aging society with fewer children.
The small, young working population must support the many elderly people. The pension you receive in your old age will not be as much as what the old people get now. Yet, you are expected to bear the burden of the country's debt.
If you look outside the nation, you see how the tides of globalization created numerous gaps around the world: a power gap between the strong and the weak, and an income gap between the rich and the poor. And the wasteful use of resources and energy that caused global warming.
From that perspective, you might say your generation is unlucky.
But you would be wasting your youth if you just whine and feel sorry for yourself.
The world may be a confused, complex place, but you should not run away and hide. Instead, you must face it head on.
It is the young people who can change the world.
Obviously, the young have no firsthand knowledge of the past and little experience. That is precisely why they can come up with new ideas, unhindered by conventions of the past. New perspectives can sometimes be the key to unexpected solutions.
It would be a sad thing indeed if grown-ups cannot find it in themselves to appreciate the values of the young and their way of doing things.
With a Lower House election expected this year, we have a good opportunity. An election could provide the impetus to change the world.
Especially this time around, the landscape of Japanese politics might be drastically transformed.
It is said that there is strength in numbers. But as a group, young people are small in numbers. Their opinions do not readily make it onto center stage.
On top of that, the politicians in this country tend to court only older citizens. This is because older voters can be expected to actually go to the polling booths.
If you remain on the sidelines, your problems and concerns will be left behind and ignored.
These are difficult times to live in, and that is all the more reason to speak out. You must not remain silent.
Not for nothing, you've become an adult legally. Why don't you give it a try and see what it's like at a polling booth. Build up the young people's votes, one by one.
With the ship heading into high seas, it needs young rowers.
People attending coming-of-age ceremonies today were born when the era changed from Showa to Heisei. By the time they were old enough to be aware of the greater world around them, the asset-inflated bubble economy had burst. They have really never experienced straightforward economic growth.
The young entrepreneurs who held court in Tokyo's Roppongi Hills and the highfliers in the information-technology sector were once treated like celebrities, but the party only lasted a short time.
What lies ahead is an aging society with fewer children.
The small, young working population must support the many elderly people. The pension you receive in your old age will not be as much as what the old people get now. Yet, you are expected to bear the burden of the country's debt.
If you look outside the nation, you see how the tides of globalization created numerous gaps around the world: a power gap between the strong and the weak, and an income gap between the rich and the poor. And the wasteful use of resources and energy that caused global warming.
From that perspective, you might say your generation is unlucky.
But you would be wasting your youth if you just whine and feel sorry for yourself.
The world may be a confused, complex place, but you should not run away and hide. Instead, you must face it head on.
It is the young people who can change the world.
Obviously, the young have no firsthand knowledge of the past and little experience. That is precisely why they can come up with new ideas, unhindered by conventions of the past. New perspectives can sometimes be the key to unexpected solutions.
It would be a sad thing indeed if grown-ups cannot find it in themselves to appreciate the values of the young and their way of doing things.
With a Lower House election expected this year, we have a good opportunity. An election could provide the impetus to change the world.
Especially this time around, the landscape of Japanese politics might be drastically transformed.
It is said that there is strength in numbers. But as a group, young people are small in numbers. Their opinions do not readily make it onto center stage.
On top of that, the politicians in this country tend to court only older citizens. This is because older voters can be expected to actually go to the polling booths.
If you remain on the sidelines, your problems and concerns will be left behind and ignored.
These are difficult times to live in, and that is all the more reason to speak out. You must not remain silent.
Not for nothing, you've become an adult legally. Why don't you give it a try and see what it's like at a polling booth. Build up the young people's votes, one by one.
With the ship heading into high seas, it needs young rowers.
Coming of Age -- A time to celebrate, and a time to remember
In Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, just as in cities across the country, old school friends are coming together for Coming-of-Age ceremonies, where they meet, talk and reminisce. However, at this celebration on Sunday, the absence of one old friend has added notes of sadness and introspection to the usually happy festivities.
The missing face is that of Kazunori Fujino, who was killed by Tomohiro Kato, 26, during his June, 2008 rampage in the Akihabara district of Tokyo. Only 19 years old at the time, Fujino was hit and killed when Kato plowed through a pedestrian mall in his truck.
"I had hoped to celebrate with him," says one woman at the Coming-of-Age Ceremony who had been Fujino's classmate from nursery school to the end of elementary school. As she spots familiar faces, she cannot help but smile. "I'm lucky to have this ceremony and live a normal life," she adds, reflecting on Fujino's conspicuous absence.
With only 30 children in each grade at Fujino's elementary school, the kids were like family to one another. "Okazu" (his nickname) was known for being the class's live wire. He would demonstrate the karate techniques he was learning to his friends, and always made them laugh with his impersonations.
At the time of the Akihabara killings, Fujino's nursery school buddy hadn't seen him for many years. However, on the day after the attack, when she heard that Fujino was one of Kato's victims, her memories of him came flooding back to her as fresh as ever, and she broke down in tears. The following day, the young woman went with seven of her classmates to the scene of Fujino's death.
At the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, no one mentions Fujino. Though everyone is certain to be thinking of him, perhaps no-one wants to be the first to break the silence. In the winter of sixth grade, Fujino and his classmates all promised to get together again when they became adults and have a drink. All of Fujino's classmates are now about to turn 20, and the long-planned drinking party has been set for this coming March. Fujino's nursery school friend says she will reminisce about him with her classmates then.
Fujino was not alone when he died. Walking with him and sharing his fate was a 19-year-old university student from Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture. His father has come to the Coming-of-Age Ceremony being held at the Nagareyama Cultural Center to take part in the festivities his son cannot.
As he is about to depart, one of his son's good friends from junior high school approaches him to offer his condolences, leaving him deeply moved.
"If my son was alive and well, they'd probably be chatting about the past together," he said sadly. "It really is tragic."
Takashi Arai, 20, another one of the murdered boy's junior high school classmates, also had his absent old friend on his mind. "I remember he was a member of the handball club, and how he was such an energetic player," he says. "I couldn't attend the funeral, but I did pray for his soul. It's so sad, so regrettable."
The missing face is that of Kazunori Fujino, who was killed by Tomohiro Kato, 26, during his June, 2008 rampage in the Akihabara district of Tokyo. Only 19 years old at the time, Fujino was hit and killed when Kato plowed through a pedestrian mall in his truck.
"I had hoped to celebrate with him," says one woman at the Coming-of-Age Ceremony who had been Fujino's classmate from nursery school to the end of elementary school. As she spots familiar faces, she cannot help but smile. "I'm lucky to have this ceremony and live a normal life," she adds, reflecting on Fujino's conspicuous absence.
With only 30 children in each grade at Fujino's elementary school, the kids were like family to one another. "Okazu" (his nickname) was known for being the class's live wire. He would demonstrate the karate techniques he was learning to his friends, and always made them laugh with his impersonations.
At the time of the Akihabara killings, Fujino's nursery school buddy hadn't seen him for many years. However, on the day after the attack, when she heard that Fujino was one of Kato's victims, her memories of him came flooding back to her as fresh as ever, and she broke down in tears. The following day, the young woman went with seven of her classmates to the scene of Fujino's death.
At the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, no one mentions Fujino. Though everyone is certain to be thinking of him, perhaps no-one wants to be the first to break the silence. In the winter of sixth grade, Fujino and his classmates all promised to get together again when they became adults and have a drink. All of Fujino's classmates are now about to turn 20, and the long-planned drinking party has been set for this coming March. Fujino's nursery school friend says she will reminisce about him with her classmates then.
Fujino was not alone when he died. Walking with him and sharing his fate was a 19-year-old university student from Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture. His father has come to the Coming-of-Age Ceremony being held at the Nagareyama Cultural Center to take part in the festivities his son cannot.
As he is about to depart, one of his son's good friends from junior high school approaches him to offer his condolences, leaving him deeply moved.
"If my son was alive and well, they'd probably be chatting about the past together," he said sadly. "It really is tragic."
Takashi Arai, 20, another one of the murdered boy's junior high school classmates, also had his absent old friend on his mind. "I remember he was a member of the handball club, and how he was such an energetic player," he says. "I couldn't attend the funeral, but I did pray for his soul. It's so sad, so regrettable."
English taught in English
New teaching guidelines released by the education ministry call for high school English to be taught primarily in English from 2013. This conversion from traditional methods to a more active and communicative approach is decades behind the rest of the world. As China, Vietnam and South Korea have moved ahead, Japan's English education policies have languished. It may be a case of too little too late. Japan's position in the future internationalized world will be determined by the nation's English ability.
That is not to say that many teachers have not already moved ahead on their own. Many have already instituted what the government is just now starting to recommend. Excellent-quality English programs exist here and there and, generally, English-teaching methods have improved. However, ministry guidelines for increasing conversation, upping vocabulary levels and offering more active learning, admirable as they are, must be put into practice broadly and completely in more classrooms.
English education in Japan has been hobbled by an overemphasis on grammar study, pressure to pass entrance exams and over-reliance on translation. As a result, years and years of English study typically produce more anxiety than communicative ability. Changing the tradition of explaining everything in Japanese by creating more active English-based approaches will not happen overnight.
If the ministry's decision-makers are serious, they will commit to training teachers, finding more active textbooks, financing extra materials and study centers, and changing the overall English study curriculum.
Mostly, though, what needs to be changed is attitude. The resistance to teaching in English may stem from some teachers' embarrassment over their own ability. Yet, that is just the attitude that must be changed in students' minds. The burden of shifting to a more active approach will inevitably fall on English teachers. Yet, many teachers have already undertaken that shift with or without government support. Their individual efforts should be applauded and their innovations studied and exchanged.
That is not to say that many teachers have not already moved ahead on their own. Many have already instituted what the government is just now starting to recommend. Excellent-quality English programs exist here and there and, generally, English-teaching methods have improved. However, ministry guidelines for increasing conversation, upping vocabulary levels and offering more active learning, admirable as they are, must be put into practice broadly and completely in more classrooms.
English education in Japan has been hobbled by an overemphasis on grammar study, pressure to pass entrance exams and over-reliance on translation. As a result, years and years of English study typically produce more anxiety than communicative ability. Changing the tradition of explaining everything in Japanese by creating more active English-based approaches will not happen overnight.
If the ministry's decision-makers are serious, they will commit to training teachers, finding more active textbooks, financing extra materials and study centers, and changing the overall English study curriculum.
Mostly, though, what needs to be changed is attitude. The resistance to teaching in English may stem from some teachers' embarrassment over their own ability. Yet, that is just the attitude that must be changed in students' minds. The burden of shifting to a more active approach will inevitably fall on English teachers. Yet, many teachers have already undertaken that shift with or without government support. Their individual efforts should be applauded and their innovations studied and exchanged.
Time to review science-savvy medical education
Masakazu Yamazaki / Special to The Yomiuri Shimbun
The country is increasingly feeling the pain of an acute shortage of medical doctors. In an effort to perform first aid, the Education, Science and Technology Ministry recently decided to expand the annual quota for medical students accepted by universities.
This is a bold about-face on the part of the government, which has been capping the overall number of doctors in the country. In other words, the sudden decision to offer a structural remedy to ease the situation denotes how bad it has become.
From the point of view of patients, the ministry's decision is a welcome one. But this reminds me of an idea I have cherished for many years: The medical care crisis is an unprecedented opportunity for us to redefine the qualifications of future doctors. I don't mean that the existing criteria to become a qualified doctor are wrong, but my long-cherished idea is that medical students should be chosen from a more diverse talent pool.
Under the current university entrance examination criteria, schools of medicine are seen as the zenith of science studies. Cram schools offer special teaching programs for students aiming to enter medical schools, providing extensive studies in mathematics and physics, which constitute the basics of science. I hear that talented students taking medical school exams tend to feel a particular satisfaction in passing the two most difficult tests--math and physics. However, once they enter medical schools, math and physics expertise is not required so much as in the cases of students at science, technology and pharmaceutical faculties. What they have to learn, instead, are the complex physical and mental aspects of people.
In a sign that the emphasis on math and physics for medical students is shifting, at least one school of medicine no longer includes the two subjects in its exams. Instead, it places importance on Japanese ability and the interview portion of the screening. Similarly, another school of medicine has been keen to accept applications from university students studying in other departments. This school also does not place priority on math and physics, instead focusing on the applicants' breadth of general academic knowledge.
I have not asked those universities about the basic medical philosophy that lies behind their entrance examination policies. Once again, I want to make it clear that I do not have the slightest doubt that science is the very foundation of medicine. However, from a layman's point of view, the ideas of the two schools in regard to medical education is quite understandable, considering that medical treatment requires extraordinary expertise in science.
Put simply, whereas all science studies pursue universal truth, medicine represents knowledge that has to apply to individual patients. Of course, humans are nothing but matter, in a sense, simply following the mathematical and physical arrangement of proteins and fat. But the individual patients doctors treat are not so simple. Patients have physical constitutions and symptoms specific to each of them. Even if general treatment methods are used, it is indispensable for doctors to tailor such treatment to meet each patient's unique conditions.
In addition, personal histories and living environments differ from person to person. Medicine, therefore, is defined as not only part of science but also part of integrated human studies.
Seeing and feeling the problem
To understand each patient's conditions, it is not enough to apply analytical methods based purely on math and physics. Such analyses are fit for something that can be broken down into its constituent parts and then reassembled and restored to its original state. A mechanical approach such as this cannot be applied to human beings. What is necessary for treating people is a method that enables a doctor to immediately gauge a patient's entire condition and intuitively determine the nature of the problem--which is often intangible. This is similar to physiognomy in the human sciences.
In fact, doctors diagnose cases by seeing and touching the affected parts of patients or by wading through the results of X-rays and other tests. In essence, they apply a comprehensive and intuitive diagnostic approach. Advanced technologies, such as the magnetic resonance imaging system that produces highly analytical images of affected parts, can be used, but the intuition of a doctor fostered through experience is indispensable to accurately and quickly read that MRI data.
I am not sure whether a talent for physiognomy is a natural gift or the fruit of experience. However, such an intuition obviously has nothing to do with the talent required to pass required math and physics exams. It is regrettable that the existing medical school entrance exam system ignores from the very start a key indicator of the great potential in students aspiring to be doctors.
Another point we should keep in mind with regard to medicine is that people are different from the objects of pure science--human beings speak and express themselves. Patients tell doctors of their symptoms because they want doctors to understand their problems. Also, patients want doctors to learn of their mental state--which can be the root or result of their diseases--on top of diagnoses of their ailments.
Bedside manner important
As clinical philosopher and Osaka University President Kiyokazu Washida emphasizes in his book "Kiku Koto no Chikara" (The Power to Listen), listening to patients itself can be perceived as part of the cure from a patient's point of view. A situation in which patients feel that their problems are understood and shared by doctors can be as much a source of relief for them as medicine. This was the situation commonly seen a long time ago, before the development of modern medicine, and practitioners were not as busy as today's doctors. In those days, many of those who were renowned as excellent doctors earned that reputation thanks to their willingness to listen to patients.
Doctors need to have excellent speaking skills. Human beings are so sensitive that they readily sense who is truly willing to understand them and tend to speak only to such people. To be a good listener, a doctor has to be a good speaker. In this regard, it makes sense to add Japanese lessons to medical education to help students develop a good bedside manner.
While the lack of doctors is an acute issue that must be redressed urgently, medical education does take time. One emergency step to cope with the matter is to raise the quota of medical students accepted from other university departments. If this were to happen, the gap between science students and liberal arts students would be narrowed--and the door for the latter should be opened as widely as possible.
Another remedy is to take advantage of the presence of so many clinical psychologists to reshape the existing system, with the aim of strengthening cooperation between them and doctors. Clinical psychologists are qualified as specialists for listening to patients--they have a scientific education tailored to that particular goal.
Everyone knows that a major problem facing modern civilization is psychological disorder, which is seriously affecting various spheres of society, including education, crime, nursing care and the medical services. Stress makes people more susceptible to depression and psychosomatic diseases. It also can trigger many other types of maladies that require the involvement of all clinical departments in one way or another. Stress-related diseases are primarily dealt with by psychiatry. Influential theories in the field of psychiatry--from those of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) to U.S. psychologist Carl Rogers (1902-1987)--are similar to those found in clinical psychology. In fact, there are some academic societies in which specialists in the two fields sit together.
