My advice for young Japanese is simple: get out of Japan. One of our weaknesses as Japanese is our ineptness at communicating with other cultures. Even people who speak English well are closed off psy

telling it like it is.

That's great advice for all young people everywhere. Go out and get a change of perspective.

Living in a different country from where you grew up with a VERY different culture and language is almost always a great experience. I believe that having a wider world perspective is helpful and teaches flexibility that is a huge asset in business.

And where are they suppose to get the money to go on these great adventures Mr. CEO? Are you opening up a slush fund with applications? When...? I can hand out leaflets for you in front of your stores.

put off buying a few louis vitton and channel bags and there you have it.

Fear its too late for the current crop of twenty-something Japanese, especially the men. I had a young, bi-lingual male employee of one of the major Japanese banks tell me he views the world as "Japan and everywhere else." (Talk about "closed off psychologically".) With that kind of thinking among the supposed best and brightest, Japan will be playing catch-up in the global economy for many years.

How much money is needed to travel around Korea? Plus, with working holidays, young people can actually make money in places like Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Or, like several generations of non-Japanese have done, walk, bicycle, EUrail pass around Europe for a summer.

If you really want to, you will find a way to get out.

I once went to a party and after a couple of hours people drifted off into groups. All the Japanese who had lived or travelled abroad sat in one group. All other Japanese in another. Foreigners who could speak Japanese were stared at by one group and accepted by the other. Guess which was which.

And where are they suppose to get the money to go on these great adventures Mr. CEO?

Nobody needs to be bankrolled to go to another country and find a job. Daughter of a friend of mine went to New Zealand with nothing but a working holiday visa and a desire to learn about another culture. She soon got a job, and worked their for a year.

Problem is that going overseas to actually learn and work requires some kind of self motivation, something many Japanese (at least the ones I've met) don't have. Everybody is sitting around waiting to be told what to do,so they can complain about it.

Sorry Yanai-san, you are way off the mark. It is not that Japanese don't venture out at times and learn a second language, but the fact that upon return to Japan they are messed with by the others/"normal" ones. The plight of "returnees" to Japan has been well documented, e.g. they are not Japanese anymore, not Japanese enough, somehow strange for being bilingual or trilingual, or even thought of as being traitors to their country. The system in Japan doesn't allow for the integration of individuals for who they are and that is the bigger problem. As Herefornow shared, "it is Japan and everywhere else," but can you blame the guy for thinking like that? It is the environment not the individual's fault.

Of course it also doesn't help to leave Japan to associate with and only speak Japanese with other Japanese people. Just leaving the country is not the answer. Thought the CEO of this company would know better, but I guess not.

godan - such logic?!?!? if there were more people going abroad then the "returnees" would start to outnumber and i THINK that is what he is talking about in his statement.

Godan, sadly you are absolutely right. There are many many Japanese of my husbands "generation" (late 30`s now) who went overseas for 3 months to a year. Almost all of his friends did. They have proudly told me their stories and shared their photos with me. Aside from the fact that most of them hung out with other Japanese, and mostly spoke Japanese during their trip, they returned back to Japan and were quickly assimilated back into society. Most of them quickly forgot their English or their wider view of things. They never take the opportunity to ressurect their English when we meet, preferring to speak to me in Japanese. It was almost like "that was a nice interlude in real life, now back to the business of living "properly".

Overseas experience here is not seen as valuable, and often in fact seen as "lazy", slacking off or an impediment to a future Japanese career. Non-travelled Japanese seem to be very threatened by the returnees and there seems to be an active culture of "knocking them back down to size again."

For those who have the motivation and staying power to stick through it despite the jibes and sometimes outright bullying, the rewards can be huge, in terms of finance and status. But you have to be a special kind of person I think to be able to step outside the box in such a pressured society - and stay outside the box. (Or in my husbands case just have a thing for western chicks!)

