I bought "プレジデントFamily" magazine, because it has several articles about English education. One of them compared junior high text books for Japan, Korea, China, and India. Unfortunately, (yet predictably) the Japanese book was pretty pathetic. The English level is fairly low (appropriate for elementary kids). The Korean one incorporates, not only English, but logical thinking skills. The Chinese one seemed useful for learning natural everyday conversation (at a fairly high level). And the Indian one was just....advanced. But then the University entrance test was high level (fluent) English. How can one master a language in just 6 years? It's impossible.
I realized that the problem lies with fact that children start learning English far too late. They should start in kindergarten. They should have English class at least once a week in elementary school. They need to play and talk with native speakers (or Japanese people with VERY good English). Instead of getting it crammed in their brains from 13 years old, they should pick up naturally and in enjoyable classes from 5 or 6 years old. Kindergartens should have foreign and Japanese teachers. At that age, they can pick up 2 languages with no problem. I have taught several students who went to international kindergarten, and then normal Japanese elementary school. They spoke very well (good pronunciation, natural speech), but also had no problems learning Japanese.
It seems as if the writers of such articles, parents, (young, modern-thinking) teachers, and educated people of Japan all seem to realize this problem. It's obvious and everyone knows it. For the sake of the future, these problem need not only to be recognized, but solved. And soon.
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