When you go out into the international community, it is often said that “education is important.” If you don’t have education, you can’t even have small talk with people in the world. I hear stories like that too.However, even if I say “education” in one word, I don’t really know what I should know and what I should be able to talk about.This time, such a question“Essential Education for Business Elites: A Super Introduction to People of the World”We interviewed Mr. Toshiyuki Yamanaka, the author of the book and also active as a diplomat. Mr. Yamanaka has lived in 96 countries around the world and has interacted with people from various countries and regions. Among them, he says that he had the experience of being “close-minded” because his knowledge and education were insufficient. Including such a vivid story, he talked about “the culture required of Japanese people.” (Interview and Composition/Tetsuya Iida)
What is the level of “minimum education”?
――It is often said that “learning is necessary” when doing business or communicating in the international community. Shall we?
Toshiyuki Yamanaka (hereafter Yamanaka):First of all, I think that the relationship with that person is almost over the moment you hear the name of the other person’s country in a very natural way and think, “What kind of country is that?”
I don’t think it’s easy to say “I don’t know the country name itself”, but there are countries in the world with similar names. There is a thing.
It’s still fine when you’re talking “one-on-one” with people from the other country, but in the field of diplomacy, there are times when you talk with multiple countries, especially 10 or 20 countries, so you get confused for a moment. you know.
People from a certain country speak English normally, so I thought they were native speakers, but after saying something like, “Is that country a colony of France, so the official language is French?”
You have to be careful because it can ruin your relationship. Some African countries have different official languages.
Also, speaking from my experience, there is a country called Albania in Europe, and there are many Muslims here.
“Iran is not one of the Arab countries”
――It seems that there are many big failures and troubles because you don’t know the basics.
Yamanaka: That’s really a lot. For example, there are quite a few Japanese who think that Iran is one of the Arab countries. The moment you confuse Iranian and Arab and talk about it, chances are good that your conversation there will go wrong.
In the first place, Arab means “a person who speaks Arabic as their mother tongue”, so Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan, which do not speak Arabic in the Middle East, are not Arabs.
Iran is particularly easy to get confused with, but the people of Iran are of Indo-European ethnicity, unlike the Arabs.
In fact, the people of Iran have pride that they are the descendants of Persia, a great empire that dates back to ancient Greece.
It may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I think that the moment you say to an Iranian, ‘You’re part of the Arabs, aren’t they?’ they won’t listen to you.”
Understanding such national and ethnic sentiments is not a matter of general education, but it is necessary for interacting in the international community.
Published in 2019“Essential Education for Business Elites: An Introduction to the World’s 5 Major Religions”As I wrote earlier, I had the opportunity to give a lecture in Azerbaijan.
First, I was thinking of talking about Russian ballet. Azerbaijan is close to Russia and was once part of the Soviet Union, so it is heavily influenced by Russian culture. It just so happened that I liked Russian ballet, so I thought it would be perfect as an introductory talk.
But just before that, I changed my mind and said, “No, wait.” Many countries that were part of the former Soviet Union hate Russia. I didn’t know much about Azerbaijan’s culture, but I knew that most of the people were Turkic and Muslim.
So I said “As-Salaam Alaikum” (Peace be upon you), a greeting that any Muslim would understand, in Arabic. All of a sudden, the atmosphere in the venue improved.
It’s a real momentary event, but it’s common in the international community that the relationship with the other person changes greatly depending on whether you have knowledge and education.
“Where in Japan” are foreigners interested in?
――If you were to talk with people overseas and say, “Themes that often come up in conversation,” what would you pick?
Yamanaka: For example, Shakespeare is often talked about in England. About 30 years ago, when I was studying abroad in England, Shakespeare became a hot topic.
I’ve seen a few plays, but I still don’t know much about them. We didn’t have good communication. I think that the other party laughed at me as a youthful spirit, but it takes a lot of education to talk about such topics.
Also, Japanese people are often asked about Japan, so it’s important to be able to answer them properly.
――When you say “Japan,” what kind of things do you often get asked about?
Yamanaka: I think it’s important to be able to answer a wide range of questions, from history to art and culture, the economic situation, and the political system.
In my experience, I was often asked the question, “Why did Japan develop economically?” A country in the corner of Asia that had been isolated for a long time, it became an economic superpower in the decades after the Meiji era. I have been asked many times why only Japan has experienced such rapid economic growth.
It’s difficult to give a concise answer, but I feel that it is necessary to have enough knowledge and opinions to explain.
I am also often asked about the Emperor System. It’s a difficult theme to answer, but there were a lot of questions about how long the emperor system has lasted, what kind of system it is, why it’s continued in Japan, and what the Japanese people think of the emperor. I will fly.
――You have to be prepared to answer questions about that in your own way.
Yamanaka: Regarding the Emperor system, I am often asked, “Why is it only men?” In fact, there was also a female emperor, but I have to answer after accurately knowing that.
Derived from the emperor system, I am often asked for my opinions and thoughts on the issue of “the status of women in Japan is low”. Why is this situation happening and how do you think it should be changed?
Even when asked such a question, there are cases where sufficient communication and discussion cannot be carried out unless you can express your own thoughts and ideas.
The key is to be able to talk about “connections” as well as knowledge
――Hearing the story like this, I feel that a lot of knowledge is necessary, but just accumulating knowledge is not enough. Mr. Yamanaka, what do you think is the difference between those who can make use of the education they have acquired in the international community and those who cannot?
Yamanaka:I agree. Certainly, I feel that it is necessary not only to have knowledge, but also something like “how to connect” and “ability to connect”.
–What does that mean.
Yamanaka: For example, I think I can increase my knowledge about Russian art culture and history.
But what kind of influence does such art and culture have on the people of Russia today? What are your thoughts? And what effect will it have on the situation in Russia and Ukraine?think about such a connectionI feel that people who can think about things and think about them are highly educated.
Conversely, if you can’t do this, you won’t be able to make the most of what you’ve learned.
That’s why I“Essential Education for Business Elites: A Super Introduction to People of the World”When I wrote , I was conscious of how it was a story that could be seen from there, and how it was connected to the current situation, rather than just talking about knowledge.
I believe that this is the education required to live in the international community.
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Toshiyuki Yamanaka
Writer. He is a professor at the University of Arts, Culture and Tourism. Professor at Kobe Information Graduate University.Director of Global Dynamics Co., Ltd.
Born in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture in 1968. After graduating from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990. He has been posted to Egypt, England and Saudi Arabia. He is in charge of Middle East diplomacy and global environmental issues. In Egypt, he lodged with a Muslim family in Cairo for two years and experienced the local life. He has experience as a prime minister interpreter (Arabic) and the United Nations General Assembly. After retiring from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he joined The Japan Research Institute, Limited in 2000. In 2009, he was selected as an Inamori Fellow by Mr. Kazuo Inamori, and has been studying global leadership at CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies) in the United States. In 2010, he founded Global Dynamics. Through his training and consulting, he is engaged in developing managers and leaders who can demonstrate leadership while reading and understanding the rapidly changing international situation. In 2011, he became a special adviser to the city of Osaka, helping Mayor Toru Hashimoto with his reforms. As an official facilitator of the card game “2030 SDGs”, he is also working to spread the SDGs. As of 2022, he has visited 96 countries around the world, thoroughly inspecting cutting-edge companies, shantytowns, rural villages, and museums. As a teacher at the College of Art, Culture and Tourism in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture, which is famous for storks, he focuses on regional revitalization that makes use of nature and art in addition to global education. He holds a master’s degree in development studies from the University of Cambridge. Graduate School of Koyasan University (Buddhist Thought, Comparative Religion). He holds an MBA from the Graduate School of Business Breakthrough University and a PhD in International Public Policy from the Osaka University Graduate School. He has appeared on TV Asahi series “Beat Takeshi’s TV Tackle”, Asahi Broadcasting TV “Cast” and others. in his book,“Introduction to the world’s 5 major religions”(Diamond), etc.
