Only four per cent of Japanese university students want to study abroad, according to a 2019 survey. Also, a 2017 survey found that 60 per cent of young employees didn’t want to work overseas.
Some young Japanese don’t want to go abroad because they are embarrassed about their poor English skills. Others say that employees who have worked only in Japan sometimes do better in their career than those who have gained experience abroad.
Governments and business leaders fear that these “inward-looking” youth will make it more difficult for the country to compete internationally. “Japan is falling behind and hasn’t even noticed its decline,” Hiraga Tomikazu, professor of international business at Osaka Seikei University, told The Economist. Yonezawa Akiyoshi, professor and vice-director of Tohoku University’s International Strategy Office, agrees: “There is so much growth and push to go overseas in other parts of the world,” says Mr Yonezawa. “That’s a wave Japan also needs to ride.”