Shoji Hiroyuki, 67, spends more than 30 hours a week helping others learn Japanese through a chat service called “Sail. “The platform, developed through a Japanese company, combines local volunteers, mainly older people, with foreign students.
Its goal is to attract more young foreigners to Japan, a prime precedent for the country facing immediate aging and a shrinking population. Shoji specializes in business etiquette. “In this position, he hands out his business card and takes it with both hands. ” He explains to a Pakistani student that he hopes to pass and paint in Japan.
To use the service, students pay approximately $5 to $20 per month. The rate varies depending on your country’s GDP. The “Sail” company, Helte, claims that more than 47,000 academics and teachers have used it since its launch in 2018.
“International people can learn Japanese and have good manners at the same time,” says CEO Goto Manabu. “On the other hand, older Japanese people can pass on their wisdom to younger generations and have fun. We are building this win-win situation. stage for both. “
The Japan Foundation, an establishment under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, surveyed establishments offering Japanese language courses. It revealed that more than 3. 7 million people read Japanese in 2021.
It is believed that there are many online platforms for their learning, especially in regions such as Central America and Southeast Asia, where more than 80% of Japanese language schools offer some form of online platform. The survey also shows that about 35% of those who study the language do so because they want to work in Japan in the future.
Sail users include Komal Sood from India. Sood chatted with Shoji online more than a hundred times and, with her advice, she actually finished a job interview and moved to Japan in March. She now works in recruitment for a hotel in Tokyo. In her office, she greets visitors and speaks in keigo, the most polite form of Japanese.
Sood says Shoji’s classes are paying off. “He told me how to greet people, how to welcome them. It’s thanks to him, I can say it. “
In May, Sood visited Shoji at his home in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture. This is Shoji’s first in-person meeting with her. “I’m speechless, very happy!”
Shoji had prepared a gift that he hoped would help Sood adjust to life in Japan. It was an inkan, a traditional seal commonly used in Japan as a substitute for a signature. It occurred to him that maybe he wanted it to open a bank account.
Shoji says he will remain her friend while she settles in Japan. Sood says the age difference between the two was not an obstacle. “She’s almost my grandfather’s age, but the bonds we share are more like bonds of friendship,” she says. The language helped them connect and now they are united by friendship.