Globalization and Language Learning in Rural Japan: The Role of English in the Local Linguistic Ecology

Globalization and Language Learning in Rural Japan: The Role of English in the Local Linguistic EcologyRYUKO KUBOTA University of British Columbia Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada SAN

Globalization and Language Learning in Rural Japan: The Role of English in the Local Linguistic Ecology

RYUKO KUBOTA

University of British Columbia

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

SANDRA MCKAY

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, California, United States

Drawing on a study of current language use in a rural community inJapan, we question to what extent English actually does serve today as alingua franca in multilingual, internationally diverse communities.Specifically, we report on a critical ethnography of a small Japanesecommunity with a growing number of non–English-speaking immi-grants, largely from Brazil but also from China, Peru, Korea, andThailand We investigate how people in the community view andengage in local linguistic diversity and how this is related to theirsubjectivities and to their experiences in learning and using English

We analyzed the public report of a community survey on diversityconducted by the city and interviewed three Japanese volunteer leaderswho are teachers and learners of English and two Japanese who studyPortuguese in order to support the local Brazilian migrant workers.Based on our findings, we highlight four emergent themes that provideinsights into the significance of learning English in a linguisticallydiverse context We also discuss the pedagogical implications of thelocal linguistic ecology for the teaching and learning of English

I haven’t found yet what I want to be in the future, but I want to use myEnglish in the future I want to go abroad and make friends, many manyfriends, and communicate with them And so in order to do that, I have tolearn English, … And practice makes perfect, and so I will learn English everyday … I, I, I do my best.’’ (Big applause) (A 1-minute fast monologue by ahigh school female student in an English class demonstration at a symposium

on teaching English held in Tokyo, March 3, 2007)

Today I went to an information forum for junior high school immigrant studentspreparing to go to high school The event was organized by a support group in

Morino Prefecture I was asked to attend to the English table as an interpreter.Approximately 50 people (students and parents) came There were threePortuguese tables, a large Chinese table, a Spanish table, and a Thai table Nonecame to the English table (Kubota’s field note in Japan, October 14, 2007)

A s globalization advances, English language teaching is increasinglyemphasized in many expanding circle countries like Japan in whichEnglish is taught as a foreign language This emphasis is linked to acommon belief that English proficiency is essential for global commu-nication in business, tourism, information technology, and otherdomains As the first opening quote indicates, English is perceived toenable communication with people in the world An assumption here isthat people in the world use English to communicate Yet, the secondquote casts doubt on this assumption in this specific context in whichEnglish is not a contact language to connect local people

Citing a projection of the demand for English in the educationsystems of the world, Graddol (2006) states that over 5 billion peopleglobally do not speak English as either their first or second language.This means that over three quarters of the world population are non–English speaking Thus, contrary to the common belief about English,not all contexts for international communication allow English to serve

as a mutually shared language Such contexts often exist withinexpanding circle countries with an increasing migrant population.One rural city in Japan has been experiencing a rise of newcomers fromnon–English-speaking countries (e.g., Brazil, China, Peru), creating anunprecedented kind of linguistic diversity

Scholarly discussions of the role of English in international nication contain diverse and competing views from descriptive studies ofEnglishes to neo-Marxist, postcolonial, and poststructuralist critiques ofthe role of English, providing multiple understandings of the global role

commu-of English However, researching, discussing, and critiquing Englishcolludes with the idea that English connects people from diverse L1backgrounds It also diverts our attention from the significance ofteaching EFL in a context where English is widely taught and yet doesnot usually connect multilingual populations In order to broaden ourunderstanding of linguistic diversity today, it is useful to start with theassumption that English is not a shared language in many situations andexamine how learning English impacts people’s experiences andsubjectivities in the local linguistic ecology

This article draws on a larger investigation in which extensivequalitative data was gathered on language learning among adults in asmall Japanese city.1We investigate how local people view and engage in

1 This research was funded by the Japan Foundation.

linguistic diversity in their community and how their views andengagements are implicated in their subjectivities and experiences inrelation to learning English We analyze the public report of acommunity survey on diversity conducted by the city, as well as interviewswith three women volunteer leaders in the community who are teachersand learners of English These women’s views and experiences arecontrasted with those of two men who study Portuguese in order tosupport Brazilian migrant workers in the city Based on our study, weexplore implications for teaching English as a foreign language.