Early detection and counseling is effective in dealing with any disease. However, given the current number of doctors, such time-consuming approaches can hardly be provided sufficiently. To rectify the situation as much as possible, the government should recognize the qualification of clinical psychologists with a state-sanctioned license and cover treatments by clinical psychologists under the public health insurance system. These steps should be urgently implemented to prevent diseases.
Yamazaki, a playwright and critic, chairs the Central Council for Education, an advisory body to the education, science and technology minister.
The country is increasingly feeling the pain of an acute shortage of medical doctors. In an effort to perform first aid, the Education, Science and Technology Ministry recently decided to expand the annual quota for medical students accepted by universities.
This is a bold about-face on the part of the government, which has been capping the overall number of doctors in the country. In other words, the sudden decision to offer a structural remedy to ease the situation denotes how bad it has become.
From the point of view of patients, the ministry's decision is a welcome one. But this reminds me of an idea I have cherished for many years: The medical care crisis is an unprecedented opportunity for us to redefine the qualifications of future doctors. I don't mean that the existing criteria to become a qualified doctor are wrong, but my long-cherished idea is that medical students should be chosen from a more diverse talent pool.
Under the current university entrance examination criteria, schools of medicine are seen as the zenith of science studies. Cram schools offer special teaching programs for students aiming to enter medical schools, providing extensive studies in mathematics and physics, which constitute the basics of science. I hear that talented students taking medical school exams tend to feel a particular satisfaction in passing the two most difficult tests--math and physics. However, once they enter medical schools, math and physics expertise is not required so much as in the cases of students at science, technology and pharmaceutical faculties. What they have to learn, instead, are the complex physical and mental aspects of people.
In a sign that the emphasis on math and physics for medical students is shifting, at least one school of medicine no longer includes the two subjects in its exams. Instead, it places importance on Japanese ability and the interview portion of the screening. Similarly, another school of medicine has been keen to accept applications from university students studying in other departments. This school also does not place priority on math and physics, instead focusing on the applicants' breadth of general academic knowledge.
I have not asked those universities about the basic medical philosophy that lies behind their entrance examination policies. Once again, I want to make it clear that I do not have the slightest doubt that science is the very foundation of medicine. However, from a layman's point of view, the ideas of the two schools in regard to medical education is quite understandable, considering that medical treatment requires extraordinary expertise in science.
Put simply, whereas all science studies pursue universal truth, medicine represents knowledge that has to apply to individual patients. Of course, humans are nothing but matter, in a sense, simply following the mathematical and physical arrangement of proteins and fat. But the individual patients doctors treat are not so simple. Patients have physical constitutions and symptoms specific to each of them. Even if general treatment methods are used, it is indispensable for doctors to tailor such treatment to meet each patient's unique conditions.
In addition, personal histories and living environments differ from person to person. Medicine, therefore, is defined as not only part of science but also part of integrated human studies.
Seeing and feeling the problem
To understand each patient's conditions, it is not enough to apply analytical methods based purely on math and physics. Such analyses are fit for something that can be broken down into its constituent parts and then reassembled and restored to its original state. A mechanical approach such as this cannot be applied to human beings. What is necessary for treating people is a method that enables a doctor to immediately gauge a patient's entire condition and intuitively determine the nature of the problem--which is often intangible. This is similar to physiognomy in the human sciences.
In fact, doctors diagnose cases by seeing and touching the affected parts of patients or by wading through the results of X-rays and other tests. In essence, they apply a comprehensive and intuitive diagnostic approach. Advanced technologies, such as the magnetic resonance imaging system that produces highly analytical images of affected parts, can be used, but the intuition of a doctor fostered through experience is indispensable to accurately and quickly read that MRI data.
I am not sure whether a talent for physiognomy is a natural gift or the fruit of experience. However, such an intuition obviously has nothing to do with the talent required to pass required math and physics exams. It is regrettable that the existing medical school entrance exam system ignores from the very start a key indicator of the great potential in students aspiring to be doctors.
Another point we should keep in mind with regard to medicine is that people are different from the objects of pure science--human beings speak and express themselves. Patients tell doctors of their symptoms because they want doctors to understand their problems. Also, patients want doctors to learn of their mental state--which can be the root or result of their diseases--on top of diagnoses of their ailments.
Bedside manner important
As clinical philosopher and Osaka University President Kiyokazu Washida emphasizes in his book "Kiku Koto no Chikara" (The Power to Listen), listening to patients itself can be perceived as part of the cure from a patient's point of view. A situation in which patients feel that their problems are understood and shared by doctors can be as much a source of relief for them as medicine. This was the situation commonly seen a long time ago, before the development of modern medicine, and practitioners were not as busy as today's doctors. In those days, many of those who were renowned as excellent doctors earned that reputation thanks to their willingness to listen to patients.
Doctors need to have excellent speaking skills. Human beings are so sensitive that they readily sense who is truly willing to understand them and tend to speak only to such people. To be a good listener, a doctor has to be a good speaker. In this regard, it makes sense to add Japanese lessons to medical education to help students develop a good bedside manner.
While the lack of doctors is an acute issue that must be redressed urgently, medical education does take time. One emergency step to cope with the matter is to raise the quota of medical students accepted from other university departments. If this were to happen, the gap between science students and liberal arts students would be narrowed--and the door for the latter should be opened as widely as possible.
Another remedy is to take advantage of the presence of so many clinical psychologists to reshape the existing system, with the aim of strengthening cooperation between them and doctors. Clinical psychologists are qualified as specialists for listening to patients--they have a scientific education tailored to that particular goal.
Everyone knows that a major problem facing modern civilization is psychological disorder, which is seriously affecting various spheres of society, including education, crime, nursing care and the medical services. Stress makes people more susceptible to depression and psychosomatic diseases. It also can trigger many other types of maladies that require the involvement of all clinical departments in one way or another. Stress-related diseases are primarily dealt with by psychiatry. Influential theories in the field of psychiatry--from those of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) to U.S. psychologist Carl Rogers (1902-1987)--are similar to those found in clinical psychology. In fact, there are some academic societies in which specialists in the two fields sit together.
Early detection and counseling is effective in dealing with any disease. However, given the current number of doctors, such time-consuming approaches can hardly be provided sufficiently. To rectify the situation as much as possible, the government should recognize the qualification of clinical psychologists with a state-sanctioned license and cover treatments by clinical psychologists under the public health insurance system. These steps should be urgently implemented to prevent diseases.
Yamazaki, a playwright and critic, chairs the Central Council for Education, an advisory body to the education, science and technology minister.
Asia University for Women: magic in the making
By JEFF KINGSTON
Special to The Japan Times
Perhaps it is only fitting in this time of dismal economic news that Bangladesh, a country known principally for natural disasters and human misery, provides an inspiring and uplifting story to relieve the gathering gloom.
In addition to the monumental task of restoring democracy there by holding free and fair elections at the end of 2008, its Asia University for Women is now up and running, a venture that has gathered widespread international support aimed at nurturing women leaders from around the region. It is a magical place where you can see dreams coming true before your eyes.
The premise is simple: Money spent on educating women in poor countries is the best possible investment in development. That's because educating women has an enormous positive impact on reducing family size and mortality in families, improving the spacing of children and the allocation of household resources to children's education and health. It has also been found to lead to increased agricultural productivity, savings and per capita income.
Kathy Matsui, the managing director of Goldman Sachs in Tokyo, coined the concept "womenomics," and through her generous support of AUW she is investing her money where her convictions are. She believes that women are a secret and underutilized weapon in economic growth and that closing the gender gap in education and labor-force participation can spark a "quiet revolution." So closing the yawning gap between the haves and have-nots in Asia means improving educational opportunities for marginalized women.
After growing up in California as the daughter of Japanese immigrant farmers, Matsui understands the transformational power of education. While there has been progress in closing the gender gap in primary and secondary education in Asia, Matsui believes that because the rate of return on education for women is higher than for men, it is crucial to promote higher education for women. She is convinced that AUW can help its graduates become "miracle makers, making the impossible possible."
Matsui emphasizes that, "Narrowing the gender gap in education and employment is the best possible social investment that one can make."
Asked by AUW students how to break the so-called glass ceiling said to invisibly prevent women rising as high in their fields as men, she joked, "There is no glass ceiling, just a big layer of men!"
She advised young women to use the comparative advantages of their gender, and not to try and emulate men, saying that they can overcome obstacles and discrimination if they find something they are passionate about and pursue it with all their energy.
She says, "Breaking through the glass ceiling involves changing norms and attitudes, and making employers aware that it is to their benefit to value talented women workers and treat them accordingly."
In her view, by empowering women and giving them the skills they need to chase their dreams, AUW is an incubator for change and development.
Kamal Ahmad is the Harvard-educated "Bangladeshi bulldozer" who came up with the idea of AUW. He has tirelessly and successfully promoted it all over the world and against all the odds — even managing to ram it through the Bangladesh bureaucracy and parliament.
Ahmad says the biggest challenge has been overcoming the "obstructive engagement of the Bangladesh bureaucracy." However, he is so persuasive that he convinced the government to donate 100 acres (40.5 hectares) of land in the hills outside Chittagong for the campus — no mean feat in one of the most densely populated nations in the world, where some 150 million people occupy an area the size of Denmark.
Ahmad says that the idea of AUW sells itself, which he claims explains why he has had substantial success in getting foundation support and individual contributions. He says, "An AUW education represents a rare opportunity for rural women to earn a sustainable escape from rural poverty." By targeting first-generation university entrants, Ahmad hopes to spread the fruits of AUW to people who have always been on the outside looking in, and were often bypassed by development initiatives.
Kathy Pike, Assistant Dean of Research and Professor of Psychology at Temple University, Japan Campus, notes that, "Graduates from AUW will have to deal with the tensions between traditional expectations and their modern aspirations — a challenge that will test their critical thinking and communication skills.
"They are agents of change within their families and villages, challenging attitudes and norms that have kept women dependent and subordinate. Empowering these women and giving them confidence that they can make dreams come true and change the reality around them will have a tremendously beneficial impact.
"By changing their sense of possibilities, AUW will be changing Asian women's futures," she declares.
Special to The Japan Times
Perhaps it is only fitting in this time of dismal economic news that Bangladesh, a country known principally for natural disasters and human misery, provides an inspiring and uplifting story to relieve the gathering gloom.
In addition to the monumental task of restoring democracy there by holding free and fair elections at the end of 2008, its Asia University for Women is now up and running, a venture that has gathered widespread international support aimed at nurturing women leaders from around the region. It is a magical place where you can see dreams coming true before your eyes.
The premise is simple: Money spent on educating women in poor countries is the best possible investment in development. That's because educating women has an enormous positive impact on reducing family size and mortality in families, improving the spacing of children and the allocation of household resources to children's education and health. It has also been found to lead to increased agricultural productivity, savings and per capita income.
Kathy Matsui, the managing director of Goldman Sachs in Tokyo, coined the concept "womenomics," and through her generous support of AUW she is investing her money where her convictions are. She believes that women are a secret and underutilized weapon in economic growth and that closing the gender gap in education and labor-force participation can spark a "quiet revolution." So closing the yawning gap between the haves and have-nots in Asia means improving educational opportunities for marginalized women.
After growing up in California as the daughter of Japanese immigrant farmers, Matsui understands the transformational power of education. While there has been progress in closing the gender gap in primary and secondary education in Asia, Matsui believes that because the rate of return on education for women is higher than for men, it is crucial to promote higher education for women. She is convinced that AUW can help its graduates become "miracle makers, making the impossible possible."
Matsui emphasizes that, "Narrowing the gender gap in education and employment is the best possible social investment that one can make."
Asked by AUW students how to break the so-called glass ceiling said to invisibly prevent women rising as high in their fields as men, she joked, "There is no glass ceiling, just a big layer of men!"
She advised young women to use the comparative advantages of their gender, and not to try and emulate men, saying that they can overcome obstacles and discrimination if they find something they are passionate about and pursue it with all their energy.
She says, "Breaking through the glass ceiling involves changing norms and attitudes, and making employers aware that it is to their benefit to value talented women workers and treat them accordingly."
In her view, by empowering women and giving them the skills they need to chase their dreams, AUW is an incubator for change and development.
Kamal Ahmad is the Harvard-educated "Bangladeshi bulldozer" who came up with the idea of AUW. He has tirelessly and successfully promoted it all over the world and against all the odds — even managing to ram it through the Bangladesh bureaucracy and parliament.
Ahmad says the biggest challenge has been overcoming the "obstructive engagement of the Bangladesh bureaucracy." However, he is so persuasive that he convinced the government to donate 100 acres (40.5 hectares) of land in the hills outside Chittagong for the campus — no mean feat in one of the most densely populated nations in the world, where some 150 million people occupy an area the size of Denmark.
Ahmad says that the idea of AUW sells itself, which he claims explains why he has had substantial success in getting foundation support and individual contributions. He says, "An AUW education represents a rare opportunity for rural women to earn a sustainable escape from rural poverty." By targeting first-generation university entrants, Ahmad hopes to spread the fruits of AUW to people who have always been on the outside looking in, and were often bypassed by development initiatives.
Kathy Pike, Assistant Dean of Research and Professor of Psychology at Temple University, Japan Campus, notes that, "Graduates from AUW will have to deal with the tensions between traditional expectations and their modern aspirations — a challenge that will test their critical thinking and communication skills.
"They are agents of change within their families and villages, challenging attitudes and norms that have kept women dependent and subordinate. Empowering these women and giving them confidence that they can make dreams come true and change the reality around them will have a tremendously beneficial impact.
"By changing their sense of possibilities, AUW will be changing Asian women's futures," she declares.
Egg-on-face bloopers can make a yolk or worse of any translation
By ROGER PULVERS
Many readers will be familiar with the infamous guarantee said to have been spotted on the menu of a Hong Kong restaurant: "All the water used in our soups has been personally passed by the chef." Some may also have heard of that creepy assurance printed in the catalog for an art exhibition during the Soviet era in Russia: "The artworks in this exhibition are by artists executed during the past 20 years."
It is so easy to snigger superciliously at these mistranslations — and many Western bookshops have shelves full of tomes doing just that — yet anyone who has interpreted speech or translated texts from one language into another knows that, sooner or later, egg on the face is a hazard just waiting to happen.
Consider the poor Japanese diplomat who was giving an important speech at an international gathering. At the end he wanted to say that he hoped to meet everyone again soon, but made the ghastly mistake of translating literally a Japanese phrase that means this, namely, "narubeku hayaku minasan to ome ni kakaritai." Literally, ome ni kakaru means "to hang before the eyes." So our unfortunate diplomat ended his speech — and, perhaps, his career — with the English sign-off: "I want to see all of you hanging before my eyes as soon as possible!"
That may be enough rope for an entire article, but it hardly stops there.
An Australian friend of mine, ever eager to try out his meager Japanese on anybody, dropped a classic clanger. I call his Japanese "meager," but if his Japanese vocabulary were made of chocolate, it wouldn't even fill a Smartie.
Despite this, my friend refused to speak English with any Japanese he met, even a professor at a major university whose doctoral thesis at Oxford had been on "The Weighty Works of Ezra Pound."
To make a long story as short as humanely possible in the interests of my friend's embarrassment, the professor showed him a photo of his wife, whereupon my friend, pointing to it, exclaimed loudly, on a crowded train, "Anata no okusan wa kirai desu ne!" ("I really loathe your wife!")
Readers familiar with the Australian accent in English will know that kirei (lovely, smashing, beautiful) can come out sounding like kirai (hateful, loathsome, despicable) when the final diphthong gets stuck in the thick lower depths of the Aussie glottis.
And spare a little sympathy for the young American Rotary exchange student who had spent six months in a small town in Okayama Prefecture and was called upon, at the end of her stay, to give a speech before members of the local Rotary Club and their wives.
She was doing quite well, stringing one cliche onto another (the best strategy for faking a speech), until she made a forceful comment on the role of women in Japan compared with that in her own country.
