2013.07.07
Topic 2 ”Japanese products” 日本製品について
ビジネス英会話のエキスパート Hika から学ぶ Tell Me About シリーズ 第2弾は、”Japanese products” です。
カナダで生まれ育った Hika が、「日本製品」の印象について語ります。
『私が子供の頃、誕生日やクリスマス、特別な日には、日本にいる祖父母が
いろいろな「日本製品」をカナダに送ってくれました。
例えば、森永やグリコのキャンディーです。
カナダ製のリンゴ味キャンディーは砂糖の味がするのですが、
日本製のリンゴ味キャンディーはちゃんとリンゴの味がするのですね。
これは驚きでした。
ウルトラマンのフィギュアの玩具や、TVゲーム、漫画も素晴らしかったです。
漫画を学校に持って行き友達に見せると、とても面白がってくれて私は人気者でした。
私は不思議に思って母親に、
「なぜ、カナダではこうした素晴らしい製品がないのか？」
と聞いたことがあります。
当時日本はバブル景気に沸いていたこともあり、
「日本製品はとても高いからだよ。」と言われたことを記憶しています。
しかし、大人になって日本にきて分かったのですが、
海外に日本製品が少ない理由は「価格が高いから」ではなく、
「英語でコミュニケーションするスキルが不足していたから」 でした。
今でこそ、日本の野球選手や俳優が世界で活躍をするようになっていますが、
まだ世界の人々が知らない「日本の素晴らしさ」はたくさん存在すると思っています。
そして、世界中の人が「素晴らしい日本製品」をつかえるようになる日が
もうすぐ来ることを、私は期待しています。』
Hello and welcome to this Bizmates Tell me about
video series for Japanese businesspeople.
And today's topic is Japanese products.
OK.
Now I'm not going tell you about, you know,
different Japanese products in English
because I'm not, I don't know that much
about Japanese products.
But I'm going tell you my impression
of Japanese products growing up.
And in the last Tell me about video,
I explained about my background.
That I grew up in Canada.
OK, with the people from all over the world.
But my grandparents actually live in Japan,
or they lived in Japan, they still live in Japan now.
And as a child, I could only see them maybe,
once every two or three years.
But for my birthday, for Christmas,
for special occasions,
they would send me and my brothers
all kinds of Japanese products.
Things like candy for example.
The Morinaga and Glico candy, delicious.
Completely different from candy back in Canada.
It's gotten better, Canadian candy
has gotten better over the years.
But back then when I was a kid,
you know the apple candy tasted like sugar.
The cherry candy tasted like sugar.
But the Japanese candy, the apple candy tasted like apple.
The cherry candy tasted like cherry.
I thought it was amazing.
And the toys, all the great toys.
The Ultraman little figurines.
All these different toys that I would receive.
And also things like games.
That was a boom when I was a child.
The little TV games.
You know we didn't really have like the Nintendo and stuff.
But we have the little TV games that were really popular.
Great! And of course Manga. Animation.
And I would take these when I got these,
I would take them to school,
and share them with my Canadian friends.
And everyone was like wow, where'd you get this?
This was so cool. And I was like the most popular kid,
only for a short time when my grandparents
sent me these things.
And I always wondered,
why we didn't have all these great goods in Canada.
And I remember asking my mother. I said mom,
you know, why don't we have all these ...
great candies, great toys in Canada,
like in Japan?
And at that time, I remember my mother said.
Well, you know everything in Japan is so expensive.
And it was. It was during the bubble economy.
And I thought OK, Japan is an expensive country.
So we can't find these things in Canada.
But after I became an adult and I moved to Japan,
I realized that it wasn't the price.
Because now the economy has gone down.
Things are much cheaper.
But many of these things are still unavailable overseas,
at least in Canada or the U.S.
And I realized, the main reason is because of English.
Because of the communication skills.
And I feel that it's waste, it's wasted talent.
There're so many good things here,
and it's just a matter of getting it out.
And I think there's just so much more potential.
And that's why I enjoy seeing the Japanese go out
into different parts in the global economy and succeeding.
And now we're seeing people like Ichiro and actors,
and other athletes go overseas.
Sushi's all widespread.
But I think there's still a lot more
that the world hasn't seen about Japan.
So I hope that soon
we can see these products all over the world.
So that's my impression of Japanese products.
OK, and I hope you enjoyed this tell me about video series.
And we'll see you in the next video lesson.
Thank you.
video series for Japanese businesspeople.
And today's topic is Japanese products.
OK.
Now I'm not going tell you about, you know,
different Japanese products in English
because I'm not, I don't know that much
about Japanese products.
But I'm going tell you my impression
of Japanese products growing up.
And in the last Tell me about video,
I explained about my background.
That I grew up in Canada.
OK, with the people from all over the world.
But my grandparents actually live in Japan,
or they lived in Japan, they still live in Japan now.
And as a child, I could only see them maybe,
once every two or three years.
But for my birthday, for Christmas,
for special occasions,
they would send me and my brothers
all kinds of Japanese products.
Things like candy for example.
The Morinaga and Glico candy, delicious.
Completely different from candy back in Canada.
It's gotten better, Canadian candy
has gotten better over the years.
But back then when I was a kid,
you know the apple candy tasted like sugar.
The cherry candy tasted like sugar.
But the Japanese candy, the apple candy tasted like apple.
The cherry candy tasted like cherry.
I thought it was amazing.
And the toys, all the great toys.
The Ultraman little figurines.
All these different toys that I would receive.
And also things like games.
That was a boom when I was a child.
The little TV games.
You know we didn't really have like the Nintendo and stuff.
But we have the little TV games that were really popular.
Great! And of course Manga. Animation.
And I would take these when I got these,
I would take them to school,
and share them with my Canadian friends.
And everyone was like wow, where'd you get this?
This was so cool. And I was like the most popular kid,
only for a short time when my grandparents
sent me these things.
And I always wondered,
why we didn't have all these great goods in Canada.
And I remember asking my mother. I said mom,
you know, why don't we have all these ...
great candies, great toys in Canada,
like in Japan?
And at that time, I remember my mother said.
Well, you know everything in Japan is so expensive.
And it was. It was during the bubble economy.
And I thought OK, Japan is an expensive country.
So we can't find these things in Canada.
But after I became an adult and I moved to Japan,
I realized that it wasn't the price.
Because now the economy has gone down.
Things are much cheaper.
But many of these things are still unavailable overseas,
at least in Canada or the U.S.
And I realized, the main reason is because of English.
Because of the communication skills.
And I feel that it's waste, it's wasted talent.
There're so many good things here,
and it's just a matter of getting it out.
And I think there's just so much more potential.
And that's why I enjoy seeing the Japanese go out
into different parts in the global economy and succeeding.
And now we're seeing people like Ichiro and actors,
and other athletes go overseas.
Sushi's all widespread.
But I think there's still a lot more
that the world hasn't seen about Japan.
So I hope that soon
we can see these products all over the world.
So that's my impression of Japanese products.
OK, and I hope you enjoyed this tell me about video series.
And we'll see you in the next video lesson.
Thank you.
