Thursday, June 4, 2009

Regretful Japanese-speaking web

Uchio Umeda is a board member of Hatena Inc, which provides one of the most popular web services in Japan. In a recent interview titled "Regretful Japanese-speaking web", he criticized Japanese-speaking web, saying that while web services are vital in people's life in the United States, the Japanese speaking web is not used effectively except for some subcultural websites like Nico Nico Douga. According to him, especially the problem is that the most intellectual people don't express themselves through web in Japan even though the Internet has great potential to boost their intelligence.

I also share his view on Japanese-speaking web. The Japanese-speaking web is too negative. Too often do I witness negative anonymous comments that attack and insult other people. The reason is, as Dr. Obuno Ikeda says, that Japanese people have no chance to express themselves under their own name because it's too risky. Under the Japanese evaluation system, once they lose their reputation, it is almost impossible to regain it later. They are afraid of criticism from their bosses and coworkers. Therefore, they insult others under an anonymous name to release their pressure in their real life. How sad it is!

Personally, I am fed up with the Japanese-speaking web. It's just fruitless. I have to cut down on the time I spent reading Japanese-speaking web. It's sad...because I am a native Japanese speaker.

I'd like to be a good English writer

For better or worse, I have to admit that English is the single universal language in the 21 century. For those who have international aspiration, English is an essentional tool for communication. On the internet, the most important English skills are reading and writing. If you want to get your voice heard to the public in the world, you need to express yourself in Enlgish. This is a lethal handicap for non native English speakers like me...but whining is no use and I just have to do what to do. 

I do notice that my English sentences are not perfectly natural for native English speakers. I'd like to improve my writing but don't know how. Anyway, I will try my best to express myself in English.