"The women in my country are free," she said in Japanese, "and many have jobs, too. But almost all of the women in this, my host city, are prostitutes."
This biting sociological observation did not, you can imagine, go down very well with the worthies in attendance — or their wives. The young American guest in this small Okayama town had intended to label the women in her host city as shufu (housewives); but had actually called them shofu (harlots, prostitutes, call girls). As a Japanese physician I know once said in English (inadvertently exchanging a "v" for a "b"), "If you have trouble with your vowels, it is hard to act regular."
Well, there is hope yet for those of you out there who dare to interpret and translate, regularly or not. Here are a few hints on how to minimize your shame.
When interpreting, always make sure that you can see the face of the speaker. If you cannot, you run a greater risk of misunderstanding their words. My old friend, the renowned simultaneous interpreter Masumi Matsumura, recounted to me an incident that occurred when he was interpreting in Washington for a Japanese prime minister. Asked what kind of defense policy he envisaged for Japan, the prime minister remarked that Japan was like a porcupine. In other words, the country would not attack, but would be well armed, as it were, if set upon by others.
Now, the Japanese word for porcupine is harinezumi, or, literally, "needle mouse." Unfortunately, the prime minister had turned his head to one side when saying this, and Matsumura heard only the second half of the word, being nezumi (mouse). He was about to translate this with "Our defense policy is that of a mouse," when that all-important bell of common sense chimed in his head and he asked the prime minister for clarification.
This case, of being saved by the bell, is exemplary. Another hint, then, is to let common sense be your guide. If something that you have interpreted from a speech or translated from a text does not sound right, check it or look it up before you leap into translation.
"Even the great sage Kukai makes a slip of the brush," as the Japanese proverb goes; and seasoned translators of literature are equally not immune to error.
Dmitry Kovalenin, the excellent Russian translator of the works of Haruki Murakami, once tripped over the translation of kumozaru, meaning the spider monkey that is native of Central and South America. Kovalenin assumed, it seems, that Murakami was referring to a mythical animal, so he used a bizarre made-up equivalent of "spider" and "monkey" in Russian. Another Japanese proverb tells us that "even monkeys fall from trees"; and Kovalenin was man enough to bring this particular fall to light himself by acknowledging it publicly.
Well, dear reader, but for the grace of God go I as well. During my first year in Japan, some 40 years ago, I took a trip around Kyushu. I stopped off at an inn in Usuki and asked the owner the cost of a room.
"It's ¥1,200," she said, adding "benkyo shimasu."
My Japanese then was pretty minimal, but I knew that benkyo shimasu means "I will study." So I figured that this lady was offering me the room at this price so long as I taught her some English in the bargain.
"Benkyo shite kudasai! (Well then, study!)," I blurted out; and much to my surprise and delight, she lowered the price to ¥1,000, which at the time was less than $3.
When, later that evening, I started to speak English to her, she waved her hand in front of her face and told me that she didn't understand a blooming word of the language. It was only then that I checked my dictionary and discovered that benkyo suru can also mean "to offer a discount."
The golden rule of translating is: If you think you're wrong, you probably are. Armed with that, a good dictionary and some common sense, you'll probably make a regular translator.
But as my physician friend would say, "Just keep your vowels moving and the consonants will take care of themselves."
Many readers will be familiar with the infamous guarantee said to have been spotted on the menu of a Hong Kong restaurant: "All the water used in our soups has been personally passed by the chef." Some may also have heard of that creepy assurance printed in the catalog for an art exhibition during the Soviet era in Russia: "The artworks in this exhibition are by artists executed during the past 20 years."
It is so easy to snigger superciliously at these mistranslations — and many Western bookshops have shelves full of tomes doing just that — yet anyone who has interpreted speech or translated texts from one language into another knows that, sooner or later, egg on the face is a hazard just waiting to happen.
Consider the poor Japanese diplomat who was giving an important speech at an international gathering. At the end he wanted to say that he hoped to meet everyone again soon, but made the ghastly mistake of translating literally a Japanese phrase that means this, namely, "narubeku hayaku minasan to ome ni kakaritai." Literally, ome ni kakaru means "to hang before the eyes." So our unfortunate diplomat ended his speech — and, perhaps, his career — with the English sign-off: "I want to see all of you hanging before my eyes as soon as possible!"
That may be enough rope for an entire article, but it hardly stops there.
An Australian friend of mine, ever eager to try out his meager Japanese on anybody, dropped a classic clanger. I call his Japanese "meager," but if his Japanese vocabulary were made of chocolate, it wouldn't even fill a Smartie.
Despite this, my friend refused to speak English with any Japanese he met, even a professor at a major university whose doctoral thesis at Oxford had been on "The Weighty Works of Ezra Pound."
To make a long story as short as humanely possible in the interests of my friend's embarrassment, the professor showed him a photo of his wife, whereupon my friend, pointing to it, exclaimed loudly, on a crowded train, "Anata no okusan wa kirai desu ne!" ("I really loathe your wife!")
Readers familiar with the Australian accent in English will know that kirei (lovely, smashing, beautiful) can come out sounding like kirai (hateful, loathsome, despicable) when the final diphthong gets stuck in the thick lower depths of the Aussie glottis.
And spare a little sympathy for the young American Rotary exchange student who had spent six months in a small town in Okayama Prefecture and was called upon, at the end of her stay, to give a speech before members of the local Rotary Club and their wives.
She was doing quite well, stringing one cliche onto another (the best strategy for faking a speech), until she made a forceful comment on the role of women in Japan compared with that in her own country.
"The women in my country are free," she said in Japanese, "and many have jobs, too. But almost all of the women in this, my host city, are prostitutes."
This biting sociological observation did not, you can imagine, go down very well with the worthies in attendance — or their wives. The young American guest in this small Okayama town had intended to label the women in her host city as shufu (housewives); but had actually called them shofu (harlots, prostitutes, call girls). As a Japanese physician I know once said in English (inadvertently exchanging a "v" for a "b"), "If you have trouble with your vowels, it is hard to act regular."
Well, there is hope yet for those of you out there who dare to interpret and translate, regularly or not. Here are a few hints on how to minimize your shame.
When interpreting, always make sure that you can see the face of the speaker. If you cannot, you run a greater risk of misunderstanding their words. My old friend, the renowned simultaneous interpreter Masumi Matsumura, recounted to me an incident that occurred when he was interpreting in Washington for a Japanese prime minister. Asked what kind of defense policy he envisaged for Japan, the prime minister remarked that Japan was like a porcupine. In other words, the country would not attack, but would be well armed, as it were, if set upon by others.
Now, the Japanese word for porcupine is harinezumi, or, literally, "needle mouse." Unfortunately, the prime minister had turned his head to one side when saying this, and Matsumura heard only the second half of the word, being nezumi (mouse). He was about to translate this with "Our defense policy is that of a mouse," when that all-important bell of common sense chimed in his head and he asked the prime minister for clarification.
This case, of being saved by the bell, is exemplary. Another hint, then, is to let common sense be your guide. If something that you have interpreted from a speech or translated from a text does not sound right, check it or look it up before you leap into translation.
"Even the great sage Kukai makes a slip of the brush," as the Japanese proverb goes; and seasoned translators of literature are equally not immune to error.
Dmitry Kovalenin, the excellent Russian translator of the works of Haruki Murakami, once tripped over the translation of kumozaru, meaning the spider monkey that is native of Central and South America. Kovalenin assumed, it seems, that Murakami was referring to a mythical animal, so he used a bizarre made-up equivalent of "spider" and "monkey" in Russian. Another Japanese proverb tells us that "even monkeys fall from trees"; and Kovalenin was man enough to bring this particular fall to light himself by acknowledging it publicly.
Well, dear reader, but for the grace of God go I as well. During my first year in Japan, some 40 years ago, I took a trip around Kyushu. I stopped off at an inn in Usuki and asked the owner the cost of a room.
"It's ¥1,200," she said, adding "benkyo shimasu."
My Japanese then was pretty minimal, but I knew that benkyo shimasu means "I will study." So I figured that this lady was offering me the room at this price so long as I taught her some English in the bargain.
"Benkyo shite kudasai! (Well then, study!)," I blurted out; and much to my surprise and delight, she lowered the price to ¥1,000, which at the time was less than $3.
When, later that evening, I started to speak English to her, she waved her hand in front of her face and told me that she didn't understand a blooming word of the language. It was only then that I checked my dictionary and discovered that benkyo suru can also mean "to offer a discount."
The golden rule of translating is: If you think you're wrong, you probably are. Armed with that, a good dictionary and some common sense, you'll probably make a regular translator.
But as my physician friend would say, "Just keep your vowels moving and the consonants will take care of themselves."
Personal info on over 1,300 kids put on Internet
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Personal information of 1,342 primary school students who cooperated with a health survey conducted by the Environment Ministry has been exposed to the Internet through file-sharing software called Share, according to the ministry.
The annual survey covers about 180,000 3-year-old and 6-year-old children from 39 local governments across the nation.
The exposed information is personal data on 6-year-old children from the 2008 academic year and includes their names and addresses.
The children attend 21 primary schools in Akita, Gifu and Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, according to the ministry.
A Tokyo research company was commissioned by the ministry to collect and input the data.
Personal information of 1,342 primary school students who cooperated with a health survey conducted by the Environment Ministry has been exposed to the Internet through file-sharing software called Share, according to the ministry.
The annual survey covers about 180,000 3-year-old and 6-year-old children from 39 local governments across the nation.
The exposed information is personal data on 6-year-old children from the 2008 academic year and includes their names and addresses.
The children attend 21 primary schools in Akita, Gifu and Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, according to the ministry.
A Tokyo research company was commissioned by the ministry to collect and input the data.
Japanese school textbooks accused of rewriting wartime history
A row over Japan's apparent attempts to rewrite its wartime past has been reignited amid reports that new school textbooks will not state that the military forced civilians to kill themselves at the end of the Second World War.
By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo
The ongoing debate over Japan's version of historical events in its school textbooks focuses on the 1945 Battle of Okinawa in which the military were believed to have coerced civilians into mass suicides faced with certain defeat.
The government controversially decided two years ago to delete or rewrite references to the mass suicides in its national curriculum history textbooks resulting in a string of protests across Japan.
However, although education officials agreed to reinstate the passages, the new textbooks will not contain the requested word "forced" in the context of the Imperial Army's role in the suicides, according to new reports.
Instead, the wording has been delicately rephrased to state less directly that people were "driven to suicides amid the Japanese military's involvement".
Defending the decision, a senior official at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, told one newspaper: "It must be proved that descriptions in textbooks impose troubles to study when we approve revisions. There is no problem in the description that the military was involved." However, the wording is unlikely to satisfy civilian campaigners and historians who have long urged the government to accurately depict the version of events widely accepted according to historical research.
Accusations of rewriting its wartime past have become an increasingly sensitive issue in Japan, where tensions with neighbours such as China and South Korea have regularly flared up amid claims it is whitewashing its militaristic past.
It was during the final months of the Second World War that more than 200,000 lives were lost during the Battle of Okinawa, marking the only occasion of ground fighting in Japan on the remote southern islands.
According to eyewitness accounts and historical research, Japanese troops handed out grenades to residents and ordered them to kill themselves rather than surrender to the US.
Unanimously criticising the government's initial decision in 2007 to remove the references to this fact in school textbooks, Okinawa's local assembly said: "It is an undeniable fact that mass suicides could not have occurred without the involvement of the Japanese military," the assembly said.
By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo
The ongoing debate over Japan's version of historical events in its school textbooks focuses on the 1945 Battle of Okinawa in which the military were believed to have coerced civilians into mass suicides faced with certain defeat.
The government controversially decided two years ago to delete or rewrite references to the mass suicides in its national curriculum history textbooks resulting in a string of protests across Japan.
However, although education officials agreed to reinstate the passages, the new textbooks will not contain the requested word "forced" in the context of the Imperial Army's role in the suicides, according to new reports.
Instead, the wording has been delicately rephrased to state less directly that people were "driven to suicides amid the Japanese military's involvement".
Defending the decision, a senior official at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, told one newspaper: "It must be proved that descriptions in textbooks impose troubles to study when we approve revisions. There is no problem in the description that the military was involved." However, the wording is unlikely to satisfy civilian campaigners and historians who have long urged the government to accurately depict the version of events widely accepted according to historical research.
Accusations of rewriting its wartime past have become an increasingly sensitive issue in Japan, where tensions with neighbours such as China and South Korea have regularly flared up amid claims it is whitewashing its militaristic past.
It was during the final months of the Second World War that more than 200,000 lives were lost during the Battle of Okinawa, marking the only occasion of ground fighting in Japan on the remote southern islands.
According to eyewitness accounts and historical research, Japanese troops handed out grenades to residents and ordered them to kill themselves rather than surrender to the US.
Unanimously criticising the government's initial decision in 2007 to remove the references to this fact in school textbooks, Okinawa's local assembly said: "It is an undeniable fact that mass suicides could not have occurred without the involvement of the Japanese military," the assembly said.
Kanagawa Board of Education admits losing private data on 110,000 students
The Kanagawa Prefectural Board of Education has admitted leaking personal data on around 110,000 students onto the Winny file sharing network.
The lost data includes names, account numbers and other data stored on the tuition fee bank transfer system for the 2006 fiscal year. The leak occurred last June, after a computer belonging to an IBM Japan subsidiary was infected with a virus.
IBM Japan, who developed the Board of Education's IT systems, has apologized over the incident, as has the board.
Previously available data showed that records belonging to about 2,000 students had been leaked, but data on some 110,000 students was successfully downloaded from the Winny network on Jan. 7.
IBM Japan is working to try and remove the data. Additionally, while no damage has been confirmed as a result of the leak, the company is writing to those concerned to both apologize and recommend they change their account numbers.
The lost data includes names, account numbers and other data stored on the tuition fee bank transfer system for the 2006 fiscal year. The leak occurred last June, after a computer belonging to an IBM Japan subsidiary was infected with a virus.
IBM Japan, who developed the Board of Education's IT systems, has apologized over the incident, as has the board.
Previously available data showed that records belonging to about 2,000 students had been leaked, but data on some 110,000 students was successfully downloaded from the Winny network on Jan. 7.
IBM Japan is working to try and remove the data. Additionally, while no damage has been confirmed as a result of the leak, the company is writing to those concerned to both apologize and recommend they change their account numbers.
School quake data withheld
The Yomiuri Shimbun
KOBE--Only about 40 percent of municipalities have released the results of earthquake resistance checks on public primary and middle school buildings, although releasing the information is required under the revised law concerning special measures for earthquake and disaster management, a Yomiuri Shimbun survey has found.
Despite the revision of the law that went into effect in June, many municipalities said they were unable to plan earthquake safety improvements to school buildings due to financial difficulties. They also expressed concern that releasing information on the buildings' seismic resistance would cause public anxiety.
As schools are used as local disaster relief facilities, the Education, Science and Technology Ministry has again requested that municipalities release the information, saying it is necessary to share information on possible dangers.
The Yomiuri Shimbun surveyed 1,894 municipal education boards and secretariat associations through prefectural education boards to find out whether they had disclosed information on the seismic resistance of school buildings as of Oct. 1.
Those that said they had released the information numbered 785, or 41 percent.
Among the other 1,109, or 59 percent, that have not yet disclosed the information, 303 said they were working to make the information available to the public before the end of March, while the other 806 said they either were planning to do so sometime after April or had no plans to pursue the matter.
Among prefectures, Tochigi ranked last in information disclosure, with only 3 percent of its municipalities having released the information. Seven other prefectures, mainly in western Japan, saw fewer than 20 percent of their municipalities disclosing the information.
The disclosure rate in Hyogo Prefecture, which suffered the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, was 16 percent.
Shizuoka and Tokushima prefectures have been preparing for a possible Tokai, Tonankai or Nankai earthquake, and all municipalities in the two prefectures have released the results of seismic resistance checks on school buildings.
In nine other prefectures, including Iwate and Tottori, which have been hit by major earthquakes in the past 10 years, more than 60 percent of the municipalities have disclosed the information.
