Cats have lived alongside people for more than ten thousand years. A comfortable society for cats is a comfortable society for human beings.

This, they say, is the age of cats. Each year, the number of pet cats in Japan increases and is now approaching 10 million. On the other hand, the number of pets dogs has dropped from a one-time peak of over 13 million to less than 10 million.*

As Yamane Akihiro, an assistant professor of animal ecology at Seinan Gakuin University explains:

“I think that behind this affection for cats is the way that present-day Japanese society makes people feel trapped. People are controlled by a results-driven system, and companies are restructured. People can’t live their lives freely and as they wish. Perhaps that is why they are so attracted to free-living cats.”

Cats are attractive for their suppleness, beauty and distinctive behavior, side-products of their nature as hunters, able to strike down their prey with a single blow.

“Their large beautiful eyes evolved as a result of them being nocturnal hunters,” says Yamane. “Their eyeballs became as large as possible in order to gather in light during the dark night. They groom themselves to remove unwanted scent so that prey will not notice their presence.”

The fickle and capricious personality of the cat, so different from the loyal and patient dog, is also said to come from its hunting behavior.

“Apart from the lion, all members of the cat family hunt alone,” says Yamane. “They creep up on prey, lie in wait, then when prey comes close enough, they finish it off at a stroke. Much of their muscle is white (fast twitch) for short distances; it can provide explosive instantaneous force, but has no endurance. When a cat’s prey runs away, it soon gives up. This is the physiological reason why cats seem capricious and fickle.”

The dog family on the other hand has lots of red muscle, well suited to running continually over long periods, while they patiently hunt their prey in packs.

​

Commentary: YAMANE Akihiro, Associate Professor, Seinan Gakuin University Born 1966 in Hyogo Prefecture. Graduated from the Kyushu University Faculty of Science. Gained a Doctor of Science. Specializations are animal ecology and population genetics. Took up his current post after working at the National Institute for Environmental Studies, the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute, and as curator of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History & Human History. His publications include Cat Secrets.

Over ten thousand years living alongside people

Modern cats were domesticated by humans from African wildcats. This happened ten thousand years ago in the grain producing regions of Mesopotamia (in modern-day Iraq).

“African wildcats entered human society and drove out rats that had come for the grain in human settlements. They came by themselves to live besides humans.

The domestication of cats was completed in ancient Egypt. There, humans raised up and worshiped the cat goddess, Bastet.

By the ancient Roman period some two thousand years ago, cats were commonplace. It was around this time too that cats were brought to East India and China.

Cats were thought to have entered Japan from China together with Buddhist texts sometime between the Nara period (710–794 CE) and the start of the Heian period (794–1185). Yet, bones that appear to be from cats have been found at the Karakami archaeological site in Ikishima, Nagasaki Prefecture, which is from the Yayoi period (300 BCE–300 CE); so there were cats in Japan approximately 2,100 year ago.

Today, however, the popularity of cats has led to problems with urine and droppings from strays, and whether or not to deal with them through euthanasia. Yamane explains:

“Approximately 100,000 stray cats are exterminated in Japan each year, and the main reason for that is excessive feeding of stray cats. When cats have plenty of food they go into heat numerous times during the year. That leads to the tragedy of cats having to be exterminated.”

One initiative to try and avoid this tragedy taking place in various locations in Japan is so-called “community cats”: cats that are looked after by the community. Locals also see to neutering the cats, organizing their food and water, and disposing of droppings and urine.

Yamane has been researching the ecology of stray cats in Ainoshima, an island in the Genkai Sea. He says that the relationship between the cats and locals offers a suggestion as to how humans and cats can live together.

“Three hundred fishermen and one hundred stray cats live together on Ainoshima. The cats eat fish leftovers thrown away by the islanders, and their population is limited by that food supply. The cats breed once a year. Many of the kittens die, but that is down to nature, and the islanders don’t get involved in whether the cats live or die. The cats on this island lead relaxed lives of little stress.”

“It is 10,000 years since cats first appeared, and cats are essentially unchanged; it is humans that have changed. A society that is comfortable for cats is one that is also comfortable for humans.”

* Japan Pet Food Association data (2015)

Translated from “Neko to Nihonjin (Cats and Japanese People),” SERAI, March 2017, pp.30-31. (Courtesy of Serai, Shogakukan Inc.) [March 2017]

New Real Estate Loans Are Exceeding Those During the Bubble Economy, Reaching New Record Highs

Nozawa Chie, Professor, Faculty of Science and Engineering Toyo University

As an city planning researcher hoping to share with as many people as possible the future risk of sustained uncontrolled housing construction in spite of the realities of the decreasing population and rapid growth in the number of vacant houses, the author published a book titled Oiru Ie Kuzureru Machi: Jutaku Kajo Shakai-no Matsuro (Aging Houses and Deteriorating Cities: the fate of a Society with Excessive Residential Supply) as part of Kodansha Ltd.’s Gendai Shinsho series of pocket-size paperbacks in November 2016. In February 2017, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) released data in a timely manner that supported my perspective on the problem that led to the publication of this book.

According to the data published by the BOJ, new real estate loans extended by financial institutions in 2016 (Figure 1) reached 12.3 trillion yen, the highest level since 1977, when statistics became available for confirmation. For reference, the largest sum of new loans extended during the bubble economy was 10.4 trillion yen in 1989. The 2017 total means that the real estate loans supplied by banks were 2 trillion yen larger than the amount during the bubble economy. In addition, total new lending (for repayment in installments), including funds for individual residential purchases, began to rise sharply around 2014. Such loans rose to 16.7 trillion yen in 2016, showing momentum to reach the highest-ever level of 17 trillion yen, posted in 2005.

It can be mentioned that the urban development boom triggered by the decision to hold the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020, activated investments in real estate investment trusts (REITs), rock-bottom interest rates and the construction boom for houses, such as high-rise condominiums and rented apartments, as a way to deal with the inheritance tax, which were factors in the background of these trends. Certainly, the construction boom for high-rise condominiums is continuing in urban areas. In suburban districts and provincial cities, residential districts for detached houses under development and rented apartments under construction can also often be found, which raises speculation about whether demand actually exists in those areas.

However, the thoughtless increase in the volume of housing may create a fall in the asset value of currently existing houses and their market rents, as well as a decline in their market liquidity as secondhand homes. In particular, the trend of the rapid increase in new loans extended as funds for residential purchases worries the author about the possibility that a situation similar to the Lehman collapse could arise in Japan in cases where an oversupply of housing not in agreement with actual demand increases.

Peaking of the Number of Households and the Arrival of the Era of Massive Inheritance

Meanwhile, the total number of houses was 60,630,000, 16% larger than the total number of households in fiscal 2013, at 52,450,000. In terms of number, the volume of housing is already sufficient. Furthermore, the number of vacant houses is continuing to grow. According to the Housing and Land Survey, about 8,200,000 vacant houses existed nationwide in 2013 (with the vacancy rate at 13.5%).

In addition to the population, the number of households is forecasted to start falling in Japan in the near future (Figure 2). The decline is estimated to begin nationwide in 2019 and around 2025 in metropolitan areas like Tokyo and Aichi Prefecture. In an additional blow, the baby-boomer generation occupying 5% of the population will be over 75 years old, and the ratio of late elderly population will expand to nearly 20% with no hesitation around 2025, which means the arrival of the era of massive inheritance, in which the inheritance of the parents’ home occurs simultaneously for baby boomers and their children. Many children do not take over their parents’ home, even if they inherit it, because they already have a house of their own in this age of advanced family nuclearization. Because of this, there are massive houses ready to lose occupants nationwide.

Housing construction certainly produces short-term economic effects. The problem is that even in areas where the new housing is not fully equipped as a place of residence such as roads, elementary schools, or parks, it still continues to expand the total amount of houses. We cannot take a house to a new location or throw it away as we can with consumer electronics and automobiles when they become unnecessary. A house is something that will remain at a particular site, in a particular community for years to come. In other words, building a house means that investments in public utilities, such as the establishment of residential foundations necessary for living, maintenance and management, garbage collection and disaster prevention measures, will become permanently necessary.

However, the working-age population that supports the tax revenue is predicted to shrink in all cities across Japan from this point on. Under these conditions, little reserve remains for new public investments because all Japanese cities are burdened by the increasing cost of welfare for the elderly, massive vacant houses and the aging public facilities and infrastructure that must be renewed.

In short, we have reached a stage where we should direct our attention to the fact that building or purchasing a new house may affect the future of a particular city in many ways in the long term.

Horror of a Society with Excessive Residential Supply that Cannot Be Ended or Stopped

Naming this situation “a society with excessive residential supply,” the author defines it as a society that continues to build massive houses, overlooking the serious effects on future generations and spreading places of residence in a manner similar to slash-and-burn farming (a farming method that burns forests at harvest-time and repeats cultivation haphazardly), despite the number of houses already in existence and the continuous increase in the number of vacant houses.

However, the author does not want readers to misunderstand the following point. The act of constructing houses or purchasing them is not bad in and of itself, even though we are living in a society with surplus houses. People who want to buy new houses, move or rebuild their old houses will continue to need new houses. Constructing new houses in cities that will remain favorable places to live in the future in accordance with current needs and actual demand is an important pillar not only for people who wish to buy homes, but also for residential policies, city planning and housing and construction industries in the private sector.

The problem lies in the point that members of the housing and construction industry and local governments are in a situation where they cannot end or stop building houses, placing enormous future risks on the shoulders of the owners of individual homes. They present no effective solution to the problems of vacant houses and the terminal stage of aging homes, giving top priority to short-term economic measures and market logistics, even though they must be sufficiently aware of such problems.

Because of this, the author would like to use the following section to describe the reasons why the promotion of such a society with excessive residential supply will not stop. In other words, the author will address the structural problems produced by the industry, the government and the private sector, with a focus on condominiums.

Housing, Construction and Financial Industries Realizing Profits by Continuing to Build Houses

Securing profits is difficult for members of the housing and construction industries unless they continue to build houses because they generally repeat to use the profits gained from building houses to next developments. In other words, they engage in their businesses in a way similar to tuna that dies when it stops swimming. This can be cited as the biggest cause of the endless promotion of a society with excessive residential supply.

Housing and construction companies are continuing to build condominiums, instead of rented apartments, because condominiums enable them to easily secure commercial viability with their initial investments, such as land acquisition and construction expenses, collected over a short period. Business risks involved in condominium construction are low because maintenance and management responsibilities are passed on to the purchasers after the properties are handed over to them. In other words, housing and construction companies have no job to perform after sales are concluded. In most cases, they bear no responsibility or future risk for condominiums following their construction or for the cities where they are located. In addition, banks and other members of the financial industry that are realizing profits by financing housing and real estate acquisitions are stimulating the trend of building houses one after another.

Politics and policies often reflect the opinions of the major housing, construction and financial companies that secure profits by building houses. For that reason, we can say that Japan has not freed itself from the growth model for developing countries in which houses are built to generate economic effects.

Meanwhile, in many cases the people that are buying homes consider houses to be an asset. They tend to think that buying a house with a housing loan that has a rock-bottom interest rate has many advantages, such as a tax deduction for housing loans and other types of preferential treatment, compared to paying a large amount of rent for a rental home every month. In addition to a new house, a secondhand home is another option when buying a house. In particular, secondhand condominiums have become an attractive option in recent years with the steep rise in the price of their newly built counterparts due to rising construction expenses. However, there is a general sense of anxiety about the quality of secondhand homes. There are also transaction risks, because real estate agencies do not offer sufficient information to ensure their quality. For those reasons, the housing market has been unable to free itself from reliance on newly-built houses. As a result, many people decide to buy newly-built homes, under the additional effects of real estate agencies’ strategies for shaping a positive image through advertisements and skillful sales pitches.

Mechanism behind Large Numbers of Closely Built High-Rise Condominiums

The structural problems stated above remain for the companies involved in housing and construction. However, we can also cite (excessive) relaxation policies for matters such as the city planning regulations adopted by central and local governments as a cause for developments, such as the continued emergence of high-rise condominiums. Local governments relaxing city planning regulations too flexibly out of a desire to increase the local population have become apparent to the author throughout the shift toward fewer city planning regulations and decentralization that began around 2000.

Systems based on the City Planning Act support the construction of high-rise condominiums, such as those greater than 100 meters tall. In addition to those systems, others exist based on the Building Standards Act, such as one that permits the relaxation of the floor area ratio. Other regulations exist site by site when certain requirements, including the provision of a publicly accessible open space, are fulfilled and the approval of a local government is present. Systems for relaxing regulations, such as those on the floor area ratio, have come to exist in a large number indeed.

To cite one example, the Tokyo Bay area has transformed itself into a district overflowing with high-rise condominiums. The mechanism behind its transformation was the special and substantial relaxation of city planning regulations in the district by the central and metropolitan governments for promoting urban residences and redeveloping the urban area in exchange for public contributions, including the supply of open spaces, such as plazas and walkways at the expense of developers. The implication behind the mechanism was to offer public assistance in redevelopment projects in urban areas where the promotion of businesses is difficult and to ensure their smooth advancement by improving profitability with a relaxed floor area ratio and other regulations for expanding sellable and rentable floor areas.

However, there are cases in which created public open spaces have designs that produce an exclusive atmosphere and make passersby other than high-rise condominium residents reluctant to enter due to the masterful arrangement of large plants. There are cases such as these where development is difficult to judge as a useful bargaining tool for a substantial floor area ratio increase. There are other cases in which subsidies totaling billions of yen are disbursed to a single district in an urban redevelopment project whose main purpose seems to be the construction of high-rise condominiums.

There have been cases in recent years where high-rise condominiums are built in various locations in the small bayside districts of Tokyo. Those condominium towers produce an overcrowded residential environment that creates a sense of oppression. The author wonders if we can pass those areas down to the next generation as attractive residential districts without misgivings. Areas that raise such questions have emerged in Tokyo.

Policies of Relax Regulation with No Clear Goal

Existing city planning and housing policies are not controlling the rapid rise in the number of residential units supplied by high-rise condominiums on the whole, which is another example of a society with excessive residential supply being endlessly promoted.

One project for redeveloping an urban area involving the construction of three high-rise condominiums scheduled in a certain bayside area where warehouses and similar facilities stand side by side is a case in point. In this district, the floor area ratio was raised from about 400% to the maximum level of 1,070% through the substantial relaxation of one regulation. About 3,000 new houses are scheduled to be supplied in this district based on the revised ratio. As this case suggests, the lack of systems for carefully examining the appropriateness of a plan to build 3,000 houses in this district and the effects the growing volume of overall housing produces on the area, and for adjusting the plan based on city planning and housing policies, is continuing to engender a society with excessive residential supply.

The introduction of private-sector financial resources and business knowhow, and the supply of houses that allow many people to live near their respective workplaces are certainly important pillars for housing policies and city planning. Such initiatives must have a reason for existing as economic measures after the burst of the economic bubble and the Lehman collapse. In the real estate market there was also the situation where only high-rise condominiums were being supplied because business risks were high for offices and commercial facilities, which were in low demand in those days.

The biggest problem, however, is the government’s continued inability to end or stop their policies of regulation relaxation with no clear goal or opportunity for halting them.

In the meantime, according to market trend data published by the Real Estate Information Network for East Japan, the secondhand condominiums in stock numbered 25,395 in metropolitan Tokyo as of September 2016, increasing for 17 consecutive months. The secondhand market condominium is based on supply and demand. For that reason, we cannot deny the possibility that property prices could move in the downward direction over the long term under the condition of overflowing stock volume, although such a shift will depend on diverse factors, including property locations.

Transformation of Regulation Relaxation into a Black Box

In Tokyo, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and ward offices approve the relaxation of regulations, such as an increase in the floor area ratio, based on the City Planning Act. Those local governments must have the urban plans discussed by a council on urban planning consisting of metropolitan and ward assembly members, academics and others before reaching a decision. However, draft plans seldom undergo any significant change at the discussion stage, even if council members state their opinions, because they are submitted to the council on urban planning after their practical fixation through advance consultations between the local government officials in charge and developers. For that reason, concrete grounds, such as the method used or calculating a higher floor area ratio for public contribution, and the process for their discussion tends to become a black box, even though certain policies and criteria are expressly stated regarding conditions for relaxing city planning regulations, because the on-site confirmation of conditions in the surrounding areas becomes necessary for the examination of development projects in which those conditions differ.

In that case, it might seem smart to clarify the criteria in advance with steps, such as the numerical expression of those grounds. However, there is a problem with such an idea. The clearer such criteria are expressed in the form of numerical values and others, the more local governments must approve projects that satisfy the criteria, but obviously do not contribute to public interest in the concerned areas. We should improve the present situation where no formal system exists for information disclosure and advance consultation at key points from the early stage of development projects if the floor area ratio and other regulations are especially relaxed in the concerned areas.

Changing a Society with Excessive Residential Supply

The first thing to do to change Japan from a society with excessive residential supply is to stop thoughtless increases in the total housing volume and residential areas through city planning and housing policies.

Specifically, we must start to control the excessive regulation relaxation practiced up until now, by taking new steps, including total volume control on the number of new houses produced under the relaxed regulations.

We can also consider limiting the easing of the floor area ratio and other requirements in cases where new public investments are obviously unnecessary and researching the effects that the number of houses to be built could have on elementary schools, other public facilities and the already established transportation infrastructure.

The second thing to do is to try to guide new housing construction to preferred sites and mature the market for secondhand homes. The author believes that there is a close relationship between housing site guidance with tax systems and financial institutions that hold the key to efforts to guide new housing locations to existing communities (particularly those that are hollowing out), established with public investments in the past, instead of areas lacking established foundations as residential districts, such as reclamation sites and farmland. Examples of their relationship include the establishment of the different levels of preferential tax treatment, various insurance policies related to housing and housing loans offered by private financial institutions applicable in cases where new houses are built in areas where city planning policies state they should be guided and in cases where they are constructed in other districts.

Moreover, developing new incentives and systems that cause house builders, developers, regional construction companies, real estate agents and other parties in the private sector to take active approaches as powerful players, in addition to organizations such as administrative agencies and NPOs, will be essential to restore and renew the current houses and communities in existence.

The third thing we should do is to remain one step ahead of future risks. That is a matter of course. Things like the latest kitchen models, an affordable price range and moneymaking schemes based on lax business profitability assessments capture our hearts when we buy a new house. We tend to neglect the long-term perspective of trying to grasp the future risks of the houses being considered for purchase and the areas where they are located when convincing pitches by salespeople are added.

Today, we are living in a society with excessive residential supply. Is the area where our house is located likely to maintain comfort in its own way without sharp deterioration? Is there a chance for a buyer or a tenant to appear in cases where a child inherits our house tries to sell or rent it? I think we should turn our attention to the future risks that lie ahead and asset values by asking ourselves such questions. I think that such individual efforts will trigger the transformation from a society with surplus houses.

Translated from “Tokushu ‘Akiya’ ga Tokyo wo mushibamu ― Toshikeikaku no kisei kanwa wo minaose: Sankanmin ga tsukuridashita ‘Jutaku kajo shakai’ no yugami (Special Feature ‘Vacant Houses are Undermining Tokyo’: Reconsider the Relaxation of City Planning Regulations ― Distortions in a “Society with Excessive Residential Supply” Created by the Industry, Government and Private Sector),” Chuokoron, April 2017, pp. 100-107. (Courtesy of Chuo Koron Shinsha) [April 2017]

Sakai Kuniyoshi	Habu Yoshiharu

AI Cuts a Path for New Shogi Moves

Habu Yoshiharu: AI (artificial intelligence) has been a popular conversation topic over the last few years. I think the long-awaited appearance of AI in visible forms, such as humanoid robots and automated driving, has been a large turning point for this trend. AI has also achieved developments in the world of board games, including chess, shogi and go. Recently, the fields which implement AI have expanded. What was once a fantasy has begun to show potential for successful real world application. People are pinning their hope on such potential for AI. However, they also seem to fear the possibility that AI will surpass them, otherwise known as the singularity.

Sakai Kuniyoshi: I’m a scientist who specializes in the language function of the brain. Thinking about AI leads to thoughts about what humans are. In other words, I’m thinking a lot about AI and paying attention to it, because ideas about AI overlap with thoughts about brain functions in many ways. Let me discuss the singularity later in this conversation, because many people misunderstand it.

Habu: Matches between AI and professional shogi players have gained a lot of attention. Because of this, opportunities for me to take part in similar AI-related projects have increased tremendously in twelve months. They have been puzzling me. [Laughs] AI failed to take off initially, but that changed in 2011, when it defeated professional shogi player Yonenaga Kunio in the first Den-o Sen Match, which pitted a human player against AI. I think professional shogi players also began to consider applying AI research findings to their game after that match.

We take unnecessary steps in both shogi and everyday life when we feel that we are in danger because of our defensive instinct. That’s why professional shogi players repeatedly train to suppress such fear while developing their professional skills. In the meantime, AI sometimes presents new concepts and ideas that we are unable to develop because it lacks a defensive instinct or a sense of fear, which is why we can learn a lot from the records of shogi matches played by AI.

For example, in shogi there is a strategy called aiyagura. At one point, a computer software program discovered a strategy to beat it. Currently, there is no countermeasure for that strategy and as a result, very few professionals use aiyagura these days. A computer program could develop such a strategy because it thought in an inconsistent way. Humans think with continuity, moving one shogi piece when an opponent moves another way. But computer programs lack such consistent thinking. The computer used an unexpectedly simple solution.

Sakai: As you said, humans think of time chronologically. In shogi, positions change with each move on the board and each time we must rethink our strategy. I think that’s the charm of shogi.

AI has started to beat human players more frequently in shogi and go. But humans will truly lose to AI if they really give up as a result.

There were intellectuals who criticized the game of chess itself, saying chess was a low-level game when Garry Kasparov, the World Chess Champion at that time, lost a match against AI twenty years ago. We cannot justify their words, which are exactly the same as those in the “Fox and the Grapes,” one of Aesop’s fables. It is too superficial to discuss just a win or a loss in a match against AI without evaluating the substance of the game. Humans can learn from their mistakes.

What will happen if AI plays 100 matches against human players now, at this point where it has developed its ability and assumed greater prominence?

Habu: I wonder about that myself. After all, humans and computers conceive of time in different ways. Both humans and AI want to have as much time as possible, but shogi is played within a limited framework. In other words, players must maintain high quality judgments within a time-limit. I heard that AI shogi programmers order their programs to complete each match in one second in the learning stage. They require programs to undergo severe training that would exhaust human players immediately. I don’t think 100 matches between humans and AI is realistic for that reason.

You just mentioned chess. The current World Chess Champion is a 26-year-old Norwegian named Magnus Carlsen. Moves analyzed through quick calculation are apparent in the chess playing styles of young people today because computers already existed when they were born. However, Carlsen plays in the exact opposite style. He plays chess by thinking about how to leave as many possibilities as possible. His style appears unrefined on the surface. But I noticed that Carlson is also sampling human elements, using computer software programs to his advantage. I think shogi will also advance into a period in which players hone their skills by taking computers into consideration.

The idea that humans play back a game after each shogi match has been on my mind. By doing so, the two players review and reflect on advantageous and disadvantageous moves after the end of their match. That cannot be done with a software program. In other words, shogi attached importance to the examination of the process. From this point on, we will just grasp data. I wonder if that is really OK.

Sakai: That question is also related to education. Young people today may tend to find thinking tiresome. They try to find the answer to a question quickly, by searching online. People originally played shogi or engaged in studies because such processes were enjoyable, but now they try to gain results in the shortest possible time. I feel that studies lose their meaning when people do that.

There is a sense of regret in classrooms that schools have supported efficiency and competition. In the National Center Test for university applicants, we are also trying to emphasize the thinking process by incorporating questions requiring written answers, in addition to multiple-choice questions. I believe that this is important.

Will the Arrival of AI Change Civilization?

Habu: Looking back, AI experienced several periods of wax and wane over the last few decades. Researchers have told me that they want to move into a serious stage where they can obtain matching manpower and budgets. I’m hoping to witness the development of AI myself. What do you think about that, Mr. Sakai?

Sakai: People have been talking about the singularity in a way that provokes anxiety, saying things like, “AI will take jobs away from humans.” As a person involved in science, I’d like to point out that such fears are groundless. It has been predicted that AI will surpass human beings in about thirty years. But this “singularity 2045” argument has no scientific grounds whatsoever. To rephrase it more accurately, the singularity is the point at which humans give up. For example, we can refrain from abandoning hope, saying that we are still better than AI, even if AI has surpassed us in certain abilities. The singularity will never take place as long as we keep addressing challenges. We don’t really know what humans are in the first place. Trying to compare humans with AI under such conditions is in itself a meaningless way to hold a discussion.

Habu: I see. Human limitations are also limitations for AI.

Meanwhile, there is also a risk for humans. AI makes few mistakes because it is mechanical. Therefore, humans might leave all tasks to AI. Horrendous accidents can occur in such cases. Automated driving is the easiest example to imagine. Can AI really avoid a critical moment if an unanticipated event, such as an animal darting into the road while an AI-mounted car is in automated driving mode? I wonder about that, because the performance of AI is based on probability. AI just executes the actions it assumes to be correct, based on its study of many tests. In other words, AI cannot address cases that have not yet been tested.

Sakai: Faithfully following orders and not making mistakes are two different matters. We shouldn’t forget that AI is operating based on probability.

The shift in responsibility that occurs when humans rely on AI is an extremely serious problem. Let’s assume that a car in automated driving mode caused a traffic accident resulting in injury or death. I’m sure its owner will say he or she is blameless because the car was in automated driving mode and accuse the car. But who should the victim ask to take responsibility in cases where the automated driving program installed on the car is found to be error-free? The person who chose the automated driving mode may be questioned if it was an accident that a human driver could have avoided.

Humans may lose their ability for critical judgment if they rely too much on efficiency-based AI. It’s a strange phenomenon in which people use their brains to avoid using their brains as much as possible. AI will absolutely cause civilization to decline if it is used in such a way.

Strange Discussions about the Singularity

Habu: One of the AI research sites that I visited for a certain TV program was a company involved in military affairs. AI is already used in modern warfare. Humans are monitoring that AI because they don’t know if it will go out of control. I heard that many of those watchmen become neurotic. To start, battlefields are not ordinary places. I heard that such people become sick after continuously watching actions which humans cannot understand, but AI does based its own judgments. It is possible that AI used in warfare could cause a catastrophe. I think that we must examine the risk for the human abuse of AI. That is not a science fiction story where AI starts operating freely and attacks humans. It’s a matter of ethics on the human side. Google Inc., in the United States, set up an ethics division at its establishment. We can say that the company had great foresight.

Sakai: Such questions of ethics are also raised in discussions over the singularity. At the same time, the fear that AI may drive out humans precedes them. The issue is not limited to AI. Unfortunately, people who try to weaponize prominent products of science and technology appeared with such developments. Creating ethical regulations for AI and addressing all situations will remain important. However, the extreme argument that we should stop all AI studies because of this does not solve the problems.

Habu: I agree. Ray Kurzweil, a pioneer in the examination of various AI issues, including the singularity, advocates the Law of Accelerating Returns. The point of this Law is that studies in all fields reach a point of stagnation after advancing to a certain degree, but studies in other fields put windholes into the stagnant studies, causing society as a whole to move forward faster. I think peripheral studies will produce similar or equal results even if AI studies are suspended.

Sakai: Ridiculous arguments about the technological singularity include a forecast by Michael Osborne titled “The Future of Employment.” It is a list of jobs that will disappear or be eliminated in the future because of AI. Osborne made a serious mistake by underestimating the original human abilities which jobs included. For example, the credibility of the list is in question because it contains watchmaking and camera repair that is supposed to require high levels of experience and skills.

The competency required in the service industry includes a capacity for arranging work matters efficiently and showing consideration to customers. There is absolutely no basis for the assertion that AI can achieve such competency in the near future. Further, jobs performed by professionals show accuracy and attention to detail that rivals those found in jobs executed by machines.

Habu: There is also an aspect of confusion between specialized AI such as shogi software programs with general-purpose AI. Many judgments are incorporated in actions that we do casually. For example, a child old enough to attend kindergarten will recognize that a drone is different from the birds that he or she has seen up to that point without fail if he or she sees it fly several times. Such recognition seems to have a high level of difficulty. For example, AI recognizes a new cat photo as the photo of a cat after seeing many cat photos for its learning. This is the level that AI finally achieved about four years ago. In other words, humans learn and reason things simultaneously and unintentionally. But embedding those functions as algorithms is a considerably difficult task. As this shows, adapting and adjusting to things never before experienced and making choices and decisions are very difficult. Professor Sakai, please explain this.

Sakai: Humans can learn and reason at the same time because they can use different parts of their brains simultaneously. The child who saw a drone in the previous example advances reasoning about the differences of birds by shape and flying mode instantly while also learning the characteristics of the new object. Such recognition differs qualitatively by humans and AI.

AI has been developed by imitating the neural network in brains. The deep learning that has developed remarkably in recent years employs many middle layers like the visual areas of the brain. Advanced learning in sets of two layers has succeeded in this method. Still, the capacity of AI is far simpler and more limited, compared with that of actual human brains.

Incidentally, computers are not AI unless they are mounted with a special program. They are just calculators, like pocket calculators. We cannot call a mathematical demonstration a judgment, even if it is performed on a computer. In the meantime, sometimes a program hits a roadblock due to a human mistake beyond expectations. People call such a mistake a bug. We can predict mistakes on the human side to a certain extent based on past experiences. But mistakes by AI may become difficult to predict on all levels when AI goes out of control. The question is whether it is OK for humans to leave important judgments to AI that has such a possibility. After all, this is also a problem on the human side.

Habu: I see. The University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute mentioned climate change, pandemics and economic confusion in the twelve risks that threaten human civilization that it published. These are just risks. AI was one of those twelve. We can think of many risks involved with AI, but AI has the potential to solve all of the other risks, including energy and food problems. We must consider about many issues, such as ethics and rule-making on the human side, but I think we should advance studies on AI going forward, because another person will start to develop AI even if someone calls for its suspension.

AI Raises the Question of How Humans Should Live with the Mind

Sakai: To replace the human mind with AI, we must solve the difficult problem of understanding the mind. We have not yet succeeded in scientifically grasping our consciousness and personality known as the mind. First, we have not been able to define it, because the mind functions in a cycle, preventing us from defining its general conditions. We cannot compare the human mind to something else because a criterion has not been established. As in the Liar Paradox, a definite base that guarantees that we are in a normal state of mind is difficult to discern within ourselves.

Habu: The placebo effect also demonstrates the wonders of the mind. I understand that it works with internal diseases. It is effective for mental illnesses in some cases, too. Phenomena science cannot fully express what take place in the mind.

