Where Japan really falls short is in English - the global language, and thus the main purveyor of global ideas. In Asia, Japan ranks above only North Korea in scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) examination.
语言障碍可以部分地解释日本社会的封闭和观点碰撞的缺乏。日本人不擅长英语－而英语既是国际语言也是全球思想的载体。在亚洲，日本人在TOEFL外语考试中的成绩仅仅排在北朝鲜之前。