46% in Japan have issues interacting with foreign co-workers: survey

What was the reason for this investigation? Were any solutions proposed? Although this kind of research seems innocuous, it is sowing the seeds of fear among both employers and employees. It's obvious that there will be language issues at times, but are they really so damaging? Scaremongering.

It has been my experience sometimes that even Japanese people have difficulty communicating with each other.

As a foreigner working in Japan, my biggest issue was working for an American company that wouldn't allow us to study Japanese when we had spare time (amongst other bigger issues). Now I work for a Japanese company and I don't have those problems anymore.

Also, I had no issues whatsoever with the vast majority of the Japanese people I've worked with. I believe it's not a matter of nationality, but attitude and resilience (and willingness to adapt and flow with the changes of nowadays' society).

my biggest issue was working for an American company that wouldn't allow us to study Japanese when we had spare time

You expected them to let you study during work time?

Oh look another foreigner problem article. This kind of thing will eventually build up angst over the coming years and decades. This article could easily be about people having difficulty interacting with colleagues, but nope! Gotta squeeze in foreigners a problem when the real problem is a lack of "language support" for immigrants. Beyond, volunteers! Change your headlines please!

I think Japan schools need to start teaching English, and buy that I mean fluent English alongside Japanese.

English is the dominant international language. I feel if declining Japanese population is going to rely on foreign nationals to ease the situation most foreigners that come to will probably speak English as a primary or secondary language.

Japanese is notoriously difficult t learn, I have lived here 12 years and my Japanese is horrible. I think most Japanese feel the same way about their English speaking skills. It’s a difficult problem to solve.

I simply cannot believe this!

Well of course it will be an issue, communication would be ranked as the biggest problem even between native co workers.

"54% in Japan have no issues interacting with foreign co-workers: survey"

Fixed.

@Design MonkeyToday

'I think Japan schools need to start teaching English'

If people are going to work in a country they should have the courtesy to learn the language.

'and buy that I mean fluent English'

Maybe you could do with a bit of studying too.

 I have lived here 12 years and my Japanese is horrible. 

At least you're honest. Far too many people severely overestimate their Japanese ability.

Well, most foreigners speak poor Japanese, so this is not surprising.

What was the reason for this investigation? Were any solutions proposed?

Accepted proposed solutions in Japan, taihendesune.

They left out one important part in this article; the "expectations" placed on most workers in Japan such as nomikais, zangyou (working overtime), not leaving the office until you've asked every single employee on your floor if they need any help before you clock out, taking your work home with you if you don't finish it in the office, various other office meetings you're expected to go to (but not mandatory, however, if you don't go, people will look at you as uncooperative and a non-team player so they will talk about you behind your back). Most foreigners aren't used to this kind of treatment or expectations placed on them when they come here to work so that is also a huge reason for work-place problems. It's not just language, it's culture.

I think it's reasonable to assume, if someone chooses to live and work in Japan they really ought to be able to speak the local lingo. My experience of Japanese companies is that they expect some level of Japanese proficiency before hiring someone, which again is reasonable.

I used to work in Japan for an American tech company, who offered foreign employees Japanese classes, and Japanese co-workers were required to take TOEIC courses and tests. The only thing I thought was unfair was my co-worker's TOEIC performance contributed to towards their annual performance review...

@uaintseeme

Well said, that includes also doing work that not inline with job description, working not only during holiday but during daily lunch break, in some office this considered as expectation.

They'll complain if foreigners "can't understand" this expectation.

The issue not only with foreigners, even Japanese new hired can't stand with their company. While foreigners they still show in their office everyday.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2022/09/13/commentary/japan-commentary/quiet-quitting-generation/

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/3261/

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20231212/p2a/00m/0bu/011000c

my biggest issue was working for an American company that wouldn't allow us to study Japanese when we had spare time

They didn't let you do non-work when you were on their time and dime?

Wow, what evil monsters.

46%  in Japan have issues interacting with foreign co-workers: survey

Not surprising and hardly newsworthy.

Of COURSE there are issues interacting. Different languages, different cultures, different ways of thinking - I‘m surprised it isn't higher than 46%, actually.

46%  in Japan have issues interacting with foreign co-workers: survey

Not surprising and hardly newsworthy.

Of COURSE there are issues interacting. Different languages, different cultures, different ways of thinking - I‘m surprised it isn't higher than 46%, actually.

@hello kitty 321

I completely agree with you if you’re moving to a foreign country, you should learn the native language if possible. Although I think learning Japanese, like I mentioned in is notoriously difficult, it takes years to master.

Also, as I said, Japan is relying on non-Japanese speakers to come and ease the burden of the decline in population. To ease this transition, you need Japanese people to be able to speak in global language, like English.