Sakai: The human mind is extremely diverse. It has highly individualistic parts that are shaped through many experiences, in addition to portions that are determined by genetics. In that case, whose mind should be adopted as the standard model becomes a question in AI design. Furthermore, there is a gap between the mind and the language of humans. What lies in the mind of other people is practically impossible to predict for that reason. AI cannot become a commodity just because it is similar to the human mind. What can we do with a developed family robot that quarrels with other family members and runs away from home just like a human? [Laughs]

Habu: Incidentally, do you think AI is likely to acquire a language? Books on natural language processing that I read were full of numerical formulas, contrary to my expectation of finding accounts on languages. That discovery causes me to wonder if languages can also be converted into algorithms. My impression is that automatic translation by computers has certainly improved its performance in recent years.

Sakai: You may be able to sense progress made by AI in linguistic expressions on the surface level. But it is humans who understand those expressions by supplementing portions that are missing. To begin with, AI, which is based on probability, statistics and learning, cannot grasp human languages theoretically. That is the case because grammatical judgments, which form the core of human languages, are completely independent from such factors. Noam Chomsky, an American linguist and philosopher, pointed that out in his book, “Syntactic Structures,” just sixty years ago. Chomsky is well-known for having laid the foundations for natural language processing, which is pivotal to AI. But many researchers do not refer to this book. They are under the illusion that languages can be grasped easily.

Habu: Languages also convey feelings. I had the chance to interview a researcher who once instructed AI to write music. He told me he had thought about ordering the AI to write poems, in addition to music, but he wondered if that had any meaning. AI will produce works of some kind, but the meanings of poems lie in the lives and experiences of the poets reflected in them. He said that poems made by AI could be a mere list of letters.

Sakai: In that case, music written by AI seems like a mere list of notes, too. [Laughs] As that case shows, AI again questions the value of language and art. Genuine AI studies are nothing less than a way to understand humans.

Habu: As you said, thinking about AI is the same as thinking about humans. AI is a mirror that shows how humans are. I believe that we can richly reinterpret the meaning of human life by studying AI.

Translated from “Taidan: Jinko chino vs Ningen wa Shogi demo Nichijoseikatsu demo? ―AI ga toitadasu Ningen ga ikiru imi (Dialogue: Is Artificial Intelligence Versus Humans Reflected in Shogi as Well as Everyday Life? ―AI Raises Again the Question of How Humans Should Live),” Chuokoron, April 2017, pp. 116-124. (Courtesy of Chuo Koron Shinsha) [April 2017]

Yano Uiko	Matsuoka Kazumi

Yano Uiko, one of this article’s two authors, comes from Miyakubo Town, which is a part of Imabari City in Ehime Prefecture. The town is located on the island of Oshima, which is part of the Shimanami Kaido, a sea route connecting several Seto Inland Sea Islands. This area was notable during the Warring States period, and features the remains of a base that belonged to the Murakami Pirates. It has a thriving fishing industry, and there are many places where you can see rows of boats at their docks. Seafood is also a mainstay of the region’s economy and cuisine.

According to the 2010 national census some 2292 people lived in Miyakubo, and of those 18 were deaf. About 30 years ago more than 30 deaf people lived in the town, where Yano is from. All of her family are deaf: her parents and grandparents, and also her father’s siblings. It is not clear whether the relatively high number of deaf people in the town is related to genetics. In fact, the inhabitants of the town didn’t consider it particularly important whether people were deaf or not and thus never sought a reason.

At one point in time, both deaf people and hearing people in Miyakubo knew and used Miyakubo Sign Language in their home lives and while fishing. Since almost all the hearing people in the town could sign, both spoken Japanese and Miyakubo Sign Language were used in the area. If you went to the shore you would see both deaf and hearing people chatting in sign language, and residents were able to share information quite smoothly. When deaf friends of Yano came from Tokyo or Osaka to visit the island, they might write on a piece of paper, “Where is Yano’s house?” and show it to a passing hearing person. The hearing person would then reply in sign language: “I’ll show you. Follow me,” and lead them to her house. The hearing residents of Miyakubo were so expert at sign language that they could do this on a daily basis.

Japanese Sign Language (JSL) vs Signed Japanese

When people speak of “sign language” in Japan, they actually refer to several linguistically distinct languages, so the use of these terms needs to be clarified. What is referred to as ‘sign language’ can be divided into the following:

1) Japanese Sign Language. This is the native language of children born to deaf parents, and has grammatical features that differ from spoken Japanese.

2) Signed Japanese. This replaces Japanese words with signs borrowed from Japanese Sign Language, but follows the grammar of Japanese. It is also known as Manually Coded Japanese or Simultaneous Communication.

3) Mixed Sign. A mixture of the above two.

JSL is a language that developed naturally among deaf people in Japan and was passed down through the generations. As a language that developed based on the visual mode of meaning transfer, JSL has a set of distinctive grammatical features. On the other hand, Signed Japanese developed based on the auditory mode of meaning transfer, and is artificially made to correspond word by word to spoken Japanese. The grammar of signed Japanese is fundamentally different from JSL and any other sign languages. It is virtually a manually coded version of Japanese and cannot properly be regarded as a natural sign language.

The fact that sign languages of particular regions have linguistic features distinct from local spoken languages was first made clear in the research of primarily American linguists and psychologists in the 1960s. In Japan too, there is growing interest in research investigating the distinct features of JSL (as summarized in Saito 2016 (1) and Matsuoka 2015 (2)). However, people in Japan are not sufficiently aware of the plain fact that JSL is a separate language from Japanese.

Deaf people and those with hearing disabilities are a minority in Japanese society, but even among them native signers of JSL are a minority and are in an even more difficult position. First of all, as with anywhere in the world, the proportion of deaf children born to deaf parents is extremely low (around 10%, it is thought). Thus, the number of signers using sign language as their native language is extremely limited, even among deaf people.

What’s more, native signers of JSL struggle to have their voices heard in Japanese society. Native signers need to learn Japanese as a second language, which has many grammatical features that are different from JSL. Yet, with rare exceptions, deaf education in Japan doesn’t take into account the distinct differences between JSL and Japanese. For that reason, it has not been easy for native signers of JSL to acquire sufficient ability in Japanese. When people do not acquire sufficient ability in the dominant language of their community their opportunities to make their “voice” heard will be limited, and they will be forced into the position of a suppressed “minority within a minority”.

A language shared between deaf and hearing people: village sign languages and island sign languages

There are many regions and countries where it is recognized that multiple distinct languages are used. To date, there have also been a number of accounts from around the world (Perniss et al. 2007 (3), Zeshan and de Vos 2012 (4)) of relatively defined regions where not only are different spoken languages used, but there are also “village signs” (shared sign languages in the community) that function as a shared language for deaf and hearing people.

When village signs are used on an island they may be known as “island signs”. But when traffic with other regions becomes more frequent due to changes in the economic and political situation, the number of village sign users tends to rapidly decrease or disappear, and hence many village sign languages reach the verge of extinction.

It has been reported that there are regional varieties (dialects) of JSL in various parts of Japan, just like regional dialects of spoken Japanese. Unlike many dialects of JSL, Miyakubo Sign Language shows major variations beyond differing sets of vocabulary items. It can be considered an island sign language due to its grammatical features distinct from JSL. Below, we will give an example of the unique grammatical features of Miyakubo Sign Language.

The special linguistic features of Miyakubo sign language

We have been researching Miyakubo’s sign language since 2014. Like other village sign languages reported outside Japan, Miyakubo Sign language can be considered as being at an intermediary stage of development between gesture and language.

As mentioned earlier, the differences between JSL and Miyakubo Sign Language are not just those of signed words. An example is given in the illustration below, which shows a spatial representation of time known as a “timeline”. JSL uses a timeline (see the illustration on the left) which represents the time from the back of the signer’s shoulder to the space in front of the signer: i.e. past behind the body, present at the body, and future in front of the body. The timeline for Miyakubo sign language, on the other hand, (see the illustration on the right) shows the flow of the time horizontally from the dominant side to center.

It is of particular interest that the flow of time expressed in Miyakubo Sign Language timeline covers the past to the present. The future is expressed without any particular spatial position. Various forms of timelines are often discussed as examples to show the diversity of sign languages in the world. It is notable that the diversity of the timelines can be found within different regions of the same country.

Miyakubo Sign Language today

Yano, like many other deaf children in Japan, left the island and entered a school for the deaf in Matsuyama City. Back then, she mistakenly thought that all the people in the world used a sign language. For that reason, when she moved into the dorm, the fact that she couldn’t freely use sign language was more of a shock than being separated from her parents.

When her grandmother came to meet her at the dormitory each week to take her home for weekend visits, the deaf and hearing staff who learned Signed Japanese criticized her grandma’s signing as being “strange”. Grandma was so hurt that she wouldn’t talk for some time, and the whole family was furious. Outside the island, other deaf people looked down on the sign language cherished by people in Miyakubo.

Even though Yano wanted to stress how Miyakubo Sign Language was an important language, spoken Japanese was considered far more important than sign language at schools for the deaf. Educators were convinced that sign language wouldn’t be useful when students left the school, and unfortunately that policy has barely changed in deaf education today. Opportunities for deaf children to interact with each other in their own sign language have not been sufficiently provided in educational institutions. When Yano wonders how long the deaf will have to struggle to recover their own language, she feels overwhelmed by the unreasonableness of the situation.

Though Yano was not happy with the situation at school, she was still able to communicate in Miyakubo Sign Language with islanders whenever she returned to the island until 10 years ago. Around the year 2000, however, a bridge was completed that connected Ehime-Oshima Island to th1e rest of the Imabari City and other islands, and it became easier to travel to and from other areas. On top of that, there were other major changes in the social environment, such as the spread of the Internet. Instead of asking questions to hearing neighbors using sign language, younger deaf people in Miyakubo began to search for information by themselves. With fewer opportunities to meet face-to-face and communicate using sign language, young hearing people on the island have less chance to use Miyakubo Sign Language.

The deaf people of Miyakubo are becoming more isolated. The paternal aunt of Yano, 73 years old, laments the situation, saying:

“Before, we could talk and understand freely so we were able to share all the pleasures and pains of life. These days, no one knows the sign language. There are many sign words new to me, so I don’t even know what other deaf people are saying. I want people to continue to use and treasure Miyakubo Sign Language.”

As deaf Miyakubo residents age, Miyakubo Sign Language faces extinction. As one of the inheritors of the sign language, Yano feels strongly that Miyakubo Sign language must be properly recorded and preserved to prevent it from disappearing without a trace.

Translated from “Kagaku Tsushin, Ehime-ken Oshimamiyakubo-cho no shuwa: airando sain (Kagaku-Tsushin, Island Signs: The Sign Language of Miyakubo in Ehime Prefecture” Kagaku, May 2017, pp. 0415-0417, ©2017 by Yano Uiko and Matsuoka Kazumi. Reprinted by permission of the authors c/o Iwanami Shoten, Publishers. [May 2017]

How do people at universities overseas view Japan? What do those universities teach students about Japan? I would like to answer these questions in this special feature of Chuokoron based on my own experiences over the last nine years I spent as a professor at the University of Oxford, one of the oldest and top-ranked universities in the UK.

In addition to answering these questions, I would like to examine the problems involved in the topic (that is, what is taught about Japan overseas), which interests people in Japan to the point of urging Discuss Japan editors to come up with a special feature like this. I would like to do so because this second theme brings problems in Japanese society and Japanese education to the forefront.

Report on the State of Japanese Studies Overseas

Kariya Takehiko, Professor, University of Oxford

Before touching on interest in Japan and research and teaching in Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford, I would like to point out several facts that became evident at an international conference organized by Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford, to which I belong, in March 2013. Researchers in Japanese studies invited from not only Britain and Japan but also from North America and Australia (including Japanese language instructors) discussed trends in Japanese studies overseas (opportunities to study and learn ways of understanding Japan) at this conference, which was held to address the question of why Japan matters (what matters about Japan and how those things about Japan matter).

One of the sub themes at the conference was whether interest in Japanese studies was weakening. A possible shift from Japan bashing to Japan passing was a public topic. Furthermore, interest in Chinese studies has strengthened among East Asian studies as a result of China’s economic and political rise. The possibility that interest in Japan was weakening under the effect of this trend was pointed out at the conference.

Professor Patricia Steinhoff, who teaches Japanese studies courses at the University of Hawaii, answered this question directly. Professor Steinhoff examined empirically whether or not the suspected decline in interest was true, comparing data from 2005 with those from 2012 based on surveys of Japanese studies institutions and programs in the United States and Canada. According to the findings of these surveys, the number of Japanese studies programs did increase, from 184 in 2005 to 196 in 2012. The number of Japanese studies specialists grew from 1,284 in 2005 to 1,435 in 2012 as well. In addition, the number of Japanese studies majors in doctoral courses rose from 585 in 2005 to 634 in 2012. Their number has a bearing on the number of researchers in the future. The number of Japanese language courses outside fields of Japanese studies also rose from 1,757 in 2005 to 2,380 in 2012. They grew more in terms of ratio. Based on these findings, Professor Steinhoff concluded that the suspected decline in Japanese studies was a myth that was not grounded in fact.

Certainly, we cannot deny that the major progress being achieved by China in politics and the economy is causing Chinese studies to attract rapidly increasing attention. The impression that interest in Japanese studies is declining by comparison is correct among East Asian studies in relative terms. However, a decline in interest in Japanese studies was not found to be factual as far as North America was concerned. That was the real situation.

Interest in Pop Cultures

Professor Steinhoff raised other important points in her report as well. She pointed out that interest in Japanese studies had shifted among students, and that their interest had a different focus from that of students interested in Chinese studies.

According to her, more students took an interest in the Japanese economy and businesses in the 1980s, when interest in Japan rose and acted as a tailwind for Japanese studies and Japanese language studies. Professor Steinhoff believes that the current interest in Chinese studies resembles the way things were for Japanese studies back then.

In contrast, interest in Japanese studies has departed from the stage of being a temporary fad. It is now growing steadily. Unlike in the past, the interest is now based on interest in Japanese cultures, particularly subcultures and pop cultures. Professor Thomson stressed a similar point in her report, which examined changes in the numbers of students in Japanese studies and Japanese language courses in Australia.

This point coincides with a point raised by Professor Murphy, a Chinese studies specialist at the University of Oxford, when the author interviewed her a while ago. According to her, the number of applicants to undergraduate-level Chinese studies courses is decreasing at the University of Sheffield, one of the leading universities in East Asian studies in the UK. In the meantime, the number of applicants to Japanese studies courses is said to be increasing. According to Professor Murphy’s interpretation, pop cultures and subcultures are stronger motives for young people aged 19 to 20 years old than interest in future businesses. She also believes that such motives are supporting the increase in the number of students choosing Japanese studies over Chinese studies, or their strong interest in Japanese studies.

In this way, interest in cultures is connected to the strong interest in Japanese studies found at universities in English-speaking countries such as the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia. There is no doubt that the global popularity of Japanese pop cultures and subcultures, such as manga, animations and video games, is supporting this strong interest. I think that is a point that anyone could come up with.

The view that interest in cultures is supporting Japanese studies may seem to be a matter of course on the face of it. However, this view requires caution. I think that it will be better for me to examine this issue after introducing Japanese studies at the University of Oxford.

Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford

Two organizations are taking charge of Japanese studies (including Japanese language education) at the University of Oxford. The Japanology program in the Faculty of Oriental Studies that belongs to the Oriental Institute is mainly taking charge of undergraduate-level education. There are two associate professors of Japanese literature (in charge of modern literature and medieval literature, respectively), a professor of linguistics and faculty members in charge of Japanese language education in this program. As their fields of expertise suggest, humanities subjects, such as literature, linguistics and the Japanese language, form the center of undergraduate-level education. (Professors in the program teach students in master’s and doctoral courses as well.) In the meantime, the subjects studied by students in the program include those that come under social sciences as well. Instructors who belong to the other of the two organizations, the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, teach those subjects.

There is one professor each in charge of political science, economics and businesses, anthropology, history and sociology (the author) in this latter organization, which offers a master’s program in Japanese studies based mainly on social sciences and modern history. This master’s course differs from the Faculty of Oriental Studies program mentioned above in that the course bears the title Modern Japanese Studies (instead of titles like Japanology that retain the flavors of Orientalism). Moreover, the professors of the course are also members of the departments of their disciplines (such as the Department of Sociology, the Department of Politics and International Relations, the Faculty of History and so on). They teach students in master’s and doctoral programs in the departments of their disciplines as well. (The research topics chosen by these students are not limited to matters related to Japan, particularly in the Department of Sociology to which I belong.)

Students in the Modern Japanese Studies master’s program are required to take two subjects from their respective fields of expertise, in addition to a course on social sciences methodology and intensive Japanese language classes. These requirements are aimed at deepening their understanding of Japan through social sciences and modern history while equipping them with a high command of Japanese language skills. Starting from the new academic year in October 2017, professors affiliated with the Faculty of Oriental Studies and the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies have offered one integrated master’s program titled Japanese Studies (with the word “modern” removed from the previous title) as the only postgraduate master’s program related to Japan at the University of Oxford (http://www.nissan.ox.ac.uk/prospective-students).

Presence or Absence of a Viewpoint for Relativizing Japan

What is being taught in these programs? In this article, I would like to focus my answer on the Modern Japanese Studies master’s program.

The questions asked in the final examinations that are requisite for graduation enable us to estimate nearly all the contents of the course. As I pointed out in Okkusufoodo-karano Keisho (An Alarm Bell from Oxford), my recent work published as part of Chuokoron-Shinsha, Inc.’s La Clef paperback series, these examinations are given entirely in essay style in the final term after the end of classwork for all subjects (in which students are required to read a massive amount of literature). The final examination for each subject is three hours long. Normally, nine questions are asked in each subject, and students choose three of them to answer. They handwrite their answers on four to five A4-sized sheets per question. The questions asked in the final examinations reflect the study results expected in the respective subjects.

To cite examples (translated once in Japanese then translated back into English, and slightly modified by the author), the following questions were asked in a past final examination for a course on Japanese politics taught by Professor Neary.

All of these questions are very hard to deal with. They require knowledge learned from literature with a prerequisite understanding of the concepts associated with Japanese politics. Professor Neary asked these questions to make the students think, rather than simply asking them to present detailed knowledge.

Let me now share the questions in Japanese history taught by Professor Konishi.

These questions examine students’ understanding of the modern history of Japan (particularly changes from the Edo period to the Meiji period). They are impossible to answer unless students theoretically and conceptually grasp the historical experiences of Japan. They demand a knowledge of historical facts learned from literature and lectures and the ability to understand such knowledge conceptually and theoretically, and ponder and express it.

As these questions suggest, what is expected to be discussed in final examinations is more than knowledge based on facts, regardless of the subject, including politics, history, economy, society or cultures. These questions reflect a strong awareness of a connection between facts and concepts and theories that give meanings to the facts. Answers are not good unless they can express this connection logically and articulately. Furthermore, these questions demand the ability to understand and think in original ways. We can say that teaching and learning in the program are undertaken for these purposes.

The program offer concepts and theories that are indispensable in each subject to such thinking in English, the de-facto lingua franca in today’s academic community. That is another important point. Each course provides theoretical foundations built on concepts and theories elaborated across different disciplines including Japanese studies, and are all expressed in English, one of the most easily accessible languages globally. Therefore, we cannot use them in an isolated way, as is often the case among Japanese scholars in Japan who teach and write only in Japanese. The theoretical foundations and their modifications should be contiguous to those developed in the global context, not limited only within Japan in Japanese.  In other words, Japanese studies outside Japan must stand on such a global context which enforces any academic products of Japanese studies to be located in this global academic context contiguous to academic works in other disciplines as well as in other geographical regions.

On the other hand, there are apparent cases in which theories built overseas are applied to research on Japan undertaken by Japanese researchers at universities in Japan, and concepts borrowed from overseas are translated and used for analyses, explanations and teaching in Japanese. The fruits of the studies of Western knowledge have, despite ridicule in the name of imported studies, long characterized social sciences scholarship and education in Japan. However, the types of reactions and interactions that the application of borrowed foreign theories and concepts may cause to these original theories and concepts are sought in very limited cases. Theorization does not incorporate such intended reactions and interactions easily as long as the theories and concepts are expressed only in Japanese and Japanese people are assumed to be their main readership. If I might venture to simplify, theories and concepts are in just one-way borrowing and applications without any productive returns contributed to the global academic communities. Differences from overseas Japanese studies in which the application of any theories and concepts inevitably goes back to the elaboration process for original theories and concepts arise as a result of the language (often in English) selected for expressing them.

To rephrase further, a comparative viewpoint must lay at the base of Japanese studies overseas in understanding Japan from the beginning. The subject called “Japan” cannot be viewed as self-evident in Japanese studies overseas. As the international conference mentioned above inquired, Japanese studies overseas must ask why Japan matters (what matters about Japan and how those things about Japan matter). Differences from studies produced by Japanese researchers in Japan in the Japanese language for Japanese readers result from this point. This aspect is also related to overseas interest in Japanese cultures that I put on hold earlier in this article.

A Transnational Viewpoint

At this point, I would like to go back to Professor Steinhoff’s report cited above. Professor Steinhoff pointed out that interest in Japanese cultures, including subcultures and pop cultures, has acted as a strong motive for students who have chosen Japanese studies in recent years. What Kitagawa Toshihiko, a Japanese language instructor at Reagent’s University in London, told me in connection with this point was instructive.

According to Kitagawa, interest in Japanese manga, animations and the like is definitely a reason for students to consider studying the Japanese language. They have been in touch with these cultures through television and the Internet since early childhood. They belong to a generation of people who grew up that way. As a supplementary explanation for this view, Kitagawa pointed out the possibility that many of those young people grew up without being aware that these cultures came from Japan.

The same thing is happening in the field of food culture. Japanese sushi has now gone completely global. We can buy sushi at ordinary supermarkets in major cities in Britain, and there are conveyor belt sushi bars at airports and big railway stations. However, according to Kitagawa, young people today have virtually no perception that sushi is Japanese food. Cultures cross national borders easily. They mix with other cultures. They spread and are consumed independently from their places of origin. They also produce new cultures. These movements tear down frameworks such as nation-states and national cultures.

Political attempts to link subcultures and pop cultures born in Japan with industrial and trade policies under the slogan of “Cool Japan” were repeatedly reported once. In these attempts, Japan was considered to be a uniform entity with a nation-state, a national culture and a national economy. Efforts were made to link cultures born in Japan with businesses without asking any questions about this view. In that sense, they were an internationalization strategy for crossing borders with their national status as an unchangeable assumption.

This strategy and viewpoint result in contributions to the substantialization of the uniformity of entities called “national.” They represent a viewpoint that contrasts with the interest shown by young people in contents that are Japanese cultures with no obsession with their roots. To borrow an expression from Sakai Naoki, a professor of Japanese culture at Cornell University, young people’s interest is “an approach to cultures that is made in a way that cuts across a community of people” (Sakai, N. et al., eds., 1996, Nashonaritii-no Datsukochiku (Deconstructing Nationalities) Kashiwashobo Publishing Co., Ltd., p.18). The spread and consumption of cultures via YouTube and other web media has admittedly accelerated this approach.

As Sakai points out, opinions called Nihonjin-ron (theories on Japanese people) once produced blind spots that caused people to lose sight of the diversity and multiplicity of cultures and societies by attributing cultures to a specific national culture and a nation-state and viewing the presence of cultures peculiar to Japan (that differ mainly from Western cultures) as self-evident. As a result, those opinions provided a cognitive framework that admits the superiority of things national in a way they did not intend. They were nationalism of a kind that demanded the endorsement of the presence called Japan as a uniform entity. The same thing is happening today, even though advocates do not call their opinions Nihonjin-ron anymore.

I would like to quote Sakai’s statement further in connection with this point: “Accidental origins in the Japanese Archipelago or Western Europe and the sameness of ethnic groups and people are entirely different matters. Many of the computer games sold by Nintendo are made in Japan, but many children around the world enjoy them without taking any notice of things like their Japanese origin [sentences are omitted here]. On the contrary [phrase added by the quoter], the types of opinions that adhere to national cultures and national characteristics force cultures to symbolize ethnic groups and nation [kokumin]. The signs of ethnic groups and nation are not inherently engraved in cultures themselves” (op. cit. p. 22).

We should not mistake greater overseas interest in Japanese culture for the greater presence of a national community of people called Japan. Professor Whittaker, another colleague of mine at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, pointed out the same thing in his conversation with the author.

This very special feature on how people view Japan at universities overseas and how Japan is taught there can end up building a view on Japan that strengthens the substantiality and uniformity of a nation-state and a national culture and becomes trapped in such frameworks, unless we watch out for the danger.

The affirmative re-endorsement of the images and understanding of Japan is sought today because of a growing sense of threat that China and other emerging nations may catch up with or overtake Japan. A viewpoint for relativizing the very desire for endorsement is essential for staying away from such simplistic nationalistic moves and sentiments. A transnational viewpoint (a viewpoint beyond nation-states) offers an effective approach to that end.

Moreover, a viewpoint for accepting diversity and multiplicity in Japan, instead of grasping Japan (Japanese people and cultures) as a monolith or a homogeneous entity, is essential. The latter viewpoint once led Nihonjin-ron to the myth of ethnic homogeneity. All the viewpoints mentioned above share a stance against viewing the phenomenon called Japan as self-evident.

Moving beyond Nationalism

All modern nation-states have an awareness called nationalism. We cannot deny the fact that advancing globalization is strengthening nationalism as well. However, with endorsed academic freedom and freedom of expression as education institutions, how can universities teach the next generation to become “educated citizens” who are able to relativize such trends prudently?

The contents of subjects taught are not the only things that universities in Japan can learn from research and teaching in Japanese studies at overseas counterparts. They can also learn the viewpoints and approaches undertaken there by learning how they teach.

A shift toward classwork in English is being encouraged these days under a globalization policy aiming at Japanese universities. However, teaching subjects in English is not sufficient for globalization. The advantage of lessons in a language other than Japanese lies in the establishment of a distance from Japan without viewing any phenomena known as Japan as self-evident, together with the birth of awareness that any research on Japan should stand on the same intellectual ground of transnational academic communities. We can achieve such results in the Japanese language, too, if we take this into account seriously.

The question of why Japan matters (what matters about Japan and how those things about Japan matter), which keeps a distance from the view that the phenomena and experiences called Japan are self-evident, has currency in university education in Japan as well. This question helps universities in Japan establish a foothold that is not buffeted about by intensifying waves of globalization and nationalism, which often urge us to simplify world views.

Translated from “Tokushu ‘Habado no Nihon sai-hakken’: Okkusufoodo kara mita ‘Nihon’ toiu mondai (Feature Article ‘Rediscovering Japan at Harvard’: The Topic of Japan Viewed from Oxford),” Chuokoron, September 2017, pp. 80-88. (Courtesy of Chuo Koron Shinsha) [September 2017]

The influx of foreign tourists into Japan reminds one sociologist of American soldiers stationed in Japan immediately after the Second World War. What does he think of the current tourism boom? In this essay, Professor Miyajima’s essay covers several perspectives that are critical to thinking about this issue.

Early Memories of the Post-War Period

Miyajima Takashi, Professor Emeritus, Ochanomizu University

Perhaps it is just a fancy of mine, but for someone who spent their childhood and youth in post-war Yokohama, the current influx of foreign tourists to Japan reminds me of the officers and soldiers of the American occupation. Looking back, it seems like a storm that blew fiercely, then passed; seven or eight years during which there were several American bases and barracks in the city. Of course, Okinawa has been experiencing the same thing continually since the war, but elsewhere there has never before, or after, been so many foreign soldiers and military personnel immersed in daily life in Japan.

We know that the press (newspaper) and radio codes laid down by GHQ were strict, and forbade criticism of the occupying forces, or reporting of undesirable behavior. But I and my contemporaries had many opportunities to see the soldiers’ behavior at very first-hand. I hated seeing drunken soldiers acting like vandals and going around breaking the windows of people’s homes, and was almost traumatized. Yet, at the same time, I also had a positive impression when I saw how some soldiers might be trying to change Japanese culture. For example, on a train I once saw a man I presume was an American soldier order a youth to get up and give his seat to an old person who was standing up and holding onto the straps.

I also remember how wonderfully lively and energetic the girls at my school were. They often talked about movies they’d seen and been impressed by, such as Madame Curie, One Hundred Men and a Girl, or Little Women. Their eyes were opened by these films; it seems to me that they had decided to look for their own way to live, not just be women who do housework and sewing. By choosing and releasing these American films, the occupying force inspired young women enormously.

On another occasion, around the first year of middle school, I was on a train reading one of a set of books of literature for young people which was called Cuore. An American soldier sat down next to me and looked over at the European-style illustrations with interest, then asked me what I was reading. I told him about the Italian story, and he replied that he was an Italian-American, and that cuore means “heart” in Italian. That was all that happened, but I’ll never forget it, and it was a conversation that touched my own heart.

Thinking back, he must have only spent a few years at most as a guest here in the Far East. And even though it was just a passing encounter, it was a cultural encounter, and one that left a long-lasting mark on me as a human being.

Encounters in unexpected places: the wave of new tourists

Each year the news reports record-breaking numbers of foreign tourists coming to Japan, and every year there are new pictures of tourists posing and smiling as they stand in front of the huge lantern at Kaminarimon in Tokyo’s Asakusa.
   This wave of tourists has also reached Japan’s regions. From around fifteen years ago, when restrictions on group tours from China were lifted, I have seen tourists staying and shopping even in Tokai region towns (not a typical sightseeing area). From about five years ago I’ve also encountered visitors from Europe and the United States in unexpected places. Once I bumped into a group of ten or more German men and women in Tsumagoi, a post town of the Kiso Valley, an area which will be familiar to readers of Shimazaki Toson’s novel, Before the Dawn. They were strolling around the village taking lots of photos of the houses, and told me that they were staying at an old ryokan inn in the town.

Following the global financial crisis, the yen became relatively cheap and it became easier for foreigners to visit Japan. At the same time, distinctive off-the-beaten-path travel itineraries began to appear (I wonder who chose them?), that differed from the standard route of Narita Airport arrival, Tokyo, Kyoto, Kansai Airport departure. Even greater numbers of tourists come from Asia, and they often use budget airlines, frequently starting and ending their journeys at somewhat unlikely regional airports. For that reason, the range of areas being visited has expanded considerably.

Is omotenashi hospitality really a good thing?

Looking into and researching Japan’s tourism policy is my own specialization, but for a while I’ve sensed that two things are missing from Japan’s tourism policy.

One is how it lacks the useful kind of specialization. In its bid for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, Japan strongly stressed and promoted its culture of omotenashi hospitality, but I feel there is something unfocused about this. People say that, “We must be kind to visitors.” Of course, smiling and being kind is very important, but for a successful tourism industry, it is more important that we have information centers located in the right places that can deal effectively with visitors, as well as qualified staff who are able to give proper guidance on buying tickets, arranging accommodation, historical sites, and the historical background to these. A kind of specialization is necessary. It is too easy just to have a few well-meaning locals with limited English volunteering to help foreign visitors, and at the end of the day it doesn’t help much.

Japan’s Tour-Guide Interpreter qualification dates back over half a century. According to the 2016 Tourism White Paper, although 190,000 people hold the qualification (2015), three in four are not active as guides. Many registered guides live in metropolitan areas such as Tokyo, and the vast majority are registered as English-speaking. Conversely, few guides can speak languages such as Chinese or Korean, so there is a mismatch with demand. During the last twenty-five years, the number of visitors to Japan from abroad has doubled and tripled, so one would have expected the assumption that all tourists speak English to have changed significantly.

