'Human capital' worries plague Japanese FTA deal
With the conclusion of the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement (Jtepa) looming, Yoichi Kato, president of the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro), worries there might not be enough Thai Japanese speakers to accommodate the influx of bilateral trade and investment.
Kato said as the two countries' free-trade agreement materialised, Thailand needed "human capital" with knowledge of local business regulations and operation systems. Being fluent in Japanese is no longer enough. Jetro's director of investment cooperation department Hiroshi Ishige said that Thailand was "markedly deficient" in interpreters and personnel with skills in business Japanese. For instance, Japanese business people would prefer face-to-face business talk to a phone conversation. It is such cultural nuances that are often overlooked. Jetro will hold its Business Japanese Proficiency Test in June for local Japanese speakers to assess their language skills. Ishige said that previously many Thais have achieved the highest score in Asia-Pacific. In a recent survey by Jetro conducted last year, Thailand was the fourth choice of Japanese firms when it came to expanding its sales operation overseas. Despite a 28.8-per-cent shrinkage in foreign direct investment, to US$3 billion (Bt104 billion) last year, Thailand was still No 2, after China, for production expansion. For companies that frequently deal with the Japanese, it is the working culture that matters more than the language, said Pornanong Horikawa, vice president of Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology, a higher education institution that specialises in training engineers and industrial managers, where Japanese studies are mandatory. As an educator, she confirmed that Thailand is indeed short of culturally equipped technicians. For example, she said that loyalty was a very important virtue in corporate Japan, and Thais' tendency to change jobs all too casually was often frowned upon. Surapon Ploypairoah, vice president of corporate planning for Sri Muang Insurance, a joint venture with Japan's Tokio Marine and Nichido Insurance, said that his company normally preferred Thai graduates from Japanese universities. In a worst-case scenario, he would send new recruits to be trained in Japan. For a technically advanced First World nation, Pornanong said Japan itself was facing a shortage of engineers and now recruiting from China. So for technicians, knowledge of Japanese language and culture will go a long way.
Ki Nan Tsui The Nation
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