The English Paradox: Four decades of life and language in Japan

From the article:

While the students at other top universities were similar in English ability and interest to those at UTokyo, the situation at second-tier and third-tier universities was quite different. Not only did the incoming students have weaker English competence, their interest in becoming fluent was also much lower. With few exceptions, they did not see English as useful to them now, nor did they expect to need or want to be able to use English in the future. Though the students were required to take English classes for a year or two, the level was usually quite basic, and few of those students would graduate with significant English ability.

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At the heart of the controversies about English education in Japan is an assumption that is rarely questioned or made explicit: whatever policy is decided, it must apply equally to all children. People argued about whether to start English classes at age 12 or 10. The idea of starting some children at 12 and others at 9 or 11 or 13 depending on the individual child’s preferences and abilities was never on the table. Similarly, the speaking component was either going to be added to the Center Exam for all test-takers or for none. Anything else, it was assumed, would be “unfair.”

The notion of “fairness” dominates English education policy in Japan. Because of the importance of educational credentials in Japanese life, any policy that seems to favor one group or another—the rich, the urban, children with highly-educated parents, or children who happen to have acquired English fluency on their own—will attract popular opposition.

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Another problem with the foreign language educational policy is that it remains focused on English, while Japan is steadily becoming a multilingual society. Recent statistics from the Ministry of Justice paint a revealing picture: of the nearly three million foreign residents in Japan at the end of 2023, the largest group by far consists of Chinese citizens, numbering over 820,000 and growing at nearly 8% annually. The second-largest group comprises Vietnamese residents, with more than 565,000 people and a robust growth rate of 15.5%.

Particularly striking are the growth rates among some smaller but rapidly expanding communities. Indonesia’s resident population surged by over 50% in a single year, while Myanmar’s grew by nearly 54%. The Nepali community expanded by more than 26%. In contrast, the number of U.S. citizens in Japan—around 63,000—grew by just 4.3%.