Yet, the nation and the tourism industry have not sufficiency changed their way of thinking when it comes to dealing with foreign languages. Chinese, Korean and Peruvian people living in Japan might work in the industry, and since there are no nationality restrictions, we should encourage them to take the exam. Incidentally, in the immigration-based society of the United States there are officially qualified guides from many ethnic groups, and this is how they meet the needs of tourists from many diverse cultures.

The other thing that I have sensed for a while is that there are no high-standard basic guidebooks with quality contents, either for Japanese people or for foreigners. The shelves of book stores are filled with all sorts of guide books, but most seem to contain simple advice on famous locations, local souvenirs, festivals and eating. For forty years, I’ve been using Michelin guides when traveling in Europe, and there is nothing comparable in Japan.

The Michelin guides were created by the French tire maker to help popularize driving holidays. The books were wonderfully well made, comprehensive and easy to read. They quickly dominated the market, and versions in various languages have been made. I have one to hand here (a guide to Provence), and if I open it I find that of the 329-page total length, summaries of the region’s history, languages, literature, art and architecture account for forty-five pages. If I look up the relatively minor sightseeing area of Tarascon, it has around three pages. Half a page covers history, one and a half pages detail several scenic sights and churches, half a page is a map of the town, and half a page is filled with photos. These are the guidebooks that French people take with them when traveling. So, when they come to Japan and must rely on a single Michelin guidebook, Japon, they must feel something is lacking. Yet, even in that one book, of 680 total pages, 80 are devoted to a well-written general description of Japan titled “Comprendre Japon.”

Of course, it is up to publishers to produce guidebooks. But as a country we can’t ignore the need for a high-quality guidebook written by Japanese people and translated into various languages. There is a need for a properly standardized overview of Japanese history, as well as material on Japan’s distinctive historical and cultural features, temple and shrine architecture, styles of art, and other topics.

How foreign tourists are portrayed

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, which makes its calculations based on the Ministry of Justice’s statistics on the number of non-Japanese entering Japan, the number of foreign tourists¹ to Japan in 2015 was around 17 million. Once again, this is a record. In the general breakdown, 14.67 million visitors were from Asia, accounting for 86% of the total and dominating the top of the list (see figure).

Although, the vast majority of visitors are from Asia, the media have covered the topic slightly differently. The tourists that are positively portrayed on TV walking around Tokyo’s working class districts and rediscovering those forgotten fascinating aspects of Japan that Japanese people don’t notice are overwhelmingly from Europe and the United States. When Asian tourists are shown, the focus is usually on Chinese people, and many of the reports are on their shopping sprees or “bad manners.” The contrast between these portrayals is worrying, and these stereotypes need to be corrected.

Even among visitors from Asia there is much variety, and China and South Korea are different. Chinese-speaking visitors are all lumped together, but the People’s Republic of China accounts for 45%, while the remainder includes people from different countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. In terms of per-capita GDP, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore can be considered developed or near-developed countries, and the tourists from those countries are ordinary members of their middle classes. Chinese tourists are often described as the “rich few.” Although group tours of Chinese are common, and they tend not to speak English, and communication with some can be difficult, there is no need to view them differently. I will discuss this later, but when you think back to groups of Japanese tourists visiting Paris and New York thirty years ago, you might have said the same about them.

Curiosity-driven tourists from Asia

Locations where you might see lots of foreign tourists include Osaka Castle and Kumamoto Castle prior to its partial destruction in an earthquake. Some Korean and Chinese visitors are interested in Japanese history, and some groups can be seen carefully reading information displays. A few years ago, on a visit Osaka Castle, I encountered a group of four or five Koreans at a huge rock (5.5 m high and 11.7 m wide) known as the Takoishi. They were admiring the rock and discussing it. One of their group could speak Japanese and he asked the Japanese tourists nearby: “Is there a mountain in Japan big enough to cut this rock out of?” and “Why did they bring it from there?” The Japanese explained that it was cut from an island in the Seto Inland Sea, then brought by boat, and that until a century ago Osaka Bay was much larger, so goods could be offloaded from ships right by the castle. Nodding, the Korean tourists said, “I see,” and looked satisfied.

Just like this, there are Asian tourists who come to see, read, listen, discuss and try to understand Japanese culture. That some understand Japanese helps them a lot. Some find meaning in their Japan visits through eating Japanese food and various other “experiences.” Meanwhile, many young people are prompted to see and explore Japan by their interest in manga, anime and music. I don’t know what exactly this behavior by Asian tourists tells us, but I can sense a huge curiosity towards Japan.

A one-sided view?

On the other hand, it may be a sign of their materialism, but we can’t ignore the fact that these tourists tend to go shopping for large quantities of goods: from cosmetics and the latest electronic appliances, to toothpaste and diapers. This is what you might call the inevitable symptom of a distortion in their own domestic market. Even as they produce excellent industrial goods for export, they lack consumer goods of the quality they need for everyday life. Also, these shopping trips for expensive goods are closely tied to the strategy of Japanese companies who organize tours and include trips to Ginza and famous department stores to encourage tourists to spend money. In reality, the policy and priority of both Japan’s tourism industry and large shops such as department stores is for visitors to spend money in Japan. Thinking about what these tourists might want to see or learn comes second. In that sense, the kind of European tourists who might want to slowly see Japan without spending much money on shopping are not very welcome. (It is clear that tourists from England, Germany, Italy and other European countries spend relatively little money on shopping.) By comparison, Chinese tourists spend 57%² of their travel money (excluding plane tickets) on shopping, so that’s why they are treated as important customers.

Yet, thirty years ago tour groups of Japanese tourists would appear at the Paris Mitsukoshi Department Store or the Galeries Lafayette, communicating through interpreters, and making such purchases as ten bottles of Chanel 19 perfume at a time. French people were astonished at the sight. This was well before Chinese “shopping sprees.” The shops were delighted, and it seemed mostly companies on the French side that adroitly arranged the shopping stop-offs. French people did not, however, decide that “Japanese people come to France for shopping.” They saw that all sorts of Japanese people were coming to France, and knew that many carefully looked round museums, and that some also visited the cathedral at Chartres and Romanesque churches in the countryside. Japanese people should also take a slightly more adult view of foreigners and not focus on just one side.

In any case, the wave of shopping sprees are said to have now subsided. Recently, customs checks for returning Chinese tourists have apparently got stricter. Meanwhile, cross-border electronic commerce means that Chinese people are becoming able to shop in Japan over the Internet without even setting foot in the country. It will be fascinating to see how Chinese visitors’ interest in Japan develops and changes.  

Acts of hate?

But, there is something that concerns me. I have touched on this already, but there is a double standard in the way that Japanese people deal with foreigners. When it comes to people from Europe and the United States, Japanese are friendly and kind, and don’t treat them as inferior. But when the tourists are from Asia, Japanese people treat them differently, roughly and without smiling. Japanese people, it seems, haven’t yet lost that old-fashioned desire to be part of Europe, not Asia. Not speaking Chinese or Korean might be one reason, but that’s why it is a good thing that more electronics shops and hotels are employing more people from other Asian countries who speak excellent Japanese.

Even so, some shocking things have happened to those tourists in our country temporarily as guests. Last October, the Osaka outlet of an urban sushi restaurant chain served South Korean tourists sushi filled with large amounts of wasabi: and it became apparent that they had been doing this regularly. This claim only originated on the Internet, but judging by the color photos it wasn’t food that an ordinary person would eat, so I can only assume the intention was to play a trick on these customers.

A worrying thing about this is the recently much discussed issue of hate speech towards non-Japanese. Although an anti-hate speech law was finally passed in May 2016, it was Korean-Japanese who were unjustifiably singled out by groups who made anti-foreigner declarations and staged demonstrations. It is hard to imagine that it was the official policy of the sushi restaurant, but I wonder if when Korean-speaking customers entered the restaurant the sushi chefs thought they were a nuisance and didn’t want to serve them. Even if there was no discrimination at play and they just wanted to see the customers squeal when the wasabi hit, they were serving paying customers so their actions were surely outrageous.

I am not going to explore here why such feelings of hate have spread among some Japanese. But it is an extremely serious matter when those working in tourism and customer service express this hate. It may be that some sort of action needs to be taken: for example, the tourism authorities investigating the sushi restaurant and issuing corrective advice; or using this occasion to make human rights education compulsory for interpreter-guides, or customer service staff in hotels and restaurants.

Notes

1. For the purpose of Ministry of Justice statistics, “Foreign Tourists” refers to short stay visitors to Japan. Business travelers are not included, but those visiting friends and family are. (JNTO homepage).

2. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 2016 Tourism White Paper, p. 250. The figure for tourists from the U.K., Germany, and Italy is 14% to 15%.

3. For more details see, Fighting Hate Speech by Arita Yoshifu (Iwanami Shoten, 2013). I would like to point out that anti-foreigner demos where hate speech occurred first took place around the Shin-Okubo area of Tokyo where there are many recent Korean immigrants.

Translated from “Tokushu 1 Ibunka-sesshoku toshiteno Inbaundo: Indaudo to Nihonjin ― Gaikokujin tsuurisuto zodai ni yotte towarerumono (Special Feature 1 Inbound Tourism and Experiencing a Different Culture: Inbound Tourism and Japanese People ―Issues related to the increase in tourists visiting Japan from abroad),” THE TOSHI MONDAI (Municipal Problems), January 2017, pp. 4-9. (Courtesy of The Tokyo Institute for Municipal Research) [January 2017]

Photo: Courtesy of the Japan Guide Association

As an tour guide-interpreter, Hagimura Masayo sometimes spends as long as two weeks traveling around the whole of Japan with foreign visitors, so no-one has more first-hand knowledge of exactly what interests, attracts and impresses tourists. In this article, she taps her rich professional experience to discuss some tourism resources of which Japanese people might not be aware.

Introduction

Hagimura Masayo, President, the Japan Guide Association

When the Japanese government launched its Visit Japan campaign back in 2003, the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan each year was only 5.24 million. Ten years later the figure had reached 10 million, and over time it gradually increased. From January to October 2016, more than 20 million people visited Japan. (The exact figure was a record 20,113,000 people, compared to 16,316,000 for the same period in 2015).

As this happens, the amount of work we tour guide-interpreters are asked to do is growing. Although there are differences between those working in different regions, and with different languages, overall we can expect demand to increase in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

Meanwhile, internet review sites are becoming more popular, more tourists are making repeat visits to Japan, and the types of tours available to inbound tourists are becoming more diverse. Tourists also require better-quality tour contents, and better and more skilled tour guide-interpreters.

We tour guide-interpreters work more closely with foreign visitors to Japan than anyone else. In this article, I’d like to tap that perspective to ask; what impresses foreign tourists; and what are Japan’s tourism resources when it comes to foreigners?

What is a tour guide-interpreter?

Have you ever seen someone carrying a small flag and guiding foreigners through a sightseeing spot saying, “This way, please!”? This is the job of Japan’s National Licensed Guides. As we are often called tour guide-interpreters, there’s a tendency to assume that we work as interpreters, but there two main differences.

Firstly: the job of an interpreter is to translate the words of a speaker into a different language. They are not permitted to add to or subtract from that content. There is no national qualification for interpreters.

Secondly: tour guide-interpreters serve as guides while speaking a foreign language. A national qualification is necessary.

In addition, tour guide-interpreters fulfil the following three main functions through their work:

1) Acting as a guide for tourists.

2) Acting as a tour-conductor, i.e. managing itineraries and handling attraction and transport tickets.

3) Interpreting (including assistance with foreign language related issues)

Tour guide-interpreters do not just give sight-seeing explanations in a foreign language, they also do the same job as the tour conductors that accompany Japanese group tours, and they do both by themselves. Also, they work right across Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa.

Although their main functions are 1 and 2 above, in the case of corporate inspection tours or Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Events (MICE) etc. they often also interpret. Even during sightseeing tours, there are often occasions when they interpret, say for maiko trainee geisha (See photos 1, 2, and 3).

①	②	③
Photos: Courtesy of the Japan Guide Association

From face-masks to short-handled brooms: questions from foreign visitors

But when foreign visitors take tours in Japan, what are they interested in, and what sort of questions do they usually ask? The below are examples of some common questions posed to tour guide-interpreters, and just a few of the unexpected questions we get. Some even have the professionals scratching their heads!

1) (Pointing at a Japanese person) Why is that person wearing a mask?

2) (To the tour guide-interpreter) What’s your religion? Note: this would be an unthinkable question for one Japanese person living in Japan       to ask another.

3) Why don’t Japanese people kiss when they greet each other?

4) Where can I meet a geisha? Note: some foreigners tend to assume that all Japanese women wearing kimono are geisha. Others think that geisha are prostitutes; perhaps from novels they have read.

5) Why do Japanese people use brooms with short handles?

6) How on earth does one eat white rice with chopsticks?

7) Who in the world cleans those 50cm gaps between buildings? Why don’t they just join the buildings together?

8) Why do young Japanese women walk with their toes turned inwards? Note: foreigners are very intrigued by this.

9) Why don’t restaurants use paper napkins? Note: visitors are at a complete loss as to what to do without a paper napkin.

10) Why do Japanese people take off their shoes?      

11) The Japanese manji symbol of temples looks like a German swastika. Are they connected?

12) Why are there so many overhead cables in Japan? Wouldn’t the view be improved without them?

13) What should one do if an earthquake occurs?

The most common question is number one, about masks. Visitors from Europe and America in particular see masks as something worn by those with infectious disease. This is often the first question they think to ask when they come to Japan.

Regarding question number 12), I once jokingly answered that Japan has a lot of crows and pigeons, and they need somewhere to rest. After that I checked with an architect relative so that I had an answer.

Number 13 is a question that people often ask after they arrive in Japan. For people who live in countries without earthquakes, it is a serious question.

Finding tourism resources in surprising Japanese realities and customs

But when foreign tourists come to Japan, what is it in particular that interests them? There are differences depending on country, generation, and gender, but the below are typical examples of what surprises and impresses foreign tourists, according to my own experience. These unassuming things and objects, both tangible and intangible, are tourism resources that can surprise and impress visitors.

1) That elementary school children themselves clean their school each day, and that cleaners aren’t employed. Foreigners think they could learn from this part of our education system.

2) That white rice doesn’t taste of anything. Why eat something with no taste?

3) That most narrow streets and roads don’t have names. How is the mail delivered?

4) Tourists are impressed by high-tech Japanese toilets. Some want to buy them to take home.

5) That there is no custom of tipping in Japan.

6) That elementary school children travel to school by themselves without their parents or guardians. Isn’t it dangerous?

7) That Japan has no “ladies first” tradition; that, in fact, men traditionally come first.

8) That different products don’t differ in price greatly depending on the region of Japan.

9) The recycling is so advanced, and that household garbage must be carefully separated into different materials.

10) That even in high-tech Japan many areas do not have free Wi-Fi, and that its availability is limited.

11) That the Japanese language uses two types of phonetic alphabet (kana) alongside more than 2,000 ideographs, and that these are used daily in combination. What are the inside of Japanese people’s heads like? (They must be superhuman).

12) That Japanese people are always bowing, even on the telephone.

13) That Japanese people slurp as they consume soup or noodles. This is an unpleasant noise to people from Europe or America.

14) That there are so many groups of children on school trips and post-graduation trips. That their behavior and manners are so good.

15) That wives look after the household finances in Japan, not husbands.

16) That so many people commit suicide. They are incredibly surprised that almost 30,000 people kill themselves in Japan each year.

17) That Japan still has the death penalty. (I am often asked how they are killed, but I reply that as a Japanese person I have not considered that question.)

18) That wedding ceremonies are so quiet that people seem sad during what ought to be a happy occasion.

19) That Japanese people eat horse meat. In particular, foreign tourists can’t believe it is eaten raw.

Foreign visitors are immediately impressed at the lack of garbage at the road sides. It is simply amazing to them, but I’ve rarely just been asked, “Why isn’t there any litter?” On the other hand, they often ask, “Why aren’t there any garbage pails?” “Where do Japanese people throw away their trash?” or “There aren’t any garbage pails, so why isn’t there any litter?” When I reply that in Singapore there are fines for dropping litter but in Japan generally that’s not the case, they are even more surprised. Although some local authorities have local ordinances forbidding litter-dropping, and there are national laws that cover the disposal of waste, no-one will be fined for dropping a chewing gum wrapper. On the other hand, when I ask them, “Is it good for the streets to be clean?” of course they answer, “Yes.” Also, when I ask them why, in that case, people drop litter in their country, they might struggle for an answer, then eventually reply, “That’s just what our country is like. Education in Japan is wonderful.”

Recently discovered tourism resources in sightseeing areas

There are many sightseeing areas that were unknown to foreign tourists before, but which began to receive attention as inbound tourism grew, and which are now famous and known by everyone. We can expect other “hidden” sighting-seeing areas in the regions to become noticed in the future. Some examples:

1) The snow monkeys of Nagano Prefecture. Japanese macaques that bathe in hot springs in midwinter.

2) The ski resorts of Niseko. Popular with visitors from Australia and elsewhere who are in a similar time-zone and can visit during their summer.

3) Historic post towns on the Kiso Road and elsewhere. Traditional Japanese streets and houses.

4) The Tsukiji fish market. The tuna auctions are very popular, and visitors have never seen most of the seafood at the market before.

5) The “scramble” crossing at Shibuya. Foreigners have never seen anything like it in any other country.

6) Shibuya’s Hachiko statue. After seeing the movie Hachi: A Dog’s Tale. (People are influenced by movies in other ways).

Surprising and impressive things in sight-seeing areas
– What people get from Japan

Of course, we want people to be impressed by the places they visit as tourists. Among these “exciting” things there are unpredicted and unexpected “surprises” and “impressive things”. And these include many things not covered on Facebook or in the guidebooks they buy back home. It’s usual for guidebooks to have photos of Mount Fuji beautifully covered in snow, but during the season when most tourists actually visit Mount Fuji there’s no snow, which can be rather a shock.

In fact, it is these kinds of realities that are impressive to visitors who have spent time and money on coming to Japan from afar. That is the value of travel. We only know about these things with hindsight, and we can’t promote all of them beforehand, but we can still call them all tourism resources.

Here are some examples:

1) Mount Fuji without snow. Tourists expect Mount Fuji to be white. Souvenirs and woodblock prints show Mount Fuji with snow, but the mountain has no snow in summer.

2) The dense forest surrounding Mount Fuji is famous for suicides. This is a negative fact that is not included in guidebooks.

3) Mount Fuji is littered with a large amount of waste materials. This is another negative fact that is not included in guidebooks.

4) That people bathe in hot springs naked without swimming costumes in Japan. Guidebooks usually only show people wrapped in towels. (Foreign visitors ask if Japanese people aren’t embarrassed to be seen naked.)

5) The incredibly high prices of wagyu beef or fruit give as gifts.

6) Beautifully designed manhole covers.

When it comes to number two and three, you might wonder why anyone would talk about such dark topics when tourists have travelled to see beautiful Mount Fuji. I’m sure many of my fellow tour guide-interpreters don’t cover these topics on their Mount Fuji tours, but I always do my best to discuss them. I warn foreign tourists beforehand that, although these things are a great source of shame to Japan, there is much that is not included in the guidebooks, and that you can’t learn about it until you actually visit Japan. I say that I want them to know about the real Japan: both good and bad.

Many Japanese wouldn’t have any idea about what tourists mean by the manholes in number six. Manhole covers over sewers under the street often have attractive designs related to the local area. Those of us who live in Japan probably don’t notice them, but visitors often remark on how attractive they are.

There are surprisingly many unknown things and objects

Even among dedicated Japanophile foreign visitors who carefully read guidebooks and other material before they come to Japan, there are still surprisingly many things they don’t know about.

These include: Shinto and shrines; Asian-style toilets (Rather unexpected. Visitors take the guide to the toilet, and point at it, saying, “What on earth is this? What do you use it for?”); shochu (a clear Japanese spirit; shabu-shabu (thin meat boiled in water); restaurants where customers sit around iron hot-plates set in the tables; iced-coffee (Rather unexpected. Visitors say that coffee should be drunk hot.); typically having to pay at a till rather than at the table in cafes and restaurants; not being able to talk on cellphones in public places or on public transport (if guides don’t tell them they won’t realize for the duration of their trip); kneeling or sitting on tatami-mat floors due to the traditional lack of chairs in Japanese rooms; Japanese people sleeping on futons (i.e. beds very close to the ground).

Things tourists enjoy: food and drink

It is now over three years since Japanese washoku cuisine was added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2013. Washoku is popular around the world, and ever more foreigners are visiting Japan to eat washoku in its place of origin. Tourists tell me that, “I’ve come to Japan so I want to eat Japanese food.” These dishes include wagyu beef, fugu blowfish (famous for its poison), Japanese sweets, and ramen noodles. Japanese wagyu is known abroad, but usually only the Kobe beef brand. Also, while its well-known that Japan hunts whales, it doesn’t see that many people want to eat whale meat.

Japanese people themselves are a tourist resource

It is not just things and objects that can impress foreign tourists; so can the Japanese people they come into direct contact with; for example, the way guides, hotel staff, and shop assistants work and serve customers.

One example is how a guide ensures a large group can quickly and smoothly board the reserved seating carriage of a bullet train. The train only stops on the platform for about one minute, and the guide is desperate to make sure no one gets left behind, so they have to be a little ingenious.

The guide divides the group into two and has them wait in line according to the order of their seats at the two spots where the carriage doors will halt. Each traveler is given a bullet train ticket on which their seat number has been marked in large letters with a thick felt-tip pen in their language. There two groups are separated by color: a red group (who board at the closest door) and a blue group (who board at the furthest door). If the travelers follow the guide’s instructions and use this method to get on the train, they will find that the boarding order is properly determined beforehand, that no-one needs to hurry, and that they can smoothly and happily reach their seats. The method is much appreciated.

Another example was when tourists came back to their bus, which was waiting in the car park of a sightseeing attraction, and found the driver carefully polishing the hubcaps of the bus with a cloth. They said it was amazing, and that in their country people wouldn’t work like that when no-one is watching. They were very impressed and took photos of the driver.

Japanese people may take these things for granted, but tourists praise these ways of working, thinking, and approaching our jobs. You may remember how in 2014, during the soccer World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Japanese supporters decided by themselves to clean up garbage in the stadium. They were applauded by the world’s media and the Japanese fans received an official thank you letter from the director of the Rio de Janeiro State Environmental Agency.

We tour guide-interpreters spend longer with clients than anyone else living in Japan. On a long tour we might spend two weeks traveling around Japan with visitors, so when they return home they will likely remember their guide as a “typical” Japanese person. In that sense, the way we work, the quality of the service we offer, how we deal with them as people, and the totality of our hospitality might be considered a tourism resource that represents Japan.

On the other hand… some problems

While the industry can be pleased at increase in inbound tourism, there are also some problems. For example:

1) Foreigners see Japan as lagging behind other countries in some respects.

– The availability of Wi-Fi in public spaces is limited.

– English is sometimes not understood, even in hotels and restaurants in tourist areas.

– Everything often has to be booked in advance, and there is a lack of flexibility.

– There still isn’t much English signage at sightseeing facilities or on public transport.

– There are few Western-style toilets.

2) Due to the general increase in visitors from abroad, there have been some negative effects for inbound tourists themselves.

– Toilets in sightseeing areas visited by more foreigners are dirty. People from some countries do not flush toilet paper, or make a mess when they use the toilet.

– Some people don’t like how sightseeing areas and souvenir shops are crowded with Chinese people.

Figure 1
Source: Japan Tourism Agency. Survey of tour guide-interpreter employment conditions (from October to November 2013)

Issues for the future

As we have seen, there are various things and objects that impress foreign tourists when they see them, i.e. which can become tourism resources; and we can expect the number to grow. On the other hand, Japan faces many distinct issues.

1) Full provision of Wi-Fi

2) Communication of information and evacuation instructions to foreigners in the event of a natural disaster. Although the Tourism Agency has taken measures such as releasing a disaster prevention app for foreigners, issues remains over the communication of information and accurate evacuation instructions in an emergency to foreigners who don’t understand Japanese. Short-term foreign visitors to Japan don’t have opportunities either to listen to explanations or take part in evacuation training.

3) The promotion of Japan to children and younger generations. Japan is expensive and geographically distant for people in countries outside Asia, Japan is. But if someone gets a positive impression of Japan when they are young, however, we can expect Japan to feature in their future life plans. We’d like them to aspire to learn Japanese, or one day come to Japan to study, etc.

4) Assuring a sufficient number of tour guide-interpreters (correcting language and geographical imbalances). Although there are more than 19,000 registered tour guide-interpreters across Japan, there are significant imbalances in their working languages, and where they guide and live. Although there are 10 registered languages, almost 70% of guides use English, while Portuguese and Thai are only spoken by less than 1% of tour guide-interpreters: a huge gap. Meanwhile, guides are concentrated in the urban areas around Tokyo and Kyoto and Osaka (see figure 1).

Because of this, when cruise ships dock in regional ports there is a temporary shortage of tour guide-interpreters for sightseeing tours. It is then expensive because guides speaking less common languages have to travel from all over Japan for each ICT (Inclusive Conducted Tour. An inclusive tour with tour conductor). That is then reflected in the customer’s vacation costs.

Things that foreigners want to do on their next trip to Japan

What do visitors to Japan from abroad who might come again want to do on their next trip? The JNTO created a survey based on the Japan Tourism Agency’s 2015 survey into consumption trends by foreign visitors to Japan. By looking at the difference between “Things that tourists from overseas planning to visit Japan hope to do)” and “Things that tourists from overseas hope to do on their next visit to Japan” we can answer that question. These are the main things tourists are even more keen to do should they visit Japan again (all countries).

– Bathe at a hot spring (Before their visit 34.6%, and after their visit 45.2%; an increase of 10.6%)

– Viewing stage performances (Before their visit 4.2%, and after their visit 12.7%; an increase of 8.5%)

– Viewing sports (Before their visit 2.7%, and after their visit 9.8%; an increase of 7.1%)

Tour guide-interpreters working on the ground will understand these results. On their first visit to Japan, tourists tend to only visit the standard sightseeing spots. Before they come they might not be particularly interested in a typical Japanese pleasure such as bathing at an onsen. But once they have experienced and enjoyed it, many want to do it again the next time. Even if people want to see sumo, some visit at a time when there are no sumo tournaments. Likewise, they might not have a chance to leisurely watch kabuki and other performances, so they probably hope to do that the next visit. (See figure 2 and 3).

Conclusion

Sometimes the things that pass unnoticed by Japanese people every day can be tourism resources, and once people visit Japan, they discover tourism resources that impress them and which they hope to experience on future trips. The Japan Tourism Agency’s marketing slogan is Japan, Endless Discovery. In line with that, we should work together to provide an environment in Japan suitable for foreign visitors, and develop new tourism resources that will continue to excite and impress.

Translated from “Tokushu 1 Ibunka-sesshoku toshiteno Inbaundo: Naniga Honichi-gaikokujin ni ‘Kando’ wo ataeruka ― Gaikokujin ryokosha ni nihon no bunka, shakai wo tstaerukoto (Special Feature 1 Inbound Tourism and Experiencing a Different Culture: What Impresses Foreign Tourists When They Come to Japan? ― Explaining Japanese society and culture to foreign tourists),” THE TOSHI MONDAI (Municipal Problems), January 2017, pp. 43–51. (Courtesy of The Tokyo Institute for Municipal Research) [January 2017]

Mt. Daisen, Tottori Prefecture

Motani Kosuke, Chief Senior Economist, The Japan Research Institute, Ltd. vs Hirai Shinji, Governor, Tottori Prefecture

Tottori, a Unique Countryside

Motani Kosuke: I read your book, Chiisakutemo Kateru (You Can Win Even if You Are Small). I think this book is like the novel, Shitamachi Roketto (Rockets of an Old Commercial District) by Mr. Ikeido Jun. It’s the story of a young man who grew up in Tokyo and migrated to Tottori. In the story, the protagonist leaves a large company, finds a job at a second-tier company and achieves success as a hired business manager with his strenuous efforts.

Hirai Shinji: Thank you, Mr. Motani. I’ve asked you for help in many ways, including a visit to a symposium held in our prefecture and guidance with our prefectural employees, because I really wanted to try what you called the capitalism of the satoyama woodlands in Tottori. It is just my interpretation, but what you intended to say was that the satoyama woodlands have things like water, food and energy that are absent in urban areas, and there are treasures and a new economy that is different from the monetary economy in the woodlands. We have tried to learn how we can achieve this kind of capitalism on our own terms.

Motani: Tottori Prefecture has a high capacity for gathering information. From way back, your prefecture has done many things before the rest of the country. In the field of ecotourism, Mt. Daisen in Tottori is one of the most advanced areas in Japan. Chizucho is also a Japanese pioneer in its attempts to bring people to the satoyama woodlands. Additionally, Tottori Prefecture has a public university devoted to environmental studies. I highly regard the fact that your prefecture established this university where students interested in environmental issues gather from all over Japan in the midst of the satoyama woodland.

View from the top of Mt. Daisen. The mountain is located in the Daisen-Oki National Park

Hirai: I think what Mr. Motani predicted is beginning to come to fruition. Our ways of thinking are changing considerably from old notions such as a monetary economy and the city-centered idea of bowing to the inevitable. I think Tottori Prefecture may be able to create a new wave in Japan by developing in this manner.

Motani: I found more convincing points outside of your book because I have visited Tottori many times myself. But I feel that Tottori is not well-known to most people in Japan. They just think of your prefecture as the average countryside.

Hirai: Tottori is not an average place. It’s a unique countryside.

Motani: That’s true. [Motani laughs.]

Hirai: I think the countryside in Japan has been too modest up to this point. I would like to reverse the traditional ideas of giving up because the scale is too small and losing hope because the area is not urban. In fact, resources are everywhere. They are in our mountains and on our beaches. There was a person who recently moved to Tottori Prefecture and found a forestry job because he wanted to go surfing regularly. In the summer, this person engages in forestry work and goes surfing in Tottori. In the winter, he takes advantage of the winter break and travels to the southern hemisphere for surfing. Such an idea is completely different from earning money by selling stocks and managing assets in a city.

Motani: People in Japan often say that the United States is money-centric, but it’s not that way for many people and regions there. Let me share this episode from my days at the University of California at San Diego. I asked my classmate, “Where is our professor?” The classmate replied, “He’s surfing over there. Hold on.” Many Americans are really enjoying the nature in their region. I think the southern tip of the state of New York is the only part of the United States that has an environment like Tokyo.

Hirai: I think the social structure in Japan has become distorted. Elderly people who continued to work until retirement age have a large savings. They leave that savings to their children as a legacy without spending it. People in Japan say structural social security reforms are necessary, but I truly believe we can give happiness a more balanced shape by thinking more about how to spend money and reconsidering the trade-off relationship between working, saving money and spending time on personal happiness. I think people in San Diego are doing that already. But people find it difficult to do the same thing in Tokyo. That’s why they are beginning to discover new advantages in the countryside.