RETHINKING THE ROLE OF ENGLISH

Scholarly discussions on the use of English in the world haveproduced such terms as English as an international language, English as

a lingua franca, English as a global language, and English as a worldlanguage (Seidlhofer, 2004) Whatever term is used, issues surroundingthe global spread of English have been discussed from variousperspectives The discussion is often framed from a macro-perspective,focusing on the social, political, and economic value of English as aglobal language (e.g., Crystal, 1997), diverse regional features andnorms of English represented by world Englishes (e.g., Kachru, Kachru,

& Nelson, 2006), individual and structural inequalities between Englishand other languages and their speakers as symbolized by linguisticimperialism (e.g., Phillipson, 1992, 2003), and the ultimate loss ofminority languages described as language death or linguistic genocide(e.g., Nettle & Romaine, 2000; Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000) Furthermore,postcolonial appropriation of English to express hitherto subjugatedvoices (e.g., Canagarajah, 1999), description of lingua franca English, inwhich speakers accommodate and negotiate linguistic forms andmeanings based on their available resources (Canagarajah, 2007), andthe application of the poststructuralist notion of performativity toEnglish language use (e.g., Pennycook, 2007a) have disrupted theessentialist understanding of English and identities and the fixedrelationship between them

In most cases, however, the academic discussion of English in theworld colludes with the idea that when people from different L1backgrounds meet, they customarily communicate in English This ideaalso exists outside of the academe, as in the following governmentdocument called Action plan to cultivate ‘‘Japanese with English abilities’’(Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2003):English has played a central role as the common international language inlinking people who have different mother tongues … it is essential for

[children] to acquire communication abilities in English as a commoninternational language.

However, the idea that English is an international language can becritiqued as discursive construction In reconceptualizing the notion oflanguage, Pennycook (2007b) argues that English as well as metalan-guage about it (e.g., English as an international language, English as alanguage of economic opportunity) is an invention or a myth ratherthan an objective truth They are invented through social, historical, andpolitical processes of defining and describing the language system anduse, and yet they invoke realistic or contingent discursive representa-tions He states,

This understanding of construction … points to the ways in which mythswork by constantly talking about things, by constantly assuming the existence

of things; it highlights the idea of heroic stories that tells us about the origins

or nature of various phenomena, or explain how something came to be.From this perspective, the question of reality is put on hold (p 97)Drawing on Foucauldian thought, Pennycook (2007b) further proposesthat what truly matters is not whether or not English exists but how theeffects of truth about English are produced by discourses of languageindustries including linguist, educationalists, and policy makers.Likewise, we argue that an important question is what effects thediscourse of English as a shared/international language has on theconstruction subjectivities and social practices It is necessary topoliticize the discourse of English as a shared language—the metalan-guage that presupposes the very specific nature of how people mightcommunicate across languages

Increased multilingualism in local communities actually createsspeech situations counter to the idea of English as a shared language.Block (2007) demonstrates how a Portuguese-speaking Brazilian mantries to speak in Spanish, rather than in English, with Spanish-speakingcoworkers in London (see also Goldstein, 1996, and Norton, 2000, in thecontext of Canada) In expanding circle countries where a growingnumber of non–English-speaking people are crossing national boarders

to seek employment, the major lingua franca is usually the dominantlanguage of the host country, which threatens minority languages(Mufwene, 2002; see Gottlieb, 2008, for languages in Japan) Thisasymmetrical relation of power involves yet another layer in an EFLcontext—a growing emphasis on learning English