Ashikaga in Tochigi Prefecture, which has not released the information, said it did not have the financial resources to make its school buildings earthquake resistant. "Even if we release the seismic resistance evaluation results on the school buildings, we won't be able to explain [to residents] our future plans to reinforce the buildings," an official said.
The Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education said municipalities in the prefecture might have become more cautious after the 1995 earthquake.
The revision, requiring municipalities to conduct seismic resistance checks on school buildings and gymnasiums and to release the results, was initiated by lawmakers after a devastating earthquake hit China's Sichuan Province in May, collapsing about 6,900 school buildings in the province alone.
According to the education ministry, about 10,000 primary and middle school facilities could collapse if hit by an earthquake in the upper 6 level on the Japanese seismic intensity scale.
"It's a problem that parents don't get information that's related to the safety of their children," an official of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers Association of Japan said. "[The municipalities] must show us information on possible dangers and their future plans [for reinforcing school buildings], and also accelerate their efforts to handle the reinforcement work."
Schools limiting use of facilities
The municipal education board of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture--one of the cities that suffered serious damage in the Great Hanshin Earthquake--has not disclosed the results of seismic resistance checks of its school facilities, as it was decided the risk information should be given to residents along with its future plans to improve earthquake resistance. However, it plans to name school facilities that are believed in danger of collapse in a major earthquake.
The gymnasium of Hiraki Primary School is one of the 20 facilities in the city deemed by the ministry to be highly vulnerable to an earthquake in the upper 6 level on the seismic intensity scale. In December, Principal Yonezo Kida was told by a municipal education board official that the school gymnasium lacks sufficient seismic resistance.
Kida has instructed the teachers to limit the use of the gymnasium. The education board said it will create a plan to reinforce school buildings around March, but Kida said, "[Seismic resistance of school facilities] is beyond what a school can handle on its own."
The Daisen Primary School Akamatsu branch building in Daisencho, Tottori Prefecture, was evaluated in June to be at high risk of collapse if hit by an earthquake of upper 6.
Bringing the building's earthquake resistance up to standards will cost the municipality 60 million yen even with the government subsidy. "It's impossible to do the reinforcement work," a municipal government official said.
The school building has been closed since June, and the classes have taken place in a school gymnasium that meets the seismic resistance standards.
"I hope our child can study in a safe building as soon as possible," one father said.
KOBE--Only about 40 percent of municipalities have released the results of earthquake resistance checks on public primary and middle school buildings, although releasing the information is required under the revised law concerning special measures for earthquake and disaster management, a Yomiuri Shimbun survey has found.
Despite the revision of the law that went into effect in June, many municipalities said they were unable to plan earthquake safety improvements to school buildings due to financial difficulties. They also expressed concern that releasing information on the buildings' seismic resistance would cause public anxiety.
As schools are used as local disaster relief facilities, the Education, Science and Technology Ministry has again requested that municipalities release the information, saying it is necessary to share information on possible dangers.
The Yomiuri Shimbun surveyed 1,894 municipal education boards and secretariat associations through prefectural education boards to find out whether they had disclosed information on the seismic resistance of school buildings as of Oct. 1.
Those that said they had released the information numbered 785, or 41 percent.
Among the other 1,109, or 59 percent, that have not yet disclosed the information, 303 said they were working to make the information available to the public before the end of March, while the other 806 said they either were planning to do so sometime after April or had no plans to pursue the matter.
Among prefectures, Tochigi ranked last in information disclosure, with only 3 percent of its municipalities having released the information. Seven other prefectures, mainly in western Japan, saw fewer than 20 percent of their municipalities disclosing the information.
The disclosure rate in Hyogo Prefecture, which suffered the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, was 16 percent.
Shizuoka and Tokushima prefectures have been preparing for a possible Tokai, Tonankai or Nankai earthquake, and all municipalities in the two prefectures have released the results of seismic resistance checks on school buildings.
In nine other prefectures, including Iwate and Tottori, which have been hit by major earthquakes in the past 10 years, more than 60 percent of the municipalities have disclosed the information.
Ashikaga in Tochigi Prefecture, which has not released the information, said it did not have the financial resources to make its school buildings earthquake resistant. "Even if we release the seismic resistance evaluation results on the school buildings, we won't be able to explain [to residents] our future plans to reinforce the buildings," an official said.
The Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education said municipalities in the prefecture might have become more cautious after the 1995 earthquake.
The revision, requiring municipalities to conduct seismic resistance checks on school buildings and gymnasiums and to release the results, was initiated by lawmakers after a devastating earthquake hit China's Sichuan Province in May, collapsing about 6,900 school buildings in the province alone.
According to the education ministry, about 10,000 primary and middle school facilities could collapse if hit by an earthquake in the upper 6 level on the Japanese seismic intensity scale.
"It's a problem that parents don't get information that's related to the safety of their children," an official of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers Association of Japan said. "[The municipalities] must show us information on possible dangers and their future plans [for reinforcing school buildings], and also accelerate their efforts to handle the reinforcement work."
Schools limiting use of facilities
The municipal education board of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture--one of the cities that suffered serious damage in the Great Hanshin Earthquake--has not disclosed the results of seismic resistance checks of its school facilities, as it was decided the risk information should be given to residents along with its future plans to improve earthquake resistance. However, it plans to name school facilities that are believed in danger of collapse in a major earthquake.
The gymnasium of Hiraki Primary School is one of the 20 facilities in the city deemed by the ministry to be highly vulnerable to an earthquake in the upper 6 level on the seismic intensity scale. In December, Principal Yonezo Kida was told by a municipal education board official that the school gymnasium lacks sufficient seismic resistance.
Kida has instructed the teachers to limit the use of the gymnasium. The education board said it will create a plan to reinforce school buildings around March, but Kida said, "[Seismic resistance of school facilities] is beyond what a school can handle on its own."
The Daisen Primary School Akamatsu branch building in Daisencho, Tottori Prefecture, was evaluated in June to be at high risk of collapse if hit by an earthquake of upper 6.
Bringing the building's earthquake resistance up to standards will cost the municipality 60 million yen even with the government subsidy. "It's impossible to do the reinforcement work," a municipal government official said.
The school building has been closed since June, and the classes have taken place in a school gymnasium that meets the seismic resistance standards.
"I hope our child can study in a safe building as soon as possible," one father said.
New texts unlikely to say military 'forced' Okinawa mass suicides
TOKYO, Jan. 8 (AP) - (Kyodo)—New high school history textbooks will keep describing the mass suicides during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa as ones in which people were "driven into suicides amid the Japanese military's involvement," rather than saying the military "forced" them to kill themselves, sources close to the matter said Thursday.
While some textbook authors and civic campaigners have demanded use of the expression "forced," it has become unlikely after five textbook publishers decided to leave the wording as instructed by the education ministry, feeling it would be difficult to seek permission for adopting more direct expression over the mass suicides, the sources said.
A senior official of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, said, "It must be proved that descriptions in textbooks impose troubles to study when we approve revisions...there is no problem in the description that the military was involved."
In March 2007, the education ministry advised history textbook publishers to delete or rewrite references to the Imperial Japanese Army's role in coercing civilians into committing the mass suicides, which were conducted so they would not be taken prisoner by U.S. forces.
Prior to that instruction, the expression "forced" had been approved.
The publishers revised the descriptions in line with the state's instruction to pass its screening, but it prompted a large protest rally in Okinawa, eventually leading the state to allow the publishers to refer to the military's "involvement" in the suicides.
Still, some authors and civic groups in Okinawa have sought the textbooks to include the word "forced."
But the publishers have said that "a certain achievement" has already been made as they can refer to the military's involvement.
While some textbook authors and civic campaigners have demanded use of the expression "forced," it has become unlikely after five textbook publishers decided to leave the wording as instructed by the education ministry, feeling it would be difficult to seek permission for adopting more direct expression over the mass suicides, the sources said.
A senior official of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, said, "It must be proved that descriptions in textbooks impose troubles to study when we approve revisions...there is no problem in the description that the military was involved."
In March 2007, the education ministry advised history textbook publishers to delete or rewrite references to the Imperial Japanese Army's role in coercing civilians into committing the mass suicides, which were conducted so they would not be taken prisoner by U.S. forces.
Prior to that instruction, the expression "forced" had been approved.
The publishers revised the descriptions in line with the state's instruction to pass its screening, but it prompted a large protest rally in Okinawa, eventually leading the state to allow the publishers to refer to the military's "involvement" in the suicides.
Still, some authors and civic groups in Okinawa have sought the textbooks to include the word "forced."
But the publishers have said that "a certain achievement" has already been made as they can refer to the military's involvement.
Govt rethinks cram-free system / Draft education guidelines push advanced content, higher standards
Masahiro Umemura, Mitsuhiko Watanabe and Yohei Takei / Yomiuri Shimbun
A draft version of a set of new teaching guidelines for high schools, unveiled last month by the education ministry, signifies an attempt to end the ministry's continued emphasis on cram-free education.
The draft calls for the removal of restrictions on teaching advanced content in science and mathematics, and discourages teachers from using Japanese to teach English class.
The government's envisioned course of study asks educators to make a major shift and is aimed at improving the nation's academic standards.
"It's outrageous that we can't mention [Nobel Prize laureates] Hideki Yukawa and Shinichiro Tomonaga in a physics textbook," said an employee of a textbook publishing firm in reference to provisions that ban schools from teaching advanced content. Such provisions prevail in the cram-free education system.
"It's entirely natural for teachers to try to inspire students by telling them about Japan's great forerunners. But it's been impossible to do this satisfactorily because of the government's course of study," the employee added.
One of the company's textbooks was rejected in Autumn 2005 by the Textbook Authorization Research Council--an Education, Science and Technology Ministry panel charged with textbook screening. The company had cited the achievements of Japanese Nobel laureates in physics in a chronology appended to its Physics I textbook. But the council reportedly asked the firm to revise the book, claiming the inclusion of the laureates' names and achievements was irrelevant to its main content.
The council reportedly felt the chronological information went beyond the bounds of high school education and infringed educational provisions.
In the past decade, however, a considerable number of high schools have moved away from cram-free education.
Tokyo Metropolitan High School of Science and Technology in Koto Ward, which aims to train skilled scientists and engineers, has drawn up a curriculum that goes beyond the recommended course of study, such as by offering a special program with university professors as guest speakers.
Established in 2001, the school respects the provisions' upper limit on a level of study, while offering "super high-school-level" education that inspires students, according to one of the school's teachers.
In a class held on Dec. 22 titled "The Forefront of Physics: Get Closer to a Nobel Prize," an elementary particle researcher was invited as a guest speaker. Students were given the opportunity to learn about the study of CP violation by Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Masukawa who won last year's Nobel Prize in physics.
The school's principal, Kimikazu Tatsumi, 56, welcomed the draft revisions to the teaching guidelines. "If students become interested, they'll want to learn more than the textbooks can offer. It would be great to see the provisions go," he said.
Boosting English education
Under the new draft guidelines, the number of English words studied through high schools would be increased to 3,000 from the current 2,200. This increase of about 40 percent might leave some students nonplussed.
However, a 41-year-old teacher of a Tokushima prefectural high school said: "To prepare for university entrance exams, we presently teach 5,000 words. It's difficult to teach [properly] as [the reality] is far removed from the teaching guidelines. [With the revisions], it would become easier for us to teach [more effectively]."
Since the course of study was revised in 1978 following criticism of cram-style education and extremely competitive entrance exams, the number of English words studied at schools has continued to decrease. In the early 1970s, more than 4,000 English words were taught at many schools, with a higher rate of students going on to higher education. But a 1989 revision slashed the number of English words to 2,400, and another 200 words were cut in a 1999 amendment.
The ministry's attempt to significantly boost the number of English words was apparently prompted by an increased focus on English education in South Korea and China.
"With the 3,000 [English] words, we can stand on an equal footing," a ministry official said.
For the first time, the draft guidelines have asked teachers to conduct English classes in English. However, this has sparked concerns in the field.
"I'm not sure if this is doable. It'll depend on the teachers' skills," a teacher at a Saitama prefectural high school said.
The nation's English education has not focused on verbal skills, instead stressing grammar and reading. This is a reflection of the entrance exams, most of which previously did not test speaking skills.
One public high school teacher said, "Unless the entrance exams system changes, we can't respond to a call to suddenly start focusing on speaking."
Teachers' verbal skills would be an issue as many have no experience of studying abroad and are not accustomed to communication in English. With the new guidelines, both public and private schools are likely to seek new teachers with higher levels of spoken English. But such a move likely will affect the recruitment of teachers.
History requirements
The new draft teaching guidelines for high schools, however, stop short of making Japanese history a required subject, despite calls for this from some prefectural boards of education.
Though the draft made clear the need to learn world history in the context of Japanese history, advocates for such a change have been disappointed by the draft.
"We regret the decision because we've been speaking with one voice in making the request," said Masahito Yamamoto, head of the Kanagawa Prefectural Board of Education, which has been asking the central government to make mandatory the study of Japanese history.
The prefecture has stressed the importance of learning the history and culture of one's own country in the era of globalization. Based on this philosophy, the prefecture is planning to set up a course on its own, combining Japanese history with modern and contemporary world history.
In March 2007, the Toyama Prefectural Board of Education also filed a request with the central government to set up a new course on contemporary history by merging the world history and the Japanese history courses and making it mandatory.
Many local governments, including Ishikawa and Ibaraki prefectures, expressed their strong desire to make Japanese history a required course, even though they may not be as passionate about it as Kanagawa and Toyama prefectures.
In the first place, Japanese history is a very popular course among entrance exam takers.
It came to light three years ago that many high schools in the country failed to teach world history despite the subject being mandatory.
Although many students are familiar with Japanese history as they have studied it through classes in primary and middle school, most high schools usually have to teach world history from scratch.
As a result of many universities allowing applicants to write entrance examinations on Japanese history, many high school students are reluctant to study world history.
Students' preference for Japanese history is a contributing factor to the calls by prefectural governments to make the subject a required one.
A draft version of a set of new teaching guidelines for high schools, unveiled last month by the education ministry, signifies an attempt to end the ministry's continued emphasis on cram-free education.
The draft calls for the removal of restrictions on teaching advanced content in science and mathematics, and discourages teachers from using Japanese to teach English class.
The government's envisioned course of study asks educators to make a major shift and is aimed at improving the nation's academic standards.
"It's outrageous that we can't mention [Nobel Prize laureates] Hideki Yukawa and Shinichiro Tomonaga in a physics textbook," said an employee of a textbook publishing firm in reference to provisions that ban schools from teaching advanced content. Such provisions prevail in the cram-free education system.
"It's entirely natural for teachers to try to inspire students by telling them about Japan's great forerunners. But it's been impossible to do this satisfactorily because of the government's course of study," the employee added.
One of the company's textbooks was rejected in Autumn 2005 by the Textbook Authorization Research Council--an Education, Science and Technology Ministry panel charged with textbook screening. The company had cited the achievements of Japanese Nobel laureates in physics in a chronology appended to its Physics I textbook. But the council reportedly asked the firm to revise the book, claiming the inclusion of the laureates' names and achievements was irrelevant to its main content.
The council reportedly felt the chronological information went beyond the bounds of high school education and infringed educational provisions.
In the past decade, however, a considerable number of high schools have moved away from cram-free education.
Tokyo Metropolitan High School of Science and Technology in Koto Ward, which aims to train skilled scientists and engineers, has drawn up a curriculum that goes beyond the recommended course of study, such as by offering a special program with university professors as guest speakers.
Established in 2001, the school respects the provisions' upper limit on a level of study, while offering "super high-school-level" education that inspires students, according to one of the school's teachers.
In a class held on Dec. 22 titled "The Forefront of Physics: Get Closer to a Nobel Prize," an elementary particle researcher was invited as a guest speaker. Students were given the opportunity to learn about the study of CP violation by Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Masukawa who won last year's Nobel Prize in physics.
The school's principal, Kimikazu Tatsumi, 56, welcomed the draft revisions to the teaching guidelines. "If students become interested, they'll want to learn more than the textbooks can offer. It would be great to see the provisions go," he said.
Boosting English education
Under the new draft guidelines, the number of English words studied through high schools would be increased to 3,000 from the current 2,200. This increase of about 40 percent might leave some students nonplussed.