Motani: Maintaining a balance is essential. But too many people go too far in their arguments. For example, they suddenly say, “There are no jobs in the countryside.” But I think there are jobs. In, my opinion, it’s manpower that is in short supply.

Hirai: Employment is spreading. The effective ratio of job vacancies to job applicants in Tottori Prefecture has surpassed 1.4 times.

Motani: That’s a serious manpower shortage.

Hirai: The ratio used to be 0.7 times or so. It has doubled. The ratio of job openings for applicants for permanent staff member positions also reached the highest level ever, above 0.8 times. Tokyo may be the place to be if you want to become a billionaire. But I think the countryside is the choice for those who seek a certain amount of money and a lot of happiness. As a matter of fact, trends are shifting. For example, about 20 percent of respondents living in urban areas expressed their desire to move when asked if they wished to move to a farming, mountain or fishing village in a survey that was conducted by the Cabinet Office 10 years ago. More than 30 percent of urban respondents choose the same answer in response to the same survey question today. The number of urbanites interested in moving to the countryside has been growing steadily. Around the time when I became the prefectural governor, people said that only senior citizens would come to Tottori, even if we campaigned for people to move to Tottori.

Motani: That part of your book was a true eye-opener for me. I didn’t know that the staff members in your prefectural government in those days were convinced that only elderly people would come from urban areas to Tottori.

Hirai: That’s right. There was a belief that said we should not encourage moving because the arrival of elderly people would create a financial burden. However, it turned out that moving centered on people in their 20s and 30s. I can tell you this based on the behavior of my own children, but these people belong to a generation of workers who will not merely toil away. They want to live more independently, instead of competing with others. That’s their way of thinking. Furthermore, they are looking for a better environment for raising their children. The countryside offers a better environment for raising children.

More Good Points of Japan Remain in the Countryside

Motani: Mr. Hirai, you were born in Kanda, Tokyo, older than me, and on the elite track. I find it significant for someone like you to say that. One of my own children entered a university in the countryside. I’m thinking that it would be nice if my other children go to the countryside, too. I’m thinking this way because there is no happiness or victory at the end of the fierce competition to get into a good school and a good company. Almost everyone at good companies ends up with a temporary transfer to another company midway through their career. Presidents and others who remain at their companies until the very end do not look happy at all. I feel that the idea of going to a city and surviving in a large Japanese organization is admirable may be a collective illusion. Becoming a winner in that way has no international currency. That winner will become a nobody without any work skills after retirement, too.

Hirai: I feel that things used be OK that way. But now I think I can understand very well why people come to Japan for sightseeing from countries like China and Singapore, where society is becoming more and more competitive. Japan offers those visitors something that their own countries are beginning to lose. I feel that the importance attached to the countryside is that missing something.

Motani: The economic development of Japan did not go as far as to destroy its countryside completely. Tottori Prefecture made an abandoned sector profitable ahead of other prefectures. Tottori is precisely the top runner in a group that is running one lap behind. Tottori is not the average countryside. The countryside comes in many varieties, but I think few prefectures in Japan chose to launch primary industry brands and develop them into a six-order industry (in which members of primary industries take charge of processing and sales) at a stage as early as Tottori.

Going back to the environment for raising children, as I mentioned earlier, I think it was also terrific for Tottori Prefecture to establish a structure for supporting nurseries without any classroom building or fixed program, known as Mori-no Yochien (Forest Kindergartens). The numbers of Mori-no Yochien are increasing all over Japan, but an overwhelming majority of local governments are instructing the administrators of these facilities to choose their registration status from either yochien (kindergartens) or hoikuen (day nurseries). By extending such instructions, they are asking Mori-no Yochien operators to build a classroom building. But Tottori Prefecture is making sure that its support goes to Mori-no Yochien, too, accepting their status as facilities that are neither yochien nor hoikuen. In this case, the local government is correcting the bureaucratic sectionalism of the central government.

As a matter of fact, a Mori-no Yochien local mother had independently created one in in another prefecture and received the compulsory instruction from the town authorities to choose the facility status of yochien. This instruction left the mother with no choice but to build a classroom building. I’m thinking about making a donation to her myself, because the mother has no money for the facility construction. I saw how Mori-no Yochien was received without a classroom building in her prefecture and realized how wonderful it would be if those authorities dealt with that case in the same way as Tottori Prefecture.

Hirai: Ways of doing things differ from one prefecture to another. In Tottori Prefecture, we are performing effectiveness measurements on children at Mori-no Yochien through a joint research project with Tottori University. We can tell from this project that Mori-no Yochien are properly developing their spirit of cooperation, physical strength and intelligence. We are planning to conduct a follow-up study on elementary school pupils who attended Mori-no Yochien in the future.

Branding Matsuba Crabs

 Motani: I’d like to talk about the fishing industry, too. I thought matsuba crabs must be expensive like echizen crabs, because they are famous. But I realized matsuba crabs are not that costly.

Hirai: They are both zuwai gani (snow crabs). The same crabs are called matsuba crabs in the western region down to the San-in area. They are called taiza crabs in Kyoto Prefecture and echizen crabs in Fukui Prefecture, respectively. Matsuba crabs in Tottori are sold for prices at about half the cost of echizen crabs. Crabs in Fukui taste delicious for sure, but they are the same crabs and there is such a big gap in prices.

Motani: The gap comes from how the crabs are sold, doesn’t it?

Hirai: If anything, people in the San-in area were poor salespeople. Thinking that way, I changed the name we use for marketing, from Tottori Prefecture to Kanitori (Crab-Catching) Prefecture. We also decided to call the highest rank of matsuba crabs landed in Tottori Prefecture itsukiboshi (five shining stars).

Motani: When I travel around Japan, people all over tell me that the foods from their area are delicious, but inexpensive because they are unknown in urban areas. The people say this boisterously and proudly, but I think such statements reflect their self-derision and lack of motivation, instead of pride. I think people in local areas should strengthen their brands and increase their market shares in the same way as Tottori Prefecture.

Hirai: We live in an age when we sell our products to customers not only in Japan but also all over the world. We must develop our brands skillfully to accomplish this.

Motani: What you said reminds me of agriculture. In Japan, Tottori Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture have focused on the cultivation of fruit from the early stages.

Hirai: Compared with the Hokuriku and Tohoku regions, where rice remains the overwhelming crop, Tottori has many types of garden produce and livestock products because the prefecture has pursued agricultural reforms. We have worked on developing many local specialties such as watermelons and Japanese pears.

Motani: Looking at the population composition by industry in the census, agriculture has the most elderly workers out of any industry in Japan. More than half of the people engaged in farming are 60 years old or older in many parts of the country. I think Tottori is a prefecture where the generational change is advancing relatively quickly with the employment of young people.

Hirai: Things began to move in a favorable direction four or five years ago. However, unsurprisingly, it’s difficult to maintain an agricultural population.

Motani: Currently more than half of the people engaged in farming are 60 years old or older. There is no way to prevent the farming population from shrinking with their retirement. The question is whether the population pyramid for agriculture has a bulge in the lower age bracket or not. If the pyramid has such a bulge, the pattern of change for the agricultural population will shift from a decrease to an increase one of these days.

Hirai: The number of young people doesn’t need to be that large. Agriculture changes when a certain number of people arrive and form a core.

Motani: You’re saying that newcomers and second- and third-generation farmers will create innovations and increase additional values. Am I right?

Hirai: There is a dairy cooperative called Daisen Nyugyo in Tottori. This cooperative is producing high-quality milk. Ice cream made by Daisen Nyugyo has been selling explosively at an upmarket department store in South Korea, known as Shinsegae.

Motani: Daisen Nyugyou is an advanced example of the globalization of a six-order industry, isn’t it? I think tourism is another field where Tottori Prefecture is advanced, from the viewpoint of globalization. Mt. Daisen is a famous peak, but it’s not well known to people in Tokyo. It’s been quite a long time since a large number of tourists began visiting this mountain from South Korea on mountain-climbing tours.

Hirai: I think the opening of a ferry route played a big part in that development.

Motani: Montbell, an operator of brand name outdoor equipment stores, opened its Daisen branch in a location where there is no other store. As it turned out, the branch achieved good sales.

Hirai: I understand that was the first store Montbell opened in the mountains. I heard that people within the company had a big discussion over whether or not a store established in such a location could achieve decent sales. But a sufficient number of people are shopping at this store daily, including people from abroad. With the Daisen branch as a model, Montbell began setting up stores on other mountains.

Motani: Montbell began establishing stores in resort areas, too. The company’s president told me that the success of the Daisen store surprised him, too.

Tottori Sand Dunes

Hirai: Resources in large cities and those in the countryside are different. Making the most of them, which direction to take must be different in large cities and the countryside, too. The Pokémon GO game shows that.

Motani: I thought the declaration of the Tottori sand dunes as a Pokémon GO Free Zone was a good idea. It made people playing the Pokémon GO game want to visit the Tottori sand dunes.

Hirai: Sales at a souvenir shop right outside the Tottori sand dunes rose about 37% just a month or so after we issued the declaration. To tell you the truth, the tourism industry is declining rapidly in the countryside as a result of decreasing sightseeing bus services. The sales growth of more than 30% is a miracle under such circumstances. People at that souvenir shop are rejoicing over the special Pokémon boom.

Motani: It’s a great achievement. I also admire your decision to adopt sales expansion as an indicator. Regular politicians and administrators talk about the number of increased customers. But the number of customers means nothing if they don’t spend a single yen. What’s more, you incorporated warnings for heatstroke and the protection of the natural environment into the declaration, and transmitted the image that Tottori is a place for enjoying Pokémon GO, in other words, it’s not a lawless zone, very well.

Hirai: The positive current of concerted public-private initiatives has started in a place a little out of the way. The Montbell store discussed just a while ago and a recently launched project for renewing a town at the starting point for a pilgrimage to Mt. Daisen demonstrate this.

The countryside taking the leadership

Motani: Your work, Chiisakutemo Kateru, is a book that not only politicians and administrators in the countryside but also their counterparts in the central government should read. A prefecture with the size of an ordinance-designated city called Tottori is doing what the national government has been unable to do ahead of others, with its top leader clearly articulating his intentions. I think office workers in your prefecture are having a hard time, but they are working out the details of those issues and persuading assembly members and all other stakeholders to do things that should be done across Japan ahead of others.

Hirai: I feel that might be the way forward for Japan. I think no reform will occur in Japan unless those of us in the countryside take the leadership and try to change the way things are in this country.

Motani: The establishment of a prefectural ordinance recognizing sign language as a form of language is an example in that respect. People who have involved themselves in politics with the intention to make changes must realize the harmful effects that the unofficial status of sign language has caused for a long time. Probably those who are lionized in the mass media do not realize its harmful effects. Or they know of them, but take no action because such a reform will be unpopular. In my opinion, people like that are not reformers.

Hirai: Reforms must start locally after all.

Motani: What people in our society call reforms have an aspect that resembles the story of Mito Komon, in which good prevails over evil, to describe it nicely, or authorities are attacked for amusement to put it in a bad way. I think genuine reforms mean we create something by ourselves as concerned parties or we enable things that should be done, instead of criticizing something. I think the revision of our prefectural ordinance for controlling dangerous drugs was precisely such a reform.

Hirai: Small entities can do those things better than large ones. They include small and medium enterprises, and small local governments. Talks about generalizations start when an experiment at those entities is successful.

Motani: To tell you the truth, I see your face quite often in places outside of Tottori. I always see you eating something in a photo report on a meeting about people involved in regional development where someone from Tottori gives an oral presentation on a self-organized event that drew dozens of people. The presenter happily describes the photo, saying that is our governor. I’ve experienced that at several meetings.

Hirai: [Hirai laughs without commenting.]

Motani: I think that’s important, though. You are encouraging people who are trying hard by showing up at those modest events, however brief your attendance might be. You just talked about small entities. Tottori is certainly a small prefecture with a population of 600,000. Is it the combination of the small number of residents and the authorities working in the prefecture that is enabling Tottori to do those things?

Hirai: I think so. Communication is impossible when the population is at the level of 10 million or five million. I can go and meet people trying hard in a community with 500,000 or 600,000 people. Those people can speak to me, too. I believe there is a right size for democracy. Larger is not better.

Motani: It may be better to divide the whole nation into smaller prefectures with a population of 500,000 or 600,000 each.

Hirai: As a matter of fact, democracy is easier to practice when the unit is smaller. An area with the size of Setagaya Ward (with a population of about 890,000) is probably the limit in that respect. I believe regional revitalization and the dynamic engagement of all citizens in the true sense of the word will start at the grassroots level. People in large cities are all aware of the limits they have reached. But they have not been able to take the first step. I think that’s the state of Japan today. A breakthrough has just begun.

Translated from “Taidan: Nihonichi Jinko no sukunai Tottoriken no Chosen ― Demokurashii niwa Tekiseikibo ga aru (Dialogue: Challenge by Tottori, the Least Populous Prefecture in Japan ― There is a Right Size for Democracy),” Chuokoron, November 2016, pp. 124-131. (Courtesy of Chuo Koron Shinsha) [November 2016]

Kinosaki hot-spring district, Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture

The effective opening-to-application ratio in March 2017 was 1.45, a high value for the first time in 26 years and 4 months since November 1990. If the present situation continues, Japan may fall into bankruptcy due to the shortage of workers. The time has come when we should seriously consider the role of foreigners as people who support Japanese economic society and local communities.

Isoyama Tomoyuki, Business Journalist

The Kinosaki Hot Spring is located close to the spot where the Maruyama River flows into the Sea of Japan in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture. The hot spring resort, which is known for the novel Kinosaki ni te by Shiga Naoya, features lines of wooden hot spring inns along the Otani River, which has willow trees lining its banks. The area exudes a unique atmosphere.

In the last few years there has been an increase in the number of foreign tourists who want to enjoy this Japanese atmosphere, as well as Japanese tourists. 40,000 foreign tourists now come to the area every year, comprising more than 5% of all tourists.

The biggest problem faced by inns in Kinosaki Hot Spring is the shortage of workers. Guest room attendants and cooking supporters are in short supply. According to a questionnaire conducted by the Inn Business Union, 77% of 35 inns answered that they were short of guest room attendants. This revealed that 43% of inns halt sales due to the shortage of workers, even if they have vacant rooms.

President Nishimura Soichiro of Nishimuraya, a long-established inn, says with a sense of crisis, “We recruit university graduates from tourism departments around the country. But it is not enough. A particularly serious problem is the fact that guestroom attendants are rapidly growing older. If this situation continues, we will soon be unable to manage.”

Inn circles in Kinosaki have expectations for the foreign workforce. However, inn guestroom attendants are not included in the conventional framework, such as skill training. Last year, they began accepting trainees from Vietnam as a pilot test in the area of daily meals. In addition, Yunomachi-Kinosaki, a company in Kinosaki Hot Spring, is playing a central role by beginning to accept Taiwanese and Indonesian students for internships. Four students will come in April this year, and another ten will come in June. They will stay for six months to a year and work at inns in the form of training based on the certification of school credits. They are taking preventive measures in the form of training.

The Japanese government is keen to increase foreign tourist numbers. More than 24 million foreign tourists came to Japan in 2016, and the government aims to reach 40 million foreign tourists by 2020. This is an expansion of inbound tourists, and it is essential to develop and expand inns and hotels for this purpose. However, the inn industry is afflicted by the shortage of workers. Nishimura, who was appointed as the Director of the Nationwide Inn and Hotel Life Hygiene Union Association in April this year, visits Diet members and lobbies them to lift the ban on foreign workers for the inn industry.

The government is attempting to use special national strategic areas to achieve a breakthrough. A revised bill that has already been approved at a Cabinet meeting aims to establish a new framework for accepting foreigners who will be Cool Japan human resources as employees. This may enable foreign workers who pick up Japanese traditions by working at inns and convey them to foreign countries and who convey Japanese culture to foreign tourists from foreign countries through inns to acquire working visas in special national strategic areas. Because Kinosaki is located in Hyogo prefecture, which has already been designated as a special national strategic area, it will utilize the special national strategic area to accept foreigners in cooperation with the prefectural government and the Toyooka City government.

In the situation where the shortage of workers is as serious as it was during the period of the bubble economy, it is imminently necessary to accept foreigners as workers. In a statement in the Diet, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo repeated that the government would not adopt the so-called immigration policy, and this stance constitutes the core of the current government policy.

There are two reasons why the government has maintained the policy of not accepting unskilled workers. One reason is that they will deprive the Japanese of employment. The other reason is that if Japan accepts foreigners as unskilled workers, it may degrade the quality of the foreigners who will come to Japan.

In fact, however, in terms of the former, Japan is short of workers purely as a result of employing Japanese. As a result, foreigners will not deprive the Japanese of employment. The latter is a matter of how to build a system for accepting foreigners. Current illegal stays and the situation where foreigners work for different purposes degrade quality.

Many convenient methods were used to circumvent the government policy of not accepting unskilled workers. A major example of this is skill trainers. Under the slogan of transferring Japanese techniques to foreign countries, foreigners were used as unskilled workers at factories and farms that were no longer able to be managed by the Japanese. It is the official slogan of foreign students that has been used frequently in recent years.

But this arbitrary use of unofficial and official slogans may be the cause of problems in the future. Sakaiya Taichi, Cabinet Secretariat advisor and ex-Economic Planning Agency Director-General, repeatedly appealed for the necessity to lift a ban on immigration at government meetings. He says that the arbitrary use of unofficial and official slogans is dangerous. Even if foreigners come to Japan with a good image of the country, they will see the so-called 3D—demanding, dangerous and dirty work—in the workplace and will get to know the reality of foreigners being forced to do such work. Sakaiya says, “Young foreigners who return to their home countries after experiencing the negative aspects of Japan will never have a positive impression of Japan, and will dislike Japan.”

Kunimatsu Takaji, ex-National Police Agency Director and Swiss ambassador, says, “The Japanese government should adopt a clear policy of accepting settled foreigners who will live in Japan for many years.” Through the Outlook Foundation, of which Kunimatsu is Chairman, he drew up policy recommendations on accepting settled foreigners, and lobbies the government to adopt this policy. By the second policy recommendations that he formulated at the end of 2016, he put forward the abovementioned five points.

Kunimatsu says, “Even if Japan accepts foreigners as workers, they will start living in Japan as soon as they enter the country. The government should construct a proper system as soon as possible so that foreigners who come to Japan can be assimilated into Japan as residents and play a role in supporting Japanese society.”

That is, Kunimatsu argues that it is a serious problem that Japan allows foreigners to enter the country by using convenient methods merely to make up for the shortage of workers and paying attention to them solely as workers.

A team led by Kunimatsu visited government organizations in charge with its written recommendations. On December 20 last year, they visited Shiozaki Yasuhisa, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. Minister Shiozaki asked Kunimatsu why he, who used to be a national police agency official, was keen to accept foreigners. Considering the frequently mentioned argument that accepting more foreigners will cause public disorder, Minister Shiozaki thought that police officials would be opposed to accepting immigrants.

Kunimatsu says that he puts forward accepting foreigners from a personal perspective. If the current mass influx of foreigners gradually continues, however, it will affect the police officers who work onsite. If Japan allows foreigners to stay in the country illegally and work on the basis of visas for different purposes, it will cause an infestation of troublesome foreigners, which will result in public disorder.

Germany introduced a mass Turkish workforce from the 1960s to the 1970s. These workers, who were called “Gastarbeiter” (guest workers), became concentrated in German urban areas, formed Turkish communities and caused serious social unrest in the country. Their resulting poverty resulted in crimes, which led to divisions within German society.

Reflecting on this history, the German government declared in the 2000s that the country was a country of immigration. The German government requires foreigners who wish to immigrate to the country to take a German course of at least 400 hours’ duration in an effort to establish a system for accepting them as residents.

Finally, a similar move has commenced in Japan as well: the establishment of the Parliamentary League for Promoting Japanese Education, which consists of bipartisan Diet members. Nakagawa Masaharu, the former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, who is a major member of the parliamentary league and acting Chairman of the league, called for a system to be built to provide foreigners living in Japan with the opportunity to receive Japanese education, and established the parliamentary league. It will soon publicize the draft of the Basic Law on the Promotion of Japanese Education (provisional name).

In fact, a major problem is now occurring in areas that progressively accepted foreigners, including Hamamatsu. Children born of Brazilian parents are falling into a situation known as “double limited,” where they are unable to fully use either Portuguese, their native language, or Japanese, the language of the country where they live. These children cannot gain access to higher education or get good jobs, and fall into poverty. If this situation remains unchanged, the same mistake may be made as was made in Germany half a century ago.

Miyagawa Masakazu of Masahachi Limited, who engages in large-scale agriculture in Ogata Village, Akita, says, “We want human resources who will work together with us for many years, not a workforce solely for busy times. We hope that foreigners will become directors of our company.”

If you want to continue your business and make it grow among rapidly accelerating depopulation, it is essential to secure human resources. It is clear that you cannot overcome the situation by utilizing women and old people. If the current situation continues, the whole of Japan could fall into bankruptcy due to the shortage of workers. The time has come when we should seriously consider the role of foreigners as people who support the Japanese economy and local communities.

Translated from “Nihon no hitodebusoku-tosan wo fusege: Gaikokujin tono kyosei ni muketa giron wo ― Baburu-ki nami no hitodebusoku (Prevent Japan from bankruptcy due to the shortage of workers: Hold discussions on coexistence with foreigners),” Wedge, June 2017, pp. 29-31. (Courtesy of WEDGE Inc.) [June 2017]

Introduction

Asakawa Chieko, IBM Fellow

I joined IBM Research-Tokyo in 1985 as the only visually impaired researcher at a time when there were very few female researchers at the lab. Since then, I have brought a diversity perspective to my work in accessibility research, one of the fields in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Aiming to optimize Braille book creation and sharing, I participated in the research and development of digital Braille editing system, Braille dictionary system, and Braille information sharing network system after joining the lab. I could move the research forward because of my visual impairment which allowed me to understand the value of digitizing Braille. Starting in the mid-1990s, I worked on a talking web browser for the Internet. This idea also emerged from the needs of the visually impaired, and since then it has spread in ways I never expected. Today, I am working on new technologies using smartphones, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and other rapidly advancing technologies to better support people. In this article, I would like to discuss the role of diversity as I have experienced it through these projects.

(1) Information Accessibility

I lost my sight when I was in junior high school due to a swimming pool accident. Since I was young, I have experienced social participation issues for the visually impaired It is widely said that there are two major barriers for the young people with visual impairments to receive education and participate in the society. First, the information barrier, and second, the mobility barrier. When I lost my sight, there were no personal computers, no Internet, and no smartphones. The only way to read was Braille books created by punching dots in the paper. There were few Braille books and they rarely included any of the textbooks required for higher education. Since Braille translation is time consuming, several months would pass between requesting and obtaining a textbook required for college classes. These experiences inspired me to start the Braille digitization project after joining IBM. With digitalization, it became possible to edit text and delete characters like we do on a word processor, and the Braille translation work could be shared among people over a network. In addition, Braille book data could be downloaded and printed on a Braille printer anywhere in Japan. It became possible to search a text, and portable electronic Braille dictionaries were produced. ^[i] These technologies changed education for the visually impaired in important ways.

The amount of available information expanded with the digitalization of Braille, but information sources were still limited to Braille and talking books. Then, the Web came on the scene in the mid-1990s. Since the Web was still a new technology at the time, it was only used by engineers and a few other users. When I first accessed the Web with the help of other researchers at the IBM Research lab in Tokyo, I was convinced that the vast amount of text and voice information would become a new information resource for the visually impaired. I started the research and development of a voice browser for the Web combined with a voice synthesis engine.^[ii] Later, the effort was turned into a product called Home Page Reader which became the popular de facto standard. Gradually, as the need to access the Web using voice became widely recognized, voice access consideration was incorporated into the international standard for the Web as a mandatory item, and compatibility with a diverse range of needs, such as access methods, input devices, screen size, became a major focus of Web development. In addition, the websites of the federal agencies in the United States must be accessible in a variety of ways in line with the 1998 amendments to Section 508 of the United States’ Rehabilitation Act.

As a result, the development of the information technology has vastly improved information accessibility for the visually impaired. The information sources for the visually impaired have grown exponentially from Braille on paper to digital Braille, and then the Internet. This has also had a great impact on technology standards and government legislation.

(2) Voice Synthesis Evolution and Diversity

It is not well known that the visually impaired played a major role in the development of the voice synthesis technologies. The history of voice synthesis technologies dates back to research and development that began in the 1960s, and the first voices had a robot-like sound. When personal computers became popular in the 1980s, general users had more opportunities to hear the synthesized voices, but the voice quality was still a long way from the human voice. Yet, voice synthesis technology was indispensable to the visually impaired when using personal computers on a daily basis to read text information and to create text using word processing software. With the exception of some special applications, the visually impaired were almost the only users of voice synthesis technologies in the 1980s and 1990s. When I developed the Home Page Reader in 1997, many able-bodied people commented that they were having difficulty understanding what the voice said, but the visually impaired had no problem. The voice synthesis was revolutionary in a sense that it expanded the sources of information, and the quality of the sound was not an issue at all. The visually impaired had continually used voice synthesis technologies from the days when the sound quality lacked clarity, and they also played a role in the development of voice synthesis technologies by providing feedback to developers. Now, in 2017, voice synthesis technologies exist all around us. They are used everywhere including car navigation systems, smartphones, at train stations and airports. It would have been difficult to develop the technologies without the efforts of the visually impaired who persevered and continued using them from the 1980s to the 2000s. 

The examples of technologies that were developed and became widespread after emerging from the needs of people with disabilities are too numerous to mention. If we trace history, we will find that the telephone was originally invented in the process of developing a communication tool for the hearing impaired. It is said that keyboards were allegedly developed as a means for people with upper limb impairments to write. Character recognition was first used in text reading devices for the visually impaired. Voice recognition technologies were developed as a method for the hearing impaired to converse by voice. Around 2010, a major goal of self-driving cars was to develop cars that could be operated by the visually impaired. The perspectives of diversity and the extreme needs imposed by not being able to see or hear have triggered the creation and development of new technologies.

(3) AI for the Visually Impaired

When I was a child, I watched a television program that featured a bird-shaped robot that assisted a boy going to fight against evil. The robot sat on the boy’s shoulder and whispered into his ear, telling him about everything from an approaching opponent to the weather. Since I lost my sight, I recalled that TV program and wished for a bird robot. Of course, this robot was simply a science fiction drawn in the 1960s. However, as the age of AI and IoT approaches, I think that it is within the range of what technology can do. We are referring to AI technologies that will be there for you like that bird robot as cognitive assistant technologies. Cognitive assistant technologies help augment human’s missing or weakened cognitive functions. Cognitive assistant is a new concept in accessibility technologies using AI, and research and development efforts are starting to flower worldwide.

With the help of cognitive assistant technologies, the visually impaired will be able to recognize obstacles at street crossings, traffic lights and on the sidewalks. Additionally, they will be able to recognize the information, such as stairways, escalators and elevators, they need to independently walk. Cognitive assistant technologies should also be able to recognize the ages and expressions of conference participants and to communicate the information to the visually impaired as necessary. By memorizing everything that the elderly sees, they could also serve as tools to complement memory. Cognitive assistant technologies will always be at person’s side ready to provide assistance as needed.

Four groups of technologies are indispensable to make cognitive assistant technologies a reality. We have localization technologies. To assist the user in the day-to-day environment, it is necessary to measure indoor and outdoor location with a high degree of accuracy. Since GPS technology today do not necessary offer the level of precision needed and cannot be used indoors, there are ongoing efforts to develop technologies to measure location with a high degree of accuracy using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons, and image processing technologies. The system called NavCog, developed in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, uses BLE beacons to measure position with an accuracy of one to two meters. The NavCog system has been installed in the three buildings of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University to guide users to their destinations with the help of a high precision navigation that identifies classrooms and labs inside the building.

Next is the recognition technologies. Image processing technology being the most important one when realizing cognitive assistant technologies. If visually impaired persons are able to recognize people, objects and the environment such as persons and their expressions, products, structures inside buildings (stairs, escalators, elevators, doors, etc.), obstacles, they will be able to obtain the information they need for their social life in a timely fashion. This would be a change similar to when we realized with the information accessibility.

Knowledge is necessary to make use of the outcomes of recognition. Recognition of products, calorie information, and social media reputation is a given, but it may also be possible to make cognitive assistant technologies more relevant by using knowledge about the individual such as behavior history or health information. Lastly, the interaction technology. Voice interaction is a given, but there is also potential for cognitive assistant technologies that can be used seamlessly in daily life with the help of glasses-style interfaces for always-on recognition, or gesture interfaces. It is also important to broaden the field of application beyond devices such as smartphones and wearable technologies to robot technologies.

(4) Open Source and Open Data

The technologies needed for cognitive assistant are varied and have the added dimension of a showcase for integrating AI technologies. It is something that a single organization would find difficult to achieve and that can only be accomplished by combining the technologies of universities and the private sector. To implement such integration, open source is likely to have an important role in the future. Today, many companies and universities use TensorFlow, Google’s machine learning library. Inception, the object recognition engine based on Deep Learning running on TensorFlow, is an example of the rise in the use of open source. Aiming to popularize measurement technologies, we open sourced NavCog while streamlining it in a reusable form.^[iii] We hope you will make use of it.

Open data is another important issue. Indoor mapping information is necessary to achieve indoor navigation. However, indoor mapping information is normally not available to the public as it is the property of the building owner, completely different from how outdoor mapping is managed by the country. Huge amount of image data of product packaging is required for learning purposes to recognize and read package of a candy bar or other product in a store. However, the manufacturer owns the copyright to such image data and it is not possible to use it freely. As we move into the AI era, we will need new rules for open data. To facilitate reading with NavCog, we are considering setting up an open server to register information in our immediate vicinity such as store information, sale information, signboards, and information about places where there are crowded.

To make cognitive assistant technologies a reality we must face the issue of open data. Moreover, it is no exaggeration to say that open data is an issue that society as a whole should engage with as we move toward using AI technologies. As history has shown, the needs of people with disabilities will trigger and facilitate open data, and eventually research and development of artificial intelligence. This will add to the list of precedents where diversity has opened up a new future.

Conclusion

We often hear about the importance of diversity in innovation. However, it is difficult to cite examples. This article introduces historical examples based on my own experience. In the process of information accessibility advancement, a variety of technologies were created and popularized. To make cognitive assistant a reality, it will be necessary to develop a wide variety of technologies. Every day, I sense the beginnings of great innovation. I hope that readers of this article will find it useful in help familiarizing them with innovation through diversity.

Translated from ”Tokushu I: Jenda to kagaku no atarashii torikumi ― Tayosei ga hiraku inobeishon (Special feature: New efforts for gender and science ―Diversity Opens the Path to Innovation),” Gakujutsu no Doko (TRENDS IN THE SCIENCES), November 2017, pp.24-28. (Courtesy of Japan Science Support Foundation) [November 2017]

Cats have lived alongside people for more than ten thousand years. A comfortable society for cats is a comfortable society for human beings.