I hope it is changing - there is a kikokushijo in my daughters class, a lovely little girl who has spent 5 of her 7 years in Norway. Her parents are working desperately hard to keep up her English side. On the other hand, they split the family up for a year so she could return a year ahead of her father to start elementary school from year 1. My own daughter (a "half", "double" or whatever term you prefer to use) has never had anyone bat an eyelid at her "non-purity" and having a very blonde very active (at school) Mother she tends to stand out a mile!

I wish I could understand WHY Japanese feel so threatened by returnees, and why they don`t see them as an asset to the country. Is it jealousy? Insecurity because these people know more than they do? Does anyone have any ideas on it?

It is good that someone has high profile as Yanai is saying things like this.Although I fear that sadly, if more people like AKB48 said it, more people would listen!

sillygirl : You ain't nearly as "silly" as your name would imply ! Obviously if more and more young Japanese got off their butts and, instead of "complaining" went out to see the world, there would be more young Japanese with slightly more "open minds" coming back. "Where there's a will, there's a way"...

Godan, I agree completely, but sillygirl also has it right.

miamum:

Overseas experience here is not seen as valuable, and often in fact seen as "lazy", slacking off or an impediment to a future Japanese career. Non-travelled Japanese seem to be very threatened by the returnees and there seems to be an active culture of "knocking them back down to size again."

Aren't you contradicting yourself there? If overseas experience is seen as "lazy", then why are those without overseas experience threatened by it?

Either way, I don't think Japanese people feel threatened by returnees. The company I work for has 6000 employees in Japan and is very committed to sending people in their 20's and 30's to our overseas branches to provide them with experience. On top of that, when they return, they are generally promoted and given more responsibility than others their age. Experience = knowledge = confidence in our company and everyone treasures that. The problem is, whether you've been overseas or not, as long as they are living in Japan, there is no need for the Japanese to speak a word of English or learn about other cultures. This may be the same for other people living in their perspective native countries, but the level of multi-culturalism is noticeably low in Japan for any decent exposure to other cultures compared to other countries, even other island countries.

This kind if advice was good before 9.11 incident. After that immigration and airport law changed. Travel is not easy as it was before. Therefore, please someone think of new adivce.

One way to get people out is to advertise this: "Louis Vuitton - half price in Iowa! And there's a Japanese athlete playing some sport there!!!"

Me: So Maki, how was your working holiday?

Maki: So-so.

Me: Go on...

Maki: The instant ramen was not so delicious there.

Me: Well, it is instant ramen you know.

Maki: And my housemate went to parties nearly every night and came back late. She was not kind.

Me: So, anything good from your trip?

Maki: Not really.

Godan (and others),

It is not that Japanese don't venture out at times and learn a second language, but the fact that upon return to Japan they are messed with by the others/"normal" ones.

Please re-read the quote. He is suggesting that they NOT come back.

@Sillygirl - but it is also well known that many parents don't want their children to be outside Japan - especially in terms of education.

@Miamum - My uni had all kinds of students from Japan and many just hung together and were kicked out of school after a year or two since they couldn't/didn't care to study. Sorry for their parents - but it was "The Bubble". ;-) Heck in academia it is often referred to as "peeing against the wall." - The "mandatory" doing research abroad/CV filler for a year. It is a "wink wink" on both sides of the Pacific. The Japanese need the brand name and the uni needs to say it is multicultural. Bunch of BS, IMHO.

@Laguna - Are you sure that is what he means? I would see your point if he said "leave Japan". But he says "get out of Japan" - and I don't think that is the same.

In short, I would not recommend young Japanese people to leave unless they had no intent on returning to Japan ever (!) or some qualification (medical, dental, pharmacist license) that guaranteed them work upon their return. Otherwise no matter how great their experience upon their return they would be "out of the loop" and would end up most likely being working poor. Know a number of Japanese that studied their butts off in America and came back and have never once been a "seishaiin". Very depressing! Sorry but Yanai-san knows little about what he is talking about.

Godan, parsing the quote is difficult - looked lazily for the original but don't really have time - but it occurred to me that perhaps what he REALLY means is "get Japan out of you" - that your psychological orientation is paramount. I totally agree with that. My son is off to tour colleges in the US from tomorrow (typhoon!); he's smart enough at 16 to know that Japan is no place for adult education. Perhaps he'll return when he's an adult, but he will do it on his terms. He will negotiate to offer his skills at a rate he demands. I think that is what Yanai meant.

