I want to be able to use English freely. I have some reasons to explain for others but to tell the truth, there is no actual reason. In fuct, any language is welcomed exept Japanese.

But, I love Japanese language itself. Perhaps you might feel it's strange or I'm using incorrect English.

I wish it could be that.

Anyway, I feel it has already dead like Greek language as to live only in ancient books or stone monument.

Of course, I use Japanese on daily basis. But I feel it is not my ideal Japanese. My style of thinking is already contaminated.

By what?

You know, there are many many fixed words in Japanese. Words of business person, telephone operators, shop clerks and so on.

They are trained to use the exact same language because it is probably the safest language for them to use by the organization. It is the crystallization of the essence of creating profit, avoiding trouble, and not offending others.

So, I can still tolerate the canned language at work.

What I feel weird about is that the modern Japanese language has already become a fixed form for even daily language.

They use only the words they have heard and act as if they understand only the words they have heard.

The Japanese language developed by rearranging Chinese concepts into the Japanese style. The vocabulary has increased dramatically since the late Edo and Meiji periods, when Western concepts not found in the Japanese language were frantically translated.

And, now. The vocabulary of the Japanese language has probably decreased greatly in the last 100 years.

What is pathetic is that this is not the result of a cultural intention, but rather the result of blind obedience to the current status quo. There is no intelligence there.

If they use the same language as everyone else, they could reduce the possibility that their words would not be understood.

Using words that may not be understood or may be misunderstood is just regarded a foolish venture.

Thus, we have quit choosing words according to our motives and feelings, and have adapted our feelings and behavior to words.

And in our society, only those in power (in "authority!") can use "their original words".

It seems that ordinary people are allowed to pursue the refinement of their own language only for the purpose of propaganda and proselytizing.

The Internet has made it possible for everyone to put their own words out there, yet everyone is still typing the same words.

Rather to say, since the Internet has made it possible for everyone to send out their own words, there is some kind of social censorship at work.

Of course, such rules are not written anywhere. But there is certainly a self-regulation and self-censorship peculiar to Japan functioning there.

Expressing one's feelings is a naïve action, and is even the subject of sarcasm, as in the Japanese phrase "Okimochi Hyoumei," which means to express one's feelings.

I find such a cruel world of the Japanese language to be deeply stifling.

Therefore, I would like to avoid writing in a major medium in Japan if possible. If I had had the literary mettle and courage, I would have been willing to fight against such a situation.

But I don't have the strength to do so now, and I don't think the situation is so serious that I can change it by myself.

Omotenashi, is major phrase of customer service with sincere and high quality. It was originally meant to be a hearty, nimble, tactful, and humane attitude toward customer service.

The original meaning of high-level hospitality could only be achieved by those with a keen sense of hospitality. It is not something that just anyone could do, which is why these establishments were chosen and must have succeeded in thriving.

In the postwar era, however, their superior abilities were copied and standardized into manuals due to efficiency and uniformity. Nowadays, everyone is trained to respond in the same way.

The original essence has been lost, and Japanese hospitality, with a few exceptions, has become a mere skeleton.

The deterioration of the Japanese language is not unrelated to this trend.

At the core of a human being should be the heart.

It should be feelings that precede words. I want to believe it.

I think that the current Japanese language is under the curse of regulating what people do and say.

When I said that human beings should act based on the heart, it would be considered too modern an idea.

If I told you that the only way to get out of there was to get out of the Japanese language, would you believe me?

Japanese language is dying

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