This, they say, is the age of cats. Each year, the number of pet cats in Japan increases and is now approaching 10 million. On the other hand, the number of pets dogs has dropped from a one-time peak of over 13 million to less than 10 million.*

As Yamane Akihiro, an assistant professor of animal ecology at Seinan Gakuin University explains:

“I think that behind this affection for cats is the way that present-day Japanese society makes people feel trapped. People are controlled by a results-driven system, and companies are restructured. People can’t live their lives freely and as they wish. Perhaps that is why they are so attracted to free-living cats.”

Cats are attractive for their suppleness, beauty and distinctive behavior, side-products of their nature as hunters, able to strike down their prey with a single blow.

“Their large beautiful eyes evolved as a result of them being nocturnal hunters,” says Yamane. “Their eyeballs became as large as possible in order to gather in light during the dark night. They groom themselves to remove unwanted scent so that prey will not notice their presence.”

The fickle and capricious personality of the cat, so different from the loyal and patient dog, is also said to come from its hunting behavior.

“Apart from the lion, all members of the cat family hunt alone,” says Yamane. “They creep up on prey, lie in wait, then when prey comes close enough, they finish it off at a stroke. Much of their muscle is white (fast twitch) for short distances; it can provide explosive instantaneous force, but has no endurance. When a cat’s prey runs away, it soon gives up. This is the physiological reason why cats seem capricious and fickle.”

The dog family on the other hand has lots of red muscle, well suited to running continually over long periods, while they patiently hunt their prey in packs.

​

Commentary: YAMANE Akihiro, Associate Professor, Seinan Gakuin University Born 1966 in Hyogo Prefecture. Graduated from the Kyushu University Faculty of Science. Gained a Doctor of Science. Specializations are animal ecology and population genetics. Took up his current post after working at the National Institute for Environmental Studies, the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute, and as curator of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History & Human History. His publications include Cat Secrets.

Over ten thousand years living alongside people

Modern cats were domesticated by humans from African wildcats. This happened ten thousand years ago in the grain producing regions of Mesopotamia (in modern-day Iraq).

“African wildcats entered human society and drove out rats that had come for the grain in human settlements. They came by themselves to live besides humans.

The domestication of cats was completed in ancient Egypt. There, humans raised up and worshiped the cat goddess, Bastet.

By the ancient Roman period some two thousand years ago, cats were commonplace. It was around this time too that cats were brought to East India and China.

Cats were thought to have entered Japan from China together with Buddhist texts sometime between the Nara period (710–794 CE) and the start of the Heian period (794–1185). Yet, bones that appear to be from cats have been found at the Karakami archaeological site in Ikishima, Nagasaki Prefecture, which is from the Yayoi period (300 BCE–300 CE); so there were cats in Japan approximately 2,100 year ago.

Today, however, the popularity of cats has led to problems with urine and droppings from strays, and whether or not to deal with them through euthanasia. Yamane explains:

“Approximately 100,000 stray cats are exterminated in Japan each year, and the main reason for that is excessive feeding of stray cats. When cats have plenty of food they go into heat numerous times during the year. That leads to the tragedy of cats having to be exterminated.”

One initiative to try and avoid this tragedy taking place in various locations in Japan is so-called “community cats”: cats that are looked after by the community. Locals also see to neutering the cats, organizing their food and water, and disposing of droppings and urine.

Yamane has been researching the ecology of stray cats in Ainoshima, an island in the Genkai Sea. He says that the relationship between the cats and locals offers a suggestion as to how humans and cats can live together.

“Three hundred fishermen and one hundred stray cats live together on Ainoshima. The cats eat fish leftovers thrown away by the islanders, and their population is limited by that food supply. The cats breed once a year. Many of the kittens die, but that is down to nature, and the islanders don’t get involved in whether the cats live or die. The cats on this island lead relaxed lives of little stress.”

“It is 10,000 years since cats first appeared, and cats are essentially unchanged; it is humans that have changed. A society that is comfortable for cats is one that is also comfortable for humans.”

* Japan Pet Food Association data (2015)

Translated from “Neko to Nihonjin (Cats and Japanese People),” SERAI, March 2017, pp.30-31. (Courtesy of Serai, Shogakukan Inc.) [March 2017]

New Real Estate Loans Are Exceeding Those During the Bubble Economy, Reaching New Record Highs

Nozawa Chie, Professor, Faculty of Science and Engineering Toyo University

As an city planning researcher hoping to share with as many people as possible the future risk of sustained uncontrolled housing construction in spite of the realities of the decreasing population and rapid growth in the number of vacant houses, the author published a book titled Oiru Ie Kuzureru Machi: Jutaku Kajo Shakai-no Matsuro (Aging Houses and Deteriorating Cities: the fate of a Society with Excessive Residential Supply) as part of Kodansha Ltd.’s Gendai Shinsho series of pocket-size paperbacks in November 2016. In February 2017, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) released data in a timely manner that supported my perspective on the problem that led to the publication of this book.

According to the data published by the BOJ, new real estate loans extended by financial institutions in 2016 (Figure 1) reached 12.3 trillion yen, the highest level since 1977, when statistics became available for confirmation. For reference, the largest sum of new loans extended during the bubble economy was 10.4 trillion yen in 1989. The 2017 total means that the real estate loans supplied by banks were 2 trillion yen larger than the amount during the bubble economy. In addition, total new lending (for repayment in installments), including funds for individual residential purchases, began to rise sharply around 2014. Such loans rose to 16.7 trillion yen in 2016, showing momentum to reach the highest-ever level of 17 trillion yen, posted in 2005.

It can be mentioned that the urban development boom triggered by the decision to hold the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020, activated investments in real estate investment trusts (REITs), rock-bottom interest rates and the construction boom for houses, such as high-rise condominiums and rented apartments, as a way to deal with the inheritance tax, which were factors in the background of these trends. Certainly, the construction boom for high-rise condominiums is continuing in urban areas. In suburban districts and provincial cities, residential districts for detached houses under development and rented apartments under construction can also often be found, which raises speculation about whether demand actually exists in those areas.

However, the thoughtless increase in the volume of housing may create a fall in the asset value of currently existing houses and their market rents, as well as a decline in their market liquidity as secondhand homes. In particular, the trend of the rapid increase in new loans extended as funds for residential purchases worries the author about the possibility that a situation similar to the Lehman collapse could arise in Japan in cases where an oversupply of housing not in agreement with actual demand increases.

Peaking of the Number of Households and the Arrival of the Era of Massive Inheritance

Meanwhile, the total number of houses was 60,630,000, 16% larger than the total number of households in fiscal 2013, at 52,450,000. In terms of number, the volume of housing is already sufficient. Furthermore, the number of vacant houses is continuing to grow. According to the Housing and Land Survey, about 8,200,000 vacant houses existed nationwide in 2013 (with the vacancy rate at 13.5%).

In addition to the population, the number of households is forecasted to start falling in Japan in the near future (Figure 2). The decline is estimated to begin nationwide in 2019 and around 2025 in metropolitan areas like Tokyo and Aichi Prefecture. In an additional blow, the baby-boomer generation occupying 5% of the population will be over 75 years old, and the ratio of late elderly population will expand to nearly 20% with no hesitation around 2025, which means the arrival of the era of massive inheritance, in which the inheritance of the parents’ home occurs simultaneously for baby boomers and their children. Many children do not take over their parents’ home, even if they inherit it, because they already have a house of their own in this age of advanced family nuclearization. Because of this, there are massive houses ready to lose occupants nationwide.

Housing construction certainly produces short-term economic effects. The problem is that even in areas where the new housing is not fully equipped as a place of residence such as roads, elementary schools, or parks, it still continues to expand the total amount of houses. We cannot take a house to a new location or throw it away as we can with consumer electronics and automobiles when they become unnecessary. A house is something that will remain at a particular site, in a particular community for years to come. In other words, building a house means that investments in public utilities, such as the establishment of residential foundations necessary for living, maintenance and management, garbage collection and disaster prevention measures, will become permanently necessary.

However, the working-age population that supports the tax revenue is predicted to shrink in all cities across Japan from this point on. Under these conditions, little reserve remains for new public investments because all Japanese cities are burdened by the increasing cost of welfare for the elderly, massive vacant houses and the aging public facilities and infrastructure that must be renewed.

In short, we have reached a stage where we should direct our attention to the fact that building or purchasing a new house may affect the future of a particular city in many ways in the long term.

Horror of a Society with Excessive Residential Supply that Cannot Be Ended or Stopped

Naming this situation “a society with excessive residential supply,” the author defines it as a society that continues to build massive houses, overlooking the serious effects on future generations and spreading places of residence in a manner similar to slash-and-burn farming (a farming method that burns forests at harvest-time and repeats cultivation haphazardly), despite the number of houses already in existence and the continuous increase in the number of vacant houses.

However, the author does not want readers to misunderstand the following point. The act of constructing houses or purchasing them is not bad in and of itself, even though we are living in a society with surplus houses. People who want to buy new houses, move or rebuild their old houses will continue to need new houses. Constructing new houses in cities that will remain favorable places to live in the future in accordance with current needs and actual demand is an important pillar not only for people who wish to buy homes, but also for residential policies, city planning and housing and construction industries in the private sector.

The problem lies in the point that members of the housing and construction industry and local governments are in a situation where they cannot end or stop building houses, placing enormous future risks on the shoulders of the owners of individual homes. They present no effective solution to the problems of vacant houses and the terminal stage of aging homes, giving top priority to short-term economic measures and market logistics, even though they must be sufficiently aware of such problems.

Because of this, the author would like to use the following section to describe the reasons why the promotion of such a society with excessive residential supply will not stop. In other words, the author will address the structural problems produced by the industry, the government and the private sector, with a focus on condominiums.

Housing, Construction and Financial Industries Realizing Profits by Continuing to Build Houses

Securing profits is difficult for members of the housing and construction industries unless they continue to build houses because they generally repeat to use the profits gained from building houses to next developments. In other words, they engage in their businesses in a way similar to tuna that dies when it stops swimming. This can be cited as the biggest cause of the endless promotion of a society with excessive residential supply.

Housing and construction companies are continuing to build condominiums, instead of rented apartments, because condominiums enable them to easily secure commercial viability with their initial investments, such as land acquisition and construction expenses, collected over a short period. Business risks involved in condominium construction are low because maintenance and management responsibilities are passed on to the purchasers after the properties are handed over to them. In other words, housing and construction companies have no job to perform after sales are concluded. In most cases, they bear no responsibility or future risk for condominiums following their construction or for the cities where they are located. In addition, banks and other members of the financial industry that are realizing profits by financing housing and real estate acquisitions are stimulating the trend of building houses one after another.

Politics and policies often reflect the opinions of the major housing, construction and financial companies that secure profits by building houses. For that reason, we can say that Japan has not freed itself from the growth model for developing countries in which houses are built to generate economic effects.

Meanwhile, in many cases the people that are buying homes consider houses to be an asset. They tend to think that buying a house with a housing loan that has a rock-bottom interest rate has many advantages, such as a tax deduction for housing loans and other types of preferential treatment, compared to paying a large amount of rent for a rental home every month. In addition to a new house, a secondhand home is another option when buying a house. In particular, secondhand condominiums have become an attractive option in recent years with the steep rise in the price of their newly built counterparts due to rising construction expenses. However, there is a general sense of anxiety about the quality of secondhand homes. There are also transaction risks, because real estate agencies do not offer sufficient information to ensure their quality. For those reasons, the housing market has been unable to free itself from reliance on newly-built houses. As a result, many people decide to buy newly-built homes, under the additional effects of real estate agencies’ strategies for shaping a positive image through advertisements and skillful sales pitches.

Mechanism behind Large Numbers of Closely Built High-Rise Condominiums

The structural problems stated above remain for the companies involved in housing and construction. However, we can also cite (excessive) relaxation policies for matters such as the city planning regulations adopted by central and local governments as a cause for developments, such as the continued emergence of high-rise condominiums. Local governments relaxing city planning regulations too flexibly out of a desire to increase the local population have become apparent to the author throughout the shift toward fewer city planning regulations and decentralization that began around 2000.

Systems based on the City Planning Act support the construction of high-rise condominiums, such as those greater than 100 meters tall. In addition to those systems, others exist based on the Building Standards Act, such as one that permits the relaxation of the floor area ratio. Other regulations exist site by site when certain requirements, including the provision of a publicly accessible open space, are fulfilled and the approval of a local government is present. Systems for relaxing regulations, such as those on the floor area ratio, have come to exist in a large number indeed.

To cite one example, the Tokyo Bay area has transformed itself into a district overflowing with high-rise condominiums. The mechanism behind its transformation was the special and substantial relaxation of city planning regulations in the district by the central and metropolitan governments for promoting urban residences and redeveloping the urban area in exchange for public contributions, including the supply of open spaces, such as plazas and walkways at the expense of developers. The implication behind the mechanism was to offer public assistance in redevelopment projects in urban areas where the promotion of businesses is difficult and to ensure their smooth advancement by improving profitability with a relaxed floor area ratio and other regulations for expanding sellable and rentable floor areas.

However, there are cases in which created public open spaces have designs that produce an exclusive atmosphere and make passersby other than high-rise condominium residents reluctant to enter due to the masterful arrangement of large plants. There are cases such as these where development is difficult to judge as a useful bargaining tool for a substantial floor area ratio increase. There are other cases in which subsidies totaling billions of yen are disbursed to a single district in an urban redevelopment project whose main purpose seems to be the construction of high-rise condominiums.

There have been cases in recent years where high-rise condominiums are built in various locations in the small bayside districts of Tokyo. Those condominium towers produce an overcrowded residential environment that creates a sense of oppression. The author wonders if we can pass those areas down to the next generation as attractive residential districts without misgivings. Areas that raise such questions have emerged in Tokyo.

Policies of Relax Regulation with No Clear Goal

Existing city planning and housing policies are not controlling the rapid rise in the number of residential units supplied by high-rise condominiums on the whole, which is another example of a society with excessive residential supply being endlessly promoted.

One project for redeveloping an urban area involving the construction of three high-rise condominiums scheduled in a certain bayside area where warehouses and similar facilities stand side by side is a case in point. In this district, the floor area ratio was raised from about 400% to the maximum level of 1,070% through the substantial relaxation of one regulation. About 3,000 new houses are scheduled to be supplied in this district based on the revised ratio. As this case suggests, the lack of systems for carefully examining the appropriateness of a plan to build 3,000 houses in this district and the effects the growing volume of overall housing produces on the area, and for adjusting the plan based on city planning and housing policies, is continuing to engender a society with excessive residential supply.

The introduction of private-sector financial resources and business knowhow, and the supply of houses that allow many people to live near their respective workplaces are certainly important pillars for housing policies and city planning. Such initiatives must have a reason for existing as economic measures after the burst of the economic bubble and the Lehman collapse. In the real estate market there was also the situation where only high-rise condominiums were being supplied because business risks were high for offices and commercial facilities, which were in low demand in those days.

The biggest problem, however, is the government’s continued inability to end or stop their policies of regulation relaxation with no clear goal or opportunity for halting them.

In the meantime, according to market trend data published by the Real Estate Information Network for East Japan, the secondhand condominiums in stock numbered 25,395 in metropolitan Tokyo as of September 2016, increasing for 17 consecutive months. The secondhand market condominium is based on supply and demand. For that reason, we cannot deny the possibility that property prices could move in the downward direction over the long term under the condition of overflowing stock volume, although such a shift will depend on diverse factors, including property locations.

Transformation of Regulation Relaxation into a Black Box

In Tokyo, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and ward offices approve the relaxation of regulations, such as an increase in the floor area ratio, based on the City Planning Act. Those local governments must have the urban plans discussed by a council on urban planning consisting of metropolitan and ward assembly members, academics and others before reaching a decision. However, draft plans seldom undergo any significant change at the discussion stage, even if council members state their opinions, because they are submitted to the council on urban planning after their practical fixation through advance consultations between the local government officials in charge and developers. For that reason, concrete grounds, such as the method used or calculating a higher floor area ratio for public contribution, and the process for their discussion tends to become a black box, even though certain policies and criteria are expressly stated regarding conditions for relaxing city planning regulations, because the on-site confirmation of conditions in the surrounding areas becomes necessary for the examination of development projects in which those conditions differ.

In that case, it might seem smart to clarify the criteria in advance with steps, such as the numerical expression of those grounds. However, there is a problem with such an idea. The clearer such criteria are expressed in the form of numerical values and others, the more local governments must approve projects that satisfy the criteria, but obviously do not contribute to public interest in the concerned areas. We should improve the present situation where no formal system exists for information disclosure and advance consultation at key points from the early stage of development projects if the floor area ratio and other regulations are especially relaxed in the concerned areas.

Changing a Society with Excessive Residential Supply

The first thing to do to change Japan from a society with excessive residential supply is to stop thoughtless increases in the total housing volume and residential areas through city planning and housing policies.

Specifically, we must start to control the excessive regulation relaxation practiced up until now, by taking new steps, including total volume control on the number of new houses produced under the relaxed regulations.

We can also consider limiting the easing of the floor area ratio and other requirements in cases where new public investments are obviously unnecessary and researching the effects that the number of houses to be built could have on elementary schools, other public facilities and the already established transportation infrastructure.

The second thing to do is to try to guide new housing construction to preferred sites and mature the market for secondhand homes. The author believes that there is a close relationship between housing site guidance with tax systems and financial institutions that hold the key to efforts to guide new housing locations to existing communities (particularly those that are hollowing out), established with public investments in the past, instead of areas lacking established foundations as residential districts, such as reclamation sites and farmland. Examples of their relationship include the establishment of the different levels of preferential tax treatment, various insurance policies related to housing and housing loans offered by private financial institutions applicable in cases where new houses are built in areas where city planning policies state they should be guided and in cases where they are constructed in other districts.

Moreover, developing new incentives and systems that cause house builders, developers, regional construction companies, real estate agents and other parties in the private sector to take active approaches as powerful players, in addition to organizations such as administrative agencies and NPOs, will be essential to restore and renew the current houses and communities in existence.

The third thing we should do is to remain one step ahead of future risks. That is a matter of course. Things like the latest kitchen models, an affordable price range and moneymaking schemes based on lax business profitability assessments capture our hearts when we buy a new house. We tend to neglect the long-term perspective of trying to grasp the future risks of the houses being considered for purchase and the areas where they are located when convincing pitches by salespeople are added.

Today, we are living in a society with excessive residential supply. Is the area where our house is located likely to maintain comfort in its own way without sharp deterioration? Is there a chance for a buyer or a tenant to appear in cases where a child inherits our house tries to sell or rent it? I think we should turn our attention to the future risks that lie ahead and asset values by asking ourselves such questions. I think that such individual efforts will trigger the transformation from a society with surplus houses.

Translated from “Tokushu ‘Akiya’ ga Tokyo wo mushibamu ― Toshikeikaku no kisei kanwa wo minaose: Sankanmin ga tsukuridashita ‘Jutaku kajo shakai’ no yugami (Special Feature ‘Vacant Houses are Undermining Tokyo’: Reconsider the Relaxation of City Planning Regulations ― Distortions in a “Society with Excessive Residential Supply” Created by the Industry, Government and Private Sector),” Chuokoron, April 2017, pp. 100-107. (Courtesy of Chuo Koron Shinsha) [April 2017]

Sakai Kuniyoshi	Habu Yoshiharu

AI Cuts a Path for New Shogi Moves

Habu Yoshiharu: AI (artificial intelligence) has been a popular conversation topic over the last few years. I think the long-awaited appearance of AI in visible forms, such as humanoid robots and automated driving, has been a large turning point for this trend. AI has also achieved developments in the world of board games, including chess, shogi and go. Recently, the fields which implement AI have expanded. What was once a fantasy has begun to show potential for successful real world application. People are pinning their hope on such potential for AI. However, they also seem to fear the possibility that AI will surpass them, otherwise known as the singularity.

Sakai Kuniyoshi: I’m a scientist who specializes in the language function of the brain. Thinking about AI leads to thoughts about what humans are. In other words, I’m thinking a lot about AI and paying attention to it, because ideas about AI overlap with thoughts about brain functions in many ways. Let me discuss the singularity later in this conversation, because many people misunderstand it.

Habu: Matches between AI and professional shogi players have gained a lot of attention. Because of this, opportunities for me to take part in similar AI-related projects have increased tremendously in twelve months. They have been puzzling me. [Laughs] AI failed to take off initially, but that changed in 2011, when it defeated professional shogi player Yonenaga Kunio in the first Den-o Sen Match, which pitted a human player against AI. I think professional shogi players also began to consider applying AI research findings to their game after that match.

We take unnecessary steps in both shogi and everyday life when we feel that we are in danger because of our defensive instinct. That’s why professional shogi players repeatedly train to suppress such fear while developing their professional skills. In the meantime, AI sometimes presents new concepts and ideas that we are unable to develop because it lacks a defensive instinct or a sense of fear, which is why we can learn a lot from the records of shogi matches played by AI.

For example, in shogi there is a strategy called aiyagura. At one point, a computer software program discovered a strategy to beat it. Currently, there is no countermeasure for that strategy and as a result, very few professionals use aiyagura these days. A computer program could develop such a strategy because it thought in an inconsistent way. Humans think with continuity, moving one shogi piece when an opponent moves another way. But computer programs lack such consistent thinking. The computer used an unexpectedly simple solution.

Sakai: As you said, humans think of time chronologically. In shogi, positions change with each move on the board and each time we must rethink our strategy. I think that’s the charm of shogi.

AI has started to beat human players more frequently in shogi and go. But humans will truly lose to AI if they really give up as a result.

There were intellectuals who criticized the game of chess itself, saying chess was a low-level game when Garry Kasparov, the World Chess Champion at that time, lost a match against AI twenty years ago. We cannot justify their words, which are exactly the same as those in the “Fox and the Grapes,” one of Aesop’s fables. It is too superficial to discuss just a win or a loss in a match against AI without evaluating the substance of the game. Humans can learn from their mistakes.

What will happen if AI plays 100 matches against human players now, at this point where it has developed its ability and assumed greater prominence?

Habu: I wonder about that myself. After all, humans and computers conceive of time in different ways. Both humans and AI want to have as much time as possible, but shogi is played within a limited framework. In other words, players must maintain high quality judgments within a time-limit. I heard that AI shogi programmers order their programs to complete each match in one second in the learning stage. They require programs to undergo severe training that would exhaust human players immediately. I don’t think 100 matches between humans and AI is realistic for that reason.

You just mentioned chess. The current World Chess Champion is a 26-year-old Norwegian named Magnus Carlsen. Moves analyzed through quick calculation are apparent in the chess playing styles of young people today because computers already existed when they were born. However, Carlsen plays in the exact opposite style. He plays chess by thinking about how to leave as many possibilities as possible. His style appears unrefined on the surface. But I noticed that Carlson is also sampling human elements, using computer software programs to his advantage. I think shogi will also advance into a period in which players hone their skills by taking computers into consideration.

The idea that humans play back a game after each shogi match has been on my mind. By doing so, the two players review and reflect on advantageous and disadvantageous moves after the end of their match. That cannot be done with a software program. In other words, shogi attached importance to the examination of the process. From this point on, we will just grasp data. I wonder if that is really OK.

Sakai: That question is also related to education. Young people today may tend to find thinking tiresome. They try to find the answer to a question quickly, by searching online. People originally played shogi or engaged in studies because such processes were enjoyable, but now they try to gain results in the shortest possible time. I feel that studies lose their meaning when people do that.

There is a sense of regret in classrooms that schools have supported efficiency and competition. In the National Center Test for university applicants, we are also trying to emphasize the thinking process by incorporating questions requiring written answers, in addition to multiple-choice questions. I believe that this is important.

Will the Arrival of AI Change Civilization?

Habu: Looking back, AI experienced several periods of wax and wane over the last few decades. Researchers have told me that they want to move into a serious stage where they can obtain matching manpower and budgets. I’m hoping to witness the development of AI myself. What do you think about that, Mr. Sakai?

Sakai: People have been talking about the singularity in a way that provokes anxiety, saying things like, “AI will take jobs away from humans.” As a person involved in science, I’d like to point out that such fears are groundless. It has been predicted that AI will surpass human beings in about thirty years. But this “singularity 2045” argument has no scientific grounds whatsoever. To rephrase it more accurately, the singularity is the point at which humans give up. For example, we can refrain from abandoning hope, saying that we are still better than AI, even if AI has surpassed us in certain abilities. The singularity will never take place as long as we keep addressing challenges. We don’t really know what humans are in the first place. Trying to compare humans with AI under such conditions is in itself a meaningless way to hold a discussion.

Habu: I see. Human limitations are also limitations for AI.

Meanwhile, there is also a risk for humans. AI makes few mistakes because it is mechanical. Therefore, humans might leave all tasks to AI. Horrendous accidents can occur in such cases. Automated driving is the easiest example to imagine. Can AI really avoid a critical moment if an unanticipated event, such as an animal darting into the road while an AI-mounted car is in automated driving mode? I wonder about that, because the performance of AI is based on probability. AI just executes the actions it assumes to be correct, based on its study of many tests. In other words, AI cannot address cases that have not yet been tested.

Sakai: Faithfully following orders and not making mistakes are two different matters. We shouldn’t forget that AI is operating based on probability.

The shift in responsibility that occurs when humans rely on AI is an extremely serious problem. Let’s assume that a car in automated driving mode caused a traffic accident resulting in injury or death. I’m sure its owner will say he or she is blameless because the car was in automated driving mode and accuse the car. But who should the victim ask to take responsibility in cases where the automated driving program installed on the car is found to be error-free? The person who chose the automated driving mode may be questioned if it was an accident that a human driver could have avoided.

Humans may lose their ability for critical judgment if they rely too much on efficiency-based AI. It’s a strange phenomenon in which people use their brains to avoid using their brains as much as possible. AI will absolutely cause civilization to decline if it is used in such a way.

Strange Discussions about the Singularity

Habu: One of the AI research sites that I visited for a certain TV program was a company involved in military affairs. AI is already used in modern warfare. Humans are monitoring that AI because they don’t know if it will go out of control. I heard that many of those watchmen become neurotic. To start, battlefields are not ordinary places. I heard that such people become sick after continuously watching actions which humans cannot understand, but AI does based its own judgments. It is possible that AI used in warfare could cause a catastrophe. I think that we must examine the risk for the human abuse of AI. That is not a science fiction story where AI starts operating freely and attacks humans. It’s a matter of ethics on the human side. Google Inc., in the United States, set up an ethics division at its establishment. We can say that the company had great foresight.

Sakai: Such questions of ethics are also raised in discussions over the singularity. At the same time, the fear that AI may drive out humans precedes them. The issue is not limited to AI. Unfortunately, people who try to weaponize prominent products of science and technology appeared with such developments. Creating ethical regulations for AI and addressing all situations will remain important. However, the extreme argument that we should stop all AI studies because of this does not solve the problems.

Habu: I agree. Ray Kurzweil, a pioneer in the examination of various AI issues, including the singularity, advocates the Law of Accelerating Returns. The point of this Law is that studies in all fields reach a point of stagnation after advancing to a certain degree, but studies in other fields put windholes into the stagnant studies, causing society as a whole to move forward faster. I think peripheral studies will produce similar or equal results even if AI studies are suspended.

Sakai: Ridiculous arguments about the technological singularity include a forecast by Michael Osborne titled “The Future of Employment.” It is a list of jobs that will disappear or be eliminated in the future because of AI. Osborne made a serious mistake by underestimating the original human abilities which jobs included. For example, the credibility of the list is in question because it contains watchmaking and camera repair that is supposed to require high levels of experience and skills.

The competency required in the service industry includes a capacity for arranging work matters efficiently and showing consideration to customers. There is absolutely no basis for the assertion that AI can achieve such competency in the near future. Further, jobs performed by professionals show accuracy and attention to detail that rivals those found in jobs executed by machines.

Habu: There is also an aspect of confusion between specialized AI such as shogi software programs with general-purpose AI. Many judgments are incorporated in actions that we do casually. For example, a child old enough to attend kindergarten will recognize that a drone is different from the birds that he or she has seen up to that point without fail if he or she sees it fly several times. Such recognition seems to have a high level of difficulty. For example, AI recognizes a new cat photo as the photo of a cat after seeing many cat photos for its learning. This is the level that AI finally achieved about four years ago. In other words, humans learn and reason things simultaneously and unintentionally. But embedding those functions as algorithms is a considerably difficult task. As this shows, adapting and adjusting to things never before experienced and making choices and decisions are very difficult. Professor Sakai, please explain this.

Sakai: Humans can learn and reason at the same time because they can use different parts of their brains simultaneously. The child who saw a drone in the previous example advances reasoning about the differences of birds by shape and flying mode instantly while also learning the characteristics of the new object. Such recognition differs qualitatively by humans and AI.

AI has been developed by imitating the neural network in brains. The deep learning that has developed remarkably in recent years employs many middle layers like the visual areas of the brain. Advanced learning in sets of two layers has succeeded in this method. Still, the capacity of AI is far simpler and more limited, compared with that of actual human brains.

Incidentally, computers are not AI unless they are mounted with a special program. They are just calculators, like pocket calculators. We cannot call a mathematical demonstration a judgment, even if it is performed on a computer. In the meantime, sometimes a program hits a roadblock due to a human mistake beyond expectations. People call such a mistake a bug. We can predict mistakes on the human side to a certain extent based on past experiences. But mistakes by AI may become difficult to predict on all levels when AI goes out of control. The question is whether it is OK for humans to leave important judgments to AI that has such a possibility. After all, this is also a problem on the human side.

Habu: I see. The University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute mentioned climate change, pandemics and economic confusion in the twelve risks that threaten human civilization that it published. These are just risks. AI was one of those twelve. We can think of many risks involved with AI, but AI has the potential to solve all of the other risks, including energy and food problems. We must consider about many issues, such as ethics and rule-making on the human side, but I think we should advance studies on AI going forward, because another person will start to develop AI even if someone calls for its suspension.

AI Raises the Question of How Humans Should Live with the Mind

Sakai: To replace the human mind with AI, we must solve the difficult problem of understanding the mind. We have not yet succeeded in scientifically grasping our consciousness and personality known as the mind. First, we have not been able to define it, because the mind functions in a cycle, preventing us from defining its general conditions. We cannot compare the human mind to something else because a criterion has not been established. As in the Liar Paradox, a definite base that guarantees that we are in a normal state of mind is difficult to discern within ourselves.

Habu: The placebo effect also demonstrates the wonders of the mind. I understand that it works with internal diseases. It is effective for mental illnesses in some cases, too. Phenomena science cannot fully express what take place in the mind.

