[sStevenRitziI]

Well a good example is keigo, or polite language. Now sure Japanese has a lot more variations in words for different levels of etiquette than a lot of languages. But when you think about it, in English, even without polite and casual versions of the second person pronoun*, we still would take a lot more words to ask someone who has higher social status to do something for us than we would use for a subordinate: "I was wondering if you could possibly see your way clear to considering..." as opposed to "Do it!"

*Actually Engish does have a formal second person pronoun but we don't use it anymore: thou.

There are cultural differences too. In Australia, generally speaking, we like to get onto to using first names asap, even, or perhaps especially, at the upper echelons of business. We would almost never call a superior 'sir' as seems to be common in the US. Not even the General Manager. Certainly not your own father! So you know Japanese culture is already going to be so different to home that you expect to start from scratch with everything.

And then again there are Japanese who are genuinely frustrated with the slow pace of change, with the maze of social obligations, and with totally inflexible, one-size-fits-all education. Even in kendo pedagogy, some Japanese professors are re-examining the traditional, non-verbal, non-analytical approach to teaching kendo. They wonder that maybe it doesn't have to be so holistic, so intuitive all the time: maybe different people need to be taught differently. I'm sure the current decline in kendo's popularity in Japan has started some people thinking along these lines.

One difference between AU and JP I did find really interesting, and which all my colleagues were amazed by as well, was the different attitudes to technology in education. In Aus, for better or worse, it seems Education Depts can't integrate IT in to the classroom fast enough or broadly enough. In my state we are installing something called the Ultranet, which is a fancy name for an intranet linking all the information in all public schools built with a social networking interface. The Govt has promised a 1:1 computer to student ratio in public schools. Most high schools have wireless network coverage throughout, etc, etc. In Japan it's the opposite. Teachers don't all have their own laptops, it's more like 1:20. The ones there are are often 10+ years old. There's no wireless network. Timetabling is still worked out with coloured wooden blocks in a big rack. Students go to the library to use an old PC for looking up the catalogue, ratio about 1:200. No interactive whiteboards, no online Parent-Teacher Interview scheduling, the list goes on. The Japanese seem highly suspicious about using computers to change the way things are done in the classroom. And part of me admires them for that. After all, you can't really alter that much about what schools are supposed to do. IT often fools us into thinking otherwise. OTOH coming from my world, the Japanese situation seems to be they're at the other extreme, the IT Dark Ages (c. 1990). Which is weird if you've been to Japan lately: 12MP cameras in phones? *Yawn*!

OTOH I can't help thinking that the way the Japanese are about this small issue is a bit like how they were with technology in general before Admiral Perry arrived. I wonder if there will be a similar 'revolution' in Japanese education in the future. Or maybe we will go back to using pen and paper when we get conclusive data showing that kids who use screens to receive all their knowledge are less well-educated than their parents and grandparents were.

Sorry for the education rant. I'm probably off the topic. Perhaps in the wrong forum too. b