title use in academic settings

[John McCreery]

On 2003.7.25, at 10:16 午後, Don Carroll wrote:

> A further wrinkle in the situation is that most of the Japanese
> employees (professors and staff) tend to refer to the American woman
> as "Wendy-sensei" which seems completely inappropriate.

This pattern is also quite common in business. "John-san" was the usual
form when people spoke to me at Hakuhodo during the thirteen years I
worked there. Us foreigners used to get quite exercised about the use
of FN+san to address us, which seemed to put us in a childish position
vis-a-vis our colleagues. It has since occurred to me though that when
people look at our business cards and see (to use my case again), "John
McCreery," with FN LN  instead of  LN FN and scanning left to right,
"John" comes first and--arguably--calling me "John-san" feels perfectly
natural. ("John" is also, of course, much easier to pronounce than
"McCreery.")

My experience has been that if I expressed my discomfort at the use of
"John-san" and explained that "McCreery" can be pronounced "ma, ku,
re-i,ri"), people would switch to the LN-san pattern.


John L. McCreery
International Vice Chair, Democrats Abroad
Chair, Democrats Abroad Japan

Tel 81-45-314-9324
Email mccreery at gol.com

 >>Life isn't fair. Democracy should be. <<