Sakai: The human mind is extremely diverse. It has highly individualistic parts that are shaped through many experiences, in addition to portions that are determined by genetics. In that case, whose mind should be adopted as the standard model becomes a question in AI design. Furthermore, there is a gap between the mind and the language of humans. What lies in the mind of other people is practically impossible to predict for that reason. AI cannot become a commodity just because it is similar to the human mind. What can we do with a developed family robot that quarrels with other family members and runs away from home just like a human? [Laughs]

Habu: Incidentally, do you think AI is likely to acquire a language? Books on natural language processing that I read were full of numerical formulas, contrary to my expectation of finding accounts on languages. That discovery causes me to wonder if languages can also be converted into algorithms. My impression is that automatic translation by computers has certainly improved its performance in recent years.

Sakai: You may be able to sense progress made by AI in linguistic expressions on the surface level. But it is humans who understand those expressions by supplementing portions that are missing. To begin with, AI, which is based on probability, statistics and learning, cannot grasp human languages theoretically. That is the case because grammatical judgments, which form the core of human languages, are completely independent from such factors. Noam Chomsky, an American linguist and philosopher, pointed that out in his book, “Syntactic Structures,” just sixty years ago. Chomsky is well-known for having laid the foundations for natural language processing, which is pivotal to AI. But many researchers do not refer to this book. They are under the illusion that languages can be grasped easily.

Habu: Languages also convey feelings. I had the chance to interview a researcher who once instructed AI to write music. He told me he had thought about ordering the AI to write poems, in addition to music, but he wondered if that had any meaning. AI will produce works of some kind, but the meanings of poems lie in the lives and experiences of the poets reflected in them. He said that poems made by AI could be a mere list of letters.

Sakai: In that case, music written by AI seems like a mere list of notes, too. [Laughs] As that case shows, AI again questions the value of language and art. Genuine AI studies are nothing less than a way to understand humans.

Habu: As you said, thinking about AI is the same as thinking about humans. AI is a mirror that shows how humans are. I believe that we can richly reinterpret the meaning of human life by studying AI.

Translated from “Taidan: Jinko chino vs Ningen wa Shogi demo Nichijoseikatsu demo? ―AI ga toitadasu Ningen ga ikiru imi (Dialogue: Is Artificial Intelligence Versus Humans Reflected in Shogi as Well as Everyday Life? ―AI Raises Again the Question of How Humans Should Live),” Chuokoron, April 2017, pp. 116-124. (Courtesy of Chuo Koron Shinsha) [April 2017]

Yano Uiko	Matsuoka Kazumi

Yano Uiko, one of this article’s two authors, comes from Miyakubo Town, which is a part of Imabari City in Ehime Prefecture. The town is located on the island of Oshima, which is part of the Shimanami Kaido, a sea route connecting several Seto Inland Sea Islands. This area was notable during the Warring States period, and features the remains of a base that belonged to the Murakami Pirates. It has a thriving fishing industry, and there are many places where you can see rows of boats at their docks. Seafood is also a mainstay of the region’s economy and cuisine.

According to the 2010 national census some 2292 people lived in Miyakubo, and of those 18 were deaf. About 30 years ago more than 30 deaf people lived in the town, where Yano is from. All of her family are deaf: her parents and grandparents, and also her father’s siblings. It is not clear whether the relatively high number of deaf people in the town is related to genetics. In fact, the inhabitants of the town didn’t consider it particularly important whether people were deaf or not and thus never sought a reason.

At one point in time, both deaf people and hearing people in Miyakubo knew and used Miyakubo Sign Language in their home lives and while fishing. Since almost all the hearing people in the town could sign, both spoken Japanese and Miyakubo Sign Language were used in the area. If you went to the shore you would see both deaf and hearing people chatting in sign language, and residents were able to share information quite smoothly. When deaf friends of Yano came from Tokyo or Osaka to visit the island, they might write on a piece of paper, “Where is Yano’s house?” and show it to a passing hearing person. The hearing person would then reply in sign language: “I’ll show you. Follow me,” and lead them to her house. The hearing residents of Miyakubo were so expert at sign language that they could do this on a daily basis.

Japanese Sign Language (JSL) vs Signed Japanese

When people speak of “sign language” in Japan, they actually refer to several linguistically distinct languages, so the use of these terms needs to be clarified. What is referred to as ‘sign language’ can be divided into the following:

1) Japanese Sign Language. This is the native language of children born to deaf parents, and has grammatical features that differ from spoken Japanese.

2) Signed Japanese. This replaces Japanese words with signs borrowed from Japanese Sign Language, but follows the grammar of Japanese. It is also known as Manually Coded Japanese or Simultaneous Communication.

3) Mixed Sign. A mixture of the above two.

JSL is a language that developed naturally among deaf people in Japan and was passed down through the generations. As a language that developed based on the visual mode of meaning transfer, JSL has a set of distinctive grammatical features. On the other hand, Signed Japanese developed based on the auditory mode of meaning transfer, and is artificially made to correspond word by word to spoken Japanese. The grammar of signed Japanese is fundamentally different from JSL and any other sign languages. It is virtually a manually coded version of Japanese and cannot properly be regarded as a natural sign language.

The fact that sign languages of particular regions have linguistic features distinct from local spoken languages was first made clear in the research of primarily American linguists and psychologists in the 1960s. In Japan too, there is growing interest in research investigating the distinct features of JSL (as summarized in Saito 2016 (1) and Matsuoka 2015 (2)). However, people in Japan are not sufficiently aware of the plain fact that JSL is a separate language from Japanese.

Deaf people and those with hearing disabilities are a minority in Japanese society, but even among them native signers of JSL are a minority and are in an even more difficult position. First of all, as with anywhere in the world, the proportion of deaf children born to deaf parents is extremely low (around 10%, it is thought). Thus, the number of signers using sign language as their native language is extremely limited, even among deaf people.

What’s more, native signers of JSL struggle to have their voices heard in Japanese society. Native signers need to learn Japanese as a second language, which has many grammatical features that are different from JSL. Yet, with rare exceptions, deaf education in Japan doesn’t take into account the distinct differences between JSL and Japanese. For that reason, it has not been easy for native signers of JSL to acquire sufficient ability in Japanese. When people do not acquire sufficient ability in the dominant language of their community their opportunities to make their “voice” heard will be limited, and they will be forced into the position of a suppressed “minority within a minority”.

A language shared between deaf and hearing people: village sign languages and island sign languages

There are many regions and countries where it is recognized that multiple distinct languages are used. To date, there have also been a number of accounts from around the world (Perniss et al. 2007 (3), Zeshan and de Vos 2012 (4)) of relatively defined regions where not only are different spoken languages used, but there are also “village signs” (shared sign languages in the community) that function as a shared language for deaf and hearing people.

When village signs are used on an island they may be known as “island signs”. But when traffic with other regions becomes more frequent due to changes in the economic and political situation, the number of village sign users tends to rapidly decrease or disappear, and hence many village sign languages reach the verge of extinction.

It has been reported that there are regional varieties (dialects) of JSL in various parts of Japan, just like regional dialects of spoken Japanese. Unlike many dialects of JSL, Miyakubo Sign Language shows major variations beyond differing sets of vocabulary items. It can be considered an island sign language due to its grammatical features distinct from JSL. Below, we will give an example of the unique grammatical features of Miyakubo Sign Language.

The special linguistic features of Miyakubo sign language

We have been researching Miyakubo’s sign language since 2014. Like other village sign languages reported outside Japan, Miyakubo Sign language can be considered as being at an intermediary stage of development between gesture and language.

As mentioned earlier, the differences between JSL and Miyakubo Sign Language are not just those of signed words. An example is given in the illustration below, which shows a spatial representation of time known as a “timeline”. JSL uses a timeline (see the illustration on the left) which represents the time from the back of the signer’s shoulder to the space in front of the signer: i.e. past behind the body, present at the body, and future in front of the body. The timeline for Miyakubo sign language, on the other hand, (see the illustration on the right) shows the flow of the time horizontally from the dominant side to center.

It is of particular interest that the flow of time expressed in Miyakubo Sign Language timeline covers the past to the present. The future is expressed without any particular spatial position. Various forms of timelines are often discussed as examples to show the diversity of sign languages in the world. It is notable that the diversity of the timelines can be found within different regions of the same country.

Miyakubo Sign Language today

Yano, like many other deaf children in Japan, left the island and entered a school for the deaf in Matsuyama City. Back then, she mistakenly thought that all the people in the world used a sign language. For that reason, when she moved into the dorm, the fact that she couldn’t freely use sign language was more of a shock than being separated from her parents.

When her grandmother came to meet her at the dormitory each week to take her home for weekend visits, the deaf and hearing staff who learned Signed Japanese criticized her grandma’s signing as being “strange”. Grandma was so hurt that she wouldn’t talk for some time, and the whole family was furious. Outside the island, other deaf people looked down on the sign language cherished by people in Miyakubo.

Even though Yano wanted to stress how Miyakubo Sign Language was an important language, spoken Japanese was considered far more important than sign language at schools for the deaf. Educators were convinced that sign language wouldn’t be useful when students left the school, and unfortunately that policy has barely changed in deaf education today. Opportunities for deaf children to interact with each other in their own sign language have not been sufficiently provided in educational institutions. When Yano wonders how long the deaf will have to struggle to recover their own language, she feels overwhelmed by the unreasonableness of the situation.

Though Yano was not happy with the situation at school, she was still able to communicate in Miyakubo Sign Language with islanders whenever she returned to the island until 10 years ago. Around the year 2000, however, a bridge was completed that connected Ehime-Oshima Island to th1e rest of the Imabari City and other islands, and it became easier to travel to and from other areas. On top of that, there were other major changes in the social environment, such as the spread of the Internet. Instead of asking questions to hearing neighbors using sign language, younger deaf people in Miyakubo began to search for information by themselves. With fewer opportunities to meet face-to-face and communicate using sign language, young hearing people on the island have less chance to use Miyakubo Sign Language.

The deaf people of Miyakubo are becoming more isolated. The paternal aunt of Yano, 73 years old, laments the situation, saying:

“Before, we could talk and understand freely so we were able to share all the pleasures and pains of life. These days, no one knows the sign language. There are many sign words new to me, so I don’t even know what other deaf people are saying. I want people to continue to use and treasure Miyakubo Sign Language.”

As deaf Miyakubo residents age, Miyakubo Sign Language faces extinction. As one of the inheritors of the sign language, Yano feels strongly that Miyakubo Sign language must be properly recorded and preserved to prevent it from disappearing without a trace.

Translated from “Kagaku Tsushin, Ehime-ken Oshimamiyakubo-cho no shuwa: airando sain (Kagaku-Tsushin, Island Signs: The Sign Language of Miyakubo in Ehime Prefecture” Kagaku, May 2017, pp. 0415-0417, ©2017 by Yano Uiko and Matsuoka Kazumi. Reprinted by permission of the authors c/o Iwanami Shoten, Publishers. [May 2017]

How do people at universities overseas view Japan? What do those universities teach students about Japan? I would like to answer these questions in this special feature of Chuokoron based on my own experiences over the last nine years I spent as a professor at the University of Oxford, one of the oldest and top-ranked universities in the UK.

In addition to answering these questions, I would like to examine the problems involved in the topic (that is, what is taught about Japan overseas), which interests people in Japan to the point of urging Discuss Japan editors to come up with a special feature like this. I would like to do so because this second theme brings problems in Japanese society and Japanese education to the forefront.

Report on the State of Japanese Studies Overseas

Kariya Takehiko, Professor, University of Oxford

Before touching on interest in Japan and research and teaching in Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford, I would like to point out several facts that became evident at an international conference organized by Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford, to which I belong, in March 2013. Researchers in Japanese studies invited from not only Britain and Japan but also from North America and Australia (including Japanese language instructors) discussed trends in Japanese studies overseas (opportunities to study and learn ways of understanding Japan) at this conference, which was held to address the question of why Japan matters (what matters about Japan and how those things about Japan matter).

One of the sub themes at the conference was whether interest in Japanese studies was weakening. A possible shift from Japan bashing to Japan passing was a public topic. Furthermore, interest in Chinese studies has strengthened among East Asian studies as a result of China’s economic and political rise. The possibility that interest in Japan was weakening under the effect of this trend was pointed out at the conference.

Professor Patricia Steinhoff, who teaches Japanese studies courses at the University of Hawaii, answered this question directly. Professor Steinhoff examined empirically whether or not the suspected decline in interest was true, comparing data from 2005 with those from 2012 based on surveys of Japanese studies institutions and programs in the United States and Canada. According to the findings of these surveys, the number of Japanese studies programs did increase, from 184 in 2005 to 196 in 2012. The number of Japanese studies specialists grew from 1,284 in 2005 to 1,435 in 2012 as well. In addition, the number of Japanese studies majors in doctoral courses rose from 585 in 2005 to 634 in 2012. Their number has a bearing on the number of researchers in the future. The number of Japanese language courses outside fields of Japanese studies also rose from 1,757 in 2005 to 2,380 in 2012. They grew more in terms of ratio. Based on these findings, Professor Steinhoff concluded that the suspected decline in Japanese studies was a myth that was not grounded in fact.

Certainly, we cannot deny that the major progress being achieved by China in politics and the economy is causing Chinese studies to attract rapidly increasing attention. The impression that interest in Japanese studies is declining by comparison is correct among East Asian studies in relative terms. However, a decline in interest in Japanese studies was not found to be factual as far as North America was concerned. That was the real situation.

Interest in Pop Cultures

Professor Steinhoff raised other important points in her report as well. She pointed out that interest in Japanese studies had shifted among students, and that their interest had a different focus from that of students interested in Chinese studies.

According to her, more students took an interest in the Japanese economy and businesses in the 1980s, when interest in Japan rose and acted as a tailwind for Japanese studies and Japanese language studies. Professor Steinhoff believes that the current interest in Chinese studies resembles the way things were for Japanese studies back then.

In contrast, interest in Japanese studies has departed from the stage of being a temporary fad. It is now growing steadily. Unlike in the past, the interest is now based on interest in Japanese cultures, particularly subcultures and pop cultures. Professor Thomson stressed a similar point in her report, which examined changes in the numbers of students in Japanese studies and Japanese language courses in Australia.

This point coincides with a point raised by Professor Murphy, a Chinese studies specialist at the University of Oxford, when the author interviewed her a while ago. According to her, the number of applicants to undergraduate-level Chinese studies courses is decreasing at the University of Sheffield, one of the leading universities in East Asian studies in the UK. In the meantime, the number of applicants to Japanese studies courses is said to be increasing. According to Professor Murphy’s interpretation, pop cultures and subcultures are stronger motives for young people aged 19 to 20 years old than interest in future businesses. She also believes that such motives are supporting the increase in the number of students choosing Japanese studies over Chinese studies, or their strong interest in Japanese studies.

In this way, interest in cultures is connected to the strong interest in Japanese studies found at universities in English-speaking countries such as the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia. There is no doubt that the global popularity of Japanese pop cultures and subcultures, such as manga, animations and video games, is supporting this strong interest. I think that is a point that anyone could come up with.

The view that interest in cultures is supporting Japanese studies may seem to be a matter of course on the face of it. However, this view requires caution. I think that it will be better for me to examine this issue after introducing Japanese studies at the University of Oxford.

Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford

Two organizations are taking charge of Japanese studies (including Japanese language education) at the University of Oxford. The Japanology program in the Faculty of Oriental Studies that belongs to the Oriental Institute is mainly taking charge of undergraduate-level education. There are two associate professors of Japanese literature (in charge of modern literature and medieval literature, respectively), a professor of linguistics and faculty members in charge of Japanese language education in this program. As their fields of expertise suggest, humanities subjects, such as literature, linguistics and the Japanese language, form the center of undergraduate-level education. (Professors in the program teach students in master’s and doctoral courses as well.) In the meantime, the subjects studied by students in the program include those that come under social sciences as well. Instructors who belong to the other of the two organizations, the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, teach those subjects.

There is one professor each in charge of political science, economics and businesses, anthropology, history and sociology (the author) in this latter organization, which offers a master’s program in Japanese studies based mainly on social sciences and modern history. This master’s course differs from the Faculty of Oriental Studies program mentioned above in that the course bears the title Modern Japanese Studies (instead of titles like Japanology that retain the flavors of Orientalism). Moreover, the professors of the course are also members of the departments of their disciplines (such as the Department of Sociology, the Department of Politics and International Relations, the Faculty of History and so on). They teach students in master’s and doctoral programs in the departments of their disciplines as well. (The research topics chosen by these students are not limited to matters related to Japan, particularly in the Department of Sociology to which I belong.)

Students in the Modern Japanese Studies master’s program are required to take two subjects from their respective fields of expertise, in addition to a course on social sciences methodology and intensive Japanese language classes. These requirements are aimed at deepening their understanding of Japan through social sciences and modern history while equipping them with a high command of Japanese language skills. Starting from the new academic year in October 2017, professors affiliated with the Faculty of Oriental Studies and the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies have offered one integrated master’s program titled Japanese Studies (with the word “modern” removed from the previous title) as the only postgraduate master’s program related to Japan at the University of Oxford (http://www.nissan.ox.ac.uk/prospective-students).

Presence or Absence of a Viewpoint for Relativizing Japan

What is being taught in these programs? In this article, I would like to focus my answer on the Modern Japanese Studies master’s program.

The questions asked in the final examinations that are requisite for graduation enable us to estimate nearly all the contents of the course. As I pointed out in Okkusufoodo-karano Keisho (An Alarm Bell from Oxford), my recent work published as part of Chuokoron-Shinsha, Inc.’s La Clef paperback series, these examinations are given entirely in essay style in the final term after the end of classwork for all subjects (in which students are required to read a massive amount of literature). The final examination for each subject is three hours long. Normally, nine questions are asked in each subject, and students choose three of them to answer. They handwrite their answers on four to five A4-sized sheets per question. The questions asked in the final examinations reflect the study results expected in the respective subjects.

To cite examples (translated once in Japanese then translated back into English, and slightly modified by the author), the following questions were asked in a past final examination for a course on Japanese politics taught by Professor Neary.

All of these questions are very hard to deal with. They require knowledge learned from literature with a prerequisite understanding of the concepts associated with Japanese politics. Professor Neary asked these questions to make the students think, rather than simply asking them to present detailed knowledge.

Let me now share the questions in Japanese history taught by Professor Konishi.

These questions examine students’ understanding of the modern history of Japan (particularly changes from the Edo period to the Meiji period). They are impossible to answer unless students theoretically and conceptually grasp the historical experiences of Japan. They demand a knowledge of historical facts learned from literature and lectures and the ability to understand such knowledge conceptually and theoretically, and ponder and express it.

As these questions suggest, what is expected to be discussed in final examinations is more than knowledge based on facts, regardless of the subject, including politics, history, economy, society or cultures. These questions reflect a strong awareness of a connection between facts and concepts and theories that give meanings to the facts. Answers are not good unless they can express this connection logically and articulately. Furthermore, these questions demand the ability to understand and think in original ways. We can say that teaching and learning in the program are undertaken for these purposes.

The program offer concepts and theories that are indispensable in each subject to such thinking in English, the de-facto lingua franca in today’s academic community. That is another important point. Each course provides theoretical foundations built on concepts and theories elaborated across different disciplines including Japanese studies, and are all expressed in English, one of the most easily accessible languages globally. Therefore, we cannot use them in an isolated way, as is often the case among Japanese scholars in Japan who teach and write only in Japanese. The theoretical foundations and their modifications should be contiguous to those developed in the global context, not limited only within Japan in Japanese.  In other words, Japanese studies outside Japan must stand on such a global context which enforces any academic products of Japanese studies to be located in this global academic context contiguous to academic works in other disciplines as well as in other geographical regions.

On the other hand, there are apparent cases in which theories built overseas are applied to research on Japan undertaken by Japanese researchers at universities in Japan, and concepts borrowed from overseas are translated and used for analyses, explanations and teaching in Japanese. The fruits of the studies of Western knowledge have, despite ridicule in the name of imported studies, long characterized social sciences scholarship and education in Japan. However, the types of reactions and interactions that the application of borrowed foreign theories and concepts may cause to these original theories and concepts are sought in very limited cases. Theorization does not incorporate such intended reactions and interactions easily as long as the theories and concepts are expressed only in Japanese and Japanese people are assumed to be their main readership. If I might venture to simplify, theories and concepts are in just one-way borrowing and applications without any productive returns contributed to the global academic communities. Differences from overseas Japanese studies in which the application of any theories and concepts inevitably goes back to the elaboration process for original theories and concepts arise as a result of the language (often in English) selected for expressing them.

To rephrase further, a comparative viewpoint must lay at the base of Japanese studies overseas in understanding Japan from the beginning. The subject called “Japan” cannot be viewed as self-evident in Japanese studies overseas. As the international conference mentioned above inquired, Japanese studies overseas must ask why Japan matters (what matters about Japan and how those things about Japan matter). Differences from studies produced by Japanese researchers in Japan in the Japanese language for Japanese readers result from this point. This aspect is also related to overseas interest in Japanese cultures that I put on hold earlier in this article.

A Transnational Viewpoint

At this point, I would like to go back to Professor Steinhoff’s report cited above. Professor Steinhoff pointed out that interest in Japanese cultures, including subcultures and pop cultures, has acted as a strong motive for students who have chosen Japanese studies in recent years. What Kitagawa Toshihiko, a Japanese language instructor at Reagent’s University in London, told me in connection with this point was instructive.

According to Kitagawa, interest in Japanese manga, animations and the like is definitely a reason for students to consider studying the Japanese language. They have been in touch with these cultures through television and the Internet since early childhood. They belong to a generation of people who grew up that way. As a supplementary explanation for this view, Kitagawa pointed out the possibility that many of those young people grew up without being aware that these cultures came from Japan.

The same thing is happening in the field of food culture. Japanese sushi has now gone completely global. We can buy sushi at ordinary supermarkets in major cities in Britain, and there are conveyor belt sushi bars at airports and big railway stations. However, according to Kitagawa, young people today have virtually no perception that sushi is Japanese food. Cultures cross national borders easily. They mix with other cultures. They spread and are consumed independently from their places of origin. They also produce new cultures. These movements tear down frameworks such as nation-states and national cultures.

Political attempts to link subcultures and pop cultures born in Japan with industrial and trade policies under the slogan of “Cool Japan” were repeatedly reported once. In these attempts, Japan was considered to be a uniform entity with a nation-state, a national culture and a national economy. Efforts were made to link cultures born in Japan with businesses without asking any questions about this view. In that sense, they were an internationalization strategy for crossing borders with their national status as an unchangeable assumption.

This strategy and viewpoint result in contributions to the substantialization of the uniformity of entities called “national.” They represent a viewpoint that contrasts with the interest shown by young people in contents that are Japanese cultures with no obsession with their roots. To borrow an expression from Sakai Naoki, a professor of Japanese culture at Cornell University, young people’s interest is “an approach to cultures that is made in a way that cuts across a community of people” (Sakai, N. et al., eds., 1996, Nashonaritii-no Datsukochiku (Deconstructing Nationalities) Kashiwashobo Publishing Co., Ltd., p.18). The spread and consumption of cultures via YouTube and other web media has admittedly accelerated this approach.

As Sakai points out, opinions called Nihonjin-ron (theories on Japanese people) once produced blind spots that caused people to lose sight of the diversity and multiplicity of cultures and societies by attributing cultures to a specific national culture and a nation-state and viewing the presence of cultures peculiar to Japan (that differ mainly from Western cultures) as self-evident. As a result, those opinions provided a cognitive framework that admits the superiority of things national in a way they did not intend. They were nationalism of a kind that demanded the endorsement of the presence called Japan as a uniform entity. The same thing is happening today, even though advocates do not call their opinions Nihonjin-ron anymore.

I would like to quote Sakai’s statement further in connection with this point: “Accidental origins in the Japanese Archipelago or Western Europe and the sameness of ethnic groups and people are entirely different matters. Many of the computer games sold by Nintendo are made in Japan, but many children around the world enjoy them without taking any notice of things like their Japanese origin [sentences are omitted here]. On the contrary [phrase added by the quoter], the types of opinions that adhere to national cultures and national characteristics force cultures to symbolize ethnic groups and nation [kokumin]. The signs of ethnic groups and nation are not inherently engraved in cultures themselves” (op. cit. p. 22).

We should not mistake greater overseas interest in Japanese culture for the greater presence of a national community of people called Japan. Professor Whittaker, another colleague of mine at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, pointed out the same thing in his conversation with the author.

This very special feature on how people view Japan at universities overseas and how Japan is taught there can end up building a view on Japan that strengthens the substantiality and uniformity of a nation-state and a national culture and becomes trapped in such frameworks, unless we watch out for the danger.

The affirmative re-endorsement of the images and understanding of Japan is sought today because of a growing sense of threat that China and other emerging nations may catch up with or overtake Japan. A viewpoint for relativizing the very desire for endorsement is essential for staying away from such simplistic nationalistic moves and sentiments. A transnational viewpoint (a viewpoint beyond nation-states) offers an effective approach to that end.

Moreover, a viewpoint for accepting diversity and multiplicity in Japan, instead of grasping Japan (Japanese people and cultures) as a monolith or a homogeneous entity, is essential. The latter viewpoint once led Nihonjin-ron to the myth of ethnic homogeneity. All the viewpoints mentioned above share a stance against viewing the phenomenon called Japan as self-evident.

Moving beyond Nationalism

All modern nation-states have an awareness called nationalism. We cannot deny the fact that advancing globalization is strengthening nationalism as well. However, with endorsed academic freedom and freedom of expression as education institutions, how can universities teach the next generation to become “educated citizens” who are able to relativize such trends prudently?

The contents of subjects taught are not the only things that universities in Japan can learn from research and teaching in Japanese studies at overseas counterparts. They can also learn the viewpoints and approaches undertaken there by learning how they teach.

A shift toward classwork in English is being encouraged these days under a globalization policy aiming at Japanese universities. However, teaching subjects in English is not sufficient for globalization. The advantage of lessons in a language other than Japanese lies in the establishment of a distance from Japan without viewing any phenomena known as Japan as self-evident, together with the birth of awareness that any research on Japan should stand on the same intellectual ground of transnational academic communities. We can achieve such results in the Japanese language, too, if we take this into account seriously.

The question of why Japan matters (what matters about Japan and how those things about Japan matter), which keeps a distance from the view that the phenomena and experiences called Japan are self-evident, has currency in university education in Japan as well. This question helps universities in Japan establish a foothold that is not buffeted about by intensifying waves of globalization and nationalism, which often urge us to simplify world views.

Translated from “Tokushu ‘Habado no Nihon sai-hakken’: Okkusufoodo kara mita ‘Nihon’ toiu mondai (Feature Article ‘Rediscovering Japan at Harvard’: The Topic of Japan Viewed from Oxford),” Chuokoron, September 2017, pp. 80-88. (Courtesy of Chuo Koron Shinsha) [September 2017]

The influx of foreign tourists into Japan reminds one sociologist of American soldiers stationed in Japan immediately after the Second World War. What does he think of the current tourism boom? In this essay, Professor Miyajima’s essay covers several perspectives that are critical to thinking about this issue.

Early Memories of the Post-War Period

Miyajima Takashi, Professor Emeritus, Ochanomizu University

Perhaps it is just a fancy of mine, but for someone who spent their childhood and youth in post-war Yokohama, the current influx of foreign tourists to Japan reminds me of the officers and soldiers of the American occupation. Looking back, it seems like a storm that blew fiercely, then passed; seven or eight years during which there were several American bases and barracks in the city. Of course, Okinawa has been experiencing the same thing continually since the war, but elsewhere there has never before, or after, been so many foreign soldiers and military personnel immersed in daily life in Japan.

We know that the press (newspaper) and radio codes laid down by GHQ were strict, and forbade criticism of the occupying forces, or reporting of undesirable behavior. But I and my contemporaries had many opportunities to see the soldiers’ behavior at very first-hand. I hated seeing drunken soldiers acting like vandals and going around breaking the windows of people’s homes, and was almost traumatized. Yet, at the same time, I also had a positive impression when I saw how some soldiers might be trying to change Japanese culture. For example, on a train I once saw a man I presume was an American soldier order a youth to get up and give his seat to an old person who was standing up and holding onto the straps.

I also remember how wonderfully lively and energetic the girls at my school were. They often talked about movies they’d seen and been impressed by, such as Madame Curie, One Hundred Men and a Girl, or Little Women. Their eyes were opened by these films; it seems to me that they had decided to look for their own way to live, not just be women who do housework and sewing. By choosing and releasing these American films, the occupying force inspired young women enormously.

On another occasion, around the first year of middle school, I was on a train reading one of a set of books of literature for young people which was called Cuore. An American soldier sat down next to me and looked over at the European-style illustrations with interest, then asked me what I was reading. I told him about the Italian story, and he replied that he was an Italian-American, and that cuore means “heart” in Italian. That was all that happened, but I’ll never forget it, and it was a conversation that touched my own heart.

Thinking back, he must have only spent a few years at most as a guest here in the Far East. And even though it was just a passing encounter, it was a cultural encounter, and one that left a long-lasting mark on me as a human being.

Encounters in unexpected places: the wave of new tourists

Each year the news reports record-breaking numbers of foreign tourists coming to Japan, and every year there are new pictures of tourists posing and smiling as they stand in front of the huge lantern at Kaminarimon in Tokyo’s Asakusa.
   This wave of tourists has also reached Japan’s regions. From around fifteen years ago, when restrictions on group tours from China were lifted, I have seen tourists staying and shopping even in Tokai region towns (not a typical sightseeing area). From about five years ago I’ve also encountered visitors from Europe and the United States in unexpected places. Once I bumped into a group of ten or more German men and women in Tsumagoi, a post town of the Kiso Valley, an area which will be familiar to readers of Shimazaki Toson’s novel, Before the Dawn. They were strolling around the village taking lots of photos of the houses, and told me that they were staying at an old ryokan inn in the town.

Following the global financial crisis, the yen became relatively cheap and it became easier for foreigners to visit Japan. At the same time, distinctive off-the-beaten-path travel itineraries began to appear (I wonder who chose them?), that differed from the standard route of Narita Airport arrival, Tokyo, Kyoto, Kansai Airport departure. Even greater numbers of tourists come from Asia, and they often use budget airlines, frequently starting and ending their journeys at somewhat unlikely regional airports. For that reason, the range of areas being visited has expanded considerably.

Is omotenashi hospitality really a good thing?

Looking into and researching Japan’s tourism policy is my own specialization, but for a while I’ve sensed that two things are missing from Japan’s tourism policy.

One is how it lacks the useful kind of specialization. In its bid for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, Japan strongly stressed and promoted its culture of omotenashi hospitality, but I feel there is something unfocused about this. People say that, “We must be kind to visitors.” Of course, smiling and being kind is very important, but for a successful tourism industry, it is more important that we have information centers located in the right places that can deal effectively with visitors, as well as qualified staff who are able to give proper guidance on buying tickets, arranging accommodation, historical sites, and the historical background to these. A kind of specialization is necessary. It is too easy just to have a few well-meaning locals with limited English volunteering to help foreign visitors, and at the end of the day it doesn’t help much.

