Japan's golden age has long gone, Mrs. Y said.
I was at a dinner party where the host and some of her friends were Japanese, and somehow the conversation took on a turn onto Serious Avenue, and went on a course of Japan's-going-down-the-drain route.
They're observations were all too true, sadly enough. Even Mrs. Y's 16 year-old daughter could tell that the young people in Japan have no dreams, no ambitions, no goals in life. They were content on working as an OL or in restaurants and fast food chains.
The percentage of foreigners in Japan is perhaps not as high as that of in other Asian countries, but there is a considerable amount in Tokyo and the major cities. "And yet the level of English has not improved one bit!" Mrs. Y sighed. Mrs. Y is Japanese and married to a Chinese man, and they live in Hong Kong with their daughter. They all speak fluent English. And while Mrs. Y's Japanese accent is still there, she is perfectly understandable and speaks English with complete confidence.
"Many of my friends from kindergarten when we lived in Tokyo have moved abroad." Said the daughter. There were two other Japanese families at the party, and hundreds and thousand others in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok...all left the aging nation that was once as glorious as the rising sun.
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