Cross-cultural communication （90）　

90) Thoughts on IDs
In September 2019, I went on a 10-day trip to Spain and France. I visited the Louvre Museum in Paris for the first time in over 20 years, where I spent the last three days of my trip. This time, I decided to borrow a Japanese audio guide so that I could take my time and appreciate the artworks, including their background. However, I was asked to provide a photo ID and passport as a guarantee. It's the Louvre, after all, so I didn't think there would be any problems with loss or theft, but I was still very worried about leaving my passport, which is the most important thing after my life, in someone else's care, even if it was only for a few hours. So I rummaged through my wallet and found two photo IDs. One was a photo ID card issued by the Japan Medical Association, which also had some English on it, and the other was a photo ID for Air France/KLM, for which I am a consulting doctor. This one had English and French on it. No matter how you look at it, I thought the latter would appeal more to the French, so when I showed them my AF/KLM ID, the receptionist smiled and said, “So you're a doctor. Of course, this ID is fine.”

In Japan, the only forms of ID with photos are car licenses and passports, and even if these have photos, they are only in Japanese. So, when asked for an ID with a photo overseas, most people only have their passport. How is the situation in Europe, where there are many countries that border each other? I will introduce the situation in France, where I spent two and a half years. I will get straight to the point. In France, everyone who is a member of society has an ID with a photo other than their passport. Company employees, civil servants, doctors, teachers, etc. Even those who are unemployed have photo IDs that prove they are receiving some form of public assistance. Of course, as they are French IDs, they are written in French, and it is rare to see them written in English as well. However, I don't think there are many people in European countries other than France who don't understand French at all. (Well, even if they don't understand it, they can recognize the photo, so they will pretend to understand it for the sake of their position.)

So, in this globalized world, and with Japanese people now traveling overseas independently, rather than on group tours, it would be a good idea to issue more ID cards with English text. For example, it would be a good idea to make Japanese driver's licenses, which Japanese people use as photo ID, bilingual, or at least to make employee ID cards for major companies bilingual with a photo (although this may already be in place).

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