Expressing opinions
Hello, my name is Kazuaki Kawashima. But call me Kazu as a nickname if you want. This is my first posting to a weblog.
Sometimes the Japanese are described as shy or as people who usually do not insist on their opinions in public. But I would like to introduce to you a high school student who forcefully expressed his ideas about the environment and the oceans. He won the 1st prize of the Prince Takamado Trophy English Oratorical Contest in 1999.
This boy encountered whales and dolphins in his summer vacation and through this experience he learned something. It is very good to base our thoughts and acts on our experiences, I think. He suggested that we should take steps to protect our land and to stop pollution. Actually, he puts his insight into practice: he picks up cans and litter on his way home, which is a good step to take. He also conducted a little research on dolphins, whales and pollution.
What do you think about his speech? I agree with his ideas. We are facing serious pollution and we should know that there are a lot of animals that are on the edge of extinction or endangered.
This boy expresses his opinion in an English speech, but there are lots of students who are expressing their feelings or ideas in many other ways. I appreciate these people because they enable us to learn and think about issues.
By the way, this is my speech when I was a junior high school student. In fact I participated in the same English Oratorical Contest. So please check it out and let me know what you think.
Ah, speech contests. In its plan to improve English and Japanese abilities the Ministryof Education touts them as a measure to boost the "motivation of learners". But I'm doubtful.
Not that I knew anything about speech contests. I know they're a big thing in the U.S., but I only learned what they are like when I was invited to act as a judge at one of them and found I was the only male on the premises who wasn't wearing a suit and a tie.
See: the most signal failure of the Japanese system is that it produces people who can't communicate in the foreign language they studied. After studying English for seven years they may be able to perform some amazing stunts, and they may have a killer instinct for picking the right answers in language tests, but I've seen far too many people reduced to a heap of embarrassed, inarticulate misery when they meet a foreigner. Developing people's Oratorical Skills (and from what I've seen they are supposed to be Oratorical, with an incredibly big "O") is not going to be very helpful: there's quite enough rote memorisation in this country already, and there's no shortage of one-way communication either.
The typical Japanese high-school classroom as it has been described to me works on a one-way principle: the teacher presents the material, then maybe asks questions about it, and the answers the students give are always either right or wrong, period. Then there are the exams where the pattern is repeated: there are right or wrong answers, period. Nobody is ever encouraged to develop an inquiring, critical attitude towards anything or -- heaven forbid -- have their own questions about things.
Some critics find this morally reprensible as well as threatening to the country's ability to innovate because the procedure lays waste so much intellectual potential.
It also erects a high barrier between the Japanese and people from the outside because communication in real-life settings doesn't stick to the script that requires memorised correct answers: people argue about things, there's give and take, there's back and forth; there is, in short, a two-way process. I can't see Oratory being much help there.
But tell me about the H.I.H. Prince Takamado Trophy. The contest announcement is very specific on who is excluded from participating (forget about it if you've been exposed to foreigners), but it doesn't say anything about the contest itself. The prize-winning speeches you linked to contain a few typos, but otherwise it looks like they've been edited and proofed by native speakers or at least above-average English teachers: there's no way a Japanese fourteen-year-old would have come up with anything like this. So can you have your speech edited by a native speaker before you enter the contest? Can you have it re-written or even translated from your own language? If yes, can you get to shake the Emperor's hand (that's the Emperor and his wife there in the picture, isn't it?) for memorising and reciting a speech you didn't write, in which case you'd be honoured for your pronunciation and, say, body posture?
I like your speech a lot better than the other guy's. True, it's important that somebody pipes up about the environment, given Japan's apalling environmental record and given the fact that nobody says anything about it, least of all the press which seems to be entirely toothless. But there's too much saccharine sentimentality in there, too many high ideals that don't hurt anyone and that everyone will agree with. Your speech, by contrast, probably took lots of courage since bullying in Japanese schools seems to be part of the system: while everyone deplores its existence (tatemae), in reality (honne) schools tend to punish the victims of bullying rather than the perpetrators. Bullies are allowed to pick on those who differ from the norm, for they effectively enforce the conformity which schools uphold as their highest value (or that's Alex Kerr's conspiracy theory, anyway). It's a crying shame that apparently you can't talk to a school board and ask for the bullies to get suspended, but if a young man can step up to the rostrum and tell everyone that he's been victimised -- why, that's something. Congratulations!
Sorry for going on a bit. Juices flowing and all that.
I was impressed with your speech. I admire your courage in facing up to the bullies. You are stronger than anyone else I have met.
Now, are you happy, Kazu? I can say I'm happy because I could learn about something from your great speech.
Hi, Kazu-san. I am reading a book about Japanese children and British children. In that book, I found a interesting idea which is directly related to your entry.
The writer says that the reason why Japanese people are not good at expressing their opinions is that they have a stereotype about presentation of opinions: they think that expressing their opinions is equal to free to assert their idea regardless of others, though in fact it isn't.
I agree with her idea to some extent. Because Japanese people including me are too careful not to hurt anyone's feelings. But do we have such a stereotype? What do you think about this?
Masami Fujimoto :: May 1, 2003 09:56 PM
I respect people who can give good speeches like you. That's because I have never made a speech and I am not good at speaking in front of everyone, even in class. But when I read speeches such as yours, I also find it important to express thoughts or ideas to people. We must find many things to give on a speech among our daily lives, so that we will be happier.
I'm afraid I'm not looking very hard for a chance to give a speech, however, I think those chances are hard to find. As far as I know, there is little information about any meeting for speeches which anyone can join in freely. Have you seen any information about that? And how did you get a chance to make a speech?