As noted earlier, the sociocultural and ideological effects created byteaching English have been extensively discussed in relation todiscourses of colonialism, linguistic imperialism, and power struggle

(e.g., Hashimoto, 2007; Kubota, 1998, 2002; Oda, 2007; Pennycook,

1994, 1998; Phillipson, 1992) To move these critiques further, it isnecessary to shift our focus toward the investigation of how the discourse

of English as an international language intersects with the localmultilingual context where English does not serve as a shared language

In order to better understand the role and impact of English in this type

of linguistic context, it is necessary to take a bottom-up emic approachand focus on a local setting, examining people’s language use andattitudes toward languages in the local community and how theirexperiences and views are implicated in larger discourses

SETTING AND BACKGROUND

Hasu in Morino Prefecture (pseudonyms) is a midsized city with apopulation of approximately 160,000 Along with agriculture, themanufacturing industry that produces small machinery and electronicproducts prospers Since the 1990s, Hasu has had an influx of foreignresidents or so-called newcomers (as opposed to longtime residents ofKorean descent) like some other cities in Japan In 1990, the number ofregistered foreign residents in Hasu was approximately 700, whereas in

2006 it grew to over 6,000, constituting 3.7% of the population.2Of thispopulation, approximately 50 percent comes from Brazil, followed byChina (17%), Peru (8%), Korea (6%), and Thailand (4%) While itcould be argued that the size of this population is too small to refer tothe community as diverse, the attention given to this population by thelocal government, as seen in various services provided, is visible if notsufficient

Most of the newcomers work for manufacturing companies in the city.Hasu also has two Japanese language institutes for adult internationalstudents mostly from China and Southeast Asia, and two universities thathave a sizable body of international students mainly from China, Korea,and developing countries in Asia It is important to note that foreignresidents tend to live in geographical pockets throughout Japan where astrong manufacturing industry exists As of 2007, Hasu belonged to aleague of 23 cities and towns with high percentages of foreign residents,ranging from 2% to 16% with an average of 5.2% The league has held

an annual conference since 2001 to discuss issues of healthcare,education, community support, and law enforcement

The surge of migrant workers, especially from South America, wasprompted by the 1990 enactment of the revised Immigration ControlLaw, which allowed nikkeijin or foreigners of Japanese descent and theirfamilies down to the third generation to legally live and work in Japan

2 The percentage of foreign residents nationwide in 2006 was 1.6%.

The nikkei diaspora in South America, exemplified by emigration toBrazil and Peru, began around the turn of the 20th century, when therewas a high demand for farm labor in these countries Almost a centurylater, labor demand in Japan brought a large number of nikkei families toJapan With regard to the migrant workers from China and otherdeveloping countries in Asia, the implementation of the IndustrialTraining and Technical Internship Program in the early 1990s allowedthese industrial trainees to stay and engage in training in Japan for up to

3 years A majority of these trainees in Japan are from China

Wandering or driving in Hasu, one does not visually notice its ethnicdiversity because many of the newcomers are of light-skinned Asiandescent However, in stores, family restaurants, and sports clubs, oneoften hears diverse languages spoken In contrast, white- and dark-skinned presence is visible albeit fewer in number Dark-skinned peopleare mainly from South Asia and South America While some of theCaucasian residents are non–English-speaking newcomers from SouthAmerica, others are mostly English teachers or Christian missionaries.Despite the size of the city, opportunities exist for adults to learnEnglish During 2007, two major nationwide chain eikaiwa [Englishconversation] institutes offered lessons An Internet search yielded close

to 10 privately run English institutes providing eikaiwa lessons Peoplealso make private arrangements with native speakers of English for one-on-one or group lessons