However, a 41-year-old teacher of a Tokushima prefectural high school said: "To prepare for university entrance exams, we presently teach 5,000 words. It's difficult to teach [properly] as [the reality] is far removed from the teaching guidelines. [With the revisions], it would become easier for us to teach [more effectively]."
Since the course of study was revised in 1978 following criticism of cram-style education and extremely competitive entrance exams, the number of English words studied at schools has continued to decrease. In the early 1970s, more than 4,000 English words were taught at many schools, with a higher rate of students going on to higher education. But a 1989 revision slashed the number of English words to 2,400, and another 200 words were cut in a 1999 amendment.
The ministry's attempt to significantly boost the number of English words was apparently prompted by an increased focus on English education in South Korea and China.
"With the 3,000 [English] words, we can stand on an equal footing," a ministry official said.
For the first time, the draft guidelines have asked teachers to conduct English classes in English. However, this has sparked concerns in the field.
"I'm not sure if this is doable. It'll depend on the teachers' skills," a teacher at a Saitama prefectural high school said.
The nation's English education has not focused on verbal skills, instead stressing grammar and reading. This is a reflection of the entrance exams, most of which previously did not test speaking skills.
One public high school teacher said, "Unless the entrance exams system changes, we can't respond to a call to suddenly start focusing on speaking."
Teachers' verbal skills would be an issue as many have no experience of studying abroad and are not accustomed to communication in English. With the new guidelines, both public and private schools are likely to seek new teachers with higher levels of spoken English. But such a move likely will affect the recruitment of teachers.
History requirements
The new draft teaching guidelines for high schools, however, stop short of making Japanese history a required subject, despite calls for this from some prefectural boards of education.
Though the draft made clear the need to learn world history in the context of Japanese history, advocates for such a change have been disappointed by the draft.
"We regret the decision because we've been speaking with one voice in making the request," said Masahito Yamamoto, head of the Kanagawa Prefectural Board of Education, which has been asking the central government to make mandatory the study of Japanese history.
The prefecture has stressed the importance of learning the history and culture of one's own country in the era of globalization. Based on this philosophy, the prefecture is planning to set up a course on its own, combining Japanese history with modern and contemporary world history.
In March 2007, the Toyama Prefectural Board of Education also filed a request with the central government to set up a new course on contemporary history by merging the world history and the Japanese history courses and making it mandatory.
Many local governments, including Ishikawa and Ibaraki prefectures, expressed their strong desire to make Japanese history a required course, even though they may not be as passionate about it as Kanagawa and Toyama prefectures.
In the first place, Japanese history is a very popular course among entrance exam takers.
It came to light three years ago that many high schools in the country failed to teach world history despite the subject being mandatory.
Although many students are familiar with Japanese history as they have studied it through classes in primary and middle school, most high schools usually have to teach world history from scratch.
As a result of many universities allowing applicants to write entrance examinations on Japanese history, many high school students are reluctant to study world history.
Students' preference for Japanese history is a contributing factor to the calls by prefectural governments to make the subject a required one.
Modern childhood holds many a lesson for adults
By MICHAEL HOFFMAN
Special to The Japan Times
The reader is invited to accompany me on a trip (return, not one-way) to second childhood. Those of us who learned Japanese as adults missed out, after all, on a vast store of linguistic experience. Is it irretrievable? Maybe not. The child's world is laid out in children's books. Leave your adulthood at the gate and walk in. No one will ask you for an ID. No one cares if you're not under 12.
Judging by a book I chose more or less at random, however, childhood is not what it used to be. The title is "Onna no ko ni makenai zo" (女の子に負けないぞ) — roughly, "No Way I'm Taking a Back Seat to Girls," by Sanae Kamijiyo (2002). The opening scene is strikingly contemporary. It is the start of a new school year and Nikichi, 11, is entering fifth grade. The first day of school brings with it suspense: Who's in my class? Who will the sensei (先生, teacher) be?
The kids are assembled, but, mysteriously, the teacher doesn't show. Why? At last the vice principal appears, visibly ill at ease. The teacher . . . er . . . couldn't come, he stammers. Why not? An accident. What kind of accident? A . . . er . . . traffic accident.
The kids know something ugly is up. Even so, when the truth emerges, it comes as a shock. One student reads about it in the newspaper and announces, "Bokutachi no tannin taiho saretan datta ?(僕達の担任、逮捕されたんだった, Our homeroom teacher was arrested)."
Arrested! What for? "Ano ne, kōkō-sei no onna no ko to enjo kōsai shitete taiho sareta no yo, iya desho? (あのね、高校生の女の子と援助交際してて逮捕されたのよ。嫌でしょ? He was?arrested for buying sex from a senior high school girl; isn't that gross?)."
Gross indeed. Here I am a few paragraphs into a book about 11-year-olds at school and I'm reading about enjo kōsai (schholgirl prostition) of all things!
My surprise is stupid, of course. After all, I read the newspapers too, and the relentless sexualization of childhood has been going on for a long time. That teachers are sometimes a party to it is lamentable. Education ministry statistics show 86 teachers in public schools nationwide — a record number — were dismissed in 2005 for waisetsu na koi (わいせつな行為, obscene behavior).? One example in the fall of 2007, the arrest of? Sapporo elementary school kyōtō sensei (教頭先生, vice principal) Takayuki Hosoda on suspicion of committing indecent acts with a miseinen (未成年, underage) girl, caused a national stir. For 16 years, police alleged, he had been leading a double life,? picking up young women who looked like would-be models and, pretending to be a professional photographer, taking their photos and selling them to adult magazines. All the while he had enjoyed a reputation as a remarkably majime (まじめ, serious) educator.
To return to our children's story: A new teacher is hastily brought in, the sort of teacher we all wish we had in grade five: 23 and cool as a cucumber. No sooner has she written her name — Mayu Tsubooka — on the blackboard than she faces a sexual challenge. The leering class bully, a ne'er-do-well nicknamed "Debiru" (Devil) by the kids, calls out, "Sensei ikutsu? Dokushin? (先生いくつ？独身？ Teacher, how old are you? Are you single?")
Tsubooka sensei finds out the loudmouth's name and says, "Suzuki-kun, ima no shitsumon wa sekuhara ... ni atarimasu. Watashi ga kimi wo sekuhara de uttaeru koto mo dekimasu . . . Ki wo tsukenasai." (鈴木君、今の質問はセクハラにあたります。私が君をセクハラで訴えることもできます。気をつけなさい, Suzuki, what you just asked me amounts to sexual harassment. I can sue you for that, so tread carefully.")
Sekuhara is another theme we hear much of, but it's generally considered a corporate and political vice (不道徳, vice, fudōtoku), the victim invariably on the weaker end of a power relationship (力関係, chikara kankei). One scarcely expects to find an elementary school teacher fending off a sexually harassing 11-year-old!
One day Devil goes too far. He calls out, "Sensei no mune chichai ne. Otoko mitai. (先生の胸ちっちゃいね。男みたい, What small breasts you have, teacher, just like a boy)." Tsubooka sensei lays down her chalk, walks straight up to the little monster and . . . simultaneously teaches and learns a lesson in exercising teacherly authority in our post-taibatsu (体罰, corporal punishment) age.
Once upon a time childhood meant innocence, and teachers — especially in Japan — were held in awe. We've traveled a long way since then — whether forward or backward is for the reader to say.
Special to The Japan Times
The reader is invited to accompany me on a trip (return, not one-way) to second childhood. Those of us who learned Japanese as adults missed out, after all, on a vast store of linguistic experience. Is it irretrievable? Maybe not. The child's world is laid out in children's books. Leave your adulthood at the gate and walk in. No one will ask you for an ID. No one cares if you're not under 12.
Judging by a book I chose more or less at random, however, childhood is not what it used to be. The title is "Onna no ko ni makenai zo" (女の子に負けないぞ) — roughly, "No Way I'm Taking a Back Seat to Girls," by Sanae Kamijiyo (2002). The opening scene is strikingly contemporary. It is the start of a new school year and Nikichi, 11, is entering fifth grade. The first day of school brings with it suspense: Who's in my class? Who will the sensei (先生, teacher) be?
The kids are assembled, but, mysteriously, the teacher doesn't show. Why? At last the vice principal appears, visibly ill at ease. The teacher . . . er . . . couldn't come, he stammers. Why not? An accident. What kind of accident? A . . . er . . . traffic accident.
The kids know something ugly is up. Even so, when the truth emerges, it comes as a shock. One student reads about it in the newspaper and announces, "Bokutachi no tannin taiho saretan datta ?(僕達の担任、逮捕されたんだった, Our homeroom teacher was arrested)."
Arrested! What for? "Ano ne, kōkō-sei no onna no ko to enjo kōsai shitete taiho sareta no yo, iya desho? (あのね、高校生の女の子と援助交際してて逮捕されたのよ。嫌でしょ? He was?arrested for buying sex from a senior high school girl; isn't that gross?)."
Gross indeed. Here I am a few paragraphs into a book about 11-year-olds at school and I'm reading about enjo kōsai (schholgirl prostition) of all things!
My surprise is stupid, of course. After all, I read the newspapers too, and the relentless sexualization of childhood has been going on for a long time. That teachers are sometimes a party to it is lamentable. Education ministry statistics show 86 teachers in public schools nationwide — a record number — were dismissed in 2005 for waisetsu na koi (わいせつな行為, obscene behavior).? One example in the fall of 2007, the arrest of? Sapporo elementary school kyōtō sensei (教頭先生, vice principal) Takayuki Hosoda on suspicion of committing indecent acts with a miseinen (未成年, underage) girl, caused a national stir. For 16 years, police alleged, he had been leading a double life,? picking up young women who looked like would-be models and, pretending to be a professional photographer, taking their photos and selling them to adult magazines. All the while he had enjoyed a reputation as a remarkably majime (まじめ, serious) educator.
To return to our children's story: A new teacher is hastily brought in, the sort of teacher we all wish we had in grade five: 23 and cool as a cucumber. No sooner has she written her name — Mayu Tsubooka — on the blackboard than she faces a sexual challenge. The leering class bully, a ne'er-do-well nicknamed "Debiru" (Devil) by the kids, calls out, "Sensei ikutsu? Dokushin? (先生いくつ？独身？ Teacher, how old are you? Are you single?")
Tsubooka sensei finds out the loudmouth's name and says, "Suzuki-kun, ima no shitsumon wa sekuhara ... ni atarimasu. Watashi ga kimi wo sekuhara de uttaeru koto mo dekimasu . . . Ki wo tsukenasai." (鈴木君、今の質問はセクハラにあたります。私が君をセクハラで訴えることもできます。気をつけなさい, Suzuki, what you just asked me amounts to sexual harassment. I can sue you for that, so tread carefully.")
Sekuhara is another theme we hear much of, but it's generally considered a corporate and political vice (不道徳, vice, fudōtoku), the victim invariably on the weaker end of a power relationship (力関係, chikara kankei). One scarcely expects to find an elementary school teacher fending off a sexually harassing 11-year-old!
One day Devil goes too far. He calls out, "Sensei no mune chichai ne. Otoko mitai. (先生の胸ちっちゃいね。男みたい, What small breasts you have, teacher, just like a boy)." Tsubooka sensei lays down her chalk, walks straight up to the little monster and . . . simultaneously teaches and learns a lesson in exercising teacherly authority in our post-taibatsu (体罰, corporal punishment) age.
Once upon a time childhood meant innocence, and teachers — especially in Japan — were held in awe. We've traveled a long way since then — whether forward or backward is for the reader to say.
Translators to be trained to support human trafficking victims
TOKYO, Jan. 7 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The welfare ministry will train translators with special knowledge to support foreign women victimized by violence from their Japanese spouses or human trafficking, its sources said Wednesday.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will begin training sessions in April for applicants with linguistic capability so they can learn how to face the victims, the sources said.
It will split the cost of the sessions between the state and the prefectural governments on a fifty-fifty basis.
Many human trafficking victims are forced to work in adult entertainment businesses, including as prostitutes, and they are hesitant to report to police due to fears caused by threats and violence, the sources said.
Since fiscal 2001, a total of 236 women have been put under protection as of the end of last September as victims of human trafficking or domestic violence, of whom almost 90 percent were from the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.
While translators have been working for the victims, they sometimes fail to deal appropriately with the women as they do not understand how the women feel, a ministry official said.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will begin training sessions in April for applicants with linguistic capability so they can learn how to face the victims, the sources said.
It will split the cost of the sessions between the state and the prefectural governments on a fifty-fifty basis.
Many human trafficking victims are forced to work in adult entertainment businesses, including as prostitutes, and they are hesitant to report to police due to fears caused by threats and violence, the sources said.
Since fiscal 2001, a total of 236 women have been put under protection as of the end of last September as victims of human trafficking or domestic violence, of whom almost 90 percent were from the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.
While translators have been working for the victims, they sometimes fail to deal appropriately with the women as they do not understand how the women feel, a ministry official said.
Academic career in Japan served as vital lesson in culture, says dean
By MINORU MATSUTANI
Staff writer
Bruce Stronach, current dean of the Japan campus of Temple University, has a career in academia that spans two countries and over three decades. Sixteen of those years were spent with schools in Japan and have taught him much about Japanese society.
Stronach holds a Ph. D. in international relations, a master's degree in arts and an M.A. in law and diplomacy at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and Harvard University. He worked for Keio University from 1976 to 1985, and was an assistant professor of political science at Merrimack College, Mass., from 1985 to 1990 as well as dean and professor at the International University of Japan, Niigata, from 1990 to 1997. He then returned to the United States to work at two universities and came back to Japan as president of Yokohama City University in 2005.
"My base bedrock experience in Japan was at Keio University, but my experience as the president of YCU was very rewarding and enlightening," says Stronach.
"It was stressful and many other things, but it taught me not just about Japanese universities. I came to know Japanese society so much better after the job."
His work at Yokohama City University was a first for both Stronach and Japan. His post marked the first time a non-Japanese was to head a public university in Japan. Stronach himself had never worked with Japanese bureaucracy before.
His situation, indeed, seemed to be a draw for many surprising experiences, but, putting the frustrating ones aside, he likes to remember one enlightening experience in which he felt he finally understood the depth of Japanese society.
That is when he attended the event at Yokohama City Hall to celebrate his appointment as the YCU president and the school's becoming an independent administrative institution.
Stronach felt the event would be boring for most who had to stand and listen to the speeches. But, he was instead surprised when every attendee stood and bowed to Hiroshi Nakata, the mayor of Yokohama.
"In some other part of my life I would have looked at that and burst into a laugh and said 'this is absolutely ridiculous.' But at the time I recognized what it means. Not just for me, but everybody in the room," he said.
"A bunch of people acting out a form in front of the mayor — (for) my appointment by the mayor, it becomes kind of a contract between everybody in the room and a recognition of the responsibility. And I hate to say this, as this is terribly not modest, but you really have to be in Japan a long time to understand it, not just understand it, but feel it."
While he cherishes his YCU experience for teaching him something of the depth of Japanese society, he owes it to Keio University for giving him the opportunity to work in Japan for the first time.
Still, in the early years of his work at Keio, he faced difficulty with the language and some discrimination, he said.
When Stronach first took the job at Keio, he was 26 years old, a bit old to be learning a new language, he felt. He still feels his Japanese, though satisfactory, is not as good as it should be.
Though with time he was able to become comfortable with the language, such was not the case with Japanese society and his feeling at home with it. He believes it was also more difficult for foreigners to assimilate into society at the time, as opposed to now.
"At Keio, I was expected to behave like a foreigner, and sometimes like a Japanese, but nobody ever told you when," he said.
He was first confused how he should fit into Japanese society, but later realized that one needn't try to be "overly Japanese." Instead, he says, one only needs to respect the country's customs and manner of its people.
"For me, it was important to come to an understanding of who I was. I really liked Japanese people and Keio, but I don't want to be a Japanese," he said. "I understand how they think, but I don't try to be a Japanese."
Such words, coming from a 58-year-old American man who has spent a third of his life in Japan and two-thirds involved in study about Japan, may serve as good advice for non-Japanese younger than himself.