Well said Mia. I actually had a go at one of my classes today for being so narrow-minded. I told them that if they study abroad they need to be careful of what they say about certain topics (gays, women, various ethinc groups) because they are rather loud and to be honest, just plain out wrong on many of their opinions.

Why are people scared of returnees? They are different and might, just might, not think like the rest of them - thank god!! This is great advice but sadly, as others have said, those that escape don't often come back, those that do get treated differently. Japan needs to grow the hell up, stop using the "we are a small island nation" (using the UK are a retort works wonders is making them look stupid) and get with the times.

@ribstick: You made my day. So funny and so true.

@Laguna - >perhaps what he REALLY means is "get Japan out of you" - that your psychological orientation is paramount. Interesting take on it, but I feel that this is even more difficult than "just" leaving Japan.

As for your son, I hope he has a safe trip. My two boys are still 4 and 8 and so this is something they will most likely be doing in the future, too. Especially with the falling birthrate, universities in Japan are clamoring for any breathing body and will be more and more careful not to offend their customers, I mean students. I also personally know about 10 other friends who sent their children to the States for university. If your son already realizes that tertiary education in Japan is sorely lacking, you have obviously raised quite a son! :-)

The advise does not apply to Japanese only. Everybody is an individual, so If you want to open your eyes, travel and learning other cultures firsthand will help you see from different angles. However, for Japanese, when they return to Japan, they have to live by strict comformity. So they are back to square one. Every culture has certain amount of comfort zone and Japan society is a comformity for everybody, like nobody sticks out like a nail. Most of the Japanese people have natural reservation, the shyness and politeness and this is a great asset but they also have two faces. The Japanese tries to be too perfect when they speak but other cultures don't give a damm. They shouldn't be worry about making mistakes. Other western cultures, you see what you get. I've seen many Japanese, especially women, and they learned to be flexable and develop a strong confidence with their opinions but when they get back to Japan, they have to change to fit into the system and bow down. Japan will not change because the society will always be bigger than the individual opinions. They are stuck in the system that don't know how to change.

AMEN!!

My wife went overseas to go to an American university and ended up with a very good looking husband. : p

I came to Japan and did the same, Cruz. :P

Absolutely 1million per cent true.

I thought you communicated to people. I wouldn't begin to know how to communicate to a culture.

How would you do that?

I agree about getting out of Japan, though.

Hold your hand over your eyes and look at it.

Can you see what it is?

Of course you can't.

It's too close.

Move it away from your eyes a few centimeters and you will see what it is.

Sometimes you need to step back from something to see it.

Getting out of your country for a while is a good idea.

The effects of being abroad show very young.

My daughter (half Japanese) was in her playgroup in Japan as a toddler and there was another girl, fully Japanese, who had lived abroad. Despite being of the age where they were too young to meaningfully communicate, they were soon drawn to each other. They were probably unaware of what they had in common, but their foreign experience drew them together.

Foreign experience make such a difference. Why are so many Japanese scared of it?

Even people who speak English well are closed off psychologically.

" The nail that sticks out, will aways get hammered back in. "

Isn`t that the truth !!!!!

I agree with Godan !!!!

Japan can never fully adapt to another way of thinking. It is transfixed on being an inward society. Anybody who is different will be outed and reconditioned back into the loop.

I think this is good advice. I think I speak for most Americans when I say that Japanese people are welcome here, as visitors or staying longer.

I think for many of the Japanese that I know who went overseas for either study or work when they return here their overseas experiences are often wasted on them. It's kind of like a last fling before settling down and doing something useful or productive as salarypeople or government employees.

Of course their are exceptions to that as well, yet the exceptions are seen as being a bit off and are outside the box in their way of thinking and actions, many run into difficulties not only in their careers but private lives as well, trying to find spouses becomes more difficult too as they often look for people with similar experiences, naturally, and are not satisfied with the status quo.