Kubota, the first author of this article, a Japanese-English bilingualscholar of Japanese descent, spent 1 year in Hasu observing eikaiwalessons, interviewing adult learners of English and Portuguese, tutoringJapanese as a second language (JSL) in public schools, and engaging inparticipant observation in various community activities involving foreignresidents McKay, the second author, is an English-Spanish bilingualscholar of Anglo-American descent who visited the Hasu communityduring the data-gathering period Both authors investigated the ways inwhich adult Japanese learners of English and Portuguese negotiatelinguistic diversity in the community through a lens of criticalethnography which aims to problematize taken-for-granted socialassumptions and uncover how unequal relations of power areperpetuated through social structures and individual daily experiences(Madison, 2005) As such, this study problematizes the notion of English

as a shared language and provides critical insight into the meaning andpurpose of learning English in a diverse linguistic community The datadescribed in this article come from an existing report of a communitysurvey and interviews with five adult Japanese residents The communitysurvey report provides insight into the general public’s views of localdiversity and the role of English, whereas the interviews offer an in-depthaccount of the experiences and subjectivities of specific individuals who

are engaged language learning Because the research focused onJapanese adults’ views and experiences of learning English, it onlyprovides limited information on views of foreign residents that wasobtained through an informal interview and participant observation.

Foreigners, Internationalization, and English

The city of Hasu established a Council for Supporting ForeignResidents (CSFR) in 2005 in order to address issues of tabunka kyoˆsei[multicultural co-living—literally, ‘‘coexistence of multicultures’’; see Tai(2007)] in the areas of education, employment, social welfare, andcommunity support Involving representatives from the local govern-ment, private corporations, and volunteer organizations, the Councilinvestigates ways to promote integration of foreign residents into thelocal community This initiative was urged by a recommendation made

in the 2006 report on tabunka kyoˆsei which was commissioned by thecentral government (Ministry of Internal Affairs, 2006) The word kyoˆsei(co-living) represents a political shift in the view of migrant workers—the previous focus on labor and law enforcement shifted to the need tointegrate these workers as residents in the local community

In 2006, Hasu’s CSFR conducted a community survey in order tobetter understand the views and experiences of the migrant workers andlongtime residents in the city for establishing kyoˆsei Questionnaires weresent to newcomer residents, Japanese residents, newcomer schoolchildren in public schools, newcomer school children in two privateBrazilian schools, Japanese parents with Grades 1–9 school children, andpublic school teachers The questionnaires included multiple-choiceitems as well as a space for open-ended comments The results werecompiled into a 90-page report, which was made available in the sameyear Below, we will focus on the responses of Japanese residents (205responses with 41% return rate) and Japanese parents of school-agedchildren (257 responses with 32.1% return rate) and highlight someperspectives that relate to English and kokusaika (internationalization)because they are closely related We translated the responses in Japaneseinto English

Japanese residents’ view of the rise of foreign residents is ratherdivided While 38% of the respondents view it positively for socio-economic benefit and kokusaika, 11% thought it is undesirable because

of potential social conflicts, and 47% thought it is neither positive nornegative Such division of opinion is pronounced and gravitated towardthe negative when they were asked about their impressions of theforeign residents—while 28% marked positive, 40% negative and 24%neutral Of numerous open-ended comments, some provide insight into

the views of multiculturalism in relation to language Those with positiveattitudes commented that they hope to promote mutual understandingthrough interaction and collaboration Of respondents with negativecomments, some thought foreign residents do not contribute tokokusaika, as seen in the following comment: ‘‘There are too manyforeigners who have nothing to do with economy or kokusaika.’’Although the intended meaning is unknown, the image of kokusaikahere is something other than the actual ethnic and linguistic diversityand could be more linked to Whiteness and English In response to whatthe Japanese and foreign residents can do in order to create a bettercommunity, one respondent wrote, ‘‘It is important to provide childrenwith English language education from an early age!!’’ Of otherrecommendations made by the respondents, the following commentsheds light on a view on the relationship between the local linguisticecology and the role of English:

Some nationalities naturally wish to create their own community This isobserved among people who do not share a lingua franca and they oftenignore rules Thus, there are fundamental issues that the nationalgovernment needs to improve, such as teaching English as a lingua francafrom an early age I think the first step is to know each other throughlanguage, so I suggest creating guidebooks in Portuguese and Thai