He also remembers words of advice from those who had come to Japan before him. "An interesting thing for me and people in my generation is that my (American) senpai were people who came here during the Occupation. When I was a young guy at Keio, I had the great pleasure of sitting around, drinking with and listening to these guys and hearing great stories about the war and the Occupation," he says.
Now, "I have the pleasure to be a senpai to younger people who have come to Japan when (Tokyo) is really a global international city." Because of his senpai's reminiscing, Stronach says he now feels his "life has spanned the whole period after the war from 1945 to whatever Japan is going to be in the 2000s."
With all these experiences in work and life in Japan, he is also confident he can benefit Temple University in Japan.
"What I like about being here is that I can blend all of the years of experience I have in American universities and Japanese universities. There are not many people around who have as much administrative experience as I have in both," he proudly points out.
Staff writer
Bruce Stronach, current dean of the Japan campus of Temple University, has a career in academia that spans two countries and over three decades. Sixteen of those years were spent with schools in Japan and have taught him much about Japanese society.
Stronach holds a Ph. D. in international relations, a master's degree in arts and an M.A. in law and diplomacy at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and Harvard University. He worked for Keio University from 1976 to 1985, and was an assistant professor of political science at Merrimack College, Mass., from 1985 to 1990 as well as dean and professor at the International University of Japan, Niigata, from 1990 to 1997. He then returned to the United States to work at two universities and came back to Japan as president of Yokohama City University in 2005.
"My base bedrock experience in Japan was at Keio University, but my experience as the president of YCU was very rewarding and enlightening," says Stronach.
"It was stressful and many other things, but it taught me not just about Japanese universities. I came to know Japanese society so much better after the job."
His work at Yokohama City University was a first for both Stronach and Japan. His post marked the first time a non-Japanese was to head a public university in Japan. Stronach himself had never worked with Japanese bureaucracy before.
His situation, indeed, seemed to be a draw for many surprising experiences, but, putting the frustrating ones aside, he likes to remember one enlightening experience in which he felt he finally understood the depth of Japanese society.
That is when he attended the event at Yokohama City Hall to celebrate his appointment as the YCU president and the school's becoming an independent administrative institution.
Stronach felt the event would be boring for most who had to stand and listen to the speeches. But, he was instead surprised when every attendee stood and bowed to Hiroshi Nakata, the mayor of Yokohama.
"In some other part of my life I would have looked at that and burst into a laugh and said 'this is absolutely ridiculous.' But at the time I recognized what it means. Not just for me, but everybody in the room," he said.
"A bunch of people acting out a form in front of the mayor — (for) my appointment by the mayor, it becomes kind of a contract between everybody in the room and a recognition of the responsibility. And I hate to say this, as this is terribly not modest, but you really have to be in Japan a long time to understand it, not just understand it, but feel it."
While he cherishes his YCU experience for teaching him something of the depth of Japanese society, he owes it to Keio University for giving him the opportunity to work in Japan for the first time.
Still, in the early years of his work at Keio, he faced difficulty with the language and some discrimination, he said.
When Stronach first took the job at Keio, he was 26 years old, a bit old to be learning a new language, he felt. He still feels his Japanese, though satisfactory, is not as good as it should be.
Though with time he was able to become comfortable with the language, such was not the case with Japanese society and his feeling at home with it. He believes it was also more difficult for foreigners to assimilate into society at the time, as opposed to now.
"At Keio, I was expected to behave like a foreigner, and sometimes like a Japanese, but nobody ever told you when," he said.
He was first confused how he should fit into Japanese society, but later realized that one needn't try to be "overly Japanese." Instead, he says, one only needs to respect the country's customs and manner of its people.
"For me, it was important to come to an understanding of who I was. I really liked Japanese people and Keio, but I don't want to be a Japanese," he said. "I understand how they think, but I don't try to be a Japanese."
Such words, coming from a 58-year-old American man who has spent a third of his life in Japan and two-thirds involved in study about Japan, may serve as good advice for non-Japanese younger than himself.
He also remembers words of advice from those who had come to Japan before him. "An interesting thing for me and people in my generation is that my (American) senpai were people who came here during the Occupation. When I was a young guy at Keio, I had the great pleasure of sitting around, drinking with and listening to these guys and hearing great stories about the war and the Occupation," he says.
Now, "I have the pleasure to be a senpai to younger people who have come to Japan when (Tokyo) is really a global international city." Because of his senpai's reminiscing, Stronach says he now feels his "life has spanned the whole period after the war from 1945 to whatever Japan is going to be in the 2000s."
With all these experiences in work and life in Japan, he is also confident he can benefit Temple University in Japan.
"What I like about being here is that I can blend all of the years of experience I have in American universities and Japanese universities. There are not many people around who have as much administrative experience as I have in both," he proudly points out.
Foreign university faculty face annual round of 'musical jobs'
Universities in Japan force most of their foreign instructors to play an unnerving version of musical chairs. Every year the music starts and instructors with expiring contracts scramble for an opening at a new school. University administrators force teachers to play "musical jobs" by offering limited-term contracts.
The game has lots of players — many with permanent residence and families — searching for a vacant chair. There are about 5,700 foreign instructors working full-time at Japanese universities, the vast majority on limited-term contracts.
Contract conditions for foreign instructors at Japanese universities vary widely. Some offer bonuses, housing, private offices and research allowances, while others don't. However, contracts share certain common features.
Contract instructors typically teach almost twice as many classes as the tenured faculty. Whereas tenured professors usually teach six or seven 90-minute classes a week, instructors on contracts usually teach eight to 10 classes, with 12 or 14 not unheard of. The number of possible contract renewals is also capped, most commonly at three years. Finally, contract jobs often come with a starting age limit of 35 or 40. The practice of mentioning age limits on job ads has now been banned, but with date of birth written on the resume, de facto limits are certainly still imposed.
There are no easy answers to why universities prefer an employment system that Ivan Hall described in his book "Cartels of the Mind" as "academic apartheid." Forcing experienced instructors to leave every few years seems short-sighted at best. Yet Japanese university administrators and ministry of education officials do have their own justifications.
Contrary to popular belief, universities don't cap the term of employment at three years because labor law forces them to offer lifetime employment to teachers employed for more than three years. When hiring, a university must clearly state the number of times a contract can be renewed, but there is no set limit on that figure. A few schools offer one-year contracts renewable up to 10 times. However, without a clear cap on renewals a university might have to endure an embarrassing legal fight and hefty severance payment if they ever decided they no longer wanted to renew a contract.
Since the demographic crisis facing universities forces them to be more money-conscious and "competitive," one might expect that limited-term contracts have something to do with the bottom line. After all, a new foreign teacher can be hired at an entry-level salary. This is also a reason why so many schools set age limits: Younger means cheaper on the university pay scales. Contract lecturers also typically receive fewer benefits than tenured faculty.
In fact, penny-pinching began in December 1992 when, according to Hall, Ministry of Education officials phoned all the national universities and warned them against keeping foreign teachers in the higher pay brackets. In response, many schools sacked foreigners over the age of 50 (most had been promised a job until retirement) and replaced them with younger teachers on capped contracts.
However, the costs associated with a handful of foreign instructors represent a mere drop in the budget bucket of most universities. The savings are not nearly enough to bail their leaking institutions out from the demographic storm now lashing Japan's post-secondary education system. Attitudes held by university and government bureaucrats toward foreign teachers reveal the more fundamental reason for the contract system.
There's historical evidence that the practice is a remnant of Japan's xenophobic past. During the late Meiji Era, from about 1868 to 1912, "o-yatoi gaikokujin" — literally, "hired foreigners" — were employed as consultants, much like Tom Cruise's role in "The Last Samurai." In many cases the foreigners were well paid, and were expected to teach about their country's culture and the latest scientific achievements. Long-term foreign residents, however, were not desired, so the foreign consultants trained Japanese instructors, and when their three-year contracts ended they were not renewed.
Given their views toward foreigners, some current university administrators seem to be reincarnations of their Meiji-Era predecessors. One assistant professor, "Mary," who was popular with faculty and students alike at an international university, had agreed to her three-year contract only after assurances that it could be renewed if she did a good job. After three years of impressive yearly evaluations and a pay raise — not to mention the fact that she held a Ph.D., Japanese oral and written fluency, and was researching on a government grant that she would lose if she lost her job — her contract was not renewed. By way of an explanation, the university president told her, "You've been in Japan too long."
Unfortunately, this attitude is all too common. Too many university and ministry of education mandarins regard foreign faculty as models of foreign culture with expiry dates stamped on their foreheads rather than as qualified professionals who have a long-term role to play. For example, in the early 1990s Niigata University's president justified the dismissal of 54-year-old Sharon Vaipae by stating his desire to keep the foreigners "churning over constantly."
During a labor dispute in 2000, ministry bureaucrats justified term-limits to a delegation of union members by contending that they "encouraged the movement of teachers to other universities, which was of benefit to both teachers and the universities." Exactly how this benefited anyone was left unexplained.
In a 2006 Asahi Shimbun Op-Ed piece, Shinichiro Noriguchi, a University of Kitakyushu English professor, went so far as to identify the expiry date on foreign instructors at 10 years after landing in Japan. He contends that foreigners who have lived in Japan for more than a decade "tend to have adapted to the system and have become ineffective as teachers" and begin to suffer from an affliction he labeled "Japanized" English. If nothing else, such attitudes are at least consistent. Viewing foreign academics as disposable goes back to the 1903 sacking of author Lafcadio Hearn from what is now Tokyo University after his seven years of service.
Are the caps discriminatory? While most Japanese instructors receive automatic tenure and most foreigners receive a capped contract, the Supreme Court, with a little legal legerdemain, ruled that using different hiring systems for foreigners and Japanese doesn't violate the Labor Standards Law. The law only applies after someone has been hired, it ruled, and not during the hiring process itself, thus making discriminating universities immune from legal action.
Luckily, some universities do appreciate that employing foreigners permanently benefits students and schools, and that equally qualified foreign faculty are worthy of equal treatment. More of this would, in turn, encourage more foreigners to gain fluency in spoken and written Japanese.
Universities now have more autonomy from the ministry of education, which originally made the recommendation to keep foreigners on limited-term contracts. So a better question becomes whether the revolving door contract system hurts students.
The limited-term contract system essentially guarantees that students get shortchanged. An instructor starting a new contract takes their first year getting accustomed to students and creating teaching materials. During the next year or two a teacher can refine and improve their lesson plans and teaching.
Then, just when a teacher starts becoming a more productive and effective faculty member, they are forced to largely ignore their teaching and research duties and devote their final contract year to assembling extensive application packages in response to job ads that omit crucial details like salary, and then find the time and money to attend job interviews. Forcing out experienced instructors for new recruits means students often don't get the best classroom instruction. It also reduces the chances of foreign instructors starting clubs, doing volunteer work with students, or applying for multiyear research grants.
At the same time as Japanese universities have started letting a few foreigners climb the ivory-tower staircase to permanent employment, they've begun forcing Japanese instructors onto term-limited contracts. In 1997 a law passed making it possible for universities to offer Japanese instructors limited-term contracts.
At first few schools forced Japanese academics onto contracts, but prodding to "reform" from the ministry of education and the realities of declining enrollments have recently made them much more popular to university administrators. Sadly for Japanese academics, in the near future the annual round of "musical jobs" in the groves of academia may be a game that everyone has to play.
James McCrostie worked on contracts for nine years before finding a permanent position at Daito Bunka University. John Spiri has taught full-time at four universities over the course of 11 years in Japan. Send comments and story ideas to community@japantimes.co.jp
The game has lots of players — many with permanent residence and families — searching for a vacant chair. There are about 5,700 foreign instructors working full-time at Japanese universities, the vast majority on limited-term contracts.
Contract conditions for foreign instructors at Japanese universities vary widely. Some offer bonuses, housing, private offices and research allowances, while others don't. However, contracts share certain common features.
Contract instructors typically teach almost twice as many classes as the tenured faculty. Whereas tenured professors usually teach six or seven 90-minute classes a week, instructors on contracts usually teach eight to 10 classes, with 12 or 14 not unheard of. The number of possible contract renewals is also capped, most commonly at three years. Finally, contract jobs often come with a starting age limit of 35 or 40. The practice of mentioning age limits on job ads has now been banned, but with date of birth written on the resume, de facto limits are certainly still imposed.
There are no easy answers to why universities prefer an employment system that Ivan Hall described in his book "Cartels of the Mind" as "academic apartheid." Forcing experienced instructors to leave every few years seems short-sighted at best. Yet Japanese university administrators and ministry of education officials do have their own justifications.
Contrary to popular belief, universities don't cap the term of employment at three years because labor law forces them to offer lifetime employment to teachers employed for more than three years. When hiring, a university must clearly state the number of times a contract can be renewed, but there is no set limit on that figure. A few schools offer one-year contracts renewable up to 10 times. However, without a clear cap on renewals a university might have to endure an embarrassing legal fight and hefty severance payment if they ever decided they no longer wanted to renew a contract.
Since the demographic crisis facing universities forces them to be more money-conscious and "competitive," one might expect that limited-term contracts have something to do with the bottom line. After all, a new foreign teacher can be hired at an entry-level salary. This is also a reason why so many schools set age limits: Younger means cheaper on the university pay scales. Contract lecturers also typically receive fewer benefits than tenured faculty.
In fact, penny-pinching began in December 1992 when, according to Hall, Ministry of Education officials phoned all the national universities and warned them against keeping foreign teachers in the higher pay brackets. In response, many schools sacked foreigners over the age of 50 (most had been promised a job until retirement) and replaced them with younger teachers on capped contracts.
However, the costs associated with a handful of foreign instructors represent a mere drop in the budget bucket of most universities. The savings are not nearly enough to bail their leaking institutions out from the demographic storm now lashing Japan's post-secondary education system. Attitudes held by university and government bureaucrats toward foreign teachers reveal the more fundamental reason for the contract system.
There's historical evidence that the practice is a remnant of Japan's xenophobic past. During the late Meiji Era, from about 1868 to 1912, "o-yatoi gaikokujin" — literally, "hired foreigners" — were employed as consultants, much like Tom Cruise's role in "The Last Samurai." In many cases the foreigners were well paid, and were expected to teach about their country's culture and the latest scientific achievements. Long-term foreign residents, however, were not desired, so the foreign consultants trained Japanese instructors, and when their three-year contracts ended they were not renewed.
Given their views toward foreigners, some current university administrators seem to be reincarnations of their Meiji-Era predecessors. One assistant professor, "Mary," who was popular with faculty and students alike at an international university, had agreed to her three-year contract only after assurances that it could be renewed if she did a good job. After three years of impressive yearly evaluations and a pay raise — not to mention the fact that she held a Ph.D., Japanese oral and written fluency, and was researching on a government grant that she would lose if she lost her job — her contract was not renewed. By way of an explanation, the university president told her, "You've been in Japan too long."
Unfortunately, this attitude is all too common. Too many university and ministry of education mandarins regard foreign faculty as models of foreign culture with expiry dates stamped on their foreheads rather than as qualified professionals who have a long-term role to play. For example, in the early 1990s Niigata University's president justified the dismissal of 54-year-old Sharon Vaipae by stating his desire to keep the foreigners "churning over constantly."
During a labor dispute in 2000, ministry bureaucrats justified term-limits to a delegation of union members by contending that they "encouraged the movement of teachers to other universities, which was of benefit to both teachers and the universities." Exactly how this benefited anyone was left unexplained.
In a 2006 Asahi Shimbun Op-Ed piece, Shinichiro Noriguchi, a University of Kitakyushu English professor, went so far as to identify the expiry date on foreign instructors at 10 years after landing in Japan. He contends that foreigners who have lived in Japan for more than a decade "tend to have adapted to the system and have become ineffective as teachers" and begin to suffer from an affliction he labeled "Japanized" English. If nothing else, such attitudes are at least consistent. Viewing foreign academics as disposable goes back to the 1903 sacking of author Lafcadio Hearn from what is now Tokyo University after his seven years of service.
