The 11th English Oratorical Contest for the University of Tokyo ESS Trophy

“O mo te na shi omotenashi”.  Christel Takigawa, used the word “omotenashi” meaning the spirit of hospitality to describe the national character of Japanese people.  However, do you think enough “omotenashi” is shown from us to the tourists?

 

In line with the national policy of attracting 30 million tourists, the Japanese government and the service industry are working on for example increasing free wireless hot spots and placing lots of bilingual employees.  To flourish the tourism industry, you may think that the government and service industry are the only ones responsible.  But it is not true.  We citizens also have a role to help.  Today I am standing here to propose a way for Japan to be prepared for further globalization in the future.  I would like the audience to help out non-Japanese people visiting the country and turn Japan into a place where tourists would want to visit again and again.

 

Along with constantly attracting new visitors, creating repeaters to the country is important.  The Nikkei Marketing Journal, a newspaper company asked 100 tourists the most disappointing things about Japan.  Their answers focused on the lack of foreign language services and the lack of people who actually try to help out tourists.  I heard from my American friend who came to visit Japan two years ago, that she was shocked when she asked the people on the road for directions they walked away from her saying "Sorry I cannot speak English.”  Japanese people are not showing enough omotenashi.  Imagine yourself being a tourist and getting rejected when you asked for help.  How would you feel?

 

I will share you an experience that made me not want to go back to a country again.  When I was 10, my family and I visited Spain.  There we got lost.  On the same street, there were some ladies chatting and a man licking ice cream.  We asked them for help.  However, they did not try to help us out.  They looked away as if saying, “I do not want to get involved”.  Even though everything else in Spain had been great, this experience made me not want to visit the country again.  For tourists, the people on the streets are the representatives of that country.

 

Then, what will make tourists want to visit the country again?  I believe there is a role that we citizens can do to help.  That is to lose our sense of fear and help the tourists out.  According to a data by Value Create, a research company, about 80% of the respondent’s reasons for avoiding non-Japanese people was that they felt scared of being unable to communicate properly.  Our role to help the tourists out seems to be hampered by language barriers.        

 

However, actually there is no need to worry about language barriers.  Today, we can use a smart phone for translation.  Thanks to the development of technology, translation applications have become more sophisticated, accurate and fast.  So, if you find a tourist on the road looking for help, go up to them.  Turn on your smart phones.  Open the application.  And your job is all over.  These are easy steps right?  Some might not have a smart phone or download the applications.  Even in this case, do not turn away!  Listen to the tourists’ needs.  Use gestures like pointing at a direction.  Ask people around you for help.  Tourism is set to grow in Japan.  We must take action!

 

What are the benefits for you in helping out tourists?  I should not really have to ask: hospitality is something given out of shared humanity.  However, the benefits in fact go beyond moral satisfaction.  Last year, one brokerage estimated that the economic impact from tourism in 2015 reached 16.7 trillion yen, representing 3.5% of the GDP.  By boosting the number of tourists, the economy will flourish, which also reflects on the amount of our pocket money.  This might not be a bad idea right?

 

It might be easy if we just ask the tourists to learn some Japanese before the trip.  However, is that a real “omotenashi”?  We are the host and the tourists are the guests.  Some may mention that Japanese people are shy in general.  However, we must keep in our minds that we are the representatives of the country.  Your actions will be interpreted as the country's image.  Showing omotenashi will also be an opportunity for stretching out to the world.  We must welcome in the guests without demanding preparation.

 

In 2020, Tokyo is hosting the Olympics.  Japan is definitely going to experience a rise in the number of tourists.  But how about afterwards?  In order to turn Japan into a place where tourists would want to visit again and again, we must know that each and every citizen of Japan is a representative of the country.  The process is simple.  Use gestures.  Or just simply take out your smart phones and they will do the rest.  Step forward and take action.  Have confidence.  Help the tourists out.  It will be the perfect opportunity for Japan to show off its “omotenashi” starting from our actions on the road.