This rather perplexing comment can be interpreted in many ways, butperhaps this individual believes that a lingua franca is valuable forkeeping the social order and it should be English This echoes the publicsupport for teaching English at the elementary school that has been ahotly debated topic in Japan.3The guidebook suggestion is interpreted

as encouraging Portuguese- and Thai-speaking people to know aboutJapanese ways of living, in which case, the notion of ‘‘knowing each otherthrough language’’ is viewed unidirectional

Of the parents with school-aged children, the majority had positiveattitudes toward non-Japanese students in the classroom While 57% saidthe intercultural contact is good for kokusaika, only 5% was negative and32% was neutral Of positive comments, some mentioned the benefit oflearning the language and culture of the non-Japanese children Onecommented, ‘‘It would be fun to learn the child’s mother tongue andutilize it for promoting dialogues.’’ Another parent states, ‘‘Not takingadvantage of the opportunity to get acquainted with foreign languagesand cultures feels like a waste.’’ Another parent is curious to learn aboutother cultures and states:

3 The most recently revised school curriculum, which will be fully implemented in 2011, requires English instruction for Grades 5 and 6.

I want to hear in their language about how they feel I think it’s a goodopportunity for mutual understanding If they cannot speak Japanese, theirchildren can translate I’d like to hear what foreign parents have to say.Despite these voices, few opportunities for learning minority languagesare available Sabrina, a Brazilian Japanese-Portuguese bilingual staff atHasu City Hall and a teacher of Portuguese at a community centercommented in an informal interview that she had approached hersupervisor about providing the Japanese staff with a short Portugueselesson during breaks at work Although she thinks companies shouldalso provide such lessons, she feels overwhelmed by the burden shewould have to carry as the initiator of the project.

There was, however, an equal amount of negative feedback Oneparent who experienced difficulties of collecting dues for a neighbor-hood association wrote, ‘‘I don’t know what to do when I cannotcommunicate In case of languages other than English—Peru, Brazil,etc.—I cannot write a memo or letter.’’ One parent expresses a strongxenophobia:

There is no benefit of being with foreign students in the same class, so I want

to have a separate class made for them … There is a rise of crime committed

by foreigners and I want to stay away from them The government mightthink that studying together enables children to have internationalexchange, but there is no need for superficial kokusaika I am very worriedabout the fact that foreigners are in the school where my child attends.The following comment is rather striking:

At the secondary school, my child could benefit from learning eikaiwa fromforeign students But I am dissatisfied with the fact that the teacher has tointerrupt instruction to help foreign students who cannot speak Japanese.When I saw as many as three foreign students in my child’s class, I didn’tunderstand why there were so many, when my child’s grade has four classes.But this rural area would never have an American school (for them to go to),

so accepting these students is inevitable

This parent seems to think that the newcomer students in his/herchild’s class are English-speaking Americans and the child could benefitfrom them

In fact, Americans tend to be welcomed in the community Sabrinatold us that Brazilians who look like Americans (meaning WhiteBrazilians) experience fewer conflicts with the local residents thandark-skinned Brazilians or even Japanese-Brazilians According to herobservation, Japanese people think highly of Americans Her friend’shusband, who is a White Brazilian, is often talked to in English and