Japan’s Tour-Guide Interpreter qualification dates back over half a century. According to the 2016 Tourism White Paper, although 190,000 people hold the qualification (2015), three in four are not active as guides. Many registered guides live in metropolitan areas such as Tokyo, and the vast majority are registered as English-speaking. Conversely, few guides can speak languages such as Chinese or Korean, so there is a mismatch with demand. During the last twenty-five years, the number of visitors to Japan from abroad has doubled and tripled, so one would have expected the assumption that all tourists speak English to have changed significantly.

Yet, the nation and the tourism industry have not sufficiency changed their way of thinking when it comes to dealing with foreign languages. Chinese, Korean and Peruvian people living in Japan might work in the industry, and since there are no nationality restrictions, we should encourage them to take the exam. Incidentally, in the immigration-based society of the United States there are officially qualified guides from many ethnic groups, and this is how they meet the needs of tourists from many diverse cultures.

The other thing that I have sensed for a while is that there are no high-standard basic guidebooks with quality contents, either for Japanese people or for foreigners. The shelves of book stores are filled with all sorts of guide books, but most seem to contain simple advice on famous locations, local souvenirs, festivals and eating. For forty years, I’ve been using Michelin guides when traveling in Europe, and there is nothing comparable in Japan.

The Michelin guides were created by the French tire maker to help popularize driving holidays. The books were wonderfully well made, comprehensive and easy to read. They quickly dominated the market, and versions in various languages have been made. I have one to hand here (a guide to Provence), and if I open it I find that of the 329-page total length, summaries of the region’s history, languages, literature, art and architecture account for forty-five pages. If I look up the relatively minor sightseeing area of Tarascon, it has around three pages. Half a page covers history, one and a half pages detail several scenic sights and churches, half a page is a map of the town, and half a page is filled with photos. These are the guidebooks that French people take with them when traveling. So, when they come to Japan and must rely on a single Michelin guidebook, Japon, they must feel something is lacking. Yet, even in that one book, of 680 total pages, 80 are devoted to a well-written general description of Japan titled “Comprendre Japon.”

Of course, it is up to publishers to produce guidebooks. But as a country we can’t ignore the need for a high-quality guidebook written by Japanese people and translated into various languages. There is a need for a properly standardized overview of Japanese history, as well as material on Japan’s distinctive historical and cultural features, temple and shrine architecture, styles of art, and other topics.

How foreign tourists are portrayed

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, which makes its calculations based on the Ministry of Justice’s statistics on the number of non-Japanese entering Japan, the number of foreign tourists¹ to Japan in 2015 was around 17 million. Once again, this is a record. In the general breakdown, 14.67 million visitors were from Asia, accounting for 86% of the total and dominating the top of the list (see figure).

Although, the vast majority of visitors are from Asia, the media have covered the topic slightly differently. The tourists that are positively portrayed on TV walking around Tokyo’s working class districts and rediscovering those forgotten fascinating aspects of Japan that Japanese people don’t notice are overwhelmingly from Europe and the United States. When Asian tourists are shown, the focus is usually on Chinese people, and many of the reports are on their shopping sprees or “bad manners.” The contrast between these portrayals is worrying, and these stereotypes need to be corrected.

Even among visitors from Asia there is much variety, and China and South Korea are different. Chinese-speaking visitors are all lumped together, but the People’s Republic of China accounts for 45%, while the remainder includes people from different countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. In terms of per-capita GDP, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore can be considered developed or near-developed countries, and the tourists from those countries are ordinary members of their middle classes. Chinese tourists are often described as the “rich few.” Although group tours of Chinese are common, and they tend not to speak English, and communication with some can be difficult, there is no need to view them differently. I will discuss this later, but when you think back to groups of Japanese tourists visiting Paris and New York thirty years ago, you might have said the same about them.

Curiosity-driven tourists from Asia

Locations where you might see lots of foreign tourists include Osaka Castle and Kumamoto Castle prior to its partial destruction in an earthquake. Some Korean and Chinese visitors are interested in Japanese history, and some groups can be seen carefully reading information displays. A few years ago, on a visit Osaka Castle, I encountered a group of four or five Koreans at a huge rock (5.5 m high and 11.7 m wide) known as the Takoishi. They were admiring the rock and discussing it. One of their group could speak Japanese and he asked the Japanese tourists nearby: “Is there a mountain in Japan big enough to cut this rock out of?” and “Why did they bring it from there?” The Japanese explained that it was cut from an island in the Seto Inland Sea, then brought by boat, and that until a century ago Osaka Bay was much larger, so goods could be offloaded from ships right by the castle. Nodding, the Korean tourists said, “I see,” and looked satisfied.

Just like this, there are Asian tourists who come to see, read, listen, discuss and try to understand Japanese culture. That some understand Japanese helps them a lot. Some find meaning in their Japan visits through eating Japanese food and various other “experiences.” Meanwhile, many young people are prompted to see and explore Japan by their interest in manga, anime and music. I don’t know what exactly this behavior by Asian tourists tells us, but I can sense a huge curiosity towards Japan.

A one-sided view?

On the other hand, it may be a sign of their materialism, but we can’t ignore the fact that these tourists tend to go shopping for large quantities of goods: from cosmetics and the latest electronic appliances, to toothpaste and diapers. This is what you might call the inevitable symptom of a distortion in their own domestic market. Even as they produce excellent industrial goods for export, they lack consumer goods of the quality they need for everyday life. Also, these shopping trips for expensive goods are closely tied to the strategy of Japanese companies who organize tours and include trips to Ginza and famous department stores to encourage tourists to spend money. In reality, the policy and priority of both Japan’s tourism industry and large shops such as department stores is for visitors to spend money in Japan. Thinking about what these tourists might want to see or learn comes second. In that sense, the kind of European tourists who might want to slowly see Japan without spending much money on shopping are not very welcome. (It is clear that tourists from England, Germany, Italy and other European countries spend relatively little money on shopping.) By comparison, Chinese tourists spend 57%² of their travel money (excluding plane tickets) on shopping, so that’s why they are treated as important customers.

Yet, thirty years ago tour groups of Japanese tourists would appear at the Paris Mitsukoshi Department Store or the Galeries Lafayette, communicating through interpreters, and making such purchases as ten bottles of Chanel 19 perfume at a time. French people were astonished at the sight. This was well before Chinese “shopping sprees.” The shops were delighted, and it seemed mostly companies on the French side that adroitly arranged the shopping stop-offs. French people did not, however, decide that “Japanese people come to France for shopping.” They saw that all sorts of Japanese people were coming to France, and knew that many carefully looked round museums, and that some also visited the cathedral at Chartres and Romanesque churches in the countryside. Japanese people should also take a slightly more adult view of foreigners and not focus on just one side.

In any case, the wave of shopping sprees are said to have now subsided. Recently, customs checks for returning Chinese tourists have apparently got stricter. Meanwhile, cross-border electronic commerce means that Chinese people are becoming able to shop in Japan over the Internet without even setting foot in the country. It will be fascinating to see how Chinese visitors’ interest in Japan develops and changes.  

Acts of hate?

But, there is something that concerns me. I have touched on this already, but there is a double standard in the way that Japanese people deal with foreigners. When it comes to people from Europe and the United States, Japanese are friendly and kind, and don’t treat them as inferior. But when the tourists are from Asia, Japanese people treat them differently, roughly and without smiling. Japanese people, it seems, haven’t yet lost that old-fashioned desire to be part of Europe, not Asia. Not speaking Chinese or Korean might be one reason, but that’s why it is a good thing that more electronics shops and hotels are employing more people from other Asian countries who speak excellent Japanese.

Even so, some shocking things have happened to those tourists in our country temporarily as guests. Last October, the Osaka outlet of an urban sushi restaurant chain served South Korean tourists sushi filled with large amounts of wasabi: and it became apparent that they had been doing this regularly. This claim only originated on the Internet, but judging by the color photos it wasn’t food that an ordinary person would eat, so I can only assume the intention was to play a trick on these customers.

A worrying thing about this is the recently much discussed issue of hate speech towards non-Japanese. Although an anti-hate speech law was finally passed in May 2016, it was Korean-Japanese who were unjustifiably singled out by groups who made anti-foreigner declarations and staged demonstrations. It is hard to imagine that it was the official policy of the sushi restaurant, but I wonder if when Korean-speaking customers entered the restaurant the sushi chefs thought they were a nuisance and didn’t want to serve them. Even if there was no discrimination at play and they just wanted to see the customers squeal when the wasabi hit, they were serving paying customers so their actions were surely outrageous.

I am not going to explore here why such feelings of hate have spread among some Japanese. But it is an extremely serious matter when those working in tourism and customer service express this hate. It may be that some sort of action needs to be taken: for example, the tourism authorities investigating the sushi restaurant and issuing corrective advice; or using this occasion to make human rights education compulsory for interpreter-guides, or customer service staff in hotels and restaurants.

Notes

1. For the purpose of Ministry of Justice statistics, “Foreign Tourists” refers to short stay visitors to Japan. Business travelers are not included, but those visiting friends and family are. (JNTO homepage).

2. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 2016 Tourism White Paper, p. 250. The figure for tourists from the U.K., Germany, and Italy is 14% to 15%.

3. For more details see, Fighting Hate Speech by Arita Yoshifu (Iwanami Shoten, 2013). I would like to point out that anti-foreigner demos where hate speech occurred first took place around the Shin-Okubo area of Tokyo where there are many recent Korean immigrants.

Translated from “Tokushu 1 Ibunka-sesshoku toshiteno Inbaundo: Indaudo to Nihonjin ― Gaikokujin tsuurisuto zodai ni yotte towarerumono (Special Feature 1 Inbound Tourism and Experiencing a Different Culture: Inbound Tourism and Japanese People ―Issues related to the increase in tourists visiting Japan from abroad),” THE TOSHI MONDAI (Municipal Problems), January 2017, pp. 4-9. (Courtesy of The Tokyo Institute for Municipal Research) [January 2017]

Photo: Courtesy of the Japan Guide Association

As an tour guide-interpreter, Hagimura Masayo sometimes spends as long as two weeks traveling around the whole of Japan with foreign visitors, so no-one has more first-hand knowledge of exactly what interests, attracts and impresses tourists. In this article, she taps her rich professional experience to discuss some tourism resources of which Japanese people might not be aware.

Introduction

Hagimura Masayo, President, the Japan Guide Association

When the Japanese government launched its Visit Japan campaign back in 2003, the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan each year was only 5.24 million. Ten years later the figure had reached 10 million, and over time it gradually increased. From January to October 2016, more than 20 million people visited Japan. (The exact figure was a record 20,113,000 people, compared to 16,316,000 for the same period in 2015).

As this happens, the amount of work we tour guide-interpreters are asked to do is growing. Although there are differences between those working in different regions, and with different languages, overall we can expect demand to increase in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

Meanwhile, internet review sites are becoming more popular, more tourists are making repeat visits to Japan, and the types of tours available to inbound tourists are becoming more diverse. Tourists also require better-quality tour contents, and better and more skilled tour guide-interpreters.

We tour guide-interpreters work more closely with foreign visitors to Japan than anyone else. In this article, I’d like to tap that perspective to ask; what impresses foreign tourists; and what are Japan’s tourism resources when it comes to foreigners?

What is a tour guide-interpreter?

Have you ever seen someone carrying a small flag and guiding foreigners through a sightseeing spot saying, “This way, please!”? This is the job of Japan’s National Licensed Guides. As we are often called tour guide-interpreters, there’s a tendency to assume that we work as interpreters, but there two main differences.

Firstly: the job of an interpreter is to translate the words of a speaker into a different language. They are not permitted to add to or subtract from that content. There is no national qualification for interpreters.

Secondly: tour guide-interpreters serve as guides while speaking a foreign language. A national qualification is necessary.

In addition, tour guide-interpreters fulfil the following three main functions through their work:

1) Acting as a guide for tourists.

2) Acting as a tour-conductor, i.e. managing itineraries and handling attraction and transport tickets.

3) Interpreting (including assistance with foreign language related issues)

Tour guide-interpreters do not just give sight-seeing explanations in a foreign language, they also do the same job as the tour conductors that accompany Japanese group tours, and they do both by themselves. Also, they work right across Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa.

Although their main functions are 1 and 2 above, in the case of corporate inspection tours or Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Events (MICE) etc. they often also interpret. Even during sightseeing tours, there are often occasions when they interpret, say for maiko trainee geisha (See photos 1, 2, and 3).

①	②	③
Photos: Courtesy of the Japan Guide Association

From face-masks to short-handled brooms: questions from foreign visitors

But when foreign visitors take tours in Japan, what are they interested in, and what sort of questions do they usually ask? The below are examples of some common questions posed to tour guide-interpreters, and just a few of the unexpected questions we get. Some even have the professionals scratching their heads!

1) (Pointing at a Japanese person) Why is that person wearing a mask?

2) (To the tour guide-interpreter) What’s your religion? Note: this would be an unthinkable question for one Japanese person living in Japan       to ask another.

3) Why don’t Japanese people kiss when they greet each other?

4) Where can I meet a geisha? Note: some foreigners tend to assume that all Japanese women wearing kimono are geisha. Others think that geisha are prostitutes; perhaps from novels they have read.

5) Why do Japanese people use brooms with short handles?

6) How on earth does one eat white rice with chopsticks?

7) Who in the world cleans those 50cm gaps between buildings? Why don’t they just join the buildings together?

8) Why do young Japanese women walk with their toes turned inwards? Note: foreigners are very intrigued by this.

9) Why don’t restaurants use paper napkins? Note: visitors are at a complete loss as to what to do without a paper napkin.

10) Why do Japanese people take off their shoes?      

11) The Japanese manji symbol of temples looks like a German swastika. Are they connected?

12) Why are there so many overhead cables in Japan? Wouldn’t the view be improved without them?

13) What should one do if an earthquake occurs?

The most common question is number one, about masks. Visitors from Europe and America in particular see masks as something worn by those with infectious disease. This is often the first question they think to ask when they come to Japan.

Regarding question number 12), I once jokingly answered that Japan has a lot of crows and pigeons, and they need somewhere to rest. After that I checked with an architect relative so that I had an answer.

Number 13 is a question that people often ask after they arrive in Japan. For people who live in countries without earthquakes, it is a serious question.

Finding tourism resources in surprising Japanese realities and customs

But when foreign tourists come to Japan, what is it in particular that interests them? There are differences depending on country, generation, and gender, but the below are typical examples of what surprises and impresses foreign tourists, according to my own experience. These unassuming things and objects, both tangible and intangible, are tourism resources that can surprise and impress visitors.

1) That elementary school children themselves clean their school each day, and that cleaners aren’t employed. Foreigners think they could learn from this part of our education system.

2) That white rice doesn’t taste of anything. Why eat something with no taste?

3) That most narrow streets and roads don’t have names. How is the mail delivered?

4) Tourists are impressed by high-tech Japanese toilets. Some want to buy them to take home.

5) That there is no custom of tipping in Japan.

6) That elementary school children travel to school by themselves without their parents or guardians. Isn’t it dangerous?

7) That Japan has no “ladies first” tradition; that, in fact, men traditionally come first.

8) That different products don’t differ in price greatly depending on the region of Japan.

9) The recycling is so advanced, and that household garbage must be carefully separated into different materials.

10) That even in high-tech Japan many areas do not have free Wi-Fi, and that its availability is limited.

11) That the Japanese language uses two types of phonetic alphabet (kana) alongside more than 2,000 ideographs, and that these are used daily in combination. What are the inside of Japanese people’s heads like? (They must be superhuman).

12) That Japanese people are always bowing, even on the telephone.

13) That Japanese people slurp as they consume soup or noodles. This is an unpleasant noise to people from Europe or America.

14) That there are so many groups of children on school trips and post-graduation trips. That their behavior and manners are so good.

15) That wives look after the household finances in Japan, not husbands.

16) That so many people commit suicide. They are incredibly surprised that almost 30,000 people kill themselves in Japan each year.

17) That Japan still has the death penalty. (I am often asked how they are killed, but I reply that as a Japanese person I have not considered that question.)

18) That wedding ceremonies are so quiet that people seem sad during what ought to be a happy occasion.

19) That Japanese people eat horse meat. In particular, foreign tourists can’t believe it is eaten raw.

Foreign visitors are immediately impressed at the lack of garbage at the road sides. It is simply amazing to them, but I’ve rarely just been asked, “Why isn’t there any litter?” On the other hand, they often ask, “Why aren’t there any garbage pails?” “Where do Japanese people throw away their trash?” or “There aren’t any garbage pails, so why isn’t there any litter?” When I reply that in Singapore there are fines for dropping litter but in Japan generally that’s not the case, they are even more surprised. Although some local authorities have local ordinances forbidding litter-dropping, and there are national laws that cover the disposal of waste, no-one will be fined for dropping a chewing gum wrapper. On the other hand, when I ask them, “Is it good for the streets to be clean?” of course they answer, “Yes.” Also, when I ask them why, in that case, people drop litter in their country, they might struggle for an answer, then eventually reply, “That’s just what our country is like. Education in Japan is wonderful.”

Recently discovered tourism resources in sightseeing areas

There are many sightseeing areas that were unknown to foreign tourists before, but which began to receive attention as inbound tourism grew, and which are now famous and known by everyone. We can expect other “hidden” sighting-seeing areas in the regions to become noticed in the future. Some examples:

1) The snow monkeys of Nagano Prefecture. Japanese macaques that bathe in hot springs in midwinter.

2) The ski resorts of Niseko. Popular with visitors from Australia and elsewhere who are in a similar time-zone and can visit during their summer.

3) Historic post towns on the Kiso Road and elsewhere. Traditional Japanese streets and houses.

4) The Tsukiji fish market. The tuna auctions are very popular, and visitors have never seen most of the seafood at the market before.

5) The “scramble” crossing at Shibuya. Foreigners have never seen anything like it in any other country.

6) Shibuya’s Hachiko statue. After seeing the movie Hachi: A Dog’s Tale. (People are influenced by movies in other ways).

Surprising and impressive things in sight-seeing areas
– What people get from Japan

Of course, we want people to be impressed by the places they visit as tourists. Among these “exciting” things there are unpredicted and unexpected “surprises” and “impressive things”. And these include many things not covered on Facebook or in the guidebooks they buy back home. It’s usual for guidebooks to have photos of Mount Fuji beautifully covered in snow, but during the season when most tourists actually visit Mount Fuji there’s no snow, which can be rather a shock.

In fact, it is these kinds of realities that are impressive to visitors who have spent time and money on coming to Japan from afar. That is the value of travel. We only know about these things with hindsight, and we can’t promote all of them beforehand, but we can still call them all tourism resources.

Here are some examples:

1) Mount Fuji without snow. Tourists expect Mount Fuji to be white. Souvenirs and woodblock prints show Mount Fuji with snow, but the mountain has no snow in summer.

2) The dense forest surrounding Mount Fuji is famous for suicides. This is a negative fact that is not included in guidebooks.

3) Mount Fuji is littered with a large amount of waste materials. This is another negative fact that is not included in guidebooks.

4) That people bathe in hot springs naked without swimming costumes in Japan. Guidebooks usually only show people wrapped in towels. (Foreign visitors ask if Japanese people aren’t embarrassed to be seen naked.)

5) The incredibly high prices of wagyu beef or fruit give as gifts.

6) Beautifully designed manhole covers.

When it comes to number two and three, you might wonder why anyone would talk about such dark topics when tourists have travelled to see beautiful Mount Fuji. I’m sure many of my fellow tour guide-interpreters don’t cover these topics on their Mount Fuji tours, but I always do my best to discuss them. I warn foreign tourists beforehand that, although these things are a great source of shame to Japan, there is much that is not included in the guidebooks, and that you can’t learn about it until you actually visit Japan. I say that I want them to know about the real Japan: both good and bad.

Many Japanese wouldn’t have any idea about what tourists mean by the manholes in number six. Manhole covers over sewers under the street often have attractive designs related to the local area. Those of us who live in Japan probably don’t notice them, but visitors often remark on how attractive they are.

There are surprisingly many unknown things and objects

Even among dedicated Japanophile foreign visitors who carefully read guidebooks and other material before they come to Japan, there are still surprisingly many things they don’t know about.

These include: Shinto and shrines; Asian-style toilets (Rather unexpected. Visitors take the guide to the toilet, and point at it, saying, “What on earth is this? What do you use it for?”); shochu (a clear Japanese spirit; shabu-shabu (thin meat boiled in water); restaurants where customers sit around iron hot-plates set in the tables; iced-coffee (Rather unexpected. Visitors say that coffee should be drunk hot.); typically having to pay at a till rather than at the table in cafes and restaurants; not being able to talk on cellphones in public places or on public transport (if guides don’t tell them they won’t realize for the duration of their trip); kneeling or sitting on tatami-mat floors due to the traditional lack of chairs in Japanese rooms; Japanese people sleeping on futons (i.e. beds very close to the ground).

Things tourists enjoy: food and drink

It is now over three years since Japanese washoku cuisine was added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2013. Washoku is popular around the world, and ever more foreigners are visiting Japan to eat washoku in its place of origin. Tourists tell me that, “I’ve come to Japan so I want to eat Japanese food.” These dishes include wagyu beef, fugu blowfish (famous for its poison), Japanese sweets, and ramen noodles. Japanese wagyu is known abroad, but usually only the Kobe beef brand. Also, while its well-known that Japan hunts whales, it doesn’t see that many people want to eat whale meat.

Japanese people themselves are a tourist resource

It is not just things and objects that can impress foreign tourists; so can the Japanese people they come into direct contact with; for example, the way guides, hotel staff, and shop assistants work and serve customers.

One example is how a guide ensures a large group can quickly and smoothly board the reserved seating carriage of a bullet train. The train only stops on the platform for about one minute, and the guide is desperate to make sure no one gets left behind, so they have to be a little ingenious.

The guide divides the group into two and has them wait in line according to the order of their seats at the two spots where the carriage doors will halt. Each traveler is given a bullet train ticket on which their seat number has been marked in large letters with a thick felt-tip pen in their language. There two groups are separated by color: a red group (who board at the closest door) and a blue group (who board at the furthest door). If the travelers follow the guide’s instructions and use this method to get on the train, they will find that the boarding order is properly determined beforehand, that no-one needs to hurry, and that they can smoothly and happily reach their seats. The method is much appreciated.

Another example was when tourists came back to their bus, which was waiting in the car park of a sightseeing attraction, and found the driver carefully polishing the hubcaps of the bus with a cloth. They said it was amazing, and that in their country people wouldn’t work like that when no-one is watching. They were very impressed and took photos of the driver.

Japanese people may take these things for granted, but tourists praise these ways of working, thinking, and approaching our jobs. You may remember how in 2014, during the soccer World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Japanese supporters decided by themselves to clean up garbage in the stadium. They were applauded by the world’s media and the Japanese fans received an official thank you letter from the director of the Rio de Janeiro State Environmental Agency.

We tour guide-interpreters spend longer with clients than anyone else living in Japan. On a long tour we might spend two weeks traveling around Japan with visitors, so when they return home they will likely remember their guide as a “typical” Japanese person. In that sense, the way we work, the quality of the service we offer, how we deal with them as people, and the totality of our hospitality might be considered a tourism resource that represents Japan.

On the other hand… some problems

While the industry can be pleased at increase in inbound tourism, there are also some problems. For example:

1) Foreigners see Japan as lagging behind other countries in some respects.

– The availability of Wi-Fi in public spaces is limited.

– English is sometimes not understood, even in hotels and restaurants in tourist areas.

– Everything often has to be booked in advance, and there is a lack of flexibility.

– There still isn’t much English signage at sightseeing facilities or on public transport.

– There are few Western-style toilets.

2) Due to the general increase in visitors from abroad, there have been some negative effects for inbound tourists themselves.

– Toilets in sightseeing areas visited by more foreigners are dirty. People from some countries do not flush toilet paper, or make a mess when they use the toilet.

Figure 1
Source: Japan Tourism Agency. Survey of tour guide-interpreter employment conditions (from October to November 2013)

Issues for the future

As we have seen, there are various things and objects that impress foreign tourists when they see them, i.e. which can become tourism resources; and we can expect the number to grow. On the other hand, Japan faces many distinct issues.

1) Full provision of Wi-Fi

2) Communication of information and evacuation instructions to foreigners in the event of an earthquake disaster. Although the Tourism Agency has taken measures such as releasing a disaster prevention app for foreigners, issues remains over the communication of information and accurate evacuation instructions in an emergency to foreigners who don’t understand Japanese. Short-term foreign visitors to Japan don’t have opportunities either to listen to explanations or take part in evacuation training.

3) The promotion of Japan to children and younger generations. Japan is expensive and geographically distant for people in countries outside Asia, Japan is. But if someone gets a positive impression of Japan when they are young, however, we can expect Japan to feature in their future life plans. We’d like them to aspire to learn Japanese, or one day come to Japan to study, etc.

4) Assuring a sufficient number of tour guide-interpreters (correcting language and geographical imbalances). Although there are more than 19,000 registered tour guide-interpreters across Japan, there are significant imbalances in their working languages, and where they guide and live. Although there are 10 registered languages, almost 70% of guides use English, while Portuguese and Thai are only spoken by less than 1% of tour guide-interpreters: a huge gap. Meanwhile, guides are concentrated in the urban areas around Tokyo and Kyoto and Osaka (see figure 1).

Because of this, when cruise ships dock in regional ports there is a temporary shortage of tour guide-interpreters for sightseeing tours. It is then expensive because guides speaking less common languages have to travel from all over Japan for each ICT (Inclusive Conducted Tour. An inclusive tour with tour conductor). That is then reflected in the customer’s vacation costs.

Things that foreigners want to do on their next trip to Japan

What do visitors to Japan from abroad who might come again want to do on their next trip? The JNTO created a survey based on the Japan Tourism Agency’s 2015 survey into consumption trends by foreign visitors to Japan. By looking at the difference between “Things that tourists from overseas planning to visit Japan hope to do)” and “Things that tourists from overseas hope to do on their next visit to Japan” we can answer that question. These are the main things tourists are even more keen to do should they visit Japan again (all countries).

– Bathe at a hot spring (Before their visit 34.6%, and after their visit 45.2%; an increase of 10.6%)

– Viewing stage performances (Before their visit 4.2%, and after their visit 12.7%; an increase of 8.5%)

– Viewing sports (Before their visit 2.7%, and after their visit 9.8%; an increase of 7.1%)

Tour guide-interpreters working on the ground will understand these results. On their first visit to Japan, tourists tend to only visit the standard sightseeing spots. Before they come they might not be particularly interested in a typical Japanese pleasure such as bathing at an onsen. But once they have experienced and enjoyed it, many want to do it again the next time. Even if people want to see sumo, some visit at a time when there are no sumo tournaments. Likewise, they might not have a chance to leisurely watch kabuki and other performances, so they probably hope to do that the next visit. (See figure 2 and 3).

Conclusion

Sometimes the things that pass unnoticed by Japanese people every day can be tourism resources, and once people visit Japan, they discover tourism resources that impress them and which they hope to experience on future trips. The Japan Tourism Agency’s marketing slogan is Japan, Endless Discovery. In line with that, we should work together to provide an environment in Japan suitable for foreign visitors, and develop new tourism resources that will continue to excite and impress.

Translated from “Tokushu 1 Ibunka-sesshoku toshiteno Inbaundo: Naniga Honichi-gaikokujin ni ‘Kando’ wo ataeruka ― Gaikokujin ryokosha ni nihon no bunka, shakai wo tstaerukoto (Special Feature 1 Inbound Tourism and Experiencing a Different Culture: What Impresses Foreign Tourists When They Come to Japan? ― Explaining Japanese society and culture to foreign tourists),” THE TOSHI MONDAI (Municipal Problems), January 2017, pp. 43–51. (Courtesy of The Tokyo Institute for Municipal Research) [January 2017]

Mt. Daisen, Tottori Prefecture

Motani Kosuke, Chief Senior Economist, The Japan Research Institute, Ltd. vs Hirai Shinji, Governor, Tottori Prefecture

Tottori, a Unique Countryside

Motani Kosuke: I read your book, Chiisakutemo Kateru (You Can Win Even if You Are Small). I think this book is like the novel, Shitamachi Roketto (Rockets of an Old Commercial District) by Mr. Ikeido Jun. It’s the story of a young man who grew up in Tokyo and migrated to Tottori. In the story, the protagonist leaves a large company, finds a job at a second-tier company and achieves success as a hired business manager with his strenuous efforts.

Hirai Shinji: Thank you, Mr. Motani. I’ve asked you for help in many ways, including a visit to a symposium held in our prefecture and guidance with our prefectural employees, because I really wanted to try what you called the capitalism of the satoyama woodlands in Tottori. It is just my interpretation, but what you intended to say was that the satoyama woodlands have things like water, food and energy that are absent in urban areas, and there are treasures and a new economy that is different from the monetary economy in the woodlands. We have tried to learn how we can achieve this kind of capitalism on our own terms.

Motani: Tottori Prefecture has a high capacity for gathering information. From way back, your prefecture has done many things before the rest of the country. In the field of ecotourism, Mt. Daisen in Tottori is one of the most advanced areas in Japan. Chizucho is also a Japanese pioneer in its attempts to bring people to the satoyama woodlands. Additionally, Tottori Prefecture has a public university devoted to environmental studies. I highly regard the fact that your prefecture established this university where students interested in environmental issues gather from all over Japan in the midst of the satoyama woodland.

View from the top of Mt. Daisen. The mountain is located in the Daisen-Oki National Park

Hirai: I think what Mr. Motani predicted is beginning to come to fruition. Our ways of thinking are changing considerably from old notions such as a monetary economy and the city-centered idea of bowing to the inevitable. I think Tottori Prefecture may be able to create a new wave in Japan by developing in this manner.

Motani: I found more convincing points outside of your book because I have visited Tottori many times myself. But I feel that Tottori is not well-known to most people in Japan. They just think of your prefecture as the average countryside.

Hirai: Tottori is not an average place. It’s a unique countryside.

Motani: That’s true. [Motani laughs.]

Hirai: I think the countryside in Japan has been too modest up to this point. I would like to reverse the traditional ideas of giving up because the scale is too small and losing hope because the area is not urban. In fact, resources are everywhere. They are in our mountains and on our beaches. There was a person who recently moved to Tottori Prefecture and found a forestry job because he wanted to go surfing regularly. In the summer, this person engages in forestry work and goes surfing in Tottori. In the winter, he takes advantage of the winter break and travels to the southern hemisphere for surfing. Such an idea is completely different from earning money by selling stocks and managing assets in a city.

Motani: People in Japan often say that the United States is money-centric, but it’s not that way for many people and regions there. Let me share this episode from my days at the University of California at San Diego. I asked my classmate, “Where is our professor?” The classmate replied, “He’s surfing over there. Hold on.” Many Americans are really enjoying the nature in their region. I think the southern tip of the state of New York is the only part of the United States that has an environment like Tokyo.

Hirai: I think the social structure in Japan has become distorted. Elderly people who continued to work until retirement age have a large savings. They leave that savings to their children as a legacy without spending it. People in Japan say structural social security reforms are necessary, but I truly believe we can give happiness a more balanced shape by thinking more about how to spend money and reconsidering the trade-off relationship between working, saving money and spending time on personal happiness. I think people in San Diego are doing that already. But people find it difficult to do the same thing in Tokyo. That’s why they are beginning to discover new advantages in the countryside.

Motani: Maintaining a balance is essential. But too many people go too far in their arguments. For example, they suddenly say, “There are no jobs in the countryside.” But I think there are jobs. In, my opinion, it’s manpower that is in short supply.

Hirai: Employment is spreading. The effective ratio of job vacancies to job applicants in Tottori Prefecture has surpassed 1.4 times.

Motani: That’s a serious manpower shortage.

Hirai: The ratio used to be 0.7 times or so. It has doubled. The ratio of job openings for applicants for permanent staff member positions also reached the highest level ever, above 0.8 times. Tokyo may be the place to be if you want to become a billionaire. But I think the countryside is the choice for those who seek a certain amount of money and a lot of happiness. As a matter of fact, trends are shifting. For example, about 20 percent of respondents living in urban areas expressed their desire to move when asked if they wished to move to a farming, mountain or fishing village in a survey that was conducted by the Cabinet Office 10 years ago. More than 30 percent of urban respondents choose the same answer in response to the same survey question today. The number of urbanites interested in moving to the countryside has been growing steadily. Around the time when I became the prefectural governor, people said that only senior citizens would come to Tottori, even if we campaigned for people to move to Tottori.

Motani: That part of your book was a true eye-opener for me. I didn’t know that the staff members in your prefectural government in those days were convinced that only elderly people would come from urban areas to Tottori.

Hirai: That’s right. There was a belief that said we should not encourage moving because the arrival of elderly people would create a financial burden. However, it turned out that moving centered on people in their 20s and 30s. I can tell you this based on the behavior of my own children, but these people belong to a generation of workers who will not merely toil away. They want to live more independently, instead of competing with others. That’s their way of thinking. Furthermore, they are looking for a better environment for raising their children. The countryside offers a better environment for raising children.

More Good Points of Japan Remain in the Countryside

Motani: Mr. Hirai, you were born in Kanda, Tokyo, older than me, and on the elite track. I find it significant for someone like you to say that. One of my own children entered a university in the countryside. I’m thinking that it would be nice if my other children go to the countryside, too. I’m thinking this way because there is no happiness or victory at the end of the fierce competition to get into a good school and a good company. Almost everyone at good companies ends up with a temporary transfer to another company midway through their career. Presidents and others who remain at their companies until the very end do not look happy at all. I feel that the idea of going to a city and surviving in a large Japanese organization is admirable may be a collective illusion. Becoming a winner in that way has no international currency. That winner will become a nobody without any work skills after retirement, too.

Hirai: I feel that things used be OK that way. But now I think I can understand very well why people come to Japan for sightseeing from countries like China and Singapore, where society is becoming more and more competitive. Japan offers those visitors something that their own countries are beginning to lose. I feel that the importance attached to the countryside is that missing something.

Motani: The economic development of Japan did not go as far as to destroy its countryside completely. Tottori Prefecture made an abandoned sector profitable ahead of other prefectures. Tottori is precisely the top runner in a group that is running one lap behind. Tottori is not the average countryside. The countryside comes in many varieties, but I think few prefectures in Japan chose to launch primary industry brands and develop them into a six-order industry (in which members of primary industries take charge of processing and sales) at a stage as early as Tottori.

Going back to the environment for raising children, as I mentioned earlier, I think it was also terrific for Tottori Prefecture to establish a structure for supporting nurseries without any classroom building or fixed program, known as Mori-no Yochien (Forest Kindergartens). The numbers of Mori-no Yochien are increasing all over Japan, but an overwhelming majority of local governments are instructing the administrators of these facilities to choose their registration status from either yochien (kindergartens) or hoikuen (day nurseries). By extending such instructions, they are asking Mori-no Yochien operators to build a classroom building. But Tottori Prefecture is making sure that its support goes to Mori-no Yochien, too, accepting their status as facilities that are neither yochien nor hoikuen. In this case, the local government is correcting the bureaucratic sectionalism of the central government.

As a matter of fact, a Mori-no Yochien local mother had independently created one in in another prefecture and received the compulsory instruction from the town authorities to choose the facility status of yochien. This instruction left the mother with no choice but to build a classroom building. I’m thinking about making a donation to her myself, because the mother has no money for the facility construction. I saw how Mori-no Yochien was received without a classroom building in her prefecture and realized how wonderful it would be if those authorities dealt with that case in the same way as Tottori Prefecture.

Hirai: Ways of doing things differ from one prefecture to another. In Tottori Prefecture, we are performing effectiveness measurements on children at Mori-no Yochien through a joint research project with Tottori University. We can tell from this project that Mori-no Yochien are properly developing their spirit of cooperation, physical strength and intelligence. We are planning to conduct a follow-up study on elementary school pupils who attended Mori-no Yochien in the future.

Branding Matsuba Crabs

 Motani: I’d like to talk about the fishing industry, too. I thought matsuba crabs must be expensive like echizen crabs, because they are famous. But I realized matsuba crabs are not that costly.

Hirai: They are both zuwai gani (snow crabs). The same crabs are called matsuba crabs in the western region down to the San-in area. They are called taiza crabs in Kyoto Prefecture and echizen crabs in Fukui Prefecture, respectively. Matsuba crabs in Tottori are sold for prices at about half the cost of echizen crabs. Crabs in Fukui taste delicious for sure, but they are the same crabs and there is such a big gap in prices.

Motani: The gap comes from how the crabs are sold, doesn’t it?

Hirai: If anything, people in the San-in area were poor salespeople. Thinking that way, I changed the name we use for marketing, from Tottori Prefecture to Kanitori (Crab-Catching) Prefecture. We also decided to call the highest rank of matsuba crabs landed in Tottori Prefecture itsukiboshi (five shining stars).

Motani: When I travel around Japan, people all over tell me that the foods from their area are delicious, but inexpensive because they are unknown in urban areas. The people say this boisterously and proudly, but I think such statements reflect their self-derision and lack of motivation, instead of pride. I think people in local areas should strengthen their brands and increase their market shares in the same way as Tottori Prefecture.

Hirai: We live in an age when we sell our products to customers not only in Japan but also all over the world. We must develop our brands skillfully to accomplish this.

Motani: What you said reminds me of agriculture. In Japan, Tottori Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture have focused on the cultivation of fruit from the early stages.

Hirai: Compared with the Hokuriku and Tohoku regions, where rice remains the overwhelming crop, Tottori has many types of garden produce and livestock products because the prefecture has pursued agricultural reforms. We have worked on developing many local specialties such as watermelons and Japanese pears.

Motani: Looking at the population composition by industry in the census, agriculture has the most elderly workers out of any industry in Japan. More than half of the people engaged in farming are 60 years old or older in many parts of the country. I think Tottori is a prefecture where the generational change is advancing relatively quickly with the employment of young people.

Hirai: Things began to move in a favorable direction four or five years ago. However, unsurprisingly, it’s difficult to maintain an agricultural population.

Motani: Currently more than half of the people engaged in farming are 60 years old or older. There is no way to prevent the farming population from shrinking with their retirement. The question is whether the population pyramid for agriculture has a bulge in the lower age bracket or not. If the pyramid has such a bulge, the pattern of change for the agricultural population will shift from a decrease to an increase one of these days.

Hirai: The number of young people doesn’t need to be that large. Agriculture changes when a certain number of people arrive and form a core.

Motani: You’re saying that newcomers and second- and third-generation farmers will create innovations and increase additional values. Am I right?

Hirai: There is a dairy cooperative called Daisen Nyugyo in Tottori. This cooperative is producing high-quality milk. Ice cream made by Daisen Nyugyo has been selling explosively at an upmarket department store in South Korea, known as Shinsegae.

Motani: Daisen Nyugyou is an advanced example of the globalization of a six-order industry, isn’t it? I think tourism is another field where Tottori Prefecture is advanced, from the viewpoint of globalization. Mt. Daisen is a famous peak, but it’s not well known to people in Tokyo. It’s been quite a long time since a large number of tourists began visiting this mountain from South Korea on mountain-climbing tours.

Hirai: I think the opening of a ferry route played a big part in that development.

Motani: Montbell, an operator of brand name outdoor equipment stores, opened its Daisen branch in a location where there is no other store. As it turned out, the branch achieved good sales.

Hirai: I understand that was the first store Montbell opened in the mountains. I heard that people within the company had a big discussion over whether or not a store established in such a location could achieve decent sales. But a sufficient number of people are shopping at this store daily, including people from abroad. With the Daisen branch as a model, Montbell began setting up stores on other mountains.

Motani: Montbell began establishing stores in resort areas, too. The company’s president told me that the success of the Daisen store surprised him, too.

Tottori Sand Dunes

Hirai: Resources in large cities and those in the countryside are different. Making the most of them, which direction to take must be different in large cities and the countryside, too. The Pokémon GO game shows that.

Motani: I thought the declaration of the Tottori sand dunes as a Pokémon GO Free Zone was a good idea. It made people playing the Pokémon GO game want to visit the Tottori sand dunes.

Hirai: Sales at a souvenir shop right outside the Tottori sand dunes rose about 37% just a month or so after we issued the declaration. To tell you the truth, the tourism industry is declining rapidly in the countryside as a result of decreasing sightseeing bus services. The sales growth of more than 30% is a miracle under such circumstances. People at that souvenir shop are rejoicing over the special Pokémon boom.

Motani: It’s a great achievement. I also admire your decision to adopt sales expansion as an indicator. Regular politicians and administrators talk about the number of increased customers. But the number of customers means nothing if they don’t spend a single yen. What’s more, you incorporated warnings for heatstroke and the protection of the natural environment into the declaration, and transmitted the image that Tottori is a place for enjoying Pokémon GO, in other words, it’s not a lawless zone, very well.

Hirai: The positive current of concerted public-private initiatives has started in a place a little out of the way. The Montbell store discussed just a while ago and a recently launched project for renewing a town at the starting point for a pilgrimage to Mt. Daisen demonstrate this.

The countryside taking the leadership

Motani: Your work, Chiisakutemo Kateru, is a book that not only politicians and administrators in the countryside but also their counterparts in the central government should read. A prefecture with the size of an ordinance-designated city called Tottori is doing what the national government has been unable to do ahead of others, with its top leader clearly articulating his intentions. I think office workers in your prefecture are having a hard time, but they are working out the details of those issues and persuading assembly members and all other stakeholders to do things that should be done across Japan ahead of others.

Hirai: I feel that might be the way forward for Japan. I think no reform will occur in Japan unless those of us in the countryside take the leadership and try to change the way things are in this country.

Motani: The establishment of a prefectural ordinance recognizing sign language as a form of language is an example in that respect. People who have involved themselves in politics with the intention to make changes must realize the harmful effects that the unofficial status of sign language has caused for a long time. Probably those who are lionized in the mass media do not realize its harmful effects. Or they know of them, but take no action because such a reform will be unpopular. In my opinion, people like that are not reformers.

Hirai: Reforms must start locally after all.

Motani: What people in our society call reforms have an aspect that resembles the story of Mito Komon, in which good prevails over evil, to describe it nicely, or authorities are attacked for amusement to put it in a bad way. I think genuine reforms mean we create something by ourselves as concerned parties or we enable things that should be done, instead of criticizing something. I think the revision of our prefectural ordinance for controlling dangerous drugs was precisely such a reform.

Hirai: Small entities can do those things better than large ones. They include small and medium enterprises, and small local governments. Talks about generalizations start when an experiment at those entities is successful.

Motani: To tell you the truth, I see your face quite often in places outside of Tottori. I always see you eating something in a photo report on a meeting about people involved in regional development where someone from Tottori gives an oral presentation on a self-organized event that drew dozens of people. The presenter happily describes the photo, saying that is our governor. I’ve experienced that at several meetings.

Hirai: [Hirai laughs without commenting.]

Motani: I think that’s important, though. You are encouraging people who are trying hard by showing up at those modest events, however brief your attendance might be. You just talked about small entities. Tottori is certainly a small prefecture with a population of 600,000. Is it the combination of the small number of residents and the authorities working in the prefecture that is enabling Tottori to do those things?

Hirai: I think so. Communication is impossible when the population is at the level of 10 million or five million. I can go and meet people trying hard in a community with 500,000 or 600,000 people. Those people can speak to me, too. I believe there is a right size for democracy. Larger is not better.

Motani: It may be better to divide the whole nation into smaller prefectures with a population of 500,000 or 600,000 each.

Hirai: As a matter of fact, democracy is easier to practice when the unit is smaller. An area with the size of Setagaya Ward (with a population of about 890,000) is probably the limit in that respect. I believe regional revitalization and the dynamic engagement of all citizens in the true sense of the word will start at the grassroots level. People in large cities are all aware of the limits they have reached. But they have not been able to take the first step. I think that’s the state of Japan today. A breakthrough has just begun.

Translated from “Taidan: Nihonichi Jinko no sukunai Tottoriken no Chosen ― Demokurashii niwa Tekiseikibo ga aru (Dialogue: Challenge by Tottori, the Least Populous Prefecture in Japan ― There is a Right Size for Democracy),” Chuokoron, November 2016, pp. 124-131. (Courtesy of Chuo Koron Shinsha) [November 2016]

Kinosaki hot-spring district, Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture

The effective opening-to-application ratio in March 2017 was 1.45, a high value for the first time in 26 years and 4 months since November 1990. If the present situation continues, Japan may fall into bankruptcy due to the shortage of workers. The time has come when we should seriously consider the role of foreigners as people who support Japanese economic society and local communities.

Isoyama Tomoyuki, Business Journalist

The Kinosaki Hot Spring is located close to the spot where the Maruyama River flows into the Sea of Japan in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture. The hot spring resort, which is known for the novel Kinosaki ni te by Shiga Naoya, features lines of wooden hot spring inns along the Otani River, which has willow trees lining its banks. The area exudes a unique atmosphere.

In the last few years there has been an increase in the number of foreign tourists who want to enjoy this Japanese atmosphere, as well as Japanese tourists. 40,000 foreign tourists now come to the area every year, comprising more than 5% of all tourists.

The biggest problem faced by inns in Kinosaki Hot Spring is the shortage of workers. Guest room attendants and cooking supporters are in short supply. According to a questionnaire conducted by the Inn Business Union, 77% of 35 inns answered that they were short of guest room attendants. This revealed that 43% of inns halt sales due to the shortage of workers, even if they have vacant rooms.

President Nishimura Soichiro of Nishimuraya, a long-established inn, says with a sense of crisis, “We recruit university graduates from tourism departments around the country. But it is not enough. A particularly serious problem is the fact that guestroom attendants are rapidly growing older. If this situation continues, we will soon be unable to manage.”

Inn circles in Kinosaki have expectations for the foreign workforce. However, inn guestroom attendants are not included in the conventional framework, such as skill training. Last year, they began accepting trainees from Vietnam as a pilot test in the area of daily meals. In addition, Yunomachi-Kinosaki, a company in Kinosaki Hot Spring, is playing a central role by beginning to accept Taiwanese and Indonesian students for internships. Four students will come in April this year, and another ten will come in June. They will stay for six months to a year and work at inns in the form of training based on the certification of school credits. They are taking preventive measures in the form of training.

The Japanese government is keen to increase foreign tourist numbers. More than 24 million foreign tourists came to Japan in 2016, and the government aims to reach 40 million foreign tourists by 2020. This is an expansion of inbound tourists, and it is essential to develop and expand inns and hotels for this purpose. However, the inn industry is afflicted by the shortage of workers. Nishimura, who was appointed as the Director of the Nationwide Inn and Hotel Life Hygiene Union Association in April this year, visits Diet members and lobbies them to lift the ban on foreign workers for the inn industry.

The government is attempting to use special national strategic areas to achieve a breakthrough. A revised bill that has already been approved at a Cabinet meeting aims to establish a new framework for accepting foreigners who will be Cool Japan human resources as employees. This may enable foreign workers who pick up Japanese traditions by working at inns and convey them to foreign countries and who convey Japanese culture to foreign tourists from foreign countries through inns to acquire working visas in special national strategic areas. Because Kinosaki is located in Hyogo prefecture, which has already been designated as a special national strategic area, it will utilize the special national strategic area to accept foreigners in cooperation with the prefectural government and the Toyooka City government.

In the situation where the shortage of workers is as serious as it was during the period of the bubble economy, it is imminently necessary to accept foreigners as workers. In a statement in the Diet, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo repeated that the government would not adopt the so-called immigration policy, and this stance constitutes the core of the current government policy.

There are two reasons why the government has maintained the policy of not accepting unskilled workers. One reason is that they will deprive the Japanese of employment. The other reason is that if Japan accepts foreigners as unskilled workers, it may degrade the quality of the foreigners who will come to Japan.

In fact, however, in terms of the former, Japan is short of workers purely as a result of employing Japanese. As a result, foreigners will not deprive the Japanese of employment. The latter is a matter of how to build a system for accepting foreigners. Current illegal stays and the situation where foreigners work for different purposes degrade quality.

Many convenient methods were used to circumvent the government policy of not accepting unskilled workers. A major example of this is skill trainers. Under the slogan of transferring Japanese techniques to foreign countries, foreigners were used as unskilled workers at factories and farms that were no longer able to be managed by the Japanese. It is the official slogan of foreign students that has been used frequently in recent years.

But this arbitrary use of unofficial and official slogans may be the cause of problems in the future. Sakaiya Taichi, Cabinet Secretariat advisor and ex-Economic Planning Agency Director-General, repeatedly appealed for the necessity to lift a ban on immigration at government meetings. He says that the arbitrary use of unofficial and official slogans is dangerous. Even if foreigners come to Japan with a good image of the country, they will see the so-called 3D—demanding, dangerous and dirty work—in the workplace and will get to know the reality of foreigners being forced to do such work. Sakaiya says, “Young foreigners who return to their home countries after experiencing the negative aspects of Japan will never have a positive impression of Japan, and will dislike Japan.”

Kunimatsu Takaji, ex-National Police Agency Director and Swiss ambassador, says, “The Japanese government should adopt a clear policy of accepting settled foreigners who will live in Japan for many years.” Through the Outlook Foundation, of which Kunimatsu is Chairman, he drew up policy recommendations on accepting settled foreigners, and lobbies the government to adopt this policy. By the second policy recommendations that he formulated at the end of 2016, he put forward the abovementioned five points.

Kunimatsu says, “Even if Japan accepts foreigners as workers, they will start living in Japan as soon as they enter the country. The government should construct a proper system as soon as possible so that foreigners who come to Japan can be assimilated into Japan as residents and play a role in supporting Japanese society.”

That is, Kunimatsu argues that it is a serious problem that Japan allows foreigners to enter the country by using convenient methods merely to make up for the shortage of workers and paying attention to them solely as workers.

A team led by Kunimatsu visited government organizations in charge with its written recommendations. On December 20 last year, they visited Shiozaki Yasuhisa, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. Minister Shiozaki asked Kunimatsu why he, who used to be a national police agency official, was keen to accept foreigners. Considering the frequently mentioned argument that accepting more foreigners will cause public disorder, Minister Shiozaki thought that police officials would be opposed to accepting immigrants.

Kunimatsu says that he puts forward accepting foreigners from a personal perspective. If the current mass influx of foreigners gradually continues, however, it will affect the police officers who work onsite. If Japan allows foreigners to stay in the country illegally and work on the basis of visas for different purposes, it will cause an infestation of troublesome foreigners, which will result in public disorder.

Germany introduced a mass Turkish workforce from the 1960s to the 1970s. These workers, who were called “Gastarbeiter” (guest workers), became concentrated in German urban areas, formed Turkish communities and caused serious social unrest in the country. Their resulting poverty resulted in crimes, which led to divisions within German society.

Reflecting on this history, the German government declared in the 2000s that the country was a country of immigration. The German government requires foreigners who wish to immigrate to the country to take a German course of at least 400 hours’ duration in an effort to establish a system for accepting them as residents.

Finally, a similar move has commenced in Japan as well: the establishment of the Parliamentary League for Promoting Japanese Education, which consists of bipartisan Diet members. Nakagawa Masaharu, the former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, who is a major member of the parliamentary league and acting Chairman of the league, called for a system to be built to provide foreigners living in Japan with the opportunity to receive Japanese education, and established the parliamentary league. It will soon publicize the draft of the Basic Law on the Promotion of Japanese Education (provisional name).

In fact, a major problem is now occurring in areas that progressively accepted foreigners, including Hamamatsu. Children born of Brazilian parents are falling into a situation known as “double limited,” where they are unable to fully use either Portuguese, their native language, or Japanese, the language of the country where they live. These children cannot gain access to higher education or get good jobs, and fall into poverty. If this situation remains unchanged, the same mistake may be made as was made in Germany half a century ago.

Miyagawa Masakazu of Masahachi Limited, who engages in large-scale agriculture in Ogata Village, Akita, says, “We want human resources who will work together with us for many years, not a workforce solely for busy times. We hope that foreigners will become directors of our company.”

If you want to continue your business and make it grow among rapidly accelerating depopulation, it is essential to secure human resources. It is clear that you cannot overcome the situation by utilizing women and old people. If the current situation continues, the whole of Japan could fall into bankruptcy due to the shortage of workers. The time has come when we should seriously consider the role of foreigners as people who support the Japanese economy and local communities.

Translated from “Nihon no hitodebusoku-tosan wo fusege: Gaikokujin tono kyosei ni muketa giron wo ― Baburu-ki nami no hitodebusoku (Prevent Japan from bankruptcy due to the shortage of workers: Hold discussions on coexistence with foreigners),” Wedge, June 2017, pp. 29-31. (Courtesy of WEDGE Inc.) [June 2017]

Introduction

Asakawa Chieko, IBM Fellow

I joined IBM Research-Tokyo in 1985 as the only visually impaired researcher at a time when there were very few female researchers at the lab. Since then, I have brought a diversity perspective to my work in accessibility research, one of the fields in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Aiming to optimize Braille book creation and sharing, I participated in the research and development of digital Braille editing system, Braille dictionary system, and Braille information sharing network system after joining the lab. I could move the research forward because of my visual impairment which allowed me to understand the value of digitizing Braille. Starting in the mid-1990s, I worked on a talking web browser for the Internet. This idea also emerged from the needs of the visually impaired, and since then it has spread in ways I never expected. Today, I am working on new technologies using smartphones, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and other rapidly advancing technologies to better support people. In this article, I would like to discuss the role of diversity as I have experienced it through these projects.

(1) Information Accessibility

I lost my sight when I was in junior high school due to a swimming pool accident. Since I was young, I have experienced social participation issues for the visually impaired It is widely said that there are two major barriers for the young people with visual impairments to receive education and participate in the society. First, the information barrier, and second, the mobility barrier. When I lost my sight, there were no personal computers, no Internet, and no smartphones. The only way to read was Braille books created by punching dots in the paper. There were few Braille books and they rarely included any of the textbooks required for higher education. Since Braille translation is time consuming, several months would pass between requesting and obtaining a textbook required for college classes. These experiences inspired me to start the Braille digitization project after joining IBM. With digitalization, it became possible to edit text and delete characters like we do on a word processor, and the Braille translation work could be shared among people over a network. In addition, Braille book data could be downloaded and printed on a Braille printer anywhere in Japan. It became possible to search a text, and portable electronic Braille dictionaries were produced. ^[i] These technologies changed education for the visually impaired in important ways.

The amount of available information expanded with the digitalization of Braille, but information sources were still limited to Braille and talking books. Then, the Web came on the scene in the mid-1990s. Since the Web was still a new technology at the time, it was only used by engineers and a few other users. When I first accessed the Web with the help of other researchers at the IBM Research lab in Tokyo, I was convinced that the vast amount of text and voice information would become a new information resource for the visually impaired. I started the research and development of a voice browser for the Web combined with a voice synthesis engine.^[ii] Later, the effort was turned into a product called Home Page Reader which became the popular de facto standard. Gradually, as the need to access the Web using voice became widely recognized, voice access consideration was incorporated into the international standard for the Web as a mandatory item, and compatibility with a diverse range of needs, such as access methods, input devices, screen size, became a major focus of Web development. In addition, the websites of the federal agencies in the United States must be accessible in a variety of ways in line with the 1998 amendments to Section 508 of the United States’ Rehabilitation Act.

As a result, the development of the information technology has vastly improved information accessibility for the visually impaired. The information sources for the visually impaired have grown exponentially from Braille on paper to digital Braille, and then the Internet. This has also had a great impact on technology standards and government legislation.

(2) Voice Synthesis Evolution and Diversity

It is not well known that the visually impaired played a major role in the development of the voice synthesis technologies. The history of voice synthesis technologies dates back to research and development that began in the 1960s, and the first voices had a robot-like sound. When personal computers became popular in the 1980s, general users had more opportunities to hear the synthesized voices, but the voice quality was still a long way from the human voice. Yet, voice synthesis technology was indispensable to the visually impaired when using personal computers on a daily basis to read text information and to create text using word processing software. With the exception of some special applications, the visually impaired were almost the only users of voice synthesis technologies in the 1980s and 1990s. When I developed the Home Page Reader in 1997, many able-bodied people commented that they were having difficulty understanding what the voice said, but the visually impaired had no problem. The voice synthesis was revolutionary in a sense that it expanded the sources of information, and the quality of the sound was not an issue at all. The visually impaired had continually used voice synthesis technologies from the days when the sound quality lacked clarity, and they also played a role in the development of voice synthesis technologies by providing feedback to developers. Now, in 2017, voice synthesis technologies exist all around us. They are used everywhere including car navigation systems, smartphones, at train stations and airports. It would have been difficult to develop the technologies without the efforts of the visually impaired who persevered and continued using them from the 1980s to the 2000s. 

The examples of technologies that were developed and became widespread after emerging from the needs of people with disabilities are too numerous to mention. If we trace history, we will find that the telephone was originally invented in the process of developing a communication tool for the hearing impaired. It is said that keyboards were allegedly developed as a means for people with upper limb impairments to write. Character recognition was first used in text reading devices for the visually impaired. Voice recognition technologies were developed as a method for the hearing impaired to converse by voice. Around 2010, a major goal of self-driving cars was to develop cars that could be operated by the visually impaired. The perspectives of diversity and the extreme needs imposed by not being able to see or hear have triggered the creation and development of new technologies.

(3) AI for the Visually Impaired

When I was a child, I watched a television program that featured a bird-shaped robot that assisted a boy going to fight against evil. The robot sat on the boy’s shoulder and whispered into his ear, telling him about everything from an approaching opponent to the weather. Since I lost my sight, I recalled that TV program and wished for a bird robot. Of course, this robot was simply a science fiction drawn in the 1960s. However, as the age of AI and IoT approaches, I think that it is within the range of what technology can do. We are referring to AI technologies that will be there for you like that bird robot as cognitive assistant technologies. Cognitive assistant technologies help augment human’s missing or weakened cognitive functions. Cognitive assistant is a new concept in accessibility technologies using AI, and research and development efforts are starting to flower worldwide.

With the help of cognitive assistant technologies, the visually impaired will be able to recognize obstacles at street crossings, traffic lights and on the sidewalks. Additionally, they will be able to recognize the information, such as stairways, escalators and elevators, they need to independently walk. Cognitive assistant technologies should also be able to recognize the ages and expressions of conference participants and to communicate the information to the visually impaired as necessary. By memorizing everything that the elderly sees, they could also serve as tools to complement memory. Cognitive assistant technologies will always be at person’s side ready to provide assistance as needed.

Four groups of technologies are indispensable to make cognitive assistant technologies a reality. We have localization technologies. To assist the user in the day-to-day environment, it is necessary to measure indoor and outdoor location with a high degree of accuracy. Since GPS technology today do not necessary offer the level of precision needed and cannot be used indoors, there are ongoing efforts to develop technologies to measure location with a high degree of accuracy using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons, and image processing technologies. The system called NavCog, developed in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, uses BLE beacons to measure position with an accuracy of one to two meters. The NavCog system has been installed in the three buildings of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University to guide users to their destinations with the help of a high precision navigation that identifies classrooms and labs inside the building.

Next is the recognition technologies. Image processing technology being the most important one when realizing cognitive assistant technologies. If visually impaired persons are able to recognize people, objects and the environment such as persons and their expressions, products, structures inside buildings (stairs, escalators, elevators, doors, etc.), obstacles, they will be able to obtain the information they need for their social life in a timely fashion. This would be a change similar to when we realized with the information accessibility.

Knowledge is necessary to make use of the outcomes of recognition. Recognition of products, calorie information, and social media reputation is a given, but it may also be possible to make cognitive assistant technologies more relevant by using knowledge about the individual such as behavior history or health information. Lastly, the interaction technology. Voice interaction is a given, but there is also potential for cognitive assistant technologies that can be used seamlessly in daily life with the help of glasses-style interfaces for always-on recognition, or gesture interfaces. It is also important to broaden the field of application beyond devices such as smartphones and wearable technologies to robot technologies.

(4) Open Source and Open Data

The technologies needed for cognitive assistant are varied and have the added dimension of a showcase for integrating AI technologies. It is something that a single organization would find difficult to achieve and that can only be accomplished by combining the technologies of universities and the private sector. To implement such integration, open source is likely to have an important role in the future. Today, many companies and universities use TensorFlow, Google’s machine learning library. Inception, the object recognition engine based on Deep Learning running on TensorFlow, is an example of the rise in the use of open source. Aiming to popularize measurement technologies, we open sourced NavCog while streamlining it in a reusable form.^[iii] We hope you will make use of it.

Open data is another important issue. Indoor mapping information is necessary to achieve indoor navigation. However, indoor mapping information is normally not available to the public as it is the property of the building owner, completely different from how outdoor mapping is managed by the country. Huge amount of image data of product packaging is required for learning purposes to recognize and read package of a candy bar or other product in a store. However, the manufacturer owns the copyright to such image data and it is not possible to use it freely. As we move into the AI era, we will need new rules for open data. To facilitate reading with NavCog, we are considering setting up an open server to register information in our immediate vicinity such as store information, sale information, signboards, and information about places where there are crowded.

To make cognitive assistant technologies a reality we must face the issue of open data. Moreover, it is no exaggeration to say that open data is an issue that society as a whole should engage with as we move toward using AI technologies. As history has shown, the needs of people with disabilities will trigger and facilitate open data, and eventually research and development of artificial intelligence. This will add to the list of precedents where diversity has opened up a new future.

Conclusion

We often hear about the importance of diversity in innovation. However, it is difficult to cite examples. This article introduces historical examples based on my own experience. In the process of information accessibility advancement, a variety of technologies were created and popularized. To make cognitive assistant a reality, it will be necessary to develop a wide variety of technologies. Every day, I sense the beginnings of great innovation. I hope that readers of this article will find it useful in help familiarizing them with innovation through diversity.

Translated from ”Tokushu I: Jenda to kagaku no atarashii torikumi ― Tayosei ga hiraku inobeishon (Special feature: New efforts for gender and science ―Diversity Opens the Path to Innovation),” Gakujutsu no Doko (TRENDS IN THE SCIENCES), November 2017, pp.24-28. (Courtesy of Japan Science Support Foundation) [November 2017]