Keywords: Business Japanese, Textbooks, Syllabus, Textbook Analysis, “Business Ability Training Model”

The objective of this paper was to examine the future of business Japanese teaching materials. The contents and background of various business Japanese teaching materials were analyzed for this purpose. The authors examined 46 business Japanese textbooks published over the past 30 years, focusing on all that were considered to have syllabuses closely tied to the learning objectives and addressed various needs of both the learners and society.

The publishing of business Japanese textbooks gained momentum in the 1980s when the concept of Japanese for business purposes became more prevalent and the necessity to create materials to meet these needs started to be apparent. The number of Japanese language textbooks published, in general, steadily increased, and the contents improved and became more practical, in response to the need for more advanced and communicative business Japanese. After that, published textbooks were more diversified and were a factor in increasing the targeted student population as they were more sensitive to individual needs in both purpose and content. Relatively speaking, a trend toward a more “situational syllabus” emerged as business Japanese textbooks began to be utilized. In recent years, textbooks have appeared that focus on “ability training.” In this paper, this type of textbook is considered and is being called a “business ability training model” textbook.

Textbook development focusing on “ability training” is likely to continue for some time to come. Some problems do arise from focusing solely on “ability training,” however, so this concentration may need to be reconsidered in the future. The reasons for the aforementioned movement toward “ability training” may actually reflect trends in the educational world, as well as various needs in society dealing with the economy, trade, and the actual learners, themselves.

The authors also plan to analyze textbooks from vantage points other than syllabuses and will try to examine an even better direction for business Japanese textbooks to move forward, comprehensively, in the future.

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