Hijirida Kyoko, Yoshikawa Muneo. Japanese Language and Culture for Business and travel

University of Hawaii Press, 1987. — 388 p. — ISBN 0-8248-1017-1The world we live in is experiencing rapid changes in almost all aspects of its social and economic order. This emerging global transformation includes a rev-olution in its transportation and electronic communication systems which sig-nificantly reduces both national and cultural barriers. Whereas high mountains and vast oceans presented serious barriers to interaction between nations and their people, these obstacles to cross-cultural exchange have now been almost entirely eliminated. At this point in time, enormous numbers of people have begun to travel, both within their own societies and internationally.
Here in Hawaii, the Visitor's Bureau recently reported that approximately four million tourists come each year to the Aloha State, fully 600,000 of whom are Japanese in origin.
The increase in Japanese visitors to the Hawaiian Islands is also reflected on a larger scale by the phenomenal rate of increase in Japanese tourists world-wide.
From I960 to 1982, the number ofjapanese nationals choosing to travel abroad escalated from a miniscule 75,000 to 4,086,138. This unusual growth is attrib-uted to three major factors, cultural, political, and economic in nature.
In considering the economic reasons for this growth, we observe that between I960 and 1974, when the oil shortage occurred, the world experienced a period of high economic growth. During this time, Japan ranked third in the world in terms of gross national product, preceded only by the United States and the Soviet Union. Japan was simultaneously becoming a world power and an increasingly affluent society.
This increasing level of both national and personal income was accompanied by a transformation in the people's lifestyle priorities. Since I960, the goals and personal objectives of most Japanese have moved from the "Three C's" (Car, Color TV, and air Conditioner) to the "Three R's" (Residence, Range, and Recreation), and then to the "Three V's" (Villa, Visiting nationally, and obtaining Visas to visit other countries).