けい子「みな子さんはアメリカ留学しただけあって、ユーモアのセンスと明快な表現力が抜群ね」
みな子「どうもありがとう。でも時々部長にはっきり意見を言いすぎるってしかられるのよ」
Batsugun
Keiko: Minako san wa amerika ryuugaku shita dake atte, yuumoa no sensu to meikai na hyoogenryoku ga batsugun ne.
Minako: Doomo arigatoo. Demo tokidoki buchoo ni hakkiri iken wo iisugiru'tte shikarareru noyo.
Keiko: Minako, with just studying abroad in America you've really developed an outstanding sense of humor and clear way of expressing yourself.
Minako: Thanks. Sometimes the chief gets angry with me, though. He says I express my opinion too directly.
* * *
When someone or something is outstanding the word batsugun is used.
Before going to an American graduate school to study for two years, Minako (above) wasn't the sort of person one would meet at a party and never forget.
Upon her return, however, she was really different - bright, funny, always ready to. tell you her opinion; someone who thought things out logically and efficiently. Her ability and good sense made her appear charming. I once praised Minako to a male friend while at a party, "Minako no sensu wa batsugun ni yoi desu ne" ( "Minako really has incredibly good sense, doesn't she"), to which he replied, "Sensu wa batsugun kamoshirenai keredo kanojo to kekkon shitai to wa omoimasen ne" ("That she may have, but I don't think I'd like to marry her"). And he had a point. Looking around at the men attending the party there wasn't one who seemed appropriate for Minako. She'll probably never find a Japanese man willing to marry her, I thought.
But what if Minako wasa man? Could he adjust to Japanese society? Imagine he enters a Japanese company directly upon his return from America. And imagine ( though this varies from company to company), it isn't appropriate for him to forthrightly express his personal opinions to those employees above him? Indeed, his boss is apt to say, "Kimi no batsugun no eigo ryoku wa mitomeru ga mo chotto kangaete kara hanashinasai" ("I recognize your outstanding English ability, but think a little more before you speak"). Any boss who says this, of course, is quilte kind. Many times, people will just talk about you behind your back. Isn't the hardest part about living in Japan getting along with other people? Perhaps this is why the internationalization of Japanese society will be so-difficult; though number of English-speaking Japanese is increasing, the way of thinking of those same people is staying decidedly 'Japanese.'
Japanese young people returning from, living and studying abroad (kikokushijo) are a sort of conundrum for present-day Japan. People say that they lack a sense of harmony (kyoochoosei ga nai) and have a 'big' attitude (taido ga ookii) about things. But should these really be problems? It's said that kikokushijo undergo hagashi kyooiku when they return to Japan.
This is a kind of education where what they have learned while overseas is now stripped' (hagasu) from them. I guess neither batsugun no eigo ryoku (outstanding English-language ability), batsugun no atama (outstanding intelligence), nor batsugun no sensu (distinguished sensibilities) are what bring a person success in Japan. 'Unprecedented ability' (batsugun no noryoku) in human relations seems to be the key.