treated nicely, whereas his wife, who is Japanese Brazilian, is looked downupon because she does not speak Japanese Sabrina thinks that Japaneseyounger generations are obsessed with things American, which is con-trasted with Japanese-Brazilians like herself who have learned to beJapanese from their parents and grandparents Her observation echoes aquestion a 9th grade boy asked Kubota during a tutorial: ‘‘Do Japanesepeople like Americans?’’ When asked, ‘‘Do you think they do?’’ heanswered, ‘‘Yes Because they (Japanese women) want to marry Americans.’’Furthermore, the belief that non–Japanese-speaking foreigners areEnglish speakers, or attempts to communicate with any non-Japanese inEnglish, sometimes surfaced in everyday interactions For instance,Kubota once visited a junior high school to observe and tutor a newlyarrived 7th grade boy from Peru When asked about his birthday inJapanese, he struggled to understand The assistant principal, who wasstanding beside him, tried to assist him by tossing out English words,such as ‘‘birthday,’’ ‘‘when?’’ Of course, this was of little help because thestudent had studied English only for a couple of months in Peru.These comments give a glimpse of twisted understandings ofkokusaika, multiculturalism, and English Kokusaika has been a popularterm that signifies an emphasis on transnational exchange since 1980s.Although kokusaika literally means internationalization, it often impliesWesternization or, more specifically, Americanization with a focus onlearning English while championing and essentializing the Japaneseculture (Kubota, 2002; Schneer, 2007) Some of the comments aboveshow a denial of regarding newcomers who are mostly non–English-speaking non-White working-class people as international This impliesthat only English-speaking White middle-class people contribute tokokusaika of Japan This is reflected in the rather nonsensical proposalthat Japanese children should learn English to cope with the problemsrelated to an influx of newcomers For another parent, the image offoreign students and kokusaika by extension is tied to English-speakingAmericans.

Of the diverse comments reviewed above, some demonstrate apeculiar understanding of kokusaika with regard to what linguisticresources foreign residents bring with them, what Japanese children canbenefit from them, and how Japanese children should cope withincreased kokusaika Kokusaika conceived by some people excludesmigrant workers from it, positioning them as the Other who brings nobenefit but rather a burden to tolerate Although the number was small,the comments that refer to English seem to reflect the belief thatEnglish should be taught and used as a lingua franca in cross-linguisticsituations, which poses a contradiction with the local linguistic ecology.This contradiction was experienced by some community leaders Kubotainterviewed

Dilemma of Community Leaders: Learners of English Versus Learners of Portuguese

Volunteerism is a popular activity especially among married womenwithout a full-time paid job who can use their language skill to helpothers In the late 1990s, Morino Prefecture hosted an internationalsport event, which we shall call the Sports Fest In preparation for theevent, free English lessons were provided for residents so that they couldserve as language volunteers Three women, Mrs Nakai, Mrs Honma,and Reiko (pseudonyms), took the English lessons We introduce themhere because their views and experiences present contradictorypositionings caught between their investment in English and thedemographic shift of the community These three women’s experiencesare contrasted with two men, Akira and Seiji (pseudonyms), who arelearners of Portuguese Interviews in Japanese were conducted in order

to find out their experiences and views of language learning as well astheir role as a community member Each participant was interviewedonce or twice, and each interview lasted 2–3 hours The interviews wereaudio recorded and transcribed later Quotes below are translationsfrom Japanese Field notes were also taken during participant observa-tion The first person in the following narratives refers to Kubota

Mrs Nakai (Age 65, Born in 1942)

Mrs Nakai is perhaps the most important leader for foreign residents

in Hasu Her roles include chairing Hasu’s International ExchangeCouncil, chairing volunteer groups for JSL support for foreign residents,playing an instrumental role in creating a newcomer program for JSLstudents in public schools, and participating in meetings at themunicipal, prefectural, and national levels

When I learned that Mrs Nakai coordinates community support fornewcomers, I called her because I wanted to tutor JSL After listening to

my self-introduction, she said,

Until several years ago, doing international volunteer work in our communitymeant you speak English But now, you need to speak Portuguese to getinvolved in community service

This comment gave me the impression that Mrs Nakai speaks fluentPortuguese and frowns at English-speaking Japanese people But theseimpressions proved to be totally misguided

Mrs Nakai grew up during the U.S occupation of Japan after WorldWar II, which lasted until 1952 U.S soldiers were giving out treats,which gave her fascination about Americans She went to a private

