Intercultural Communication

In the end of last month, we had a Delegetes' Conference, at which Seicho-No-Ie movement policy for 2007 was disclosed and discussed by mainly Japanese leaders with a dozen of world leaders. As a member of the International Department of our organization, I took care of those representatives from the U.S., Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan and Germany.

After the Conference, I joined some of the members and went to a sushi restaurant. What the background of them and the languages available are as follows:

　Japanese American who lives in California
　　　　---- English, Japanese(very little)
　Japanese German who lives in Germany
　　　　---- German, English, Japanese(to some degree)
　Korean who lives in South Korea
　　　　---- Korean, Japanese, English(listening only)
　Japanese who lives in Germany
　　　　---- Japanese, English
　Japanese who lives in Japan but has lived in the U.S.
　for 10 years
　　　　---- Japanese, English
　Japanese who has lived in Spain for study
　　　　---- Japanese, Spanish(to some degree)
　And me, who lives in Japan with no experience living
　abroad
　　　　---- Japanese, English...

We all enjoyed cheerfully talking about sushi and so on. Sometimes the German told us how to call a name of fish in German and some of Japanese encourage westerners raw fish. I believe it was a precious time for all of the participants.

Some say that difference is a source of conflict, but I don't think so. Through this experience, I become more confident that difference is rather a source of abundance.

-TA