You have to treat your own name with respect

英語教育に関するインタビュー記事です。
能力の許すかぎり全速力で読み終えた後、頭の中に残ったものを日本語で表現します＾＾。
この論説の骨子は以下の通りです。
明治以来、英語学習上、あるいは日常生活上、日本人は自分の名前を英語で表現するのに氏名ではなくて、名氏で表現することが慣例となっている。
これはとても不自然なことであり、名前の尊厳に対する冒涜とも言うことができる。
例えば日本の新聞紙上では、中国の胡錦濤国家主席は胡錦濤、日本菅直人首相は菅直人、これが英字新聞紙上では胡錦濤国家主席は胡錦濤、菅直人首相は直人菅となる。これはまったく不自然でおかしなことだ。世界で日本だけが名氏の順序に逆転しているが、明治以来の西欧文化に対する劣等感、欧米至上主義がもたらした悲劇だということができる。
今後日本はもっと自分の氏名に尊厳を払うべきだ。
日本では名前を表現するのに氏名の順序で表現するのが当り前のことなのだから。
欧米に媚びを売る必要はさらさらない！
（スラチャイ記）

POINT OF VIEW/ Erikawa, Haruo: You have to treat your own name with respect
BY MASAAKI TONEDACHI SENIOR STAFF WRITER

2011/01/22
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Erikawa, Haruo at Wakayama University in Wakayama (Nanako Ito)
When introducing ourselves in English, most of us automatically put our given name before our family name, even though the Japanese way is always the other way round--surname followed by given name. Erikawa, Haruo, a Wakayama University professor who has studied the effects of school English education on Japanese thinking, says it is high time for Japanese to reclaim the traditional Japanese way of greeting one another. Following are excerpts of his interview with The Asahi Shimbun. (At his request, the professor's family name is given first).

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Question: Why do most Japanese put their given name before their family name when introducing themselves in English?

Answer: I think it's largely the result of decades of English education in our country. I've checked school English textbooks dating back to the last century, and discovered that a 1904 textbook, approved by the education ministry, was the first to give an example of a Romanized "back-to-front" Japanese name--S. Imagawa.

All English textbooks before this showed the surname preceding the given name. Since 1904 was the year Japan went to war with Russia, you could say the transition coincided with Japan's debut on the international political scene. Although Japanese politicians and intellectuals had started following the Western custom of putting the given name before the family name since the 1880s, the general public didn't pick up the habit until much later, when English education became popular.

Q: After the war with Russia, Japan joined the ranks of the great powers.

A: Japan continued to stick to the Western custom, even when nationalism was at its height in the final years of World War II. For instance, an English textbook published in 1944 refers to Japan's Naval Marshal General and commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet as "Isoroku Yamamoto," not Yamamoto Isoroku as he should be referred to in Japanese. This goes to show how firmly this Western habit of putting the given name before the family name had taken hold in Japan by then.

Q: Didn't anyone think this was kind of "un-Japanese"?

A: Take a look at this book. It's "Mitchell's New School Geography," written by the American geographer Samuel Augustus Mitchell (1792-1868). Copies of this book were imported to Japan and revered as a geography textbook during the early years of the Meiji Era (1868-1912). Mitchell refers to Europeans and Americans as "civilized and enlightened nations," and Japanese as "half-civilized." This was how members of Japan's upper classes saw themselves. I should imagine they accepted the superiority of Westerners and believed they could enhance themselves by becoming like them.

Q: But it is also said that Japanese are culturally disposed to adapt to foreign cultures. So, the argument holds that if Westerners put their given names before their family names, it is only natural and polite that we should do likewise when we are with them. In fact, I think quite a few people believe so.

A: It is true we are culturally flexible or adaptable by tradition. This way, we avoid friction and maintain good human relations. We take the trouble to make ourselves understandable to foreigners. I also believe this has something to do with the fact that Japanese have been attracted to foreign cultures since ancient times. But those days are now over.

Q: What is your rebuttal to people who say it's no big deal whether we put the surname first or second?

A: A person's name is a valuable piece of information about the person. Anyone who doesn't treat his or her own name with respect is incapable of respecting someone else's name. If I may say so, I think the prewar Japanese government forced Koreans to adopt Japanese names because Japanese failed to understand the significance of what it is to have a name. It's very much to do with personal identity, and I think the time has come for us to really think about it. And I expect this of politicians in particular.

Q: Why politicians?

A: Politicians need to understand that their names are part of Japan's sovereignty. Let's say our prime minister is in negotiation with a representative of a foreign country--America, Russia, whatever. The moment he introduces himself as "Naoto Kan," he is acknowledging the hegemony of the country he is negotiating with.

Q: How so? Would you please elaborate?

A: Because our prime minister is Japanese, and he is "Kan Naoto," not "Naoto Kan." Letting his name be used back-to-front is tantamount to ceding control to his negotiating partner. I strongly wish anyone who engages in diplomacy or international negotiations would get it into their heads that how they say their own names affects their sovereignty. By casually embracing the Western custom of putting the given name ahead of the family name, they effectively lose the first round of negotiations by default.

But let me hasten to add that I am anything but a flaming nationalist. On the contrary, I believe firmly that any narrow nationalism must be shunned at all costs. When I think of Japan's fawning subservience to the West and arrogance toward our Asian neighbors during the Meiji Era, I can see how these sentiments paved the way for colonialism and the wars of aggression that ensued. If Japan had tried to deal with other nations equally and fairly, it could have avoided such tragedies.

Q: The majority of English-language publications issued in Japan put the given name before the surname. But stories filed from Japan on an APEC meeting, for instance, had the names of the Chinese and South Korean leaders in their correct order--that is, surname followed by given name--but incorrectly for the Japanese prime minister.

A: I know. That was illogical and bizarre. All I can say is, "Let's stop this." And the media should know better, as should English teachers in Japan. It's the responsibility of the English-language media and English teachers here to undo what they have done.

But there's one welcome development. Since 2002, all junior high school English textbooks began putting the surname first for Japanese names. In 2000, the Japanese Language Council recommended to the government that all Romanized Japanese names be written in their proper Japanese order--surname followed by given name--as in Yamada Haruo.

Q: But after all these decades, wouldn't changing the rule only invite confusion? I mean, foreigners who aren't familiar with Japanese names won't be able to tell which is the surname and which is the given name, will they?

A: Progress is born from chaos. So long as the status quo continues, nothing new will be born. I should actually hope the inevitable confusion will enable foreigners to realize that theirs is not the only acceptable standard in our diversified world.

Q: How would you suggest English teachers handle the transition?

A: Once senior high school English textbooks begin following the example of junior high school textbooks, I think the entire national perception will change. But the change should not be forced on the people by the government. The change should come gradually over time.

I have a favor to ask of elementary school English teachers. Foreign language activities will become compulsory from next scholastic year, and youngsters will learn how to write Romanized Japanese names for the first time. I ask the teachers to really think what it means.

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Erikawa, Haruo is a professor at Wakayama University. After studying the history of modern Japanese economics at Osaka City University, Erikawa specialized in the history of English education in Japan at Kobe University Graduate School. He is an authority on English education policies and teaching materials dating back to pre-Meiji Restoration days. His published works include "Kindai Nihon no Eigo-ka Kyoiku-shi" (History of English education in modern Japan) and "Nihon-jin wa Eigo o Do Manande Kitaka" (How Japanese have studied English).