Christian kindergarten in Hasu, where she learned English songs from aCanadian teacher Mrs Nakai began learning English from a privateJapanese tutor when she was in the 5th grade, which was quiteuncommon at that time When she described English spoken by hertutor or other people, she frequently expressed her admiration of

‘‘good’’ pronunciation

Mrs Nakai majored in English at a university in Tokyo Aftergraduation, she returned to Hasu and worked as the secretary to thepresident of a company and used English After work, she would tutorEnglish to children She quit her job when she got married, butcontinued to tutor at home for almost 30 years She also takes Englishlessons at a community center Mrs Nakai is quite proud of her ownexperiences and those of her children, especially her daughter, who ismarried to a White Australian and works there

In the early 1990s, Mrs Nakai participated in the English trainingprogram for the Sports Fest and has continued to volunteer as aninterpreter at sports events Around the same time, Mrs Nakai organized

an annual international festival in Hasu, in which she enjoyedinteracting with English-speaking residents But the demographicsbegan to shift—her focus inevitably shifted to the support of non–English-speaking residents

I was curious where her energy comes from in supporting newcomers

Is it her passion? To this question, Mrs Nakai replied,

Somehow it became that way It’s not passion or anything at all It’s like thecircumstance turned this way

Mrs Nakai’s narrative also demonstrates her strong attachment toEnglish and a middle-class orientation She speaks highly of graduatestudents from India, China, and other Asian countries because they canspeak English She also commented on the usefulness of English inrelation to a study tour to India Knowing English was useful for her notonly for learning but also for keeping herself from being cheated instores and hotels

When asked her opinion about teaching English as a required subject

at the elementary school, she said it is absolutely necessary because

‘‘pronunciation should be taught from an early age by mimicking first.’’Learning English from native speakers is essential I commented thatthere are far more people who speak Portuguese than English in Hasuand asked her opinion on foreign language education She responded,But you can’t soar into the world with Portuguese That’s why internationalstudents from China can speak English If you want to improve your research,

you go to the U.S or Canada … Improving Japan with Portuguese won’t letthe country soar into the world.

When asked whether she wants to learn other languages, she smiled andsaid, ‘‘I can’t because of my age.’’ She emphasized that language is bestlearned when one is young Talking with her, my initial impression ofher completely disappeared

Mrs Honma (Age 61, Born in 1946)

I met Mrs Honma for the first time at a Sunday Japanese TutorialProgram Mrs Honma was the coordinator of this volunteer group thatprovides JSL tutorials for children and adults She is a key communityleader in education; her other roles include member and chair of HasuBoard of Education, member of the Council for Youth Issues, chair ofthe Youth Cultural Association, mediator at the local court, and JSLvolunteer tutor at an elementary school When I expressed my interest intutoring, Mrs Honma made a comment strikingly similar to Mrs.Nakai’s:

In the past, many people got involved in community service because theywanted to use English or become friends with people from English-speakingcountries But now the main population for international exchange isBrazilians So many volunteers have left They never come back

It turned out that Mrs Honma has a profile comparable to Mrs Nakai’s.Mrs Honma and Mrs Nakai are friends, and they have manyexperiences in common Both women traveled together to Australiabecause they got acquainted with an Australian family that moved toHasu Mrs Honma also joined a study tour and traveled in NorthAmerica She has a married daughter who works in Hong Kong LikeMrs Nakai, she had a longing for American culture and Western life Inher case, an American sitcom called Father Knows Best made a strongimpression on her It depicted an attractive father in gray hair—animage very different from a typical Japanese father—a spacious livingroom, and a kitchen equipped with a large refrigerator, an oven, andeven a dishwasher

When she began learning English at junior high school, she wasdisappointed by the teacher’s pronunciation and the dull content of thetextbook In high school, she attended a local bible class to learn Englishfrom a native speaker Although she felt happy to hear ‘‘real English,’’she gradually felt uncomfortable about the proselytizing mission of thechurch Six months later, she quit