Japanese Grammar of Mind and Language (2) — What is needed is to look at the form of the Japanese language head-on, without being bound by anything

As global information dominance by the English language progresses, the world of intellectual Japanese is now in crisis.

If things continue this way, there is a possibility that the most important foundation for Japanese people—thinking deeply in Japanese and expressing themselves appropriately in Japanese—will be lost.

This means that Japanese people will cease to be Japanese.

In university education, there is a movement to switch the language of instruction from Japanese to English under the banner of "globalization."

On the other hand, voices of opposition saying "we don't need English" can also be heard from some quarters.

Neither of these is a wise way of thinking.

The option we should choose is not a binary choice between Japanese or English, but rather acquiring the ability to move back and forth between the world of Japanese and the world of English without deficiency or excess.

Becoming global in the true sense is a necessary condition for Japanese people to play an active role in the world as Japanese.

For that, what is first needed is to look at the form of the Japanese language head-on, without being bound by anything.

It is to stop looking at Japanese through Western glasses, as we have done until now, and instead, without easily leaning on past traditions, looking at the form of the Japanese language as it exists here and now, and making repeated efforts to improve it.

Without that work, it is impossible to keep the intellectual world of Japanese alive and make it better.

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