Are the caps discriminatory? While most Japanese instructors receive automatic tenure and most foreigners receive a capped contract, the Supreme Court, with a little legal legerdemain, ruled that using different hiring systems for foreigners and Japanese doesn't violate the Labor Standards Law. The law only applies after someone has been hired, it ruled, and not during the hiring process itself, thus making discriminating universities immune from legal action.
Luckily, some universities do appreciate that employing foreigners permanently benefits students and schools, and that equally qualified foreign faculty are worthy of equal treatment. More of this would, in turn, encourage more foreigners to gain fluency in spoken and written Japanese.
Universities now have more autonomy from the ministry of education, which originally made the recommendation to keep foreigners on limited-term contracts. So a better question becomes whether the revolving door contract system hurts students.
The limited-term contract system essentially guarantees that students get shortchanged. An instructor starting a new contract takes their first year getting accustomed to students and creating teaching materials. During the next year or two a teacher can refine and improve their lesson plans and teaching.
Then, just when a teacher starts becoming a more productive and effective faculty member, they are forced to largely ignore their teaching and research duties and devote their final contract year to assembling extensive application packages in response to job ads that omit crucial details like salary, and then find the time and money to attend job interviews. Forcing out experienced instructors for new recruits means students often don't get the best classroom instruction. It also reduces the chances of foreign instructors starting clubs, doing volunteer work with students, or applying for multiyear research grants.
At the same time as Japanese universities have started letting a few foreigners climb the ivory-tower staircase to permanent employment, they've begun forcing Japanese instructors onto term-limited contracts. In 1997 a law passed making it possible for universities to offer Japanese instructors limited-term contracts.
At first few schools forced Japanese academics onto contracts, but prodding to "reform" from the ministry of education and the realities of declining enrollments have recently made them much more popular to university administrators. Sadly for Japanese academics, in the near future the annual round of "musical jobs" in the groves of academia may be a game that everyone has to play.
James McCrostie worked on contracts for nine years before finding a permanent position at Daito Bunka University. John Spiri has taught full-time at four universities over the course of 11 years in Japan. Send comments and story ideas to community@japantimes.co.jp
Japanese ABC Learning affiliate to close down
A Japanese education provider with ties to the failed childcare operator ABC Learning says it will shut its doors later this week.
123 Learning operates two bilingual education centres in Japan , and another two were being planned.
But the company's website says the centres will shut their doors this Friday, affecting 475 Japanese children under the age of five.
The two new centres have also been scrapped.
The operation is tied to the Brisbane-based 123 Group, which was wound up last month with debts of $136 million.
123 Group was contracted to ABC Learning, which collapsed two months ago with debts of nearly $1.6 billion.
123 Learning operates two bilingual education centres in Japan , and another two were being planned.
But the company's website says the centres will shut their doors this Friday, affecting 475 Japanese children under the age of five.
The two new centres have also been scrapped.
The operation is tied to the Brisbane-based 123 Group, which was wound up last month with debts of $136 million.
123 Group was contracted to ABC Learning, which collapsed two months ago with debts of nearly $1.6 billion.
Japan to raise English fluency
English classes for those aged 16 to 18 to be taught in English from 2013
TOKYO: The Japanese government has set an ambitious goal of making the Japanese fluent in English, by recommending that all English classes for those aged 16 to 18 are taught mainly in that language from 2013.
The inability of most Japanese to speak English, despite compulsory classes from the age of 13, is well known and a source of embarrassment for Japan.
In Stockholm last month, Professor Toshihide Masukawa, a co-winner of this year's Nobel Prize in physics, insisted on delivering his lecture in Japanese.
Despite being able to read scientific literature in English, the 68-year-old academic cannot communicate in English and is known to dislike the language. But one thing he regretted was not being able to converse with other Nobel laureates.
The revised curriculum guideline recently announced by the Education Ministry is aimed at avoiding such situations.
English teachers at senior high schools in Japan will teach their classes in English and limit the use of Japanese only to the explanation of complicated grammar.
Senior high school students will also be required to master 1,800 new English words, up from the present quota of 1,300, while those aged 13 to 15 at junior high school will have to learn 3,000 new words, an increase of 800.
The new quotas will put the Japanese on a par with the level of English taught at schools in China and South Korea.
Mr Tsutomu Shiozaki, head of a national federation of English teachers, welcomed the new guidelines.
'People say that if we teach entirely in English, students will not be able to follow the lessons. That's not true. Language is to be used. If we use it often, students' awareness will change,' he was quoted as saying by the Asahi Shimbun.
Mr Shiozaki is the headmaster of a senior high school which was one of several chosen by the ministry a few years ago to teach English classes entirely in English.
But for most of Japan's English teachers, the new curriculum guideline is bad news, especially for those in their 40s and 50s who generally do not speak English well and are often terribly embarrassed by their pronunciation.
Mr Yo Hamada, 26, an English teacher at a school in Yokote city, Akita prefecture in northern Japan, feels it is pointless to teach in English if the format of university entrance examinations remains unchanged.
At present, English classes at high school focus on helping students to pass these examinations, which test only reading and comprehension and include a listening section. This is why, while most Japanese leave school able to read and write English to some extent, few end up being able to speak the language.
'Unless the requirements of entrance exams are changed, in fact unless the whole system of English education is changed, I do not see the point of trying to teach in English. I myself am reluctant to do so,' said Mr Yo.
He is proficient in English, having attended graduate school at the Tokyo campus of an American university.
Professor Matsuo Kimura, an English language education expert at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, believes that with the right training, it is feasible to teach in English. But he stressed that an integrated English curriculum from primary to senior high school is necessary to produce students who can speak English.
'At present, such a curriculum does not exist,' he said.
From 2011, 11- and 12-year-old Japanese children in primary schools will spend an hour a week using simple English for 'international understanding'.
But many think that is not enough.
Getting the pronunciation right is a problem for most Japanese and when the typical Japanese speaks English, it is often barely intelligible to a foreigner.
Most Japanese learners use the Japanese script to notate English sounds - something which virtually guarantees that what comes out of their mouths resembles Japanese more than English.
mailto:wengkin@sph.com.sg
TOKYO: The Japanese government has set an ambitious goal of making the Japanese fluent in English, by recommending that all English classes for those aged 16 to 18 are taught mainly in that language from 2013.
The inability of most Japanese to speak English, despite compulsory classes from the age of 13, is well known and a source of embarrassment for Japan.
In Stockholm last month, Professor Toshihide Masukawa, a co-winner of this year's Nobel Prize in physics, insisted on delivering his lecture in Japanese.
Despite being able to read scientific literature in English, the 68-year-old academic cannot communicate in English and is known to dislike the language. But one thing he regretted was not being able to converse with other Nobel laureates.
The revised curriculum guideline recently announced by the Education Ministry is aimed at avoiding such situations.
English teachers at senior high schools in Japan will teach their classes in English and limit the use of Japanese only to the explanation of complicated grammar.
Senior high school students will also be required to master 1,800 new English words, up from the present quota of 1,300, while those aged 13 to 15 at junior high school will have to learn 3,000 new words, an increase of 800.
The new quotas will put the Japanese on a par with the level of English taught at schools in China and South Korea.
Mr Tsutomu Shiozaki, head of a national federation of English teachers, welcomed the new guidelines.
'People say that if we teach entirely in English, students will not be able to follow the lessons. That's not true. Language is to be used. If we use it often, students' awareness will change,' he was quoted as saying by the Asahi Shimbun.
Mr Shiozaki is the headmaster of a senior high school which was one of several chosen by the ministry a few years ago to teach English classes entirely in English.
But for most of Japan's English teachers, the new curriculum guideline is bad news, especially for those in their 40s and 50s who generally do not speak English well and are often terribly embarrassed by their pronunciation.
Mr Yo Hamada, 26, an English teacher at a school in Yokote city, Akita prefecture in northern Japan, feels it is pointless to teach in English if the format of university entrance examinations remains unchanged.
At present, English classes at high school focus on helping students to pass these examinations, which test only reading and comprehension and include a listening section. This is why, while most Japanese leave school able to read and write English to some extent, few end up being able to speak the language.
'Unless the requirements of entrance exams are changed, in fact unless the whole system of English education is changed, I do not see the point of trying to teach in English. I myself am reluctant to do so,' said Mr Yo.
He is proficient in English, having attended graduate school at the Tokyo campus of an American university.
Professor Matsuo Kimura, an English language education expert at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, believes that with the right training, it is feasible to teach in English. But he stressed that an integrated English curriculum from primary to senior high school is necessary to produce students who can speak English.
'At present, such a curriculum does not exist,' he said.
From 2011, 11- and 12-year-old Japanese children in primary schools will spend an hour a week using simple English for 'international understanding'.
But many think that is not enough.
Getting the pronunciation right is a problem for most Japanese and when the typical Japanese speaks English, it is often barely intelligible to a foreigner.
Most Japanese learners use the Japanese script to notate English sounds - something which virtually guarantees that what comes out of their mouths resembles Japanese more than English.
mailto:wengkin@sph.com.sg
Another Keio student arrested for possessing marijuana
YOKOHAMA,AP - Kyodo Police arrested Thursday a 26-year-old Keio University student for possessing marijuana.
The arrest of Taihei Maeda, a senior in the Faculty of Policy Management at the Shonan Fujisawa Campus, came after Keio admitted late last year a total of eight undergraduate and graduate students as well as a teacher at the private university had been arrested for alleged violation of the Cannabis Control Law since 2004.
Maeda was found to have concealed 2.3 grams of dried marijuana and equipment for smoking marijuana in a locker in the apartment he lives in in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture. He told investigators that the illegal drug was for personal consumption.
The arrest of Taihei Maeda, a senior in the Faculty of Policy Management at the Shonan Fujisawa Campus, came after Keio admitted late last year a total of eight undergraduate and graduate students as well as a teacher at the private university had been arrested for alleged violation of the Cannabis Control Law since 2004.
Maeda was found to have concealed 2.3 grams of dried marijuana and equipment for smoking marijuana in a locker in the apartment he lives in in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture. He told investigators that the illegal drug was for personal consumption.
Testing academic ability
In defiance of education ministry policy, Akita Governor Sukeshiro Terata publicly disclosed average scores by students of each city, town and village within the prefecture in controversial achievement tests taken nationwide. His decision came against growing confusion over whether to reveal the results of the annual tests for sixth-graders at elementary schools and the third-year students at junior high schools, which resumed in 2007.
It is the policy of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for prefectures to refrain from releasing a list of the test results for each municipality. It fears that doing so could create an unfair hierarchy in which municipalities are ranked on the basis of the scores. That, it says, could trigger excessive competition among schools and regions. The ministry says it should be up to municipalities to determine whether to release the data, and when doing so, they should announce not just the test results but also steps that may be needed to address the outcome.
In going against the ministry's policy, Terata said, "Basically, all information on public education should be disclosed, except for that regarding personal privacy." He also argued that "valuable information is being monopolized by just a handful of people involved in education."
Terata had repeatedly said in news conferences and on other occasions that he would release the data. However, it seems the actual announcement of the data caught everyone by surprise, not just municipal education boards but even the head of the prefectural board of education.
Terata also ignored the intentions of municipalities, which had all planned to withhold the test results. The situation in Akita Prefecture is different from that in Osaka Prefecture, where Governor Toru Hashimoto urges municipal education boards to voluntarily disclose their data.
We believe that Terata went too far. It is no wonder that more than half of the cities, towns and villages in Akita Prefecture said in reply to an Asahi Shimbun survey that they would reconsider whether to participate in the national achievement test next year.
However, we do understand why the governor decided to publicly disclose the test data. It is also natural from a viewpoint of information disclosure. Other local governments may well follow suit. What we find contemptible is the education ministry's dithering in trying to deal with the situation.
For its part, the ministry says it tried to ensure that reinstating the national achievement tests after a 40-year hiatus would not set off a new round of excessive competition and hierarchy among schools and districts. This was why the ministry discouraged prefectural governments from releasing the results of individual municipalities.
Apparently, the ministry had not expected a case like Akita to arise. Yet, the ministry could have expected that the data would have to be released if ever an official request was made for disclosure of the information. It hardly makes any sense for the ministry to prohibit prefectural governments from disclosing the data for each municipality when the ministry itself has made public the results for each prefecture.
There was a flaw in the original design. It is too late for education minister Ryu Shionoya to bemoan the mess, which is what he did in a recent Asahi Shimbun interview.
At this point, we feel that the education ministry should review whether it is worth continuing with the achievement tests at the cost of causing so much confusion.
The ministry began the tests as a means to grasp the nationwide state of students' scholastic prowess as a way to improve instruction methods. Because the ministry dictated that every single child should participate, it costs more than 5 billion yen each year to hold the tests.
Similar data could have been gleaned just as well by sampling surveys.
Just think how much could be done to enhance teaching staff and school facilities with the amount of money spent for the nationwide tests.
It is the policy of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for prefectures to refrain from releasing a list of the test results for each municipality. It fears that doing so could create an unfair hierarchy in which municipalities are ranked on the basis of the scores. That, it says, could trigger excessive competition among schools and regions. The ministry says it should be up to municipalities to determine whether to release the data, and when doing so, they should announce not just the test results but also steps that may be needed to address the outcome.
In going against the ministry's policy, Terata said, "Basically, all information on public education should be disclosed, except for that regarding personal privacy." He also argued that "valuable information is being monopolized by just a handful of people involved in education."
Terata had repeatedly said in news conferences and on other occasions that he would release the data. However, it seems the actual announcement of the data caught everyone by surprise, not just municipal education boards but even the head of the prefectural board of education.
Terata also ignored the intentions of municipalities, which had all planned to withhold the test results. The situation in Akita Prefecture is different from that in Osaka Prefecture, where Governor Toru Hashimoto urges municipal education boards to voluntarily disclose their data.
We believe that Terata went too far. It is no wonder that more than half of the cities, towns and villages in Akita Prefecture said in reply to an Asahi Shimbun survey that they would reconsider whether to participate in the national achievement test next year.
However, we do understand why the governor decided to publicly disclose the test data. It is also natural from a viewpoint of information disclosure. Other local governments may well follow suit. What we find contemptible is the education ministry's dithering in trying to deal with the situation.
For its part, the ministry says it tried to ensure that reinstating the national achievement tests after a 40-year hiatus would not set off a new round of excessive competition and hierarchy among schools and districts. This was why the ministry discouraged prefectural governments from releasing the results of individual municipalities.
Apparently, the ministry had not expected a case like Akita to arise. Yet, the ministry could have expected that the data would have to be released if ever an official request was made for disclosure of the information. It hardly makes any sense for the ministry to prohibit prefectural governments from disclosing the data for each municipality when the ministry itself has made public the results for each prefecture.
There was a flaw in the original design. It is too late for education minister Ryu Shionoya to bemoan the mess, which is what he did in a recent Asahi Shimbun interview.
At this point, we feel that the education ministry should review whether it is worth continuing with the achievement tests at the cost of causing so much confusion.
The ministry began the tests as a means to grasp the nationwide state of students' scholastic prowess as a way to improve instruction methods. Because the ministry dictated that every single child should participate, it costs more than 5 billion yen each year to hold the tests.
Similar data could have been gleaned just as well by sampling surveys.
Just think how much could be done to enhance teaching staff and school facilities with the amount of money spent for the nationwide tests.
Govt to name, shame firms that pull student job offers
The Yomiuri Shimbun
In an effort to encourage companies to honor job offers made to graduating students, the government has compiled draft standards for publicizing the names of firms that withdraw such promises of employment, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Sunday.
The Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry's draft contains five criteria for disclosing the names of such firms.
One criterion in the draft states a firm will be named when it withdraws 10 or more job offers to graduating students in the same fiscal year.
The draft will be proposed Jan. 7 at the Labor Policy Council's working group on employment stabilization. Once approved, the ministry plans to start procedures to revise related legislation, including the Employment Security Law, with a view to complete the process by the end of January at the earliest.
According to the draft, firms' names would be released if they:
-- Withdraw job offers for two years in a row.
-- Withdraw 10 or more job offers within the same fiscal year.
-- Cancel job offers although there is no clear indicator that their business needs to be downsized.
-- Fail to properly explain to students why their job offer was withdrawn.
-- Fail to provide appropriate support to students to find another job.
