COMMUNICATIONS

English has become a universal language. In academia, the shift to English is marked. Research outcomes published in English are valued more highly than those in Japanese. If this continues, the value of Japanese for our field will disappear in the not-too-distant future. Occasionally, you can hear people voicing such sentiments.

I also think these are sad times. But I also feel that Japanese is getting what it deserves.

I am from the Kansai region of Japan, someone whose mother tongue is the language of Kansai. However, Japanese academia never accepts academic papers submitted in the Kansai language. The academy’s rejection of Kansai applies to all fields. You need only insert a single word of Kansai’s language, and the paper will be rejected.

Standard Japanese has today transformed the Kansai language into a regional vernacular. The situation of Japanese on the world stage now resembles that of Kansai’s language within Japan. That’s why I feel like I have seen all this before.

When people encounter difficult situations, they make jokes out of desperation. Please read the above in that spirit.