"Foreign Residents in Japan" and "Easy Japanese" in Numbers

Hello, I'm Akira Yoshikai, the "Easy Japanese Producer" at Dentsu Inc. Diversity Lab. Last year, I published a book titled "Introduction to Easy Japanese."

Ask Publishing, 200 pages, ¥1,870 (tax included), ISBN 978-4-86639-352-0

Easy Japanese is Japanese that has been adjusted in terms of vocabulary and grammar for people who have some difficulty communicating in Japanese, such as foreigners for whom Japanese is not their native language.

Many of you might think, "Foreigners speak English." However, research shows that more foreigners living in Japan can speak Japanese than English.

Therefore, speaking Japanese is a perfectly valid option when communicating with foreigners within Japan. However, even if they can speak Japanese, it can be difficult for non-native speakers to keep up with our everyday conversations.

This series will share tips on easy Japanese that will help you communicate with foreigners in the workplace and daily life. In this first installment, we'll introduce the background behind the creation of easy Japanese and the Japanese language skills of foreigners, using symbolic figures.

Percentage of Japanese people aware of the Easy Japanese initiative: 29.6%

Have you heard of the term "Easy Japanese"? The Agency for Cultural Affairs' "2019 Public Opinion Survey on the Japanese Language" included questions about attitudes toward Japanese language and foreigners for the first time. It found that 29.6% of the public are aware that the Easy Japanese initiative has begun.

Source: Agency for Cultural Affairs "2019 Public Opinion Survey on the Japanese Language"

Following the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, where the disaster rate among foreign residents was more than double that of Japanese residents, Professor Kazuyuki Sato of Hirosaki University conducted research on "what kind of language is easiest for foreigners to understand in emergencies." It turned out that simply rephrased Japanese was actually the most effective. This led to the start of research on "Easy Japanese" for disaster mitigation.

Subsequently, the number of foreigners living in Japan, including Japanese Brazilians and technical intern trainees, increased dramatically. This created language barriers in everyday information dissemination and operations within government and public facilities. As a result, Easy Japanese gained attention as one form of multilingual support. A research group led by Professor Isao Iori at Hitotsubashi University has collaborated with local governments to study the use of <Easy Japanese> in peacetime.

In 2016, "Easy Japanese Tourism" launched in Yanagawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture, aiming to welcome foreign tourists learning Japanese with easy Japanese hospitality. Easy Japanese for communication gained attention as a tool usable by tourism professionals and ordinary citizens.

As the proposer of this Yanagawa City project, I have worked to promote and raise awareness of Easy Japanese since 2016. Back then, initiatives using Easy Japanese were not widely known. In just under four years since then, the figure of "29.6% awareness of Easy Japanese" strikes me as remarkably high.

Post-COVID decline rate of foreign visitors to Japan: 1.6%

While inbound tourists plummeted due to the novel coronavirus, the number of foreign residents living in Japan at the end of 2020 was 2,887,116, accounting for approximately 2.3% of the total population. This represents a decrease of only 1.6% compared to the previous year-end ( according to the Immigration Services Agency ). Preventing the spread of COVID-19 requires a community-wide effort, leading to a rapid acceleration of multilingual support at the national policy level. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare launched the " Foreign Language Support Website for COVID-19," providing information in 11 languages, including simplified Japanese.

Many foreign residents, whether they choose to or not, remain in Japan, living alongside Japanese citizens and supporting the economy. While the domestic foreign resident consumer market is not small, the perception that "foreigners only understand English" or "foreigners don't understand Japanese" means few Japanese companies currently focus on this market.

88% of foreign residents in Japan can converse in Japanese to some extent

So, how proficient are foreign residents in Japan in Japanese? The Immigration Services Agency's "Basic Survey Report on Foreign Residents in Japan for Fiscal Year 2020," released in February 2021, revealed this reality for the first time.

Focusing on conversational ability, while there are differences by nationality, the proportion who can barely converse is low, indicating that many possess a certain level of Japanese conversation skills.

Source: Immigration Services Agency "Basic Survey Report on Foreign Residents in Fiscal Year 2020"

Now, let's look at reading comprehension. Below is an example of standard Japanese regarding evacuation orders and its simplified version written in easy Japanese with furigana.

The results by nationality for those who answered "understand well" are as follows:

Source: Immigration Services Agency Report "Basic Survey Report on Foreign Residents in Japan, Fiscal Year 2020"

As shown, simply rewriting standard Japanese into easy Japanese makes it understandable to many more people.

Foreigners living in Japan are already members of society supporting Japan, and they can understand much more with easy Japanese. For such people, does modern Japanese society provide an environment where they can enjoy the same lifestyle and thrive as Japanese citizens? While initiatives have begun at the national and local government levels, private companies will also need to participate going forward. Furthermore, those involved in media and advertising, as sources of information, also bear a share of this responsibility.

Next time, we'll share tips on how to make Japanese easier for foreigners to understand.