A firm found to have committed any of the five acts will be publicly named, according to the draft. However, a firm that has withdrawn 10 or more job offers will not be named if it provides sufficient support to help the students in question find alternative employment, such as referring them to related companies.
When asked if the criteria would apply to firms that already have withdrawn job offers this fiscal year, a senior ministry official said: "It depends on what we should regard as a problem--the withdrawing of job offers itself or the condition in which job offers remain withdrawn. We'll discuss the matter further before deciding how to deal with such firms."
The Yomiuri Shimbun
In an effort to encourage companies to honor job offers made to graduating students, the government has compiled draft standards for publicizing the names of firms that withdraw such promises of employment, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Sunday.
The Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry's draft contains five criteria for disclosing the names of such firms.
One criterion in the draft states a firm will be named when it withdraws 10 or more job offers to graduating students in the same fiscal year.
The draft will be proposed Jan. 7 at the Labor Policy Council's working group on employment stabilization. Once approved, the ministry plans to start procedures to revise related legislation, including the Employment Security Law, with a view to complete the process by the end of January at the earliest.
According to the draft, firms' names would be released if they:
-- Withdraw job offers for two years in a row.
-- Withdraw 10 or more job offers within the same fiscal year.
-- Cancel job offers although there is no clear indicator that their business needs to be downsized.
-- Fail to properly explain to students why their job offer was withdrawn.
-- Fail to provide appropriate support to students to find another job.
A firm found to have committed any of the five acts will be publicly named, according to the draft. However, a firm that has withdrawn 10 or more job offers will not be named if it provides sufficient support to help the students in question find alternative employment, such as referring them to related companies.
When asked if the criteria would apply to firms that already have withdrawn job offers this fiscal year, a senior ministry official said: "It depends on what we should regard as a problem--the withdrawing of job offers itself or the condition in which job offers remain withdrawn. We'll discuss the matter further before deciding how to deal with such firms."
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Workforce welcomes skilled foreigners
An increasing number of foreign university students are staying in Japan to work after they graduate, with Japanese firms regarding such hires as potential assets in their efforts to expand operations overseas.
While the current economic recession may slow the hiring of foreign graduates, observers believe the trend is likely to increase in the long run.
Siyana Samsudeen joined Fujitsu Ltd. in 2007 after graduating from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Oita Prefecture. The 26-year-old Sri Lankan holds the title of Bridge System Engineer, and liaises with Fujitsu's software development partners in China, India and other countries to ensure clients' requests are properly communicated.
"Bridge SEs will be needed more and more, so I think this job has good prospects for the future," she said.
Eugene Aksenov joined Fujitsu in 2007 after completing Tohoku University graduate school. Aksenov, a 26-year-old Australian national born in the former Soviet Union, works in the firm's Global Human Resources Management Division, providing clerical support for overseas branches.
"I hope to use my multilingual abilities to send messages abroad. One day, I want to work in an overseas branch myself," he said.
Kizo Tagomori, head of the firm's human resources recruitment center, said, "There's very little need for foreign staffers on the ground right now, but in five to 10 years there'll definitely be areas where they'll be useful."
Such positions could include working in overseas branches to act as mediators with offices in Japan.
The number of foreign students who changed their resident status after receiving a job offer from a Japanese firm--as Justice Ministry Immigration Bureau regulations allow in certain cases--numbered 10,262 in 2007, up 24 percent from the previous year. The 2007 figure was double that of 2004, and triple that of 2002.
Prof. Mitsuhide Shiraki, the dean of Waseda University's Center for International Education, said: "The number of Japanese people in the workforce will soon be decreasing by 300,000 to 400,000 per year. For firms to secure skilled personnel, employing foreign graduates will be more and more important."
The government hopes to increase the number of foreigners studying at tertiary level in Japan from the current 120,000 to 300,000 by around 2020. A plan drawn up in July calls for improved housing and job seeking support services for foreign students, to be mainly provided via a designated group of 30 universities.
Major staffing agency Pasona Inc. this year launched a Web site designed specifically for foreign students, a further indication of the private sector's interest in foreign graduates.
However, some outstanding issues are yet to be addressed.
Tagomori noted the dissonance between firms' recruiting priorities and the admissions policies of Japanese universities. While firms seek graduates with math and science majors, most foreign students accepted by universities here are liberal arts students.
Shiraki said firms also need to work on their approach to potential foreign recruits, saying: "Japanese firms don't map out the possible career course of a potential employee. This doesn't suit the thinking of foreign graduates, who tend to have clear career goals such as focusing on research or developing their management skills."
Japanese firms engaging greater numbers of skilled foreign workers is a recent development, and the success of such partnerships can not yet be fully assessed.
Hiroyuki Kaneda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
While the current economic recession may slow the hiring of foreign graduates, observers believe the trend is likely to increase in the long run.
Siyana Samsudeen joined Fujitsu Ltd. in 2007 after graduating from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Oita Prefecture. The 26-year-old Sri Lankan holds the title of Bridge System Engineer, and liaises with Fujitsu's software development partners in China, India and other countries to ensure clients' requests are properly communicated.
"Bridge SEs will be needed more and more, so I think this job has good prospects for the future," she said.
Eugene Aksenov joined Fujitsu in 2007 after completing Tohoku University graduate school. Aksenov, a 26-year-old Australian national born in the former Soviet Union, works in the firm's Global Human Resources Management Division, providing clerical support for overseas branches.
"I hope to use my multilingual abilities to send messages abroad. One day, I want to work in an overseas branch myself," he said.
Kizo Tagomori, head of the firm's human resources recruitment center, said, "There's very little need for foreign staffers on the ground right now, but in five to 10 years there'll definitely be areas where they'll be useful."
Such positions could include working in overseas branches to act as mediators with offices in Japan.
The number of foreign students who changed their resident status after receiving a job offer from a Japanese firm--as Justice Ministry Immigration Bureau regulations allow in certain cases--numbered 10,262 in 2007, up 24 percent from the previous year. The 2007 figure was double that of 2004, and triple that of 2002.
Prof. Mitsuhide Shiraki, the dean of Waseda University's Center for International Education, said: "The number of Japanese people in the workforce will soon be decreasing by 300,000 to 400,000 per year. For firms to secure skilled personnel, employing foreign graduates will be more and more important."
The government hopes to increase the number of foreigners studying at tertiary level in Japan from the current 120,000 to 300,000 by around 2020. A plan drawn up in July calls for improved housing and job seeking support services for foreign students, to be mainly provided via a designated group of 30 universities.
Major staffing agency Pasona Inc. this year launched a Web site designed specifically for foreign students, a further indication of the private sector's interest in foreign graduates.
However, some outstanding issues are yet to be addressed.
Tagomori noted the dissonance between firms' recruiting priorities and the admissions policies of Japanese universities. While firms seek graduates with math and science majors, most foreign students accepted by universities here are liberal arts students.
Shiraki said firms also need to work on their approach to potential foreign recruits, saying: "Japanese firms don't map out the possible career course of a potential employee. This doesn't suit the thinking of foreign graduates, who tend to have clear career goals such as focusing on research or developing their management skills."
Japanese firms engaging greater numbers of skilled foreign workers is a recent development, and the success of such partnerships can not yet be fully assessed.
Hiroyuki Kaneda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Tunisian students at University of Tsukuba in Japan organize “Ishwiya Tounseya”
Tunis, January 20, 2009 - The association of Tunisian students at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, named “ATT Jasmine”, is organizing a feast to promote Tunisia in Japan. The feast which is fittingly dubbed “Ishwiya Tounseya” (Tunisian get together), aims at making Tunisia better known in Japan and eventually to attract Japanese tourists and investors to Tunisia.
The event which is scheduled to take place On January 25, at the Nova Hall Theatre at the centre of the city of Tsukuba has also benefited from the partnership of the Tunisian Embassy in Japan, the city of Tsukuba, the Tunisian tourist board, as well as the International Association of Tsukuba.
The vent includes a multimedia presentation of Tunisian history, culture, tourism, the economy and other aspects of the country.
Two fashion shows of traditional Japanese and Tunisia dresses will also be organized with special emphasis on Tunisian –Japanese cross cultural relations and friendship. The first fashion show will showcase Japanese costumes such as the kimono, the yukata and the happi which will be worn by Tunisian models, whereas the second fashion show will present Tunisian dresses (fouta and blouza, jebba and other garments) worn this time by Japanese models. The shows will be accompanied respectively by Japanese music (Koto) and Tunisian music (Maalouf).
Tunisian sweets will also be served during what promises to be a highly convivial intercultural event.
The University of Tsukuba which is one of Japan’s top universities also sends students and researchers to Tunisia, and notably to the Bordj Cedria technological park with which it enjoys close cooperation ties.
Each year the University of Tsukuba organizes jointly with the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, a major seminar – The Tunisian –Japanese Seminar on Culture, Science and Technology, TJCST) in Tunisia.
The event which is scheduled to take place On January 25, at the Nova Hall Theatre at the centre of the city of Tsukuba has also benefited from the partnership of the Tunisian Embassy in Japan, the city of Tsukuba, the Tunisian tourist board, as well as the International Association of Tsukuba.
The vent includes a multimedia presentation of Tunisian history, culture, tourism, the economy and other aspects of the country.
Two fashion shows of traditional Japanese and Tunisia dresses will also be organized with special emphasis on Tunisian –Japanese cross cultural relations and friendship. The first fashion show will showcase Japanese costumes such as the kimono, the yukata and the happi which will be worn by Tunisian models, whereas the second fashion show will present Tunisian dresses (fouta and blouza, jebba and other garments) worn this time by Japanese models. The shows will be accompanied respectively by Japanese music (Koto) and Tunisian music (Maalouf).
Tunisian sweets will also be served during what promises to be a highly convivial intercultural event.
The University of Tsukuba which is one of Japan’s top universities also sends students and researchers to Tunisia, and notably to the Bordj Cedria technological park with which it enjoys close cooperation ties.
Each year the University of Tsukuba organizes jointly with the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, a major seminar – The Tunisian –Japanese Seminar on Culture, Science and Technology, TJCST) in Tunisia.
On a mission to make Confucius big in Japan
In Western countries, you'll find a Bible in your bedside drawer at almost every hotel.
If hotels in China were also to make one book available for guests, which one should it be?
"The first choice, I would say, is The Analects of Confucius," says Kong Jian, a middle-aged author who released two new books at last weekend's 2009 Beijing Book Wholesale Expo.
Kong, who claims to be a 75th generation direct descendant of the ancient sage, has made it his lifelong mission to disseminate Confucianism among people from different cultural backgrounds.
"In A New Look at the Analects, Confucius in Left Hand and Chuang-tzu in Right Hand, I want to share with readers my reading of Confucianism and its relevance to contemporary life," says Kong with a slight Shandong accent.
His books are already bestsellers in Japan, where he lives, but now have Chinese language editions here, too, published by the Beijing-based Chinese Workers Press.
The Analects is the record of the words and deeds of the philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC) and his disciples, as well as their discussions.
The teachings of Confucius "have influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese in their thoughts and daily lives for centuries", says Kong, a 50-year-old cultural scholar.
No one knows whether he looks like Confucius but he impresses nonetheless with his square face, bushy eyebrows and big eyes that shine through his glasses.
"My life is closely related with Confucianism I began reading and reciting paragraphs from the book at 4," says Kong who always carries an Analects of Confucius wherever he goes.
"Actually, I don't only speak about it. I try to live by it," Kong says.
A stranger to most mainland readers, Kong is very popular in Japan, says his book editor Wang Peisen. There, he is known as a popular writer, editor-in-chief of two newspapers and university professor in Japan. He also serves as president of the Association for Promoting Trade between China and Japan.
But all in all, "I am an avid lover of the Analects and I am a promoter of Confucianism," Kong says.
Kong's grandfather Kong Qinggong spent his whole life editing Confucius' family tree.
"I can still recall that the stack of his manuscripts stood much higher than his height," says Kong. "That childhood memory never fades in my mind. His identity as a direct descendant of Confucius deeply shaped his worldview and attitude to life."
After obtaining a bachelor's degree in Japanese at Shandong University in his early 20s, Kong worked as a Japanese editor at a magazine for three years. It prepared him for his future career in Japan.
At 27, Kong seized the chance to study journalism at a Japanese university where he received a doctorate degree after 10 years of hard work.
During his stay in Japan, Kong started the first Japanese newspaper "China, the Giant Dragon" to provide the latest information from China to Japanese readers.
After 12 years, its circulation has reached 100,000 per week and is now "almost everywhere in Japan".
To help him spread Confucianism, Kong chose to work in the media, a handy spot from which to popularize Chinese culture.
"My primary focus is always on Chinese culture, especially Confucius' teachings," says the man who has written more than 80 books on Confucius and the Analects in Japanese.
He has also kept up public lectures and speeches during his 24-year stay in Japan. Japanese media rated Kong among the top 100 speakers in Japan and every year he is invited to address more than 100 public events.
According to Kong, Japan so far has 568 different versions of the Analects and numerous related academic and popular books. And the Analects has already become compulsory reading for high school students in Japan, Kong says, adding that most bookstores in Japan have special cupboards set aside for Confucius.
If hotels in China were also to make one book available for guests, which one should it be?
"The first choice, I would say, is The Analects of Confucius," says Kong Jian, a middle-aged author who released two new books at last weekend's 2009 Beijing Book Wholesale Expo.
Kong, who claims to be a 75th generation direct descendant of the ancient sage, has made it his lifelong mission to disseminate Confucianism among people from different cultural backgrounds.
"In A New Look at the Analects, Confucius in Left Hand and Chuang-tzu in Right Hand, I want to share with readers my reading of Confucianism and its relevance to contemporary life," says Kong with a slight Shandong accent.
His books are already bestsellers in Japan, where he lives, but now have Chinese language editions here, too, published by the Beijing-based Chinese Workers Press.
The Analects is the record of the words and deeds of the philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC) and his disciples, as well as their discussions.
The teachings of Confucius "have influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese in their thoughts and daily lives for centuries", says Kong, a 50-year-old cultural scholar.
No one knows whether he looks like Confucius but he impresses nonetheless with his square face, bushy eyebrows and big eyes that shine through his glasses.
"My life is closely related with Confucianism I began reading and reciting paragraphs from the book at 4," says Kong who always carries an Analects of Confucius wherever he goes.
"Actually, I don't only speak about it. I try to live by it," Kong says.
A stranger to most mainland readers, Kong is very popular in Japan, says his book editor Wang Peisen. There, he is known as a popular writer, editor-in-chief of two newspapers and university professor in Japan. He also serves as president of the Association for Promoting Trade between China and Japan.
But all in all, "I am an avid lover of the Analects and I am a promoter of Confucianism," Kong says.
Kong's grandfather Kong Qinggong spent his whole life editing Confucius' family tree.
"I can still recall that the stack of his manuscripts stood much higher than his height," says Kong. "That childhood memory never fades in my mind. His identity as a direct descendant of Confucius deeply shaped his worldview and attitude to life."
After obtaining a bachelor's degree in Japanese at Shandong University in his early 20s, Kong worked as a Japanese editor at a magazine for three years. It prepared him for his future career in Japan.
At 27, Kong seized the chance to study journalism at a Japanese university where he received a doctorate degree after 10 years of hard work.
During his stay in Japan, Kong started the first Japanese newspaper "China, the Giant Dragon" to provide the latest information from China to Japanese readers.
After 12 years, its circulation has reached 100,000 per week and is now "almost everywhere in Japan".
To help him spread Confucianism, Kong chose to work in the media, a handy spot from which to popularize Chinese culture.
"My primary focus is always on Chinese culture, especially Confucius' teachings," says the man who has written more than 80 books on Confucius and the Analects in Japanese.
He has also kept up public lectures and speeches during his 24-year stay in Japan. Japanese media rated Kong among the top 100 speakers in Japan and every year he is invited to address more than 100 public events.
According to Kong, Japan so far has 568 different versions of the Analects and numerous related academic and popular books. And the Analects has already become compulsory reading for high school students in Japan, Kong says, adding that most bookstores in Japan have special cupboards set aside for Confucius.
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