Tokyo Brushing Up On English For The 2020 Olympics

Above, the driver of this Roppongi taxi may be taking English courses for the 2020 Olympics. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are just six years away, but already employees of Japanese companies who cater to foreign tourists are brushing up on their English skills.

According to The Japan News:

More people in more business sectors are increasingly enthusiastic about improving their English conversation skills to offer better hospitality for foreign tourists before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. 

Informal English conversation groups have flourished among taxi drivers and geisha—two professions with frequent interactions with foreign visitors. 

The Tokyo Fire Department will send firefighters to the United States to study English in an effort to help build a force of firefighters and rescue team members with high English proficiency, able to assist and reassure foreign tourists in the event of illness or injury.

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