If you have another global language that you think is suitable suggest it. I also agree with you that I should study the Japanese language more myself to acclimate better to my environment. Also, with the typos in my post, I should be studying English as well!

Probably 98% of foreign workers have issues with our Japanese co-workers.

Wow no kidding? This story runs on the same day JT also runs a story that Japanese people are ranked the lowest in the world for helping strangers.

I guess what the survey wants to say is that Companies should Just fire all the foreigners, then the local workers will be happy.

Japanese companies may need to make more efforts in creating better environments to integrate foreign staff, as increasing

It doesn't please me to admit that Japanese companies for the most part are more interested in foreign employees speaking Japanese than Japanese employees learning English.

Then there's the xenophobia ,discrimination and superiority /inferiority complex.

If Japan wants to get up to speed with most of Asia and the international community then Japanese need to understand English and take it seriously.

Romanji is latin not English

Let's face it -

Work salaries are low and expenses are high and getting worse.

Japan is attempting to use foreigners to fill labor shortage , use foreigners to boost economy through tour ,use foreigners to be English teachers

However the problem is Japan honestly isn't that welcoming to foreigners wholeheartedly

It's a shame

Let’s blame the foreigners and do nothing about is survey??

Japan at its myopic best…

if you come to Japan with a JLPT N2 certificate in hands there is virtually 0 issue.

Japan is not a country to "immigrate", people come and go all the time, the only people I see staying are those with actual interest in the country. Hence, most who stay for life are other Asians, and a handful of White japanophiles.

Despite the hurdles presented by language difficulties, 53.4 percent of managers, executives and senior employees surveyed said their firms do not offer programs or provide opportunities for foreign staff to learn Japanese. You

So,how do they expect to communicate?

Telepathy?

The results of the survey/ report isn't about showing an issue with foreigners. it's about showing how effective is the foreign labor program is, and if more can be done to have it more effective. No one is benefiting from miscommunication.

on the bright side, 54.2% don’t have a problem communicating.

the article includes not a single mention of cultural workplace differences, attitudes, xenophobia, etc.

but you can always count on jt posters to whine on and on about everything.

Mixed feelings, because while part of me wants to say it is due to xenophobia, honestly, I can understand what kind of difficulties could arise from the Japanese perspective. It is their country, after all.

All I can really say is, it would be better if, instead of trying to hire some big shot from overseas that doesn't really speak the language, companies here should make a greater effort to hire foreigners already living in Japan that have greater experience with the language. There are plenty of foreigners already living in Japan that would jump at the opportunity to leave their low paying English teaching job if they got the chance. And most likely, their Japanese language proficiency will be higher than someone that hasn't been living inside the country.

It’s fine. This is a problem that is taking care of itself.

Within a few decades the population will have been outgrown by the forign resident population, as they tend to have larger families than Japanese.

Then we’ll just have ‘foreigners’ complaining about other foreign residents.

What a bone head survey anytime you have people who come from different cultures and speak different languages from a host country there's bound to be some miscommunication and understanding.

So 54% have no issues?

That's the media for you. Always reporting only 46% of the truth.

Also, did anyone ever think it's the foreigners who are not making enough effort to assimilate?

Why is it always the Japanese who get blamed?

This is always going to be a problem, particularly for Westerners. Japanese is rarely taught at school in Europe (and it helps to learn languages when you are young). The moment a language doesn't use Roman characters, it becomes a lot harder for Roman character language speakers to learn. Highly skilled people spend a lot of time working on what they are skilled at. They are unlikely to have a lot of spare time to learn a difficult language as well. And not everyone has the ability to learn a difficult second language to any great degree, even if they are gifted in another field. As an investment, you would have to be happy to commit to staying in Japan long term to make it viable. Ex-pat forums may be enough to put most people off doing that. And nationalists in Japan know that the Japanese language is key to keeping as many foreigners out as they can. So don't expect much to change. One of the incidental benefits of once being part of someone else's Empire, is the language legacy.

Foreigners working in Japan..

Learn Japanese properly, adapt to the country, the culture and behave well..

This is Japan, adapt to Japan..

NORMAL.

Japanese person complains to foreigners

This is Japan, adapt to Japan..

Foreign person complains about Japanese people behaving badly and the response is..

> This is Japan, adapt to Japan..

"And nationalists in Japan know that the Japanese language is key to keeping as many foreigners out as they can."

An perceptive and very insightful posting...!

Some 45.8 percent of Japanese who have worked with foreign colleagues experienced communication difficulties, a private firm's survey results showed Sunday, with language issues blamed in the majority of cases.

