English at Rakuten

This week I read about the Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten, which, 8 years ago, implemented English as the official company language. Employees were expected to converse and produce documentation in English. The only problem? Most of the employees didn't speak English, and potentially faced demotion if they couldn't learn the language in two years.

My impressions of this story was that it's kind of miraculous that this initiative has worked out so successfully for the company. Rakuten operates in 30 countries and more than 20% of its employees are foreign nationals. In this sort of large, multi-national cooperate environment, I think switching to English made some sense, though I'm not sure its is necessary or wise for other types of companies. However, the article also mentions that 70 to 80 % of new hires are non-Japanese workers. This raises some questions, I think, about how much initiatives like this will benefit the Japanese worker as opposed to making businesses more friendly for foreign workers and international consumers.

From some research I did, it also seems like this article downplays the degree to which this initiative was initially unpopular and unsuccessful. The company didn't provide any support, and for more than two years, progress stagnated. Only once the company began investing resources in English education, did the company culture begin to change. On a larger scale, I think the Japanese government will need to make an investment in better early childhood and primary school education in English if Japanese workers are to fully benefit from the Englishization trend in the workplace. Although somewhat successful, forcing mid-career workers to learn a new language does not seem like a recipe for success.

In the Kyoto Artisans in the 21st Century course, I've also began noticing the impact that Englishization has on long-term shinisse viability. In places we go where artisans speak English well, they tend to collaborate more with international clients and have better future prospects. In places where the craftsperson speaks little or no English, the future seems more uncertain.