Kirk here with a bit of news about COVID-19 in Kumamoto and a question about whether or not people who read this page would also like to be able to access the original Japanese for such messages and announcements. First, here’s the text of an e-mail I received from the Kumamoto International Foundation:
“Due to the increase of the COVID-19 patients, hospital bed occupancy rate reached over 50 %. Therefore, Kumamoto City declared “Medical State of Emergency.” Followings are the requests to citizens to stem the further spread of the infection: ・ Please stick to the basic infection prevention measures such as washing hands thoroughly, wearing masks, gargling and disinfecting hands and fingers ・short time shopping with small number of people ・eating out with small number of people who you usually meet "
(This arrived recently but the information is dated April 25, 2021.)
I wrote back and suggested that the original Japanese might be added at the end of such messages. My thought is that people in Kumamoto who receive messages in English might be able to use the Japanese in a number of ways. For example, in the case of this message, some people might want to look at the Japanese to learn how to talk about the declaration of a “Medical State of Emergency” in a way that their Japanese friends will understand (the key term, by the way is “iryo hijojitai sengen; 医療非常事態宣言). Or, if there happens to be something in the English that isn’t clear or is hard to understand, one might show the Japanese to a friend or family member and ask for clarification.
I think that excluding the original language (Japanese) from messages in a foreign language tends to be the norm rather than the exception in Japan. Over the past few years, I have been saying “Don’t assume that foreigners have no use for the Japanese” at every opportunity. To be honest, though, sometimes I feel like I’m shouting in the wind. That’s not to say that no one has paid any attention. As I wrote earlier, Kumamoto City now has links that connect their machine translations with the original Japanese: https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/5200336923373031
But, nonetheless, the pervasiveness of the “What use might foreigners have for Japanese?” attitude seems to have very, very deep roots.
So, here’s my question. I sometimes image myself to be advocating for foreigners living in Japan when I say “let us have access to the original Japanese too.” But, I wonder. Perhaps my view is in the minority even among foreigners living in Japan. Is it? I’ll be interested in any responses the good readers of this page might favor me with. Thanks!
P.S. Since I’m using an example from the International Foundation I’d like to point out that Mr. Yagi (its secretary general) has been very understanding and very supportive of my perspective. I think, though, that as an organization, with many different people involved, including volunteers from the public, old habits die hard and implementing a new approach takes time.