Language issues were chosen by 57.3 percent of respondents in a multiple choice section as a cause of difficulties in communicating. Misunderstandings or mistakes arising from insufficient Japanese comprehension were cited by 32.3 percent.

When Japanese say "communication difficulties" they often mean cultural difficulties, as in, the gaijin, doesn't understand our culture.

When it comes to "language issues" that can be a two-way street. I don't mean that Japanese need to learn the language of the non-Japanese worker but that often more support could be extened to the non-Japanese person attempting to speak Japanese, based on the context of the situation. Too often a sharp "ehhh?" is the go-to response rather than simply endeavoring to understand what the person might be trying to say. Yes, it's Japan. Yes, it can be tiring trying to understand less than ideal Japanese but so many Japanese do love to go on about how difficult Japanese is. If they really believe that, they show a little grace to those trying to learn and speak it.

I genuinely wonder how many of the reported problems are pure linguistic issues, and how many are cultural points that got written off as "communication issues." I think for many people (from any country) the concept of "communication" also encompasses things like being able to read between the lines of what was said, being able to read the atmosphere of the room, being able to understand unspoken assumptions, etc. The inability to do those things also causes problems in an office setting, and can cause frustration toward people who can't follow along. And learning to do those things in Japan takes time and experience, beyond what you can learn in a language classroom.

As many indicated, I suspect not following/understanding the cultural norms expected in a work-place environment may be the greatest "misunderstanding".

This of course incorporates language skills - but the How, When, Where, Why way of doing things sticks out imo.

2 anecdotes - yeah I know- just stories, but....!

European friend a research medical doctor with ok Japanese refused to play the out-of-hours social games ie nomikai, weekend trips, golf days etc. Initially he did, but then thought he'd rather spend his free time with his wife who was home alone. Resulted in a severe dressing down and semi-ostracism by his superiors. Not a team man.

My close friend of a few years back - Chinese national very competent in Japanese, working for a medium size housing construction company in the office. He was computer savvy light years ahead of his co-workers. Developed a program to manage, coordinate all accounting procedures in the office to simplify and regulate daily procedures. Almost lost his job over that because a) who gave you permission to do that in work time (he could finish his daily work in a few hours); b) you are a junior in our company (altho holding a MEc and being IT smart); c) we work as a team together, not for ourselves (altho he created the software for the benefit of the team).

Tons of other stories and many involve Japanese - Japanese conflicts. My own wife - Japanese - has unfortunately experienced first hand some of the same "problems" as in the article - difficulty in communication. misunderstandings, mistakes etc.

A common thread in all of them is the rigidity of the workplace "rules" - written, spoken or unwritten, unspoken which doesn't allow for alternative ways, manners, thinking as a matter of course.

And I'm talking about positive ways here, not destructive.

European friend a research medical doctor with ok Japanese refused to play the out-of-hours social games ie nomikai, weekend trips, golf days etc. Initially he did, but then thought he'd rather spend his free time with his wife who was home alone. Resulted in a severe dressing down and semi-ostracism by his superiors. Not a team man.

My close friend of a few years back - Chinese national very competent in Japanese, working for a medium size housing construction company in the office. He was computer savvy light years ahead of his co-workers. Developed a program to manage, coordinate all accounting procedures in the office to simplify and regulate daily procedures. Almost lost his job over that because a) who gave you permission to do that in work time (he could finish his daily work in a few hours); b) you are a junior in our company (altho holding a MEc and being IT smart); c) we work as a team together, not for ourselves (altho he created the software for the benefit of the team).

Tons of other stories and many involve Japanese - Japanese conflicts. My own wife - Japanese - has unfortunately experienced first hand some of the same "problems" as in the article - difficulty in communication. misunderstandings, mistakes etc.

Reading those stories made me feel really depressed. The sad truth is, and I myself have experienced this, if the Japanese person "in charge of" dealing with the foreign workers doesn't put pressure on them, then that Japanese worker ends up getting bullied or reprimanded by their superiors and other people at the job.

The Japanese economy needs a reset, like I think a lot of people in this country, particularly high ranking people, just need to spend six-nine months being unemployed.

browny1 June 4 11:17 am JST

My close friend of a few years back - Chinese national very competent in Japanese, working for a medium size housing construction company in the office. He was computer savvy light years ahead of his co-workers. Developed a program to manage, coordinate all accounting procedures in the office to simplify and regulate daily procedures.

"He was computer savvy.."

Makes me wonder what kind of CCP sponsored training he must have had to penetrate Japanese companies to steal construction tech.

"coordinate all accounting procedures" - so he had insider knowledge of the company's money transactions? I wonder what type of backdoors he installed for the ccp cyber army to steal or use the